Portillo's Hot Dogs

12/05/02

Bad Fries

by davhana at Citysearch

Service is slow & not friendly, expensive for what you get

• Pros: good cheesy beefs
• Cons: slow service, expensive

11/30/02

Not a true Chicago restaurant...

by al1027 at Citysearch

This restaurant is a hodge-podge of traditional Chicago food reincarnated as a cookie-cutter fast food phenomena (think Portillo's = McDonalds of Chicago food). Historically, it may have started out as a good thing, but turning it into a huge suburban chain ruined the authenticity. For a real hot dog, go to Gold Coast Dogs or Demon Dogs; for a real Italian beef sandwich, go to Al's in Little Italy. Yes, throwing money into a restaurant and packaging it in the style of pre-fab homes and ready-made wives will get you somewhere, but it ain't the real thing...

11/27/02

leaves much to be desired

by moc5 at Citysearch

Portillo's is your run of the mill chain restaurant. Their hot dog is often over boiled and oversteamed leaving its casing too chewy. French fries are undercooked at times and just okay at others. Restaurants could use a good sweeping several times a day. Milk shakes are too runny. Bottom line: stick to the neighborhood stand!

• Pros: many locations
• Cons: slow service

10/16/02

This is a "Chicago" Hot Dog?

by grp71 at Citysearch

The hot dog has made Rich Portillo wealthy, but he's the Ray Kroc (McDonald's) of the hot dog game in Chicago.

The dogs (and the rest of the menu) are overpriced and overrated. Fries are strictly "ho-hum" frozen stuff.

You can do a lot better at one of the REAL Chicago hot dog stands that serve the "item" with out the Portillo's "glitz".

• Pros: They're everywhere
• Cons: Price, The dogs, The fries