Barnelli’s

This place is horrible. I ordered a salad and fries and two drinks for me and my friend. First they try to rip us off by not giving us our drinks. Then after they checked the receipt for missing things they still didnt give us out fries. This is just f***ing trash

I enjoy the ambience of the place and service is excellent just often times abit crowded when were there. I enjoyed their Chicken Focaccia, Cajun Chicken Caesar Pita, Original Caesar salad with grilled chicken, Chocolate cake shake, and Strawberry mango smootie. Small house salad with grilled chicken had some bitter greens and strawberry banana smoothie was just too sweet.

Def not a fan of this place. I got the rigatoni a la vodka with melted cheese and the oily sauce almost made it impossible to eat. It was way too heavy for my liking. My friend got the baked mostaciolli, the cheese on top was burnt, and the sauce was way too sweet. If I come here again I will not get the pasta but the salads looked pretty good. I’ve heard the ribs are good I’m just not a fan of ribs. Portillos is connected in the same building so I would just stick to them. I won’t be returning anytime soon.

Had their carbonara, ribs, and slice of chocolate cake. Everything here was amazing!!! Soooo good! My fiancé had the Italian beef and sausage combo from Portillos which was in the same bldg which was soooo good!!! Was our great first meal to start off our vacay:)

WHAT is going on here? The spagetti is an insult to. all pasta. I can’t believe they serve this to people! Saddest looking plate ever, barely any sauce, noodles are yucky .huge waste of money! I don’t understand how they think this is acceptable… what a joke.

Just ordered baked mostaccoli. After asking two to three times if it was baked, there was NO CHEESE on the pasta. MORONS who serve baked mostaccoli and forget cheese?! We are NEVER going back.

Chicago style Beef, Burgers and hot dogs, Nuff’ said

The 2 to-​go packages of ceaser dressing is not enough for the salad size. I threw out almost half the salad because it was too dry. Also, why is it sometimes I get a half a piece of warm bread when I eat in, and sometimes I dont. I never get bread when I do take out, why? Need uniformity.

Barnelli’s is delicious. I’ll admit I don’t really order different things, but whenever I order here, I get the chopped salad. Can’t go wrong with it. It’s so delicious. I guess I could try the pastas because I did hear good things about it, but let’s be serious. Who really comes to Portillos just for Barnelli’s?

This is definitely another one of my favorites. You will find me here a couple of times a month. The Portillo’s/Barnelli’s combination works out well because everyone gets plenty of choices. At Barnelli’s, there are many options… my son and I love the baked mostaciolli, my mom loves their minestrone soup, the salads are great and the pizza and chicken parmagian is good too. I’m going to have to give the ribs a try some day.
The service is friendly which is always a plus. This place gets pretty packed so finding a place to sit can be some work, but should only take a few minutes.

The Good:
— Friendly and fast service. Everyone (from the order takers, to the counter food folks, to the ones who come by and ask you if things are okay and take away your trays) is sooooo nice!
— The Chicken al’diavolo, that promises to be spicy, is actually spicy! I mean, really really spicy. Too often have I ordered diavolo things and had to ask for crushed red pepper for added heat. The Barnelli’s diavolo will have you ordering an additional loaf of bread. Be warned! The spice aside, the dish is also very flavorful with grilled chicken and sundried tomatoes over farfalle (my beloved bows!).
— The bread you get with your pasta dish is crusty on the outside and warm on the inside. Delicious.
— Since this place is in Niles, there is a giant parking lot.
— Barnelli’s is also attached to Portillo’s, so you satiate your Italian beef AND pasta fix. Sweet!
The Bad:
— The crowd here is a little strange. While waiting for my food I watched a man argue with the manager about how much soup he got and how one bowl of soup isn’t the same at 2 cups or something. So much worse than shrimp counters.
— The price is pretty reasonable but the portion size of the baked spaghetti is TINY! There is nothing more satisfying than a giant bowl of spaghetti. Not gonna happen here.
— Far too loud and crowded.
— Can we get one attached to the Skokie Portillo’s please? The drive is too far for satisfactory pasta.

I’m back visiting Chicago for business, having lived here for four years a while back. We decided to get food that can only be acquired in Chicago, so off to Portillo’s/Barnelli’s we went.
I’m the kind of heretic who believes in just ketchup on my hotdogs, which would probably create an ugly incident were I to order that. I saw rigatoni alla vodka on the Barnelli’s menu, so I naturally ended up in the line for pasta. It’s fast food Italian, but my dinner was better than what I’ve had in some casual dining places. I wish they’d had extra parmesan available, but oh well. I left full and happy.

About 90% of the time that I go to Portillo’s I actually end up eating at Barnelli’s instead. (It’s pretty hard to resist.) Though the prices are a bit high for fast food, it is worth every dollar.
The Chopped Salad (minus the Gorgonzola cheese) is one of the tastiest salads i have ever had. It is all about the house dressing. Also the Chicken Caesar Pita (Cajun style) is excellent. The Cajun spices have a slight spiciness to them, which are complimented nicely by the Caesar dressing. But my favorite has to be the Pesto Chicken & Mushrooms pasta (LOVE it!)… its always hard to decide what to order, everything is so yummy! My boyfriend loves the Chicken Al’ Diavolo, which has a bit of a kick to it.
The desserts here are also very yummy… especially the tiramisu and the strawberry-​shortcake.

Portillo’s is just a pretentious hot dog stand without it’s conjoined twin, Barnelli’s. Their baked spaghetti is the ONLY thing on my mind when I pass by. Yes, it’s THAT good. I tend to think that ALL Portillo’s should have a Barnelli’s attached. OH and their Peasant Pasta? Mama mia! So tasty. Fast service, plenty of places to sit. Not necessarily my favorite environment, just always really cold or too hot in my opinion but I enjoy take out more than eating in anyways in fast food places.

Located INSIDE the Portillo’s across from Lutheran General, this is a great place for ribs and pasta. We seldom eat at Portillo’s — I think it’s been 2 years since our last visit! We got here about 15 minutes before the lunchtime rush on a Sunday.
The confusing thing about ordering at Portillo’s is that you have a separate checkout for hot dogs, Polish sausage and Italian beef, then the Barnelli’s side handles the pasta dishes, salads, soups and ribs. If it’s a long line, and you want some of each, you have to place 2 orders.
Either way, we decided on ribs with cream of mushroom soup, some garlic bread and mostaccioli for the kids. The ribs were fall-​off-​the-​bone tender and the garlic bread was great too. The soup comes in a bigger bowl than your usual bowl of soup you’d expect.
The service is efficient: you place your order, get a number, and your number gets called when your food is ready. The guy dishing out the orders, an older gentleman named Ron, was entertaining with his presentation, announcing orders cleverly:
«Number 59 and I forgot the rhyme» or «Sumptuous salad for 61» and «You got dibs on your ribs, #40!» for our order.
They forgot to give us the half-​loaf of warm bread, but the problem was quickly resolved. Their bread is great by the way. You can eat it all by itself, even without olive oil or butter on it.
The kids gobbled up their pasta and some of the garlic bread we shared with them. The dining area inside is spacious too. In all, it’s a great place with quality food and service. No wonder it appears mobbed at lunch. Even then, the orders keep coming efficiently.
In short, I really like this place and should come here more often with the kids.

I cannot believe I’m going to be the first to review… there’s 10 reviews for the Portillo’s Barnelli’s shares space with! Anyway, I cannot even imagine having ever fallen upon fast food Italian (not just pizza) that was so good… until I did!
Everything we’ve had pasta, salads, subs and even Ribs… SO GOOD! Their deserts are amazing too, so of course, like any good mom/​woman… I stay the hell away from the chocolate cake, because I don’t need to eat a whole damn cake! (But my husband pushes it everytime we’re there, «You want chocolate cake, you know you do!» — husbands are so helpful!)
Now the pastas and salads all come with a little loaf of bread, which is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The ribs come with potato and bread. The sandwiches stand alone with no sides. They’ve got a kids menu, containing smaller portions of some of the more popular entrees.
The pizza, I must say, is not the best I’ve had, but I’m not knocking off a star because fast food pizza is never anything to write home about anyway and the menu offers so much more anyway.