Photo's Hotdogs - Palatine, Illinois

Jillybilly

I only come for their specials during the week when I can. The prices are too high for me otherwise. I love their $5 mini chicken pita on weds and their cheap cheeseburgers on Sundays! The pita is filled with chicken, and their cheeseburger has all the toppings for an amazing price. I just tried their fish taco, and I would definitely come back for that. They don't skimp on the fried fish, and it has an amazing spicy sauce on it. I will ask for extra sauce next time. They have delicious veggie burgers. If they did a special for their veggie burgers once a week, I would be ordering it weekly.
I don't care for their hot dogs, gyros, or fries. The gyro meat is pre-packaged like the ones you can make at home. I wouldn't recommend the gyro.

Agnieszka ?. S.

What a fantastic place. It was such a surprise finding this gem. We stopped by with my son to get some food and the place blew our minds. It is very original and fun. There are so many things to look at. It has hundreds of different cameras on display and there are very interesting pictures on the walls of sport stars and local sport teams. The place was super clean and friendly.

We did wait a bit for our food but we were kept busy by the many interesting things all around. The food was great. I love a good hot dog and my son also enjoyed his burger. We came back again few weeks later. Highly recommend it for good American food.

Peter J.

Great atmosphere. Old school memorabilia everywhere. Friendly staff. I picked up a hot dog with some cheese curds. Normal tasting hotdog and the cheese curds were just salty cheesy goodness. I need to come back out and try their Gyros!

Chad W.

Nice place. Definitely worth a visit if you live nearby or passing through but nothing to go out of your way for.

I had the Wednesday special which is a $5 pita and chicken with mayo.

Good. Wouldn’t say it’s amazing. Also the gyro is precut and not on a spindle! I’ll come try the hotdog next time, hopefully that’s the star of the show.

Lily L.

The decorations are very unique. When you are dinner in, the historical photos and cameras around you.

Flint S.

Came in for the 1$ hot dogs. Catch was that you had to buy a side for each hotdog. No problem, that is reasonable and expected. Ordered the hotdogs with onion rings, chicken tenders, chilly cheese fries and a chicken gyro. Hotdogs, onion rings, and chilly cheese fries were fine. Chicken tenders were barely meh. Not appetizing, reminds me of some cheap Walmart brand. You get 6 pieces so that is a plus. Chicken gyro came with a lot of chicken. The chicken I got were bits and ends pieces. Not ideal for most people but due to mouth issues I have going on atm this was good for me. Basic salt and pepper seasoning on chicken, taziki sauce was good but pita bread was horrible. Overall food wasn't bad but not memorable. Pass on the chicken gyro and tenders completely and order something else. Staff was absolutely awesome though. So because of that we will come back to try something else.

Barry K.

Its been many years since I have been to Photos, and last time was not that good and today was not any better. I'm doing low carb these days and their menu had some good options, so I thought I would give them another shot. I ordered the Italian beef bowl (no bread)with cheese and hot peppers and a fountain drink. $13 and change, not great price, but not bad either these days. Where this broke down is its supposed to come with extra meat. There was hardly enough meat to fill a basic sandwich, let alone qualify as "extra meat."

Also, the beef was not very flavorful, but the real crime was, it was curled up, which means, they put cold beef in very hot beef gravy to cook it fast. This is a cardinal sin in the Chicago area and means their knowledge of Italian Beef is lacking or their process is not being followed. Either way it was bad. It makes the meat rubbery. You will never see that at the beef leaders in this town, we all know who they are. Their giardinera was good though. They put a mozzarella & cheddar mix on it, which was fine. I had just played a round of golf and was starving and this did not even come close to filling me up.

So, I went back to get a cheeseburger (no bun) $8.99 I think. How bad could that be, right? It was thin and small, cooked on a flat top grill and kind of greasy. Maybe it was a quarter pound, I'm not sure. But it didn't seem like it. But the taste was bad, actually horrible, I don't think it was seasoned at all and had a strange flavor, that was off-putting.

They gave me a generous side portion of lettuce and pickles, I just wanted a small amount of tomato due to the carbs, that was all great. The pickles were really great and the best part of the burger.

I think at least I was full after that. I think their definition of "extra meat" and most people's, are not the same. The Coke Zero out of the fountain was actually very good, perfect mixture. That is many times, not the case.

Italian Beef, Cheeseburger, fountain drink, $24 all in. Frustration - free.😁

Response to manager comment:
You advertise it right on your menu board in the restaurant. See picture.

Dan A.

Buyer beware when coming in to order. Gyro on Friday or Saturday. They have signs that state Half price Gyros, until you get one to find out it’s buy 1 get 1 half off. No where on the sign does it say that. False Advertising!!! I will never be back. This place is a total ripoff!!