Henry’s Drive-In

i stop at Henry’s on occasion because well, truth be told, they make a pretty respectable dog. this being said, i decided to try a combo based entirely on a friend’s recommendation. mind you, this is my «foodie» friend so, anything he suggests, i listen to. personally, i’m of the strong opinion that there is no such thing as a bad beef sammich, some are just better than others. hmmm not the case here. i stopped in on a work day around 11:25 AM. besides the staff and myself, there was one other soul sitting in a booth reading a newspaper. hm, not much of a «lunch rush». i stepped up to the counter and placed my order. then i glanced at the board above and saw that a combo was $ 6.99. peppers $.35, call me old school but, i have a problem with places charging for condiments. always have, always will especially on a $ 7.00 sammich. but i digress. no sooner had i sat down, my order was up. as soon as i grabbed the bag from the counter i knew i had been duped. overpriced, undersized. common practice these days it seems. oh well, only thing to save it is product quality. as i’m driving back to the job, i’m dipping into the bag for a few fries. you know you do it too, everyone does! to my disappointment i came out of the bag with a few luke warm, heat lamp, overcooked fries that were obviously leftover from the newspaper guy’s order. i thought to myself, this isn’t going to end well. when i unwrapped the sammich, i was not impressed in the least. the beef was bland, dry and crumbly, the sausage was grilled nicely but also overcooked to a point that it just turned to mush at the bite. all the pop had been cooked out of it. no snap, no texture, no dice. finally, the only drip running down my forearm was the oil from the .35 worth of hot mix. really? not even a dip? shameful! $ 10.35 out the door for this and a shot glass full of old fries… i think i’ll take my $ 10 to the 5 other establishments within a square mile of Henry’s and fare infinitely better than i did on this day. in all fairness, i’m giving 2 stars based on the combo experience alone… i’ll probably still stop in for a dog. after all, it’s pretty hard to screw up a hot dog. maybe Henry’s should just stick with that… and i’ll be placing a call to that friend of mine as well…

Pro:
Friendly staff
Con:
I’m not a fan of their Hot Dog. The bun was extra soggy and tasted funny. I haven’t tasted anything else from their menu after tasting their hot dog.

always a good food. been coming here for years. never a disappointing moment here. great service as well. combos! pineapple shakes! cheese cubes! hot dogs! love this place. this is my favorite place for a combo. you will leave happy satisfied and appetite fulfilled

Today was the first time I have ever been there. Fantastic hot dogs and service! I would highly recommend this place to anyone.

Best hot dogs in the Chicago area. And that says a lot because our standards are quite high. Comes with fries wrapped around it, and everything on it is mustard, pickle, onions, and hot peppers. Parking can be rough during a lunch hour, but you don’t go to a place like this to park your car.
Great old route 66 nostalgia without the nostalgic prices. Very reasonable prices.

I’ve been going to Henrys since 1962. Excellent service, food second to none. you get fries with the hot dog! A real landmark of my old neighborhood.
However. It’s not a ‘Chicago dog’. And we like it that way. no tomatoes or weird green relish. You get a real pickle spear! No celery salt, either.
They won’t look at you funny if you want KETCHUP on your hot dog, either. The only thing that I don’t like is that they have fountain RC products. I would prefer a Coke. But the milkshakes are good!
Wish I lived closer.

Best Hot Dogs on Route 66. I have been going there for46 years. Great Service. Very clean restaurant.

I tried a polish (w/​fries) and it was just ok. Nothing special and the amount of fries they give you with their deal is a joke. You can probably count them with both hands. I think if you want a real hotdog or polish, take the drive to either Jene & Judes or Jimmys. Seems like a neighborhood spot. People are nice but food wasnt. Doubt I’ll be back

Classic hot dog joint, cheerful counter service and a really tasty meal — works for me!
It’s kind of small inside but they hustle behind the counter and the crowds move fast. I like that I can go by on my way home, get a dog and fries and they are still piping hot when I get to my house. Get a cup of melted cheddar for the fries, then they are perfect! Prices are reasonable and everything I have tried is good but the cheese dog and fries is my personal fave– great flavor to the dog and nice salty crispy fries — yum!

Hmmm, mmmmm Bland! Was hoping for much better! No salt on fries dog tasteless mustard onion relish is considered full dress! Maybe it’s just me, is really hoping for better. People were great service was excellent everything labeled and separated. Can’t complain about anything other than the lack of flavor! Reall want to like this place ! Will try it again!

Delicious hot dog! Have to say that this is probably the only really good hot dog place that accepts credit cards. My only complaint is the service, not very nice.

I could be biased because this is the place I used to go to as a kid for lunch. This place has pretty good fast food. The hot dogs and fries are amazeballs. Be warned: they wrap the fries in with the hotdog. So they aren’t isolated. I like the food here and you will too. Oh they now take credit and debit cards.

After a disappointing dinner at Antique Taco my crew was still hungry. So after driving around dazed and confused Henry’s is where we wound up. Henry’s is a small place with order at the counter service. The lady working was pretty friendly, and she had this sarcastic humor with me that I totally appreciated. She was a lot of fun. I fall in love with people who make me laugh!
Anywho I ordered a hot dog and fry, and I was informed that the hot dog already comes with fries which was cool. My hotdog was awesome. The fries were just okay although my two compadres thought they were amazing. Maybe I just wasn’t in a French fry kinda mood. My boyfriend was quite dismayed that I snatched a piece of his pizza puff. I thought he was going to bite my fingers off lol! But, I see why– that Motherf*cking pizza puff was sooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I’m not even kidding. That sh*t prompted me to get off my big ass and purchase one. I don’t know what they do, but that was the best pizza puff I’ve had in awhile! I really wanted to try a shake, but the whole lactose intolerant thing kept me away today. I decided that I’d rather not be bloated for the rest of the evening!
I’ll be back!!!

I first started walking to Henry’s hot dog stand in the late 50’s and that was every time I was able to dig up .25 cents and the sign said it’s a meal in itself because there were french fry’s wrapped in with the hot dog my order was always the same [one with] which translate to a hot dog with everything and hot peppers I now have lived on the East coast for almost 30 years and for 30 years I have been searching for a steamed hot dog and steamed bun on the East Coast nothing even close, I often visit Chicago with friends from Ct. and we are all in agreement that Henry’s Hot Dog stand provide the best representation of a true Chicago style hot dog with their Chili Dog a close second if someone would ask me if I came back here to visit my family or did fly out to get Henry’s hot dogs I think that I would keep my mouth shut but only until I get to Henry’s. {*_*}

Coming from the Motor City and our delicious coneys, I had to give this place a try. The dogs are awesome… love the sport peppers along with the dill pickle… I did try the chili coney… beans…still a tasty dog. I’ve been back several times since I’m on a project just down the street. Love the old school vibe and the Route 66 memorabilia on the walls.

I used to come here all the time when I lived in Berwyn and it’s best hot dog stand in the area. They also offer other things like sandwiches, pizza puffs and GRAVY BREAD! Yes, french bread dipped in Italian beef gravy and served right up. One of the things I miss about living in the area. Place gets VERY crowded during lunch and parking is limited. Their fries aren’t all that great, but definitely worth checking out

Is it spring yet? After a four month hibernation in an effort to avoid the worst winter ever, I am ready to get out and start Unilocaling.
First stop is this Cicero Icon, Henry’s. After years of driving by and being fascinated by the sign announcing that a Henry’s Hot Dog is a meal, I finally decided to stop in. The hot dog stand is in kind of a scruffy looking area with a gravel parking lot. After dodging a few pot holes, I pulled up and walked in.
Henry’s offers the typical Hot Dog Stand menu, Italian Beefs, Hot Dogs, Burgers, Fries, and Tom Tom Tamales. They also feature some pretty good milk shakes as well. Soda’s are that awful RC Cola and Diet Rite stuff which I avoid. Green River on tap too.
I ordered two hot dogs and a cool Henry’s T Shirt. The hot dogs were great, plain steamed buns with beef hot dogs. Toppings were onions, sport peppers, mustard. dill spear and relish. They skip the celery salt and tomato which is OK with me. Fries that they pile on the hot dog are nice, hot and crispy, not tepid and soggy like some places. Hot dog was good and the tube steak had a nice snap to it. T Shirt was a certified chick magnet.
I reeked of onions for a couple of hours but I walked away happy, smelly and really hip in my Henry’s T Shirt.

So, here’s a fun story: We were actually on our way to Chicago Burgerwerks a few weeks ago. I guess they are known for notoriously spotty hours. Well, we got there and they were closed. So, at this point, we were STARVING. On the way back east on Ogden, we spotted Henry’s. We all ordered hot dogs (and I even treated myself to an ice cream) and we were all happy campers!
This is a charming, old school Chicago-​style hot dog «shack». What was interesting to me was that it was all women working. I assumed this was likely a family business and there was the matriarch and a few daughters. There are tables so you can comfortably eat in. I would say maximum capacity is maybe out 20 seated.
The best laugh was when I said, «We really like it here. We came all the way from Cicero.» The matriarch laughed and said, «This is Cicero»! Oops! Ha! Everyone got a good laugh at that one! I guess I got confused since we drove all the way to Brookfield for the other place then had to head back. I did not know Cicero went that far down Ogden!
Anyway, nice people, good food and fast service. Those hot dogs (and the ice cream) really hit the spot!
Oh, by the way, they are CASH ONLY so come prepared! One of my poor coworkers had to pay for all of us because we all NEVER have cash! (We all graciously paid him back –with interest –though! ha ha)

Typical place to get burgers, hotdogs, beef, and shakes! They make all of this and they make it great! They sure know what they are doing.

Along old Route 66 in Cicero sits a building clearly built in the mother roads heyday. With a classic looking sign and 1950s décor on the outside Henry’s drive-​in is an immediately noticeable building from the road and carries with it an aesthetic charm unique to a bygone era. As I arrived I made sure to snap a quick picture of the outside of the building before heading in.
Upon entering I noticed that the dining area is very small. There were lots of pictures of Henry’s Drive in from decades earlier posted on the walls and newsclippings to read. I quickly made my way to the counter to place my order. I noticed that they have Green River shakes and inquired as to whether or not they had the actual beverage itself and was disappointed to learn they only have the shakes. I then wanted to use the bathroom which requires an employee buzz you in the door. Once I came out of the bathroom and sat down in a less than ideally comfortable chair I waited for my food as I looked around admiring the pictures and other items involving this restaurant.
Soon enough the hot dog was ready and it was time to dig in. The hot dog comes wrapped with fries in a white paper. As I pulled the fries off I got a look at what’s on it. this was a skinless hot dog served on a regular non-​poppy seed bun. There was a long thin pickle spear, onions, relish and sport peppers on it as well. Overall this was a pretty good tasting if not simple hot dog. I wouldn’t say it’s top tier but well above average. The fries included here were thick and had a nice potato paste inside. Not too salty and not bland, this was a nice mixture.
Overall I liked Henry’s Drive-​In. While this place didn’t blow me out of the water with fantastic food, it was well above average and taking that into account I’m awarding it four stars