Chicago-born chain for hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches & more, plus beer & wine, in retro digs. Based on 9 reviews, the restaurant has received a rating of 4.3 stars. Price $
✔️ Dine-in ✔️ Drive-through ✔️ Delivery
Address:
555 E 81st Ave, Merrillville, IN 46410
Phone: (219) 769-8300
Hours
| Sunday | 10:30 AM–11:30 PM |
| Monday
(Labor Day)
|
10:30 AM–11:30 PM
Hours might differ
|
| Tuesday | 10:30 AM–11:30 PM |
| Wednesday | 10:30 AM–11:30 PM |
| Thursday | 10:30 AM–11:30 PM |
| Friday | 10:30 AM–12 AM |
| Saturday | 10:30 AM–12 AM |
Menu
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Menu Photos
Photo Gallery
Reviews
JENNIFER WARD
One of my favorite restaurants! Love the Italian beef, (you can get it dipped), polish sausage, hotdogs, strawberry shortcake and chocolate cake! Lots of salad options. Quality food and so delicious! If you haven’t eaten here yet, you are Truly missing out! Cool decor. Usually a bit of a wait for get your food, but well worth it!
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I Drink And I Know Things
ALL cheese cups filled less than half….4 in total….the true scam also is the inset bottom as you can see from pictures. Its not a true bottom and the cheese is expensive. Your cheese is gone almost instantly from their scam cups and cheap fill. Do not get cheese…ever!!
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Emily
Not the best picture of the food but the food was amazing! Employees were friendly and everything about this place was awesome!
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Rachel McClelland
We were passing thru and wanted to try some Chicago style food since it was our first time here. Upon entering Ms. Price greeted us with warm friendliness. We asked for suggestions and she said it would all be good. We settled on the Italian beef, dipped with hot peppers. It was messy but absolutely flavorful and melted in your mouth. Ms. Price came to check on us and saw what we ordered and she brought us a cup and said you need this with your fries. We asked what it was and she said just try it. It was a cup of smooth melted cheddar for dipping. The perfect touch we didn’t know we needed. She was determined to make our visit unforgettable and she did. What an asset to the restaurant. It is clear that the manager, Steve is running a great store by how friendly and efficient the staff was. The ambiance was ragtime music and vintage signs, with stained glass partitions. It kinda felt like we were at a theme park…but one with ACTUAL delicious food. We will be searching out the Portillo’s in our home state!
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Matthew B
Came in at 10:30am into the restaurant on a Saturday morning. The place was a disgustingly dirty. The revolving door had greasy fingerprints and some food stuck to it. the floors had food from the previous day laying on the ground. A stack of receipts spewing out of the register printer. I went to use the restroom before ordering and both mens toilets were clogged. the Urinal had dry urine all over the floor with pubic hair stuck all over it. There were two employees in the dining area both standing around for at leaset 15 minutes near what appeared to be their cleaning station not working at cleaning the place up.
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NAllen Gen
The staff was very unprofessional in their appearance and behavior. Staff was discussing staffing issues and using profanity. They were goofing around in the food preparation area. The food prep area was filthy and disorganized. The floor was dirty. Workers were unsanitary, one scratched her shoulder with gloves on and did not change the gloves, another worker scratched her scalp. The manager I believe was acting as a cashier and also working in the food prep area, completely ignored all of these behaviors. Workers were also using their cell phones in the food prep area. I waited 20 minutes for my order which is puzzling because there were many workers present. Portillo’s in Merrillville needs to train their employees, clean the facility, and abide by regulatory standards before a customer gets sick from the unsanitary conditions.
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Luis Valdes
Keep a close eye at orders. Didn’t call mine and disappeared from the screen. After I asked they scramble to put something together and threw some old hotdogs from a random order. Don’t eat here if you are picky. You get random food every other time.
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Anna M
The food was pretty good although the soup seemed like it was straight out of the can. Unfortunately the service experience we had was not the best. The young lady outside taking our order was very rude and you could tell she was having a rough day. Check in on your employees more Portillos! We all have rough days from time to time
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Mike Terry
Just driving to Chicago from Lexington, Ky and I was looking for a more local new place to try and this is where we landed. As we pulled up there was a wrap around line at the drive thru and I took that as a good sign. We got inside and the inside line was considerably shorter than the drive thru. The menu was reasonably diverse with a few interesting items but I settled on the burger combo and kept it simple. The inside of this place is very interesting as you can see from the pictures. The store won some type of award for the area of being one of the best places to dine in 2021 and I can see why. The place is also a great size and can clearly cater to large groups. Overall the food was pretty good 4/5 but when you factor in all of the rest I feel it deserves the upgrade to a 5. Ambience 5/5 Menu 5/5 Price 5/5 and Service 4/5.
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Shawn
Love the food, hated this location.
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