When is Portillo's Opening in New Lenox?

Redhead September 12, 2012 at 11:31 am

Love their chopped salad and chocolate cake!!!!

Dutch September 12, 2012 at 12:55 pm

A couple of local restaurant owners were upset because their business will suffer!!!

NL Resident September 12, 2012 at 01:20 pm

I'm sure, but hopefully only in the beginning, or until the novelty of something new wears off. I have my favorite restaurants that I will continue to go to as my office is near another Portillos location so I have gotten my fair share already.

Tori Linthicum September 12, 2012 at 01:25 pm

Meh. Over-priced hot dogs. Chopped salad = iceberg. Nice building.

NL4LIFE September 12, 2012 at 01:35 pm

This is good for the town. It should draw other businesses. That empty retail lot across the street should fill up

trish September 12, 2012 at 02:59 pm

Bet I know who picked this...... ;-)

Kelli W. September 12, 2012 at 04:31 pm

I'm very excited about them coming to town. We need a good place to eat here in New Lenox.

AV September 13, 2012 at 12:14 pm

Exactly- we need a good place. Not another fast food style place. When can we get a nicer, upscale restaurant like a Coopers Hawk or something similar?

AV September 13, 2012 at 12:14 pm

And yes I know we have a CH not far- I was just using that as an example. We have family restaurants and fat food places. Meh.

JM of NL September 13, 2012 at 06:14 pm

First, they gave back the tax break. That's awesome! Kind of a big deal. They didn't have to. Next, they will attract allot of people from the New Lenox suburbs that would normally not come into town. So many other businesses will benefit. And finally, their final employee base will be 150 people. Granted, most of those postions are part time but in these tough times, a job is a job. Don't care too much about the food, which is awesome!- I'm just looking at the economic impact.

joe madarik September 15, 2012 at 08:57 pm

How becoming that a nice business comes to a nice town! Good Luck to Portillo's and the people of New Lenox for for the foresight to bring this thing together.

John Lisbeth September 16, 2012 at 02:10 am

Didn't that hot dog place 1/2 mile down the road just fail- Winders ?
I think the pink slime and mechanically separated meat biz is passe, unless you are -or aspire to be - a 300 lb customer.

Chicagoan September 18, 2012 at 12:55 am

Welcome Portillo's to New Lenox, I'm beyond thrilled that you are here!

Lily Addison September 18, 2012 at 02:09 am

I really don't think we needed another greasy overpriced fast food place in NL. What happened to the quaint town I grew up in? It was the reason my parents moved here, and the reason I wanted to raise my family here. Now its a mess with another construction zone for a year, just to accomodate another gaudy building. I think I counted 5 gigantic neon signs on that building alone! Isn't there some ordinance against that, or was that the deal that was made when the tax incentive was "given back"? No way another place would have been allowed to do this right next to houses. I would have moved. Imagine the noise and polution from that greasepit! We got the Walmart, the sliders & the greaspit, welcome to New Lenox folks! Hee Haw!

Tori Watson September 18, 2012 at 05:12 am

Mayor Baldeman will be on hand at the Grand Opening to collect his fat envelope of cash.

BRW September 18, 2012 at 11:36 am

I remember Tim coming down to the VFW years back so smooch a few behinds. We had a few fundraisers this weekend and Tim was nowhere to be found...huh.

Katie T. September 18, 2012 at 01:04 pm

I'm looking forward to Portillo's opening. Nice alternative to the McDonald's we have once a month. However, the location it is on is just seems to be too small and congested. And it appears that like the majority of the parking spaces will be in the plaza parking lot south of the the building, which could be unsafe with all the people crossing thru traffic to get to the building. Still, I'm sure Portillo's will make a killing.

JP September 18, 2012 at 01:58 pm

Wake up Lily. A few years back, before the economy tanked, I recall reading an article estimating that the population of New Lenox could reach 100,000 by 2025. Granted, that's been stifled by the economy. However, the fact remains that our town has the space available to make it happen at some point. Neighboring towns are land-locked and at or near full capacity -and there are other issues. We're no longer in the old New Lenox that you remember, and it's only going to keep growing.
As for Wal-Mart, it's a very nice store -way better than our K-Mart and even better than Target in many regards. White Castle was a welcome addition just as Portillo's. Moderation, that's the key. Eat greasy food occasionally, not all of the time. I do agree with others that we could use a nice, upscale place like a Cooper's Hawk, but Portillo's is just as welcome -just wait and see how much business they do. As for being overpriced, not for what you get. Their food is excellent. Best beef and dogs around. Plus, they have great burgers and a lot of other options like ribs and salads on their Barnelli's side.

JP September 18, 2012 at 02:00 pm

Hardly John, the hot-dog is here to stay. Plus, they have great burgers and a lot of other options like ribs, pasta, and salads on their Barnelli's side. Have you ever even been to a Portillo's?

JM of NL September 18, 2012 at 02:45 pm

Nicely put JP.
To add: Lilly, what did you think was going to happen to New Lenox with a major tollway and a top 100 hospital? Old New Lenox is long gone.

Lily Addison September 19, 2012 at 12:33 am

You said it. Neighboring towns are land-locked and have been for years. This is why I built a home in New Lenox. To avoid traffic and large neon signs etc. This town has been here over 50 years and just started developing like this after our "Superhighway". Did you notice that highway never has traffic? Did you read the article about it being the least used multi million dollar expansion? Obviously we as tax payers have had to pay for this. The cost should justify the need. I do use the highway occasionally, but it only saves me 10 minutes and costs me $2.00. So yes, I am upset that this town is moving forward with expansions like this that do not bring in revenue but divide the revenue already created by hard working people who have lived here and developed businesses here for over 20 years in our community. Those people are my neighbors and fellow residents. I am lucky our jobs are not at stake for yet another place that makes our beautiful town look like the overdeveloped towns of Tinley Park and Orland! We already have many wonderful full scale restaurants in our town, that I'm sure appreciate our business. I'm not saying development is not necessary, but on this scale? People moved this far south to get away from all of the land-locked over developed towns, not to have franchises follow them. If I wanted that, I would have built my home 20 years ago in Orland Park, close to my job.

Lily Addison September 19, 2012 at 12:33 am

As for waking up JP, I did today to front page news of our mayor taking advantage of tax dollars for a disability while still working 3 jobs and running a 5k race this summer. So thank you very much for your opinion, but I will stick to mine on how a place was able to develop next to homes with 5 neon signs that obviously don't meet ordinance. I wonder now how we got Portillos and Mokena didn't? Can we say kickback to our town government? Or am I wrong about that too?

Nancy McWilliams September 23, 2012 at 12:18 pm

It appears to be too small of a lot for the size of building. It will make that parking lot dangerous. They must have "purchased" a variance.

Nancy McWilliams September 23, 2012 at 06:26 pm

I live 5 miles from the new Portillos and picked -up my first litter from them today in my yard- not even a week-old place ! It was a Styrofoam cup- i didn't know fast-food joints still used those horrible things.

Alice Eggett September 23, 2012 at 07:07 pm

Welcome Portillo's to New Lenox and I will stop by occasionally so please give me a better salad selection........