Dick sold the company in 2014? I completely missed that.

Portillos started to suck in the last couple years for some reason.

Portillos started to suck in the last couple years for some reason.

My go to order is always jumbo chili cheese dog and cheese fries, cant say ive noticed any change. Ive heard from many their other stuff has gone downhill

It's super unfortunate. Not a lot of good beefs by me. Portillos was always a good baseline and I don't think we've had it in a year or so now. Sucks.

Correct. The meat sucks and they skimp on the au jus. It’s a cluster

I don't think I have ever seen a TV commercial for Portillo's.

Five Guys went through a significant decline when they sold out and expanded beyond Northern Virginia. But part of that was they tended to go into third rate strip malls. The biggest thing about Portillo's as a business was never really the food, it was the use of real estate.

The way they have expanded beyond Chicago has been interesting. Frequently out of town chains come and open up five or six stores to maximize advertising, then they slowly falter then fall apart. Smashburger had that happen in Chicago, as did Hardee's.

Meanwhile, Portillo's takes forever and opens one store in an excellent location with just the right real estate deal. Just enough to draw the expats at first, and then word of mouth. Personally, I think the beef sandwiches will be deemphasized over time. I don't know if the Barnelli's concept is included in the deal, it never worked well with the drive-thru. The jumbo Vienna dog is still solid albeit dreadfully expensive, burgers and chicken are burgers and chicken, and they are more family friendly than a Chili's while still serving beer for dine-in.

Portillo's could drop one location in every metro area near the Interstate from here to Fort Meyers, as well as expand in Arizona, plus stick one near a few universities which draw a lot of Chicago suburban kids, and do just fine.

It's super unfortunate. Not a lot of good beefs by me. Portillos was always a good baseline and I don't think we've had it in a year or so now. Sucks.

Incredibly overrated food.. .

I see lines 35 cars deep, never understood it. Now chik fila..that is good food.

Had some one tell me how carefully they researched locations back when Dick owned it. Places would pay off very quickly because he didn’t build them all over the place. The one in Peoria is never a zoo when I’m down there but to be fair I’m rarely in the area these days so who knows. I’m not an Italian beef guy. My order is much like Farve Fan’s (gotta have onions though on the dog) or I get beer and cheddar. I’ll continue to grab it once a quarter when I’m in Burbs or find myself in Peoria around lunch time.

Way overpriced and the place is a zoo at peak times.

Speaking of overrated fast food chains...

For Burgers...they've always been terrible but burgers at hot dog stands tend to be equally as horrible.