Jaenicke’s Drive In

Nice local hot dog and root beer stand. Famous locally with a huge following. They have a wide variety of ways to enjoy your dog, but sauce and cheese is the way for me. Onions on occasion, but never ketchup! The root beer is awesome… try it on a root beer float! A little high in price for me locally, but worth it once a month.

Love this place! My boyfriend takes me here every now and then and it’s definitely not the kind of food id eat all the time but it definitely satisfies that need for greasy food every once in a while!

I hit this place as soon as I get to town when I visit. Sauce buns with cheese and root beer floats are some of my favs.

Best little hot dog stand around! Grab a cheese dog, fries and a Green River and you’ll be set!

It’s a Bourbonnais Institution, and if you do choose to eat here past the age of 12, it’s for the nostalgia.
I get your standard hot dog w/​sauce and a root beer. (aka the originals. Don’t bother with the other stuff, because it’s your basic fried foods that have been added on in recent years.) The root beer is always the better of the two, while the hot dog reminds me of something from the crockpot. Still, I can’t help but let my mind wander to the time when I was so psyched for this place to open every summer. It always brings out the kid on me.

I’ll score the food here a total of 5 stars.
Got a hot dog with fried pickles and a sauce bun, (GREAT) with the homemade root beer that I couldn’t get enough of. But the hot dogs were suppose to be Chicago style. Really?! Who put sliced pickles and jalapeños on a Chicago dog? Suppose to be a pickle wedge and sporties. Great food though.

Crap crap crap crap Chicago dog is crap chili cheese fries crap don’t know what the hell they’re doing lady was nice out the window kind of stupid couldn’t get to order right the first time and second time got it right food is crap I’ll never eat there again

A weekend of wandering and stopping at non chain places. Can be fun and can be not fun. This place has all the ingredients to be a cool stop. Many options on food and outdoor seating. The problem is the service slow and well rude. We arrived and were waiting. It gets crowded. One of the gals opens another window and helps the next person in line. I moved over and waited for my turn. Well not happening here. She took the other order and closed the window. Um hello… Guess not. I moved back to other line and finally they took my order, but not before I heard can I help you. You guessed it the other window opened again and she helped two others that walked up. I am evidently invisible. Fine. Well we did get our food. I had a burger and it was good. Fries were decent. Will I return, doubtful.

Until they change back to the buns sliced on the top I won’t be back! Why would you change to regular hot dog buns?!! The sauce is not good anymore either. Way too sweet, not even close to what it used to be. I guess I’ll have to check out the other jaenickes on river.
Well I started going to the jeanickes in kankakee last year and once this year and it’s GREAT! They use the buns cut on top and everything including the sauce tastes just like it did when I was a kid. I don’t know who took over that place but they are doing it right! I will never come to this jeanickes again after trying the one in kankakee.
To the reviewer complainig about never being charged the same price and not having a receipt at this jeanickes in bourbonnais I can tell you why. They have the employees write down the orders at a certain point towards the end of the night instead of using the registers. Then pocket all the tax free the cash and gives each employee a cut. Been doing it for years, ask anyone who has worked there.

This was once a local icon. I went there today expecting their traditional greatness, and it was terrible. I have heard other people say that the quality had declined but I was quite saddened that the chili sauce was so watery that I could’ve used a straw. All good things must come to an end, and here’s proof.

For those SNOBS complaining about this place you obviously don’t get what makes this place great. It is not the plain hot dog. YOU MUST GET THE SAUCE added onto your hot dog. In fact, I skip the hot dog altogether and order a few sauce buns with onions and cheese. The root beer is my favorite root beer. The trick when you try new small local institutions such as this is to do research and find out what the popular items are. With Unilocal it is easy as hell. If you had read any of the comments before going to this place you’d know the secret is the sauce and the root beer.

Reading some of the other reviews, I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who thinks their hotdogs are «oddly pale». I AM a hotdog snob and was disgusted by the food on my plate. Hotdog fans may cringe, but I’m a ketchup and pickle only guy, so it’s ALL about the taste of the dog. At this place I took two bites and threw the rest away. I tried their dog a second time just in case it was a fluke and there was no change. It seems they have perfected the art of destroying a Chicagoland staple. I don’t understand how people in this area get excited about eating this crap food. Has anyone down here ever been to Portillos or Maxwell street?
The sad thing is all they have to do is spend a little extra money on quality dogs, like Nathan’s famous. Which I’m sure they can still buy in bulk. If there was a no star option I would give that.

At least I can say I learned something about myself that I never knew before: I’m a hot dog snob.
The hot dogs at this joint are Oscar Meyer quality at best. That’s fine. I grew up in the struggle. But if I go somewhere to eat, I want better. Do I go to an Italian restaurant for Chef Boyardee? No, beyotch. I most certainly do not. I’m also not a fan of how they’re cooked. Mainly because they don’t seem cooked at all. These hot dogs are oddly pale in color. They either boil or steam them. I got chili and cheese on my dog, and even the chili tasted off. Much too sweet… and bad. Needs a different taste that is good.
Keep it.

This place is an institution. While most people always get dogs or sauce buns, the corn dog nuggets are my favorite. Add a Green River and it’s the ultimate comfort food, with a little trip down memory lane.

I’m a chili cheese hot w/​onion kinda guy. Definatly worth a try!

Considering I grew up thinking this place was awful, I think 2 stars is generous. My mom is from one of the nearby shitty towns, which explains why she always had to get her fix when we’d visit family.
Was headed to the fair when I decided to make my friend try one of their hot dogs, because chances are I’ll never get him to come this way again.
If you like Chicago dogs or NY dogs or any other «city dog», do yourself a favor and get something else. I don’t know what, as I’ve only ever had their hot dogs, but the only reason they stay in business is because the townies are used to crappy, tastless food.
Their root beer is good though. One of the few places I’ll actually have it.

If you grew up in the Kankakee area… you grew up eating Jaenicke’s every summer and waited every winter for it to reopen. This is truly the kind of place you have to be a local to really appreciate. As I grew up in the area, I think it’s the most amazing food on the planet – the place is very nostalgic and comforting to me. However, after reading the reviews, I can agree with these negative findings:
1. Yes, if they can go generic… they do. The ketchup packets, styrofoam cups, and hot dogs are all bulk items from Sam’s Club or something. Not important to me, but yeah.
2. This place is entirely staffed by high school girls. Although I have never experienced rude service… it does always appear rushed.
My favorite items are the sauce buns (steamed bun full of their famous sauce) with cheese and onion added, cheese fries, red hots, fried pickles with ranch, and their homemade [diet] root beer. Yummmm.
***This location DOES accept credit/​debit cards now! :)

I had to write after I saw Nick’s horrible review. Obviously if everything isn’t perfect because you don’t understand what is it is specialize in a few amazing items, the place must to ruined for you. This place is an institution and is worth the 1.5 hour drive that many people make because it is that special. The sauce is amazing and a highly guarded and prized secret and I have never been disappointed. I truly recommend those who have had a «bad» experience to try it again without the reservations that a place has to have the most 5 start customer service when they are selling 2 dollar hot dogs at a walk up cash only place. Don’t go here if you want health food, or if you expect to be highly catered to. Go if you want a great simple low cost meal surrounded by good people who want to enjoy the simple delicious pleasures like a great hot dog and a mug of root beer.

Hands down, a Bourbonnais tradition.
Negative reviewers need to consider that this is a hot dog place, not gourmet cooking! If you are looking for fast food that is different from the burgers the cookie cutter chains serve, Jaenicke’s is the place to go.
Get a chicago style dog with cheese fries! You won’t be disappointed!

Well, on a nice day it doesn’t get better than this. A dozen picnic benches that are shaded by a group of lovely trees. Very comfortable.
As to the food, pretty good, the hot dogs could have used something extra — I should have gotten the chili and cheese like the other reviewers recommended. The root beer was quite delicious. Fries were decent.