Portillo’s Indianapolis-IN — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Ok, first of all I did not order a hot dog which is their claim to fame, but I was not impressed with this place overall. Everything is separate here so the price of each item adds up quickly, even if reasonable at first. For a burger, small fries and small drink you will pay a little over $8. The burger is a nice size but I can either get more food for the same price or a cheaper burger somewhere else. You can save money on the drink by ordering a water but the cup is small and you will be refilling it a lot. Also, there are no kids size meals. First time I have been to a "new" restaurant that doesn't offer smaller/cheaper portions for kids. For that reason I would not call this place family friendly (it will blow your meal budget out of the water), especially little kid friendly. They do have high chairs and booster seats, but you are probably going to have to over spend just to feed everyone what they want/like. Kids sharing meals is possible if they like the same thing and are not big eaters but adult and kid sharing will probably leave the adult a bit hungry (even with a 1 yr old).

There is a large menu with a wide variety of options so I am sure there are some unique choices that are good. However, if your family is just a burger/chicken/fries type of group I would definitely recommend going elsewhere because it's just too expensive and nothing special for what you get. I even tried a pasta bowl and while good, I felt I would get more for my money down the road at Olive Garden. Overall, food was good but over priced. For one or two adults going out to eat here will probably not be a big deal and they would probably enjoy it. This is not a good place to take a family with 2+ little kids, especially if you are budget conscious.

Also, I recommend knowing what you plan to order before you arrive. The counter ordering experience is hectic, much easier if you have...

I wish there was a way to give three and a half stars because that would be my rating of choice. The food I had was definitely better than okay but I wouldn't qualify it as fantastic.

Portillo's has a fun vibe, very Chicago and definitely brimming with a sense of their business history. Plan on spending at least a few minutes just gawking around at everything that's hanging on the walls and ceiling, then another few minutes gawking at their food choices.

I would encourage you to look at their menu online so that you get a good idea of what to expect when you get there. I ended up choosing a chicken sandwich, onion rings and a chocolate malt. The chicken sandwich was really great! The onion rings were of the crunchy breaded variety.... if your idea of onion rings is the classic, big beer-battered vibe, these are not that.

The malt was very thick, which some people love, and seemed to be made from soft serve ice cream rather than hand-dipped ice cream. Getting it through the straw is a nice challenge for the stout-hearted. Also the amount of malt powder used was such that if you had told me it was a regular milkshake, I would have believed you. So that was a bit of a disappointment. Next time I would definitely ask for extra malt powder. If you're going to have a malt you want to taste malty! Can I get an amen from the back of the room?

Social distancing and keeping the tables clean and disinfected seemed to be a high priority, so it felt like a very safe environment.

I'll definitely be back, although I will make different choices next time. I'm mystified by tamales being one of their side items....

This place is fine, if you have no other options. This location just recently opened, and we were quite excited to try a new place! Heartily disappointed. I had the chicken club, which was fine. Chicken was crispy without being dried out, lettuce was chunks of the white stem part of the iceberg lettuce (uck), bun was nothing special. Husband had the beef and sausage combo and that is pretty much what it was. Shredded beef and some ground sausage on a 6" sub bun. No toppings, dressing, cheese, nothing. Just meat on a bun. We ordered the cheese fries, since nothing comes with fries. Hubby dipped his sandwich in to the extra cheese sauce and said it vastly improved an otherwise boring sandwich. Cheese for the fries were good, but the fries were only moderately warm and nothing to write home about. Hubby then ordered a large chocolate cake shake. Omg. I have no idea how he drank/ate that thing! SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE! I mean, I love chocolate, I never turn it down! But this was sickeningly over done. The place was packed (did I mention it is new to the area?), there was a huge number of staff working in the kitchen so the wait wasn't horrible. Staff could use a bit more training in how to be courteous/welcoming but I will cut them some slack cause it was a busy Saturday. We won't be going back as there are a ton of better places to get a much tastier, more filling, lunch for less than what...