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I weighed the cheese against the beer

the beer won

didn't want to be overly generous with the brother's tab
I'm not a complete asshat!

brother wants to go here for lunch........ same place as a year ago when they first opened.  Wasn't impressed but told him I'd give it another shot.
gets poor reviews....  I'll have the special burger deal.

Portillo's

Meat our first ever meal deal: The Big Burger Bundle, a char-broiled burger with fries and a drink for just $9.99!

If someone doesn't like Portillo's, I'm not sure what they're requiring.  The hotdogs and burgers are very good.  The fries are good.  They have cheese sauce.  They have a chocolate cake shake.  They have different sausages.  They have italian beef, wet or dry.

I mean jesus, man.  

If someone doesn't like Portillo's, I'm not sure what they're requiring.  The hotdogs and burgers are very good.  The fries are good.  They have cheese sauce.  They have a chocolate cake shake.  They have different sausages.  They have italian beef, wet or dry.

I mean jesus, man. 

possibly simply poor Texas management but, ......... the Italian beef (Wet) was NOT good at this location
I'm not blaming Jesus

I have no idea where the nearest Portillo's would be. When I entered my zip code into their locations finder, it just flipped me the bird. 

possibly simply poor Texas management but, ......... the Italian beef (Wet) was NOT good at this location
I'm not blaming Jesus

Italian Beef would potentially have two problems:

• It's definitely a more "unique" dish, that I can understand people who aren't Chicagoans not really gravitating to. I mean, it's a basic sandwich of roast beef, [optional] cheese, and hot or sweet peppers. And made completely soggy due to the dip. I can see people thinking "what the hell is the difference between this and a French Dip, except for a giant mess???"
• I can see a pretty wide disparity between a "good" and a "bad" beef. First and foremost, the various seasonings might be different between different places. Not that I expect this to be a problem at Portillo's, but I personally didn't really go to Portillo's for beef when I lived in Chicago... I had a bunch of places I preferred. But the second problem might be due to treatment... Much like BBQ, roast beef and the jus might not be as good if the turnover isn't high and it's sitting in a warming tray a while. Nobody wants beef that's dried out and the wrong texture. I absolutely COULD see this being a problem in a Texas Portillo's if they're not getting the turnover on the beef that they need to keep it fresh... 

These are the sorts of things that I wouldn't expect to be a problem with a Chicago Dog or a burger. Which might be why even when I go to the Portillo's in Buena Park, I order a Chicago Dog, not a beef. 

The place is ok in my view but well short of really good.  Unlikely to return.maybe that location is subpar.

Given an option I’d choose Applebees.  Yuck. 

I prefer no chains when available. 

I get that. 

But it also doesn't relate at all to the discussion of Applebees vs Portillo's. Applebees is about as generic of a generic chain restaurant as exists in this country. It's basically the epitome of generic homogenous "American" food. It seems like literally everything on the menu is designed to be completely and totally inoffensive, and thereby also nothing on the menu really ever achieves a level much above mediocre. It's a restaurant devoted to having nothing be terrible, which means they take zero chances to make something actually GOOD. 

Portillo's, of course, is a chain. But it was a regional chain existing solely in Chicago for many years. It bases its identity on that regional Chicago cuisine. It only over the last several years has expanded beyond its usual footprint, and in no way has the market penetration of something like Applebees. It, as far as I've been able to tell from visiting our local version, hasn't "sold its soul". 

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the Portillo's that you visited in FL is just a hollow shell of a restaurant trading on the notoriety of the name for Chicago ex-pats and hoping none of them realize that the attention to detail no longer exists. Maybe that's even true of the one in Buena Park; I haven't been there in a great long while. 

But even if it's only a fraction of its former self, to compare it to Applebees is just insulting. I'm inclined to think that you're simply trolling at this point.