The Inbetween

So you've just seen a movie with a group of friends and your significant other, and now it's about 8 o'clock. You're hungry because the popcorn and candy from the movie theater didn't cut it for you, and now you only have $10 left in your pocket. You want to go to a restaurant that isn't boring, has irresistible food, and is an appropriate setting for the group of people that you’re with. So what restaurant do you choose?

It's too late to hit up a Greasy Spoon in a questionable location, you don't want to go to a McDonald's like you always do, and you definitely don't have enough money to go to an elegant sit-down restaurant. In this case, I would recommend giving Portillo's a shot. It's the perfect mix of casual-outing-with-friends and date-night. The 1920's Chicago-style atmosphere engages you to look around and see what's happening around the entire restaurant. You see everything from old photos and signs covering every inch of the walls to the employees preparing your food right in front of you. Not to mention that the food is absolutely delicious (especially the Chicago-style Hot Dogs.)

Even if you’re not into the Chicago-style Hot Dogs (but come, on, who isn’t a fan of those?), there are still many other all-American options on the menu that can appeal to every taste.

The group of friends that I went with to Portillo’s had a range of different tastes. Some of them wanted burgers and fries, some wanted fish, and some, like myself, couldn’t decide between a sandwich and a salad. And of course, we couldn’t exclude the dessert factor of it all. As soon as my party walked in, we found ourselves a table in the middle of the dining area. We could’ve chosen a booth, but because there were so many in our group, we pulled the tables together so that eight people could sit down together comfortably.  As soon as we got settled with that, we went up to the counter to order our food at the register. In my case, I invited my boyfriend and my best friend with me, so we  put our money together and paid within the same order, and our total only came out to be $26.48 for an Asian Chicken Wonton salad, a Grilled Tuna sandwich, an Italian Beef sandwich, a Coke, and two of their famous Chocolate Cake Shakes.

 

Not too shabby. As we moved down the counter, we saw our food being prepared right in front of us so we knew exactly what was going into it.  Fresh ingredients and no spit from the employees. In minutes we had our meal and returned to our table. Talk about some fast quality service, eh? 

Asian Chicken Wonton Salad

Grilled Tuna Sandwich

Italian Beef Sandwich

The taste of the food was no failure, as expected. It was delicious! But the quality of the food was another story. The Asian Chicken Wonton salad was a bit hard to eat. The salad leaves were too large, and the chips in it (the Wontons, I presume) were difficult to stab with my fork since it was so much harder than the rest of the salad. The Grilled Tuna sandwich was apparently too difficult to eat, according to my best friend, because the bun was too soggy and all the ingredients were sliding everywhere. The Italian Beef sandwich, according to my boyfriend, was too small and didn’t satisfy his hunger (but then again, he’s a boy. Boys are always hungry, right?) As for the Chocolate Cake Shake, I’ve heard great things of it, so of course I had to give it a taste for myself. At first, yeah, it was pretty great. But then I couldn’t get past the chunks of chocolate cake (which were undoubtedly a few days old) traveling up my straw with the rest of the smooth chocolate milkshake. Chunks just aren’t my thing. So if you’re like me and you hate chunks, I do not recommend the cake shake.

The rest of the experience was spectacular though. The restaurant was extremely lively without being too overwhelming. All age groups were present at Portillo’s, including children, teens, young adults, middle-agers, and old-timers. I even saw a former teacher having dinner with his family there. You know that by seeing such a variety of people at Portillo’s, you can declare that it is definitely a friendly environment in which you can enjoy your meal and the company of others while still having a great time. So the next time you need a tasty yet inexpensive place to eat with friends and maybe even your date, try Portillo’s (if you don’t mind being a messy eater in front of them).