12 Popular Portillo's Menu Items, Ranked

Portillo's is something of a beloved Windy City institution, and it's the one chain Chicagoans trust to get Chicago food right. The chain, which has spread to other cities and states, got its start as a trailer in 1963, with only $1,100 toward the endeavor. The chain's namesake, Dick Portillo, began the trailer as a way to serve Chicagoans' favorite foods, but it has grown to bring a taste of Chicago to the masses. Granted, the menu has more than just Chicago-specific street food, though that's certainly the focus of the space.

Portillo's also has an impressive drive-through, with its crew taking orders in colorful vests. Inside, you'll find a vibrant, welcoming space full of décor on the walls and a great view of the kitchen. If you love watching your food be made, walk along the windows and take in the bustling kitchen positively humming with activity. Alternatively, find a seat and wait for your number to be called. When it is, you'll likely get some kind of rhyming proclamation beckoning you to the window.

My family and I visit Portillo's once a week before our Costco trip. It's become a favorite Tuesday evening tradition, deliciously laden with hot dogs, Italian beef, cheese fries, and the occasional milkshake. To try more of what Portillo's has to offer, my family and I tried a large number of all-star items from the Portillo's menu. After tasting each, we rated and ranked them, considering flavor, texture, and how the item compares to similar items we've tried from other brands. In the end, I was pleased to see my favorites hold up as some of the best items on the menu, even if others left less than a positive impression.

One of the condiments Portillo's offers is a Hot Giardiniera sauce. This golden sauce adorns the chain's spicy chicken sandwich alongside lettuce, tomato, and a brioche bun. Typically, I've had the giardiniera sauce on fries, and it's always been enjoyable. So I imagined it would be delicious on a chicken sandwich, too. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

When I order a spicy chicken sandwich from a fast food restaurant, I never expect the spice to amount to much. Typically, the spice is a nice bite, but it doesn't last for long. Portillo's spicy chicken sandwich, however, should come with a warning label. It was over-the-top spicy to the point that all I could taste was the heat. Rather than being an accent to the chicken, it was a distraction.

There were parts of the sandwich that were enjoyable, like the bun and chicken patty. In fact, as far as chicken sandwiches go, the patty was one of the better I've had. I felt the juiciness could have been more substantial, but the texture and flavor were solid. Truly, the sauce ruined this sandwich. Being someone who loves sauce on a sandwich, even I'm surprised such a thing is possible.

When I visit a restaurant I love, like Portillo's, I have a favorite meal I return to often. As a result, I don't venture out to the rest of the menu even though I've heard great things. Unexpectedly, the chopped salad always gets a lot of praise, so when I had the opportunity to try it for this piece, my expectations may have been unfairly high. After all, with a salad that has little ditalini pasta in it, you get the best of both worlds.

There may be pasta in this, but with the iceberg lettuce, chicken, bacon, tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese, green onion, red cabbage, and house dressing, it really is just a salad. Though not bad-tasting, it didn't surpass any other salad I've ever had, landing it toward the bottom of this list. I expected some kind of a unique taste experience, but at the end of the day, it didn't change my go-to Portillo's order. It would have been better with warm chicken, so if I'm ever wanting a salad in the future, that's definitely how I would order it. I should note that this salad comes with a roll, and I think it was the best part.

With a shake that has an actual chocolate cake piece blended right into it, what could be better? Hot take: The chocolate shake at Portillo's is better than the Chocolate Cake Shake. I know, I know. I'm probably earning some eye rolls from behind your screen.

This shake is very chocolatey with both the chocolate shake base and the cake, so the flavor is rather intense. I'll admit that I quite enjoy the flavor, but the texture destroys it for me. Predictably, the chocolate cake pieces come through and feel like a very mushy cake. I'm all for a moist chocolate cake, and I love ice cream and cake paired together, but when all the sponginess is missing, the cake loses so much appeal. My mom commented that this milkshake felt like drinking cake, and while she meant that as a compliment, I just can't endorse the texture of the experience.

I absolutely love Chicago-style hot dogs, and as one of the fast food chains that serve the highest quality hot dogs, Portillo's makes a great option for those living outside of the Windy City. Before landing in Italian beef sandwich land, the Chicago-style hot dog was my bread and butter at Portillo's. As a teen, I worked at a short-lived Chicago-style hot dog restaurant in northern Illinois called Bunpuppies. In those days, I learned how to make them perfectly, so I'm rather picky when it comes to my Chicago hot dogs. Unfortunately, the version from this Portillo's location was not up to snuff on the particular day that I tried it.

The ideal Chicago-style hot dog has a nice snap to the casing, a steamed bun that is perfectly soft, yellow mustard, neon green relish, diced onions, tomato pieces, a pickle spear, sport peppers, and a sprinkling of celery salt. This dog had most of the necessary elements, but there were too few onions, the pickle was small and dried up, and (perhaps the worst offense) the celery salt was nowhere to be seen.

I've had great Chicago-style hot dogs from Portillo's, and that's what makes this one all the more disappointing. A Chicago-style hot dog may be dragged through the garden, but that doesn't mean it should be missing items along the way or be any less well-assembled. Even still, for high-quality fast food hot dogs, Portillo's is a delicious option. My experience with this item is the exception, not the rule.

I love a great fish sandwich. Portillo's Breaded Whitefish Sandwich is good, but it's not great. The sandwich comes on a brioche bun with a fillet of whitefish. For toppings, you get shredded lettuce (though mine was served with a large piece of lettuce instead), American cheese, and tartar sauce.

The shredded (or whole) lettuce and entire slice of American cheese (as opposed to McDonald's half slice of cheese) give the feel of a fish sandwich you might try sitting by the water at a beachfront café. Looks can be deceiving, however, and even though I found it to be more enjoyable than the Filet-O-Fish, it wasn't by much.

The flavors of the sandwich all work well together, and the fish doesn't have much of a fishy taste. It's just generally fine, finding itself squarely in the middle of the pack. If I had to pick between McDonald's fish sandwich or this one, I'd likely pick Portillo's, especially because I can get a side of cheese fries with it.

Scoring right in the middle of my overall ranking, we come to Portillo's onion rings. As a side, I typically go for the cheese fries, but I was excited to try these onion rings since they've long seemed tempting.

If you love onion rings, you'll enjoy these. They were crispy on the outside with a perfectly cooked (and not soggy) onion on the inside. I found these tasted less like fast food onion rings and more like those that might come on the side of a club sandwich at your favorite chill downtown lunch spot. The flavors and textures were exactly where I expected them to be, and though I placed them in the middle of my ranking, I recommend these. I likely won't order these in place of cheese fries, but I can happily recommend them to onion ring lovers.

The Char-Grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage feels ultra-unique in terms of Chicago cuisine. You can order a Chicago-style hot dog at restaurants all across the country (though some will know what to do better than others), and Italian beef sandwiches are scattered everywhere, thanks to the popularity of HBO's "The Bear." The Char-Grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, however, is a little more exclusive.

Looking at a picture of the unsung hero of Chicago's hot dog stands, you might imagine that all that yellow is liquid cheese. However, this Polish sausage has a topping of yellow mustard and grilled onions. The sausage itself was substantial, sticking out of the poppy seed bun, with grill marks along the top. It also offered a nice snap.

The particular Char-Grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage prepared for me was enjoyable, though I think if the onions had been more grilled and caramelized, it would have been even better. My husband, who hates raw onions, ended up taking his onions off the bite he tried, so that part of the experience was certainly missing for his tasting. Even still, the flavor and texture make this one of the more memorable and tasty sandwiches at Portillo's.

I love cheese fries. Whether the cheese is smothered on top, delivered as a shredded mess to be melted down, or gloriously drizzled over the top like some kind of golden, perfect fry sauce, they're all great. At Portillo's, you make your typical French fries into cheese fries by simply ordering it with a side of dippable cheese.

The crinkle-cut fries are substantial enough to feel hearty and strong enough to withstand a drag through the condiment. Between the comforting flavor of a delicious french fry and the saltiness of both the fries and the cheese, these are a win every time. It's rare when I find an overdone fry or one that doesn't feel up to snuff. These pair well with anything on the menu, but I've found they're especially enjoyable with an Italian beef full of grease and juiciness.

Perhaps the most surprising item I tried on the Portillo's menu was the chicken tenders. Portillo's obviously has its specialties, and most people don't think of chicken when they consider Portillo's. Instead, it's an Italian beef and dog place. It's not quite the kind of tasty chicken you might find at Popeye's, where the menu uses fried chicken, but it'll surprise you.

Rather than tasting like freshly breaded tenders, they reminded me of the kind of chicken tenders you might order off of the kids' menu when the adult menu is full of barely pronounceable main courses. The kids' menu offers more reasonable choices for the youngest members of your family while maintaining a very tasty bite. You can expect the same from Portillo's chicken tenders, which is why these are so high in my overall ranking. They were obviously previously frozen rather than freshly breaded, but they were delicious all the same.

When I was little, my family grew strawberries in our backyard. Modest plants would overtake most of the garden (and drift into other parts of the yard). With the spoils, we'd often prepare strawberry shortcake, so I've had my fair share of the good homemade stuff. The strawberry shortcake at Portillo's is just as good as the shortcake you can make at home, and you don't even need to devote half of your yard to do it. These are made fresh in the morning, and they taste like it. This cake is officially my new favorite dessert at Portillo's, even beyond the basic chocolate shake.

The whipped mascarpone on top is pleasingly smooth, and the strawberry filling looks like the fruit has been marinating in its own juices and sugar for long enough to become simply irresistible. It also uses angel food cake, which is my preferred way to enjoy strawberry shortcake. Your mileage may vary, but I love those little sponge cakes sold in grocery stores as strawberry season dawns and blooms, and Portillo's cake seems to be in a similar style as them.

The charbroiled cheeseburger at Portillo's has a straight-from-your-home-grill kind of flavor. They're distinctive in the world of fast food, making other mass-produced burgers look a little weak in comparison. On the cheeseburger, you'll find mayo, ketchup, lettuce, a tomato slice, red onion, and pickles atop a burger weighing in at a third of a pound.

Opening the burger box, it looks impressive, and the Kaiser roll bun is substantial enough for the meat and its accompaniments. For those burger lovers who enjoy that just-from-the-charcoal taste, the charbroiled burgers here will be memorable. It's everything you want in a great burger in terms of flavor and texture. I had no complaints, and it far surpassed my expectations of a fast food burger.

The absolute crowning glory of the Portillo's menu is the Italian beef. Though I ordered a regular-sized Italian beef, I was upgraded to the Big Beef, and with how much I love this sandwich, you heard no complaints from me.

The beef is prepared over several hours, in very thin slices, and slow-roasted. There are many ways to order an Italian beef in Chicago and at Portillo's, and the process is deeply personal. I like mine sweet and hot, dipped. This means that the beef comes with those huge pieces of soft, sweet peppers and hot giardiniera. Then, the whole thing gets dipped in gravy. It's perfect, soft, and juicy, and there's no better way (in my opinion) to enjoy one. Typically, it comes in its own bag to contain the juices, and this is always a great sign. Bar none, this is the best-tasting item on the menu with the most nuance and enjoyable texture. Before digging in, be sure to pick up plenty of napkins and leave your shyness at the door.

To rank these Portillo's favorites, I enlisted the help of my son, husband, and mom to try, rate, and rank each item. While my son was mostly only interested in the strawberry shortcake, my mom, husband, and I sampled each item, taking one or two bites from each. After tasting, we would give the items a score out of 10. To arrive at this score, we considered the item's texture, flavor, and how well it stacked up against similar food items we've tried. I took the average of these numbers to arrive at our ultimate rankings. Ultimately, the favorite item, the Italian beef, scored a perfect 10 between the three of us.

To be exceptional, the food would need to have an enjoyable taste and texture. We also considered how well each would perform against similar items from other restaurants, letting the relative similarity or vastly different experience color how the item would ultimately earn a score.