Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless

Excellent ingredients aside from the bread.  Mouth still hurts from the plasticine hardness and gum-like chewing operation.  What is truly awful is the waiting.  One person in front of me to order.  Four or five already waiting @ 11:40.  Not bad, right?  Wrong.  Seems like there was a muy importante 'staff meeting' going on as no one was actually prepping any tortas.  Yeah honey, you definitely have those sauces sorted.  I mean they are sorted like a mo fo!  Receipt pan emptied.  All good there.  Maybe make a damn sammich!  Another reviewed said "waited for twenty minutes for my food".  That seems suspect but not completely out of the realm of reality.  Waited long enough that I 'got to know' another guy in line.  Do not be in a hurry.  This is not the place for that.  Oh those noodles next door look really good.  I think I will walk the cafeteria mallwalker-style...  Long wait.

I love Rick Bayless' tortas. Its my meal of choice when I'm on the go. I was so happy to hear that Tortas Frontera was now in the downtown area.  I don't have to wait for my next trip out of Ohare to have a torta anymore! Whoo hoo!!! The crowds here were definitely more than what I usually have to deal with at the airport.  I felt the wait here was more than 10 minutes. Thankfully they still have a large staff to handle the large amount of orders.  As usual I ordered my pepito and was not disappointed.  Paying in this food court area was different than what I had expected.  After picking up my order, I went to the cashiers to pay, instead of paying first and then picking up my order.  I might have to try a different sandwich now that its so much easier to grab a sandwich here.  Then again, why change a good thing?

Sometimes when I see people say a place is pricey on yelp I think "maybe they're just cheap", but no really, this place is Pricey with a capital P. I usually expect to spend no more than $7, $8.50 max for lunch, I spent about $10 here. I ordered sandwich that had the crispy chicken (forgot what it's called) and it was good, and filling. But I didn't like that it took quite a while to cook and there really isn't anywhere to sit and wait and you don't get good reception down there so you're standing around impatiently waiting for an over priced sandwich. This place makes me miss the old Mexican food kiosk that used to be in Chase. This place isn't bad, but I probably won't return unless I have lots of free time... and it's payday.