What can I say!!! Left the city to eat here... Best Red Hot I've had in years. Maybe ever. The cheddar made it what it is. Not gooey, just perfect. Chili was to die for. Juicy dog with a perfect snap from the skin. A must have for anyone craving a hot dog/red hot!!!!
Will definitely be coming back every time I come to the city.
Best Hot Dog place in the world. I've been going to this place since I can remember and I have never had a problem with it. The staff is so nice and funny and always are nice to children.
The food is super good. Although the hot dogs are not grilled, they are still delicious. The cheese fries are impossible to not like. Instead of using liquid cheese, Irving's uses actual cheese and it tastes so good.
The Shakes are amazing and always thick. I would recommend this place to anyone.
I just do not get it....places that start with a great item and recipe, then after a month change the quality. Â Its as if we were sucker punched! Â The Sloppy Joes started out great. Â Good quallity meat, good taste, and good consistency. Â Today I had to throw it out. Â It was inedible. Â The poorest of beef, no flavor at all. Â Its as if they chopped up a burger and added diluted ketchup. Â Do Not Waste your money on this item.
Review Source:The best hot dog in Chicago. Â The crew of employees has been the same for the last decade. Â The service is top notch and the cheese fries are AWSOME. Â Â This is a staple of my culinary indulgences. Â The price is up there, but it's a North Shore location. Â
Extra bonus is if a game is on, it's on the TV. Â Even the Sox.
I love this place! Â The staff is super nice and funny, they take very good care of you, it's been the same group of guys for as long as I've been frequenting, which is about 4 years. Â The food is excellent for what it is, hot dogs, Italian beef, burgers, fries. Â Their shakes are the best in the area, I always have respect for a place that doesn't just squeeze sauce into vanilla ice cream for my chocolate or strawberry shakes. Â
I highly recommend this for a quick lunch, the price is fantastic, and everything else matches.
This place has been around for at least 25 years. Â I've been coming here since I was 5, and nostalgia aside, it's got some of the best meat in tube form aside from Superdawg, Portillo's, and Gene'n'Jude's.
If you ever come here, don't ever placate the little angel on your shoulder and thing "maybe I should get the salads."
No. Don't do it. Â
Instead, look up at the menu; shift your gaze to the left most column and order a sausage. Â Any sausage, a burger, anything that will get you to think, that as soon as you complete your meal, you'll feel the need to lurch away from the table after a few hours feeling like Elvis in Vegas - fat, drugged, and completely out of it.
Combine your meats with the cheese fries. Â The cheese will either be gooey, ooey, and melty, - the three dwarves that Snow White never really liked - or be grainy and lumpy as the cheddar cheese has only begun to melt. Â
Take my advice, if you REALLy want the internal feeling that your heart dies a little bit by eating fatty goodness, order two polishes, cheese criss-cut fries, and a large diet.
If I shorten my lifespan a few days every time I go here; I'll die younger, but know full well I've lived a heck of a more delicious life. Â Enjoy.
I've been going here since my highschool days in the '80s. It really doesnt get any better than this.
Charred dogs with everything on them including their tangy sauerkraut which is a must if you like the zing in your dog. The Cheese fries have held up as well, despite going through some shifts in management. I've started taken a liking to their burgers and that is been a personal satisfaction considering its hard to find great burgers on the North Shore unless you go down in Evanston to grab something from Enzzio's or up to Highland Park to Prairie Grass. But that's an event. Iriving really isnt that big of a thrill when you go in--but they makesup for it in their food, ala the fried mushrooms, the Italian Beef........
I gotta stop talking about this because I'm getting really hungry, and I already ate!
Oh Jesus. One of my five-star reviews that when I'm writing I begin to CRAVE the food.
I LOVE THE ITALIAN BEEFS HERE. So good. SO GOOD!
Easily on my top ten of places to get a good beef in Chicago. I would DEFINITELY make a special trip out here and actually have several times. I suggest you do the same!
Fries are always good too. Pizza puffs, excellent. But the beef...oh the beef! Try it! You'll never be the same.
Maybe two decades and some years back Chicago had it's own Irving's location till they moved. Bleh! I remember walking there with my old man and getting all sorts of delicious char foods. For my young age I never understood what the heck, "for red hot lovers" meant but assumed it had to do with dating. "So this is where I could take chicks" (I was under ten, alright) Â Obviously it's meaning is for those that love red hots or hot diggity dogs as my Ma so lovingly likes to call them.
Irving's is a char house, so most of your favorites you would love. Full staff with many working the line so you get your food pretty quickly. This place is tiny compared to the store they once had in Peterson Park. Â Weekday afternoons are usually busy with service folk and local corporate types. They are found in a strip mall with ample parking. Â Seating is the curved wooden booth style and they have booths for two and up to four. Â
During Lent or when I feel like it, I'll stop by and have their fried fish (cod) sandwich. Shredded lettuce, tartar the way it should be and a thick slice of sandwich style tomato. Hits the spot, but just for (reminiscing) I'll have a red hot also. Not the best when following each other. Â A perfect order with some friends would be a few char favorites and definitely some cheese fries. Â Their food isn't heavy, so you can leave feeling satisfied and not bloated. Â Always made fresh to order. Â
Recently Irving's had an offer through Groupon, so thank you Irving's for offering them, I made great use of those and probably stopped over more often than I have in the not so recent past.
the more things change, the more they stay the same. Except that on the whole Irving's hasn't changed in over 15 years and that is a great thing. I grew up on Irving's and it had been too long since I had been here.
I walked on in, met my friend and ordered up a brat and a dog with my normal toppings. How quickly I was reminded that its the brats here that are what really bring it. The dog was good, but the brat is always great and is something I just jones for  every now and then.
The problem of fond memories being dashed always exists on places you grew up, but Irving's never disappoints. I didn't get any of teh criss-cut of cheddar fries this time, but they are always great as well. When I do go here, I always question myself why I don't come back here more. so it goes
I came to this place expecting your average hot dog joint.
Pros: The hot dogs were fine along with the fries, nothing special.
Cons: really expensive for a hot dog joint. I ordered fries with cheese, one hot dog, and a small drink and it run me almost $7! The hot dog alone was $2.70, which is nuts.
The cheese sauce was terrible, had the consistency of wet cement and was more like that cheese spread in a can.
I probably won't come back but at least I can say I tried it.
1. I'm not coming here for "atmosphere" or anything of the like (it's a hot dog/fast food place so what do I expect).
2. I ate here years back when I worked in the North Shore & made a visit a while back. Nothing has changed and that's a good thing.
3. Cheese fries and onion rings- rock solid (I don't eat fries often and every now & then I'll hit the onion rings)!!!
4. I'm a fan of the Maxwell Polish (I'm a real sucker for a good Maxwell) & the burgers are also solid. Try the char-dog or the standard dog as well.
I really just wanted to be brief (especially with so many other reviews). A decent place to eat if you're in the area. If you want to eat here, throw your diet out the window.
Every time I go and visit my folks back home, I make a stop here. Â I loved this place as a teenager, and while I'm sure this place had changed a little in 15 years, Â I don't notice it one bit (some of the same guys are still behind the counter). Â
I never walk out of this place without an order of the criss-cut (waffle) fries with cheese. Â The cheese is downright scary-looking, and you'll swear it glows in the dark, but once you start eating it, you cannot stop to save your life. Â
Oh, and I definitely feel like eating salads for two days after getting lunch here, but it's oh so worth it.
We were out in the area and decided to try Iving's for Red Hot Lovers. After all, it was Sweetest Day. If you're coming from the west (Glenview), it's easy to miss on Lake Ave., as it is located on the west side of a strip mall at the corner of Skokie Road and Lake.
Once inside, it became clear to us quickly that this place must be a big hit with the locals. Even though it was past the peak lunch hour at 1 PM, there was a line to the door and nearly every table was taken in the small dining area. Families with kids and high school kids from nearby Loyola Academy all came here for lunch or ice cream.
I ordered a grilled Polish sausage. My wife got a brat with sauerkraut and onions. My older son got a plain hot dog. This place gets it right. The order-taker calls out every item as a crew in back get busy on each order. It did not appear that he wrote anything down, yet we got everything just right. Pretty amazing how they got the routine down. We also found the line moved very quickly.
My grilled Polish was excellent and my wife said her brat had the right "snap" to it - perhaps the best she's tried around here. We also got a side of onion rings and sweet potato fries. Servings aren't big on side items but their o-rings are great tasting. Same with the fries.
Overall, it's a cramped sort of place, as many of the best hole-in-the-wall fast food joints often are, but it wasn't long before we struck up a conversation with another guy who stopped in for lunch too. And we looked over at some Loyola kids with cheese fries. If my cholesterol wasn't a concern, I'd gladly pounce on those and devour them.
After our meal, it was amazing to see the crowd had not subsided at all. For a little town in the North Shore, Wilmette sure has a lot of Red Hot Lovers. Add us to the list of fans who will return here next time we're back in the area.
Well hello future heart attack!! Â Future delicious, cheesy, greasy, yummy heart attack!
Went here yesterday for the first time in a long time (maybe 5 years) and refreshingly it was still the same :) Â Same perfect hot dogs. Â Same giant onion rings. Â And most importantly, same cheesy fries! Â These are not your average nacho-cheese fries. Â No no no. Â These fries are topped with a delcious, greasy, if slightly clumpy cheddar cheese. Â And when you mix it with a little ketchup, well, heaven can't be far off!!
Obviously you can't eat like this every day, but for the occasional treat, this north shore institution can't be beat!
Nice to see so many reviews of this spot
Hands down the best cheese fries in the Chicagoland area, it's like greasy, hot, chunky Merkt's cheddar cheese
And the hot dogs are flawless, some might condescend when a flawless hot dog is mentioned, but it's way to easy to screw up a hot dog and incredibly difficult to serve a perfect one (it's all about steam)
Doug and Irving are the only two hot dog gentlemen I trust, and the guy running the home depot stand, they rock too
Irving's For Red Hot Lovers will always have a special place in my heart. I've been coming here since I was 5 years old and it's still one of my favorite eateries in the ENTIRE world. In fact, for my birthday I get to pick anywhere I want my family to go and I've been known to pick this very establishment to celebrate another year of my life.
My favorite is a cheesedog and cheesefries, it's seriously one of the best meals I've ever had. The staff is always so friendly, my dad was a regular here and as soon as he walked in the door they would all yell out his name. Yeah, it's that kind of place.
Keep in mind that this is a hot dog joint and you should NOT be counting calories here. The food is heavy and you leave with a VERY satisfied fatkid feeling. Yum.
I've been going to Irving's for about 2 years now, and have learned to stick to the main things - dogs, polish sausages & burgers - and stay away from things like the tuna & patty melts.
The dogs are done just right (and loaded to your specifications - but make sure to order the char dog!), the burgers are average, the criss-cut fries are great! The cheese fries are above average, as well.
Super-attentive and friendly staff, fastfastfast service  - if you're not ready to order the minute you go in (especially if you're there during the lunch rush), hang back away from the counter to give yourself a minute to peruse the menu, lest you be stomped by the crowd.
Special Secret: GYROS. Who'da thunk it? A meal in itself... the lamb is DEE-freaking-licious! Worth the extra 4-5 minutes of cooking time!
I'm only going to give 4 stars because I haven't had everything on the menu yet (although it all looks amazing) and because they are CASH ONLY. I wish I knew that before going in but no one mentioned that in a review.
Got a regular Chicago style dog for my husband and he downed it in two seconds. I'm guessing they had a love connection of some sort. I ordered a grilled cheese (I know, I know. I ordered a grilled cheese at a hot dog place?!?) and it was fantastic. The fries were great and the service was unbeatable. I did not do the cheesy fries but will do so on my second trip. They take care of you quickly and efficiently. We will definitely be going here again and again!
Chalk up the 4 star rating to childhood nostalgia. Â There used to be an Irving's in Lincoln Village where dad would take me every Saturday when I was younger. Â That location eventually closed down, but lo and behold I end up going to high school down the street from Irving's Wilmette location. Â Back in the day my standard order was 2 red hots, ketchup only (GASP!) and criss-cut fries. Â I've grown up since then so now it's 2 red hots, 1 ketchup (for the inner kid in me) and 1 mustard-onion-pickle (still not ready for full blown Chicago style), and criss-cut fries. Â Loved it back then, still love it now.
Review Source:When my high school boyfriend and I used to go to Irving's, my mom used to say "Ohhh, are you two going to Irving's for RED HOT lovers?!" Â ...Get it? Good one mom. :)
I love Irving's. Hot Dogs are delicious. Waffle cut fries are seasoned and yummy. Service is always fast, even if it's crowded.
Best hot dog in Chicago area!..and the criss-cut cheddar fries will kill you but you'll die happy. Um to the guy who said Portillo's instead...?...?...?...what??? A chain? No thanks. The same guys have been working at Irvings my whole life and it feels like family every time I go back. The hot dogs always have the perfect snap and their burgers and gyros are good too. It's not fancy but they have a few booths you can bring your food to.
Review Source:Very good hot dog and burger joint - though I usually have cheeseburgers here, the hot dogs are good too; boiled or grilled, and lots of condiments to put in. Â The grilled cheeseburgers are excellent in my book, and reminds me of a good barbecued burger, not like Burger King which tastes like **** since its very fast food and they switched their meat vendors/recipe.
You can eat in or you can take out; though its too bad they scaled down from having at least 3 or 4 Irving's elsewhere, especially in downtown.
Plenty of places to sit to eat.
Not far away from the Edens/Lake Avenue on/off ramp, just a bit east from it in a small shopping strip on the southwest corner of Lake Ave and Skokie Blvd.
I LOVE Irving's. Â I grew up eating at this place...
The burgers and dogs are awesome and the fries are super yummy too.
I swear, the same people work behind the counter as the ones when I was in junior high! Â It's a great family burger place in Wilmette.
Check it out if you're in town!
Cute name, sparse interior, and average food.
Irving's tries very hard to convince you how great they are with various press clippings on the walls but I don't find their hot dogs better or worse than a dozen other places. Â Don't get me wrong, the food is fine, just nothing special.
Personally, I'd drive about 2 miles further south on Skokie and go to Portillo's instead.
Or for a mind-blowing hot dog experience, go to Hot Doug's in Chicago.
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