Portillo's in Roseville: What has happened to this place?

Oh Portillo’s (Roseville, MN) - what happened to you????

Needed a quick bite tonight after a busy day (& my horse didn’t come in at the Derby—-he fell back during that crush in the last 1/8 of a mile). Maybe my Kentucky Derby luck was a preview of things to come.

Pretty empty in Portillo’s (Roseville), so we took our time ordering (no one in front of us in line) & then one couple ordered after us.

Portillo's is Slow Even with few people

Why did it take more than 10 minutes (maybe 15) to get 2 salads and a sandwich??? 

And who is the jerk handing out the food who throws it on your tray or in your bag? —-John’s muffin was not a baseball—-and this guy doesn't have Mark Hamburger's pitching arm---it ended up as a squished mass of wetness....ewwww.

And frankly, if I was a skinny short guy I wouldn’t toss a guy’s food at him if he’s 6’ 2” and looks a little grouchy (just sayin’).

Portillo's Food ... quite unpleasant

Croissant Chicken Sandwich

Look at this chicken sandwich....could it look much worse? 

Then try to pick it up—all the ingredients hanging out... with mayo (on the driest croissant ever that instantly crumbled). A bunch of lettuce was on the outside of the box. Total disaster!

Portillo's Salads:  the low point & the high point

Then there were the salads. My side salad was the best thing we received—-except I watched the manager try to scrape some lettuce from the last dregs in the pan to try to get enough for a small salad. There were a few more toppings—-he at least tried to fill the bowl.

BBQ Chipotle Chicken Salad

John had the Chipotle BBQ chicken salad. This seemed to be the source of our waiting time. As I passed the prep areas on the way to the pick-up area I looked at the ‘salad station’ (too many years in the restaurant biz—this stuff jumps out at me)—-my thought as I passed—-‘why hasn’t anyone refilled those pans on the line’? That’s gonna mess them up big time.

Portillo's ... lots and lots of 'waiting' and not much 'happening'

We were the recipients of that ‘big time’...as in big wait.

One of the managers picked up our order slip (for the 3rd time), picked up a salad bowl, and then stared into the empty food pans. It was not a happy look on his face.  He disappeared for several minutes and then returned with some greens in John’s bowl...which he had carried off to some netherworld in search of lettuce. He then tried to finish adding all the ingredients from the ‘remains’ left in a couple of pans.This was truly a scraping the bottom of the barrel experience.

This glorious assortment of truly awful was then subject to the Mr. Toss-It treatment—-uh boy.
We kept wondering—-there were at least 8 or 10 people ‘working’, yet the 2 managers prepared most of our order. What were the other 8 people doing? While we were there, the only customers were a couple and then a group of 5 clearly coming from some dress-up event. I saw one order go out the drive-they window.  "What was everyone doing?"
With a staff that big, at Marianne’s we would have been able to crank out food for 50 in the time we waited....and the sandwiches would have been tidy. When the managers end up doing the work, something has gone wrong with the ‘systems’.

So, here’s my plea to Portillo's:

If you’re listening; maybe you can go back and re-train them so they can find the missing ingredients from the pans.

And, please, work on that last guy’s attitude!!

An option for recycling would also be responsible!!

No Recycling at Portillo's Roseville

Details:
Date of Visit:   5/4/2019 @ 9:30 PM
Location:         Google Maps
Website:          https://www.portillos.com/locations/roseville/