IL Chain Tops TripAdvisor's List Of Best Fast Casual Eateries

OAK BROOK, IL --- Chicagoans will be glad (but probably not surprised) to know that the best fast casual eatery in America is right in their own backyard. The Oak Brook-based Portillo's ---which has long been a diner go-to in and around Chicago --- recently topped TripAdvisor's 2018 Travelers' Choice list of the Best Fast Casual Restaurants in the U.S.

Travelers' Choice winners are chosen based on the number and quality of reviews that a restaurant, hotel, or other attraction has gotten on TripAdvisor over a period of 12 months. 2018 marks the first time that TripAdvisor had a category for Best Fast Casual Restaurant.

More than 6,000 travelers from around the world weighed in on Portillo's, offering praise for the restaurant's famous hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and chocolate cake. One person who traveled to Chicago from the United Kingdom, wrote in a review that he "ended up going about four times in a week."

Portillos', which has most of its locations in Illinois, beat out the west coast staple In-N-Out Burger and New York's Shake Shack to earn this year's Traveler's Choice title. What's your favorite thing to order from Portillo's? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Portillo's, used with permission