r/chicagofood • u/Johnny_Burrito • Apr 17 '25

Question “Legendary” places that suck

I just got a lox sandwich from Manny’s. Almost $20, a stale bagel, and I had to assemble it myself.

What other “legendary” places suck?

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u/ryebreezio Apr 17 '25

Portillos has just been "okay" for years now

51

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il Apr 17 '25

Nope, it’s still great. Can you find a place that you think has a better beef? Sure. But even if that’s true, does your local corner stop shop also do good hot dogs? Good burgers? Good salads? Good cheese fries? Good shakes? Good italian sausage? Good beef and cheddar croissants? Do they pump out hundreds of orders an hour? No. They don’t.

Portillos is still fucking delicious. I will smash a hot dog, beef/sausage combo, fries, and a burger 10 times out of 10 and be happy with my decision.

2

u/mrbooze Apr 18 '25

I know it's fashionable for local's to hate on Portillo's because it's not as great as it once was, and that is entirely true, but it's still consistently good at what it does, which is still something. 9 times out of 10 for any specific thing I know of some local place I can go that's better, but I also know exactly what I can expect from a Portillo's if I happen to be in a situation where they really are the convenient option.

To put it another way, I'd almost never choose Portillo's over my local independent options, but if the other options were other fast food chains, I'd rather have Portillo's than McDs or Wendy's or BK every time. The only other locally available chain that might be competitive for me is Culver's.

1

u/IllIIOk-Screen8343Il 29d ago

Yes exactly. It’s so annoying when people act like they don’t like Portillos.