Portillo's Homewood — Restaurant in Thornton Township

Food's good, workers are good. Always had a meh or average experience typically, maybe just because I grew up in the Chicagoland area and Portillos is just another fast food place to me and ain't anything special. Well, this was the first time I had a memorable experience, hence why it is getting a review as nothing was done to assist the situation.

Today at around 8pm there was a single, long line for the drive-thru that failed to divide at some point and grew lengthy. I was asked by a worker to pull up to the second line ahead of about 6 cars, and along pulling up I heard something yelling (foreshadowing, lol). Order, pay, put turn signal on because I was already uncomfortable and didn't like cutting people in line, and with the worker there and my immediate signal it was kinda my indirect way of saying "okay y'all, they told me to do this". I even remember telling my husband next to me that people were gonna be pissed. Worker asks me to move up to the cones and then merge like any other fast food joint with two lines on this planet, so I did so. Well, something that looked like an escaped circus freakshow exhibit somehow driving a gold Chevy slammed on the horn for a solid 10 seconds, flying in front of me as I was already merging (I was next in line, you know, a lesson you learn in Kindergarten about taking turns). Blamed me and accused me of cutting in line, yapping on and on, also noticably called me a "b¡tch" as if I also hadn't been waiting in a still line for 20 minutes up until that point (big words coming from something who rolled up it's window right after that, lol), etc. I was just doing as told, but no worker walked with me forward to start the new line and assumptions were drawn by everyone I'd assume. Go watch the cameras right on the corner before turning down the main stretch, I was trying to explain that we both have the same issue, even referring to it as "ma'am" at one point trying to calm freakshow down. I had a one month old son who was in my truck at that point. Thank god he was there to keep my husband and I rational, cuz we don't take stuff like that from anyone, especially me. Got food, all was correct and accounted for, and kept driving. We laughed it off on the way home, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to raise h€ll with that thing in front of me the entire drive-thru wait.

It should not be up to your customers to play de-escalation team, have to explain situations and form lines when tensions are already high. It was already uncomfortable, people are hangry and now you got sparks flying. It ain't a good idea. Have an employee walk forward with them so assumptions aren't forged and fights don't have to start when people are hangry. If something is going wrong, that ain't the workers faults, but at least understand folks in line - including the creature in the Chevy - don't have patience for it most of the time to think logically about it and empathize with the situation in 2025. Always be on top of lines, because if my truck was even tapped or my son wasn't there, I guarantee this night would've went down a lot differently.

Once again, management, this ain't your workers faults. They did what they could and had a long, hangry line. But step up and stress the need for two constant lines. If there is only one long one and a second is open, have a worker walk down with the truck/car so the others waiting longer don't assume the driver in lane 2 is cutting. I feel like this is...

I am absolutely livid at how this pathetic excuse for a store is tarnishing the Portillo's name. Portillo’s used to be a reliable haven for anyone in the Chicago area craving good food, especially when the clock’s ticking late at night. But today? Unbelievable. I’ve been to a lot of Portillo's locations, but this one is hands down the worst. It’s an absolute disgrace.

I waited over 20 minutes for my food, and my two friends and I were the only customers in the place. But that’s not the worst part—my friend’s food came out cold after waiting a ridiculous 25 minutes. When we finally got our food, we sat down and tried to make the best of this waste of time and money, but it was a joke.

Let’s talk about the disastrous customer service. No one, not a single person, even bothered to check on us during the 20-minute wait. Not a word. The staff knew damn well we were waiting forever, but no one cared enough to make sure we were taken care of. That’s not just poor service, it’s flat-out disrespect. You have to be completely out of touch to treat customers this way.

And then, as if it couldn’t get worse, two minutes after we sat down, the lights went out in the dining area. You seriously took 25 minutes to get us our food, and then had the audacity to turn off the lights as soon as we finally get it? You forced us to wait like suckers, and then tried to kick us out with the lights off like it was our fault? We would’ve been out of there already if you’d done your job. But no, you had to make sure we felt the complete disrespect all the way to the end.

Portillo's used to be something I looked forward to. Not anymore. The Homewood location is a total embarrassment to the entire brand. It’s a sad, pathetic joke that clearly couldn’t care less about its customers. I will never step foot in this place again, and I’m going to make sure everyone knows how bad it is. No one should have to deal with this nonsense. I wouldn’t wish this on my...

I've been going to Portillos since the first month Dick opened the trailer. I love Portillos, after Dick sold I was so happy that the new owners didn't change hardly anything, but that appears to be over. I've noticed in my last few visits that the fresh brewed ice tea is gone at more and more locations. The crew working seems to be less and less interested if good service. For example that I ordered a chili dog with only mustard, the first version had cheese on it. It took me a few minutes to get anyone's attention when I went to the counter to request they remake it correctly. The cashier had it correct on the order, so several minutes to get someone to talk to me even though several staff were only a few steps away. None seemed to care about the counter unless they had an order for pickup, during that time two different people walked past me at the counter and the gut close they actually looked away from the counter. Finally the one young lady calling numbers had an order ready and walked over to the country called the order and started to walk away but this time I managed to get her attention. It took almost five minutes to get the replacement chili dog with ez mustard. Again fixed wrong. I gave up on taking it back, I didn't have enough time to go through that again.

This in addition to adding breakfast which I rushed out right away to try it, apparently a good breakfast wasn't as important as having a good breakfast. What I had tasted awful and was very small for the price. To me if you're going to start doing breakfast it should taste good. I tried twice but neither one was good. It's feeling like the accounts and making the decisions solely based on how much they can save. With no regard to letting the high standards that made Portillos an excellent place to go, I used to go all the time not so much anymore. I hope someone is watching...