Portillo's Menu Items Ranked Worst To Best

The origins of Portillo's "began in the dog house." A man named Dick Portillo invested $1,100 into a small hot dog trailer he nicknamed "The Dog House" in Villa Park, Illinois, in 1963. What started out as a small food endeavor eventually expanded into a chain restaurant till the Portillo's brand basically became synonymous with Chicago. Today, Portillo's has over 70 locations across several states, and people living outside of the Chicago area can indulge in Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and a variety of other authentic Chicago fare.

Portillo's has a cult following of fans that are obsessed with both the food served by the restaurant chain as well as the overall old-school vibe of the establishment. But just because a place has ride-or-die advocates doesn't mean that the entirety of the menu is worth ordering. There are a whole bunch of options at Portillo's, but there are some items that are better than others. If you're venturing out to Portillo's, it's worth considering which menu items are the best and which ones should be avoided completely. 

One of the things that make the Tamale on the Portillo's menu unique is that it's one of the original food items that was served at "The Dog House" hot dog trailer in 1963. The Tamale has been in the Portillo's family for quite some time. The casing is made using a blend of seasoned cornmeal, which holds ground beef with garlic and seven secret spices that are meant to elevate the flavor to an amazing level. Unfortunately, this decades-old item is just plain disappointing.

You'd think something that managed to stay on the menu for such a long time would be one of the best options to order. Perhaps when "The Dog House" started out, it had a slightly different recipe that made these a fan favorite, but nowadays, the end result is far from appealing. The cornmeal casing is far too dry in your mouth. The juice from the meat does give it some moisture so you're not desperately reaching for a drink afterward, but overall, the texture is a turn off and not even the seasoned beef can save it.

Portillo's might be known for its hot dogs and beef sandwiches, but it does offer an option for those seeking a meal from the sea. Not everyone always wants to turf; sometimes, they want to hit the metaphorical waves and surf. Well, they have an option to do just that with the Breaded Whitefish Sandwich. A wild-caught whitefish filet is fried and placed on a brioche bun with lettuce, American cheese, and tartar sauce. However, you might want to swim back to the land rather than treading water with this option.

The textures of this sandwich all work well together, but the lack of flavor is what makes this dish avoidable. The fish is well fried nicely, and it has a good crunch, but the flaky inside really doesn't taste like anything. You end up relying completely on the tartar sauce to give the fish any sort of flavoring, which is a letdown. The brioche bun adds a slight sweetness, but it's still not enough to make this a surf-worthy item.

When you're looking for a dining experience that'll wake your palate up and keep your taste buds on their toes, a little spice is always nice. A kick of heat adds a lovely additional sensation to a dish, and if you find yourself at Portillo's craving something spicy, you can opt for the Penne al Arrabbiata. However, if you're the kind of person who really wants a fiery kick in the mouth, you might find yourself underwhelmed.

The heat in this pasta dish is derived from the sauce. This dish consists of a bowl of penne pasta with spicy marinara sauce ladled over the top. The whole thing is topped off with fresh basil and grated Parmesan. It's not that the sauce is unappetizing; it's actually pretty good. It just doesn't pack the heat that people with a high heat tolerance are likely looking for. The Portillo's website suggests ordering the dish with Italian sausage for an extra layer of rich flavor. While this dish is a solid option, it still isn't quite flavorful enough to be truly enjoyable. 

When you see a word like "diavolo" (the Italian word for "devil") in the name of a dish, you expect it to lead your taste buds down a treacherous road into the fires of hell. The Penne Diavolo at Portillo's dares you to dance with the devil to see if you can withstand the flames. This dish consists of penne pasta tossed in a spicy cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and fresh spinach. Sadly, the flames you expect to dance across your tongue never really reach the burning point you crave.

The penne pasta is cooked nicely, which gives it a slightly al dente bite without making it too tough to chew. The sun-dried tomatoes lend a burst of sweetness to the pasta, and even though the spinach doesn't offer much flavor, it does give you some roughage, and that's always a good thing. However, the supposedly "spicy" cream sauce doesn't really deliver on the whole spicy aspect. Also, the consistency is a little thinner than you'd want in a cream sauce.

You gotta get those greens in when you can. You might not always want a plate of veggies when you're hungry, but your body will always thank you for it. Plus, after some greens, you have a great excuse to move on to something a little less healthy. So, if you're perusing the Portillo's menu in search of a salad that'll form a nice starter to a rich meal, look no further than the Chopped Salad.

There are a lot of moving parts in terms of the flavors and textures of this salad, which makes it much more appealing than your basic garden salad. Romaine and iceberg lettuce are tossed with diced chicken, crispy bacon, tomatoes, green onion, red cabbage, crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and ditalini pasta mixed with a homemade house dressing. 

The chunks of chicken could be a little juicier, but there's so much happening in this salad that it isn't a huge drawback. The gorgonzola cheese gives each forkful a pungent kick, the bacon is crunchy and salty, and the ditalini pasta adds a uniquely soft texture that you rarely find in salads.

Chicago's Maxwell Street birthed this particular style of Polish sausage over seven decades ago. Portillo's founder, Dick Portillo, used to spend a lot of time around this area as a boy, and when he launched his restaurant, he knew he had to put the item on his menu for all to savor. So, he offers guests the Char-Grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage. Now, everyone who visits Portillo's can experience the wonderful flavors Dick did as a young kid.

The Polish sausage is topped with a hefty amount of yellow mustard and grilled onions. Even though the ingredient list is short, the flavors are large and in charge. The Polish sausage itself is far richer than a hot dog, and it has a wonderful smokiness to it, along with a nice kick of garlic. All that meaty richness is then offset by the tang of the yellow mustard and the sweetness in the grilled onions.

When you're visiting an area of the country you haven't been to, there's no better way to get an authentic feel of the place than to order the same cuisine the locals love. So, when you find yourself in the Windy City, you gotta go for the deep-dish pizzas and the Chicago-style hot dogs. Portillo's wants every customer to have a genuine Chicago experience, which is why it offers customers the authentic Chicago-style Hot Dog experience.

This hot dog has a boatload of ingredients on it, and they all come together for a fantastic experience. The dog is topped with mustard, relish, chopped white onions, sliced tomatoes, a pickle spear, sport peppers, and a sprinkle of celery salt on a steamed poppy seed bun. 

All of the veggies do a fantastic job of never allowing the dog to feel too rich. But, it's the pickle spear that really helps offset the beefiness while also adding a juicy element. According to the Portillo's website, Chicagoans refer to this style as "dragging the dog through the garden."

When it comes to sandwiches, some will argue the bread is the most important part. Of course, it matters what you put between the two slices: You don't want some mishmash of disastrous flavors and textures. But, it's the bread that transports all the delicious fillings to your mouth. The bread is the ship carrying the cargo, and that ship had better be built with high-quality material. Few types of bread are tastier or have more textural appeal than croissants. That's exactly what makes the Beef-n-Cheddar Croissant at Portillo's an awesome menu item.

There are only three ingredients at play here, but three is all you need. If you order this item, you'll get a super delicate croissant full of rich buttery flavor and a wonderful flaky texture stuffed with Portillo's famous thinly sliced Italian beef and melted cheddar cheese. It's like an infinitely better version of a Hot Pocket. It's a rich and gooey pocket of delicious tastes. Once you have taken a bite, you don't want to ever put it down. 

Since the beginning of the culinary event known as the Chicken Sandwich Wars began, there has been a relentless showdown between chains. It seemed like every fast food joint in America was trying to outdo the rest in terms of chicken sandwiches, and people all over were going wild over all the options. Portillo's didn't participate in the battle; however, its Spicy Chicken Sandwich could have rivaled (and likely defeated) all the other contenders out there.

This chicken sandwich isn't complicated, but it has everything it needs to come out on top. It is made from a chicken breast coated in a crispy spicy breading, lettuce, and tomato drizzled in a hot Giardiniera sauce. The chicken breast has an amazing crunch on the outside and incredibly juicy meat inside. 

The lettuce and tomato are super fresh, but it's the hot Giardiniera sauce that places this sandwich on a throne. It's creamy with a hefty kick of spice, and even a little hint of sweetness, so the balance is fantastic. This is a chicken sandwich that won the war without even showing up.

In order to get the real Portillo's experience, it's imperative that you order one item on the menu: The Italian Beef Sandwich. Portillo's is known for this item, so passing on it would just be plain blasphemous. The Italian beef used in this sandwich is slow-roasted for four hours, so it turns out unbelievably juicy and tender. It's then sliced thin and served on freshly baked Turano French bread. 

The flavor of the beef here is outstanding; every bite erupts with rich juices that splash your palate with immense flavor. The sandwich is typically drizzled with beef gravy on top. However, you can opt to get your sandwich "dry" (little to no gravy) or "dipped" (the whole sandwich is dunked in gravy).

If you get it dipped, you'll need to eat it with a knife and fork because the bread becomes too soggy to hold, but this makes for a volcanic eruption of mind-blowing flavors that's worth its weight in gold. 

Portillo's suggests adding either sweet pepper or hot giardiniera peppers to crank this sandwich from a 10 to an 11. Whichever pepper you choose, sweet or hot, the result is unbelievably delicious. This sandwich alone is a reason to visit Portillo's.