Photo's Hotdogs — Restaurant in Palatine Township

Its been many years since I have been to Photos, and last time was not that good and today was not any better. I'm doing low carb these days and their menu had some good options, so I thought I would give them another shot. I ordered the Italian beef bowl (no bread)with cheese and hot peppers and a fountain drink. $13 and change, not great price, but not bad either these days. Where this broke down is its supposed to come with extra meat. There was hardly enough meat to fill a basic sandwich, let alone qualify as "extra meat."

Also, the beef was not very flavorful, but the real crime was, it was curled up, which means, they put cold beef in very hot beef gravy to cook it fast. This is a cardinal sin in the Chicago area and means their knowledge of Italian Beef is lacking or their process is not being followed. Either way it was bad. It makes the meat rubbery. You will never see that at the beef leaders in this town, we all know who they are. Their giardinera was good though. They put a mozzarella & cheddar mix on it, which was fine. I had just played a round of golf and was starving and this did not even come close to filling me up.

So, I went back to get a cheeseburger (no bun) $8.99 I think. How bad could that be, right? It was thin and small, cooked on a flat top grill and kind of greasy. Maybe it was a quarter pound, I'm not sure. But it didn't seem like it. But the taste was bad, actually horrible, I don't think it was seasoned at all and had a strange flavor, that was off-putting.

They gave me a generous side portion of lettuce and pickles, I just wanted a small amount of tomato due to the carbs, that was all great. The pickles were really great and the best part of the burger.

I think at least I was full after that. I think their definition of "extra meat" and most people's, are not the same. The Coke Zero out of the fountain was actually very good, perfect mixture. That is many times, not the case.

Italian Beef, Cheeseburger, fountain drink, $24 all in. Frustration - free.😁

Response to manager comment: You advertise it right on your menu board in the restaurant. ...

If I could give you zero stars I gladly would. Why do I continually subject myself to bad service and even worse food? I don't have one answer. I have Groupon vouchers to use. I've exchanged several already. The menu is so limited. The prices are outrageous and definitely not worth it. The food is awful. The chicken gyro isn't authentic. It's slapped around the grill to warm it up and thrown in a pita. Chiggy's down the street is authentic, cut from the slab in front of you, a very generous portion and delicious. You could take several tips from them!! My husband had the grilled chicken pita. It's exactly the same as the chicken gyro. He was just as disappointed because his was dry and there was hardly any meat in it. It looked so unappetizing that I almost couldn't be near him while he was eating. He really enjoyed his cheese fries. I guess you really can't screw those up!! My cheese curds were good. The portion was small. I mentioned it to the kid behind the counter and he told me that they weigh them out so they are all like that. Wow....You weigh out your cheese curds. I'm at a loss for words. Maybe counting them out and throwing a few extras in sounds a whole lot better to me!! I can't keep this to myself. IT'S TOO GOOD!! I guess I'll be ordering cheese fries next time. Which as of right now, I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully, you'll get some new staff, change your menu, change your food vendors, modify your prices and maybe you'll win me back as a...

I drive past here a lot, and I haven't stopped in years, and I vaguely remember it being halfway decent and not too pricey last time I've eaten here. Let me tell you that is no longer the case. Extremely overpriced, inflation does not make 3x hotdogs with lower quality than a gas station and a fry =29$ A fry that when asked the order taker couldn't describe the size/portions of ... "I don't know, it's maybe like a medium?? a good amount of fries come in an order..." was the answer I got when I asked roughly how many portions were in their only option for fries. Two portions, I would say, or one if you're very hungry ... and you enjoy rediculously oversalted fries. Defintly about 19 portions of salt, that's for sure. The dogs are meh at best with a HEAVY hand of celery salt. I guess they really like over salting, be it regular or celery 🤷‍♀️ My son, who is very particular about his food and has certian aversions, ordered a plain hotdog, and it did come plain, but with some wonderfully smeared mustard marks inside the wrapper that transfered to the outside of the bun... i assume from the gloves/hands of the cook. It was not a big deal.. except to him, it very much was. For the price, I'd hope for a less sloppy job, but I digress. Got a free tail on my pickle included for almost the almost $30 cost...