Buona Beef vs Portillo's

There’s a lot of discussion and debate over Buona & Portillo’s beef sandwiches. Both restaurants rant about their famous Italian beef sandwich. Portillo’s has dominated the traditional Chicago Beef Sandwich for some time now (overpowering Al’s too). We reviewed a Portillo’s Beef Sandwich regular and Buona Beef Sandwich regular and put them to the challenge side-by-side.






Conclusion

Both beef sandwiches improve on each other’s cons. I grew up on Portillo’s beef so it was a longshot when I first tried a Buona beef – but I was very impressed. However, I’ll stick to my roots on this review. Buona delivers a delicious beef sandwich. I enjoyed the spiciness, but that’s not what I remember a traditional beef sandwich tasting like. Portillo’s, like all their products, deliver outstanding tasting quality every time. It’s that reliability I can’t measure up with Buona at this time. I verdict Portillo’s as the close winner.