Fat Lou’s

Fat Lou’s is BACK!!! He will be opening his doors back up next month! I can’t wait.

Dumb Fucks… Lou worked his ass off to establish a taste of CHICAGO here in Florida and the new owners tried to change a good thing and what do get? Another statistic… CRASH AND BURN… Now it’s house of Kabob??? Really??? Good luck with that… Bring back the original Fat Lou’s!!!

I went by on December 1^st to give it another try, and was not surpised to find this place has shut down.

Fat Lou’s has changed owners again and it is for the better.
if it wasn’t for a friend telling me I would not have gone back there.
Decided to give it a try and the food I once loved is Back.
I heard new owner is a friend of lou’s.
They have gotten my Business back.

Drove 40 min for a taste of home aka Chicago… My husband swears it’s awesome… Me being a cook can pick apart anything on any menu anywhere.
Ordered beef dipped with hot giardinera, Chicago style hot dog and cheese fries… Did I intend on eating all of it no, wanted to try everything though.
Hot dog came up 1^st… Tastes right, no snap of the skin though like most Vienna hot dogs have… There are different kinds and sizes just depends on what you order from your food vendor. Tomatoes weren’t ripe all the way, couldn’t taste the celery salt and I think the dogs may have been steamed too long.
Next up the beef dipped with hot giardinera… Served on a silver type oval plate of juice… Top of the bread completely dry… How is that even possible for a «dipped» beef??? So I flipped my beef over hoping to get some juice into the top. Nope ok so eating it upside down due to the bottom is now gravy bread… Taste… Good not awesome… Some slices of beef were too thick, no salt or pepper in juice and lots of oil in it. Giardinera is spot on nom nom nom…
Cheese fries excellent
The restaurant is in a spot with traffic however not very easily accessible due to traffic. The owner is very nice. The server which I think they don’t need looked bored and asked us 5 times if we were ok in a 20 min span. Food came up fast and hot.
Would I go back? Yes. I’d ask for beef dry juice on the side. Maybe also go back during a peak lunch time to see if quality is different than after lunch.

I’ve been here twice now and this place is just great. The steaks that are used are so soft, and everything is served fresh. I’ve never been to Chicago but if this is just a taste of what the food there is like then I definitely need to plan a trip there.
The place just got a new owner again and he’s making a lot of changes that are noticeable. If it wasn’t so far away from me I’d go there regularly.

We have been regular take out customers of Fat Lou’s for years. We both love hot dogs, and this place has good ones. We were worried when they changed owners awhile back, and noticed some changes to the menu and their schedule. I never paid that close of attention to the pricing, but some of reviews mention that has changed. That doesn’t surprise me as a lot of places have raised prices as the price of food has increased everywhere.
Today I ordered the pizza dog. I didn’t know what I was in the mood for and I just thought, «hey, why not try something new?» So I did, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Silly me, I love cheese and the bun is covered in mozzarella. The dog is topped with marinara sauce and has parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. It was very good. I still prefer the chili cheese dog though. Old habits die hard.
I got a side of onion rings with the dog. They are really good and very crunchy. One thing I hate when eating onion rings is when I take a bite, and the onion slides out and all I have left is crunchy batter. UGH. Not these. The onion stayed in place in the ring for each bite. Ah, the little things in life.
Hubby got an All American Burger and fries and he inhaled that in nothing flat, so I would say that was good too. He also got a beef and sausage sandwich for later. He took a bite and liked the kick the sausage gave the meat, and also pointed out how great all the food looks. In fact that is one thing I will say has improved with Fat Lou’s since the new owners. The food actually looks more appetizing, at least what we ordered today does.
If you are in Pembroke Park, perhaps on your way to or from Hallandale Beach, stop by Fat Lou’s and give them a try.

5÷4÷2014 came all the way from biscayne and 55^th to eat at this place. Called the store and no one answered but I didn’t think it was a problem since I got here early. Went to run an errand and came back at 1238pm and the store was stiiiillllllll close. No message as to why, no sign saying anything. I knocked on the door and the place was empty. Very Highly DISAPPOINTED. Won’t make this mistake ever again. Wasted gas AND my time for disappointment.

New ownership… most of the chica feel and memorabilia is gone. Added a bar.
Menu has a lot of items crossed out.
Italian beef still pretty solid. Pretty close to Chicago quality. Fries ok… nothing special.
Service is very good, very pleasant servers.
Miss the Chicago feel though.

I reviewed Fat Lou’s a while back and I need to let you know they are better then ever.
I had my 2 favorite things there a Polish and like always I asked them to split it and grill it with grilled onions, mustard, american cheese, and the must have giardiniera peppers. simply put this is perfection in a bun.
If you never had a pizza puff they have them here and to the best of my knowledge this is the only place that has them in south Florida. I might as well was your welcome right now, because take one bite and you will be thanking me.
today I also had a proper Chicago style Vienna hot dog when I say proper it means it has the poppy seeded bun, yellow mustard, pickle spear, neon green relish, tomatoes sprinkled with celery salt, and sport peppers. The owner asked me how was it and I said to him «on the money»
I after I ate I chatted a bit with the owner named Ralph a very friendly Chcagoian who has been down here since 1994.
If you miss Chicago food this is a must place to stop. If you always heard about the food in Chicago and wonder what’s all the fuss welcome to my world.

So, I was super hungry and wanted to try something new. I ordered the Ribs, an Italian Beef with cheese and carrot cake.
The disaster goes as follow:
Ribs — they were boiled and then browned (a big no no!) and the meat was not at all flavorful. They had a lot of fat on the as well which is why ribs should not be boiled.
Carrot cake — super dry and tasted old?
The Italian beef with cheese sandwich — the beef had almost zero taste and the bread was super soggy and the peppers were not sweet at all. I asked for AuJus and that too was had no zest, no salt. I could have done better getting one of those sauce packets and making it myself. I’m not sure if they are trying to cut costs but anyone from Chicago would have been dissatisfied at the least.
Coleslaw — nasty.
Fries — really good. Thats all I ended up eating and I wasted $ 30.
I should have listened to Anthony P. — I would have saved myself from a food disaster. I will not be ordering from them again. If your not a Bears fan — this place is not for you.

So my roommate was CRAVING for hot dogs! At first she was going to settle for an off the street vendor hot dog (which would have been good) but using my Unilocal app, we discovered that this place was less than 5mins away from our place. Just looking outside we had a feeling it would be good & it was! Juicy hot dogs and friendly service

As I rode saddle-​less atop a powerful steed along the sugary white beaches, I turned to the nubile goddess with me and stated, «me thinks I have a hunger for the cuisine of a far-​off urban paradise know as Chicago.» She ran her delicate, alabaster fingers through my flowing locks, and responded, «sure, that sounds fine.» So we ventured forth to this artifice of the gods betwixt a liquor store and a purveyor of goods from the Orient (a Chinese takeout place).
Anyway, this place is more than serviceable Chicago style cuisine. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the Windy City and the food here is a solid attempt. I had the beef and sausage combo. It was good. The bread was hoagie bread and not French bread, but that’s because they were out of French bread. They even came out and asked me if I was ok with hoagie bread (good sign). This was not the best italian beef in the world, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I was hoping it would be passable and this was and even a little better. Service was good and the prices were pretty reasonable. My wife really enjoyed her italian sub as well. We would come back for sure…

What really impressed me about this place is that they actually have a hot dog bun that can withstand whatever ingredients and toppings you throw at it! Usually when I get a hot dog at other places the bun is so wet and mushy before I even pick it up that I get chili and onions etc. all over my hands and face, this did not happen at Fat Lou’s, the bun stayed intact the whole time!
I had the Hot devil dog which sounded like it would be the most spicy. Usually when I get something really spicy I break out in a sweat and start to get a running nose neither of which happened to me. The hot dog was good non the less. Looking forward to trying different dogs next time.

I can’t get enough of Fat Lou’s! Being from Chicago I miss the authentic Italian Beef that this place makes perfectly. It is a nice little joint with very friendly waitstaff, a full menu of Italian Beef (which I always order) as well as Chicago style hot dogs, delicious onion rings, gyros, etc. Super clean and friendly, I’m almost glad I don’t live closer otherwise I would be eating here far too often!

I can’t get enough of this place. Being a Chicagoan, I miss our hotdogs, beef sandwiches, sausages, pizza puffs, etc. I have yet to find a place in south Florida that comes close to anything back home. If you look for Fork Notes on Facebook, you will see many photos as I visit often.
So far, this is the only place I will recommend for Chicago style fair. True Vienna Beef here folks… Lou is proud to tell ya! My two wishes are simple… open another location closer to my area and perfect the Chicago style pizza. Nobody knows what they are doing with our pizza out here.
If you are looking for a treat, head over to Fat Lou’s…you won’t be disappointed. Tell ‘em Fork Notes sent ya!

As a Chicago native finding Fat Lou’s has put a smile back on my face.
We had
1. Chicken wings
2. Italian beef dipped
3. Italian beef and sausage dry
4. The hot devil dog
5. The ripper
6. Gyro platter
7. Jalapeño poppers
8. Fried mushrooms
9. Cheese dog
10. Pizza puff
As you can see we had a wide variety of food and everything was delicious and true to Chicago style.
After a nice talk with Fat Lou, who’s actually quite skinny, I think well be coming her more often.

I’m neither just a lover of hot dogs nor a mere aficionado, but an admitted flat out addict. I must confess that my favorite is Texas Style; the ones made up of meat sauce, chili with clove and smothered over with Texas Silver onion. However, my second choice is the Chicago Style, particularly since South Florida seems to have a hot dog culture that ignores Texas Style, only specializing in Chicago Style. Hence, I was delighted to read a Fat Lou’s ad claiming that he’d bring Chicago to me. Wow! Maybe, finally, after having tried every Chicago Style dog (some of them ok, some of them horrid, but none of them top rate) in the area, I was finally on the track of a perfected one.
So it was into the car and off to West Hallandale Beach Boulevard. I found Fat Lou’s on the north side located just off 95. So, the first thing was to do a Unilocal check in. To my surprise and delight a 30% first timer Unilocal discount appeared on my screen. Really, 30% Unilocal discount!
Upon entering I found the place to be rather typical hot dog joint décor, overloaded with this and that, hanging t-​shirts, some sports logos and other such things. I went to the counter to order, but was surprised when instead of having to do a counter order I was merely asked to take a table and a pleasant, good mannered waitress then came to my table.
Naturally I ordered the Chicago style dog, and I’m glad I did. It came to me perfect. In order to have a really good, perfect Chicago style it is necessary to exactly position the ingredients within the bun and it did come with all of the ingredients perfectly positioned. Not only that, every detail of the traditional Chicago style were there, the neon relish, the celery salt, the onion, peppers, pickle and tomato all on a seeded bun that had been steamed to freshness. The taste really put me in heaven since with my previous experiences elsewhere I had to endure stale to texture buns that hadn’t been steamed, ordinary non-​neon relish, and improperly positioned ingredients.
I also had one of his Fat Lou’s dogs which came as a «long dog» smothered with tasty perfectly camelized onions on a bed of melted cheese; also very good.
So yes, I’m a real fan of Fat Lou’s. Without any reservation in mind I can vouch for the truthfulness of Fat Lou’s ad that he does indeed bring the true taste of Chicago to you; the best Chicago style dog in the area.

When my Chicago friend said that she has a place that is so authentic Chicago that I won’t notice I’m in SoFla, I couldn’t pass it up. This reminds me of a typical Chicago hot dog joint… except with beer and TONS of TVs all tuned to Chicago sports, last night with 14 TVs tuned to the Bears game.
I had a Maxwell St. polish and a bunch of us split a huge pile of wings. Fine dining, indeed. It was just the ticket to assuage the pain from a terrible football game; the polish was perfectly done to Maxwell St. standards and the wings were huge and pretty delicious. The service was very friendly, but a bit slow. At the same time, catering to 30 angry Bears fans isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

So, my three-​year-​old is ready to have a melt down if she does not get a hot dog. I Unilocal for a hot dog place and find this gem.
I know nothing of Chicago so I can’t tell you if this place is authentic or not. I don’t care. It was great. My child loved the hot dog. I loved the beef sandwich with the hot peppers (jardinière). I recommend getting it «wet,» where they dip it in ju. It will add to the salt factor, but frankly makes the sandwich excellent.
I look forward to going back and having a Chicago dog