Portillo's & Barnelli's Crystal Lake — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

My family comes to this Portillos whenever we’re in town. I’m leaving a review because we had a negative experience that was made positive in the end.

Today we arrived at to somewhat busier drive through than normal. We ordered and waited. We ended up waiting 55 minutes before we finally got our food. We weren’t angry but we obviously just wanted to get our food and go. I believe they were understaffed and it appeared that the folks walking orders out to cars were newer employees. Our car’s “ticket” must have blown off because we were set aside waiting for a very long time. Eventually Cami that was operating from inside of the building noticed our car not being served and worked to resolve our situation. Not only was our ticket missing on our car but the order must have gotten lost in the rush. She apologized and asked what we ordered and said she’d make sure it’s made fresh and delivered to us promptly. While we waited she asked what we wanted to drink and she got us 2 large sodas for the wait. When the order was being sent out to us she said “there’s an extra bag of 2 slices of cake for you guys. I’m so sorry for the wait. And thank you for your patience”.

We never get angry at people. We figured they were busy and understaffed and weren’t anticipating the food rush for the unusual time of day. Things happen. But Cami really made us feel like our time and money was valued, and she did all of this very quickly and with a really beautiful and friendly smile! My wife was commenting afterward as we drove away “She was so sweet, and she just had gorgeous eyes!”.

Cami was wonderful. SHE is the reason we would be loyal to any business where we can be a customer. She’s very sharp and she’s very sweet. We appreciate her kindness and intentionality. We’re thankful for her. And any business that has her employed will be exceedingly better for it.

PLEASE GIVE HER A RAISE!!!

You’re a winner, Cami. And you went above and beyond serving us. We...

Portillos used to be one of my all-time favorites. Anytime you went out of town or had visitors, you bragged about Portillos.

Ever since the buy-out, things have drastically changed. The service is atrocious. Ingredients have been cut and cheapened to save a buck. The taste isn’t the same anymore.

I’m not saying it’s terrible. However, those who grew up with Portillos know exactly what I mean by this. It’s changed and not for the better.

Portion sizes have shrunk. The fries have been changed and always taste and come out burnt. The cheese sauce curdles up VERY QUICK.

A few weeks ago I ordered the Italian sausage. The bread is no longer turano. It was horrible. It was a soggy, falling apart mess. The sweet peppers were basically mush. The sausage itself was fatty, gristly, and over cooked.

The Italian beef is horrible now. Very chewy, tough, fatty, and gristly. There are much better options out there now. It’s a shame, their beef used to be famous. Legendary.

The hot dogs and polish sausages are totally different. The hot dogs are smaller, lack flavor, and lack that classic “snap”. I doubt they’re Vienna. The polish used to be juicy and delicious. Now, it’s dry and flavorless.

Portillos really changed after being sold off. It’s a true shame to those who grew up eating at Portillos. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the...

Adopting the idea that they are too big to fail. The last three times I have been to the Crystal Lake Portillo's, it has been less than good. This recent trip really upset me. What it all boils down to is that the people working here care more about being fast than great customer service. I pulled up into the drive thru and ordered two Italian beef sandwiches, easy hot peppers, two small cheese fries and a coke easy ice. after paying, the girl who was bringing the orders to the cars had 3 orders in her hands when she got to my car. My order which was under her left arm had crushed one of the containers of cheese sauce, spilling it all over the bag. When she walked by me again, I informed her of the mess that was created in the bag, there was no apology, she just took the bad and then said I have a new order for you. When I got to the window I was given a new order, to which I looked at before driving away. My beef sandwiches had one hot pepper on it. One? Trying to be funny. The manager came over, apologized and refunded my money, that's fine, but how many times to I give another try until I just stop coming back. I don't want a refund, I want food that looks as good as it tastes. Please train the staff to slow down a bit. Prepare the food the way you would for...