The Original Chicago Beef Company

I wrote this on my phone last year but because Unilocal didn’t allow mobile posting back then I’m a bit behind in posting…
06.06.2013
Driving by and came across this little place behind the Italian restaurant.
No «always cut fresh to order» onion rings so opted for the fried mushrooms.
Hubby ordered Italian Beef Sandwich «DRY» (very little gravy).

Sad to see this place closed down. I really liked the food here.

I have been there 3 times and have never been disappointed! The food was ALWAYS hot and tasted delicious! The employees, were friendly, and got the food out quick the last two times! Haha! They are a new business and getting the hang of things quite well. They may seem a bit un-​organised but they are getting there!
The Italian beef with peppers if AWESOME!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it was! The tamales are good, not great… There missing an extra something to make them memorable. The Chicago Dog was really good as well and very filling.

It was sad to see the new owners drive this place into the ground. They took what Josh had built and simply killed it.
And don’t ever tell someone from Chicago that the sickly pink Oscar Myer look alike hotdog is a Vienna. For shame.

Great place for Chicago-​styled food! A must try for Midwest transplants.

The ownership of this place changed. Was back last week for an infusion of beef and i have to say i was a a bit disappointed — especially after my previous visits.
The taste of the beef was the same flavorful beef, but the experience was different.
1) there was only one other guest in the restaurant, but every table was dirty. There were two employees in the place and they were not busy.
2) we ordered 4 sandwiches and 3 of those orders came out wrong. One took an extra 10 minutes to fix. No apologies were offered.
3) we ordered bottled water only to find out, after we paid, there was no bottled water available. .. they didn’t offer to refund the money.
4) although the taste of the beef was delicious, the sandwiches were served dry. .. they didn’t even ask if we wanted them wet. if you know Chicago beef, you know what i am talking about.
Anyway, I use to go out of my way to visit OCBC. .. i’ll try them one more time and hope that this last visit was a fluke.

Worst place I’ve ever been to, the floor was filthy, I had to wait almost 15 minutes just to get my order in, plus another 45 to simply get my food. The food was cold and when I told the girl in the front she just shrugged, no compensation whatsoever. Definitely do not recommend this place.

My family and I went to Del Pricipe’s for the first time. My son and I had the Italian Beef Sandwich and my husband had the polish dog. We also ordered an antipasto salad, deep fried pickles and garlic parmesan fries. I am assuming that you have to be from Chicago to rave about the beef sandwich. Perhaps it reminds you of fond memories of your childhood. Because, ours were bland. Mine supposedly had grilled onions and cheese in there somewhere. The small pile of pickles were overwhelmed by the basket, soggy with grease, very thin and limp. They served the sandwiches first, then after a while my husbands’s polish dog. The fries arrived when we were more than halfway done. I tasted my husband’s polish dog and it was very good. I was wishing I had ordered that. The fries were pretty good, as was the antipasto salad, even though the dressing was also bland. We asked for ranch and were proudly informed that they make their own, and hadn’t had a chance to do so yet. It was almost 1PM… really? The girl in the front (only 1) informed us that a couple people didn’t show up and there was only 1 cook. While I sympathize, they made no effort to make it up to us. No comp, no coupon, just our tough luck, I guess.
We won’t be back, the service was slow and the food was just so-​so. I can think of many other places where I’d rather spend $ 40.

The food is pretty good, and even a decent value for the money. You just have to have LOTS of time to spend waiting for it.
We were at Del Principe’s at lunch on Saturday, March 2d. There was one table that already had their food, and another couple had ordered just ahead of us. And it still took nearly a half hour to get one Italian beef sandwich and one burger.
I can’t imagine what it would like being here when they’re actually busy. Wait times measured in hours vice minutes? Skeletons sitting around having expired whilst waiting for an order? Cobwebs and dust on your order when it finally arrives?

Holy buckets! The Italian beef sandwich was/​is/​and ever shall be phenomenal. My husband’s sandwich-​making talent has finally been matched. This sandwich tastes exactly like his. And now, since the masses had been deprived of my husband’s amazing sandwich, they can all feast on its magnificence here at Del Principe’s.
At the risk of having my husband leave me for saying this… I must.
The messiest, juiciest, tastiest sandwich ever to cross these lips. Yum.

It pains me to write this review. When Del Principe’s first opened (as the Original Chicago Beef Company), it was great. The beef was incredible. The portions were generous. The sides were delicious.
Recently, it’s gone downhill. First, the service has slowed to a crawl. Phone in orders have consistently begun taking much longer than quoted. For example, the other night, I was told the food would be ready in 20 minutes. I got there in 25 minutes. I waited another 30 minutes, for a total wait of 55 minutes from when I called the order in to when I picked it up. That was nearly triple the quoted time. They weren’t even that busy. There were two couples eating, and the rest of the tables were empty.
I don’t mind waiting almost an hour for food on a busy, but don’t tell me it’s going to be 20 minutes if it’s going to be almost three times that. And, if you do misquote the time, at least have the decency to let me know when I come in and apologize instead of letting me sit at a table for ½ hour without hearing a word from you. Offering me something to drink while I wait or taking one of my sides off the bill would have be nice.
I’d normally let the long wait times slide, which I’ve been doing since it’s usually slow, had the food been worth it. I took the food out. It’s five minutes from the restaurant to my house. When I pulled the onion rings out of the bag, they were cold and soggy. The cheddar bacon fries (everything on the side to keep the fries from getting soggy) consisted of luke warm french fries, cold, overcooked, and rock-​hard bacon, room temperature cheese sauce, and no sour cream. The salad was decent, but was loaded with so many onions, that’s all I could taste.
I decided to try the pizza, since it looked good. I ordered ½ cheese and ½ pepperoni. It was made correctly. The crust was slightly overcooked, but not too bad. I took a bite, hoping to get something as good as, or better, than Rosati’s. It wasn’t. There was just too much sauce on the pizza and just too much garlic in the sauce. The sauce was tangy and almost tasted canned. I felt like I was eating a garlic and tomato pizza. At least it was hot.
Finally, I got to the beef sandwiches (gravy on the side to prevent soggy bread, sweet peppers, grilled onions, and mozzarella). I was looking forward to these since I had never been disappointed in them before. I unwrapped them. There wan’t much meat on the sandwich compared to what it used to have. Despite the quantity of meat, I was still looking forward to the taste. I went to dunk it in the gravy. It was missing. I went ahead and ate it dry. It was decent, but somebody got carried away with the seasoning on the meat. I mostly tasted black pepper. I was disappointed.
Overall, it was not a great experience. It cost almost $ 50 for takeout. I could have went out for not much more. I’m hoping it was a fluke this time, but the quality of the food, combined with the ridiculous wait time makes me hesistant to return.
I hope Del Principe’s can get back to where it was. Make sure the sides and entrees are timed so they all come out at the same time. Cold onion rings aren’t exactly tasty. Try to get more accurate quotes on your times. If it’s going to take an hour, let me know. Don’t lie to me like you’ve done the past four times I’ve been there. Make sure all sides are there. Missing the sour cream was bad enough. Missing the gravy was inexcusable
Most importantly, bring the sandwiches back to where they were. Don’t skimp on the meat. Get some serious quality control on the seasonings so the taste is consistent.
Finally, if your pizza always tastes like it was made with garlic-​infused canned sauce, drop the pizza.

I am a sucker for Chi-​town grub so on my visit to Temecula I had to stop in. This place is a newer spot in the area from what I could tell. A nice new interior with a couple TVs for watching sports. I liked the feel of it.
I wasn’t here to mess around though. I immediately knew I wanted to try their Italian beef and their Chicago dog. My wife and I did the sandwich dipped, its the only way to go. Their Italian Beef was spot on, nice and thin with a little cheese and giardiniera all tied together nicely. Next time though I would ask for some more peppers as I like mine spicy.
We also grabbed a couple of Chicago Dogs to go for later, to my surprise you order a dog it comes with FRESH cut fries. The owner made mention that he had to one up In & Out. He did a fantastic job with the fries, and really fresh cut makes all the difference. The dogs had that signature Chi town taste to them. I don’t know where they get the pickles but they are DAMN good. Del Principe’s also servers up some craft brews from local breweries, hopefully this place will get some taps and pour some draft brews. CHEERS!!!

The owner is a jerk. Hope this place passes through town quickly. I have never had a business owner of a start up business treat me like he did. He seems to be pretty cocky for the owner of a small start up Chicago restaurant from Arizona.
Food is just ok, I have experienced far better. Me and my girl were into this place when it first opened, the food was great. After a couple of months the quality and portion size went down.
I really don’t think it is a good value for my money when there are so many good choices for food in Temecula.

It’s not that I disliked this place horribly. It is just that it is confused about what it is.
If this was a Sports Bar & Grill, the long wait, higher than fast food prices, and slightly above average food would be okay.
This place has the makings of a good Chicagoesque Sports Bar, complete with ball games playing on the TV. One problem: NO BAR.
In other words, if you were sitting and enjoying a cold one with friends and relaxing, this place would be just fine. I just don’t see the draw as a fast food restaurant, with decent food, high prices, and a long wait.
Turn this place into what it could be: A sports bar & grill with Chicago style fair.

My son and I went here for dinner and it was just ok… I had the Chicago dog and it was tasty. My son had the regular hot with ketchup and he thought it was good. We did not care for the chili cheese fries, the chili was pasty…
Atmosphere– 3
Food– 3
Customer Service– 4
Presentation– 3
We will probably go back to try some of the other offerings but will not be getting the chili.

The Chicago Dog with everything was pretty good! There’s something still missing. Maybe it is a case where it is the same dog but the air is cleaner here and won’t taste the same as in Chicago because it is missing that Chi-​Town smog!

One of my new favorites in Temecula! This place is so good every time! And the owner is always super friendly!
The Italian Beef with cheese is my favorite. Always extra dip! The fries here are also amazing. The garlic parm are my first choice, but the chili cheese are extremely good as well. The sauce for the fries is a must no matter what kind of fries you order. My boyfriend also says they have excellent Polish sausage!

We ordered fried zucchini, Chicago dog, chili cheese fries, and the Italian beef with hot peppers.
Everything was amazing. The Italian beef is yes, messy, but that’s the way they are. The meat fell apart in my mouth. The peppers added an amazing flavor.
Zucchini was delish.
The chili cheese fries were homemade, not frozen fries like most places. The chili was just as good.
Chicago dog was amazing. Like
amazing. Not many places have dogs this authentic. What is it about sport peppers? I’m obsessed!
The owner was very friendly. I’ll definitely be back.

This review is based on the fact that I was craving a hot dog in the middle of a warm 84-​degree summer day in Temecula Valley… The pluses: Cubs playing on all the tvs; Friendly owners; Hot dogs, sausages, and buns can be ordered in bulk; After telling them that there wasn’t enough spice in our dogs, they put out an amazing hot sauce made in-​house from ghost peppers. That definitely turned it up.
I ordered the Chicago Hot Dog, my partner ordered the Maxwell Street Polish and a side of fries. Fries were just ok. The Chicago came with the typical toppings, but the dog itself was not memorable, as it didn’t give me the split skin I was craving for. The polish however was amazing, charred to perfection, with the split skin. While the name of the place misled me to order the Chicago Hot Dog, I’d pay the extra 2.50 for the Street Polish on the next visit and order it with the ghost-​pepper hot sauce on the side.

Tonight the man stopped by to pick up dinner from here. We’ve been wanting to try other things that they offer.
Him and I got the beef sandwich and all sorts of sides for everyone to share– the fried mushrooms, onion rings, and fried zucchini.
I’m not a big fan of beef sandwiches in general, but this one was just delicious. Stuffed full of tender slices that melt in your mouth, as well as cheese and topped with peppers and some celery. All drenched up soggily in a sauce (which you can get on the side). Pure heaven.
Their onion rings are very good and crisp and the fried mushrooms and crunchy with a juicy inside. I love zucchini so those were good, too, but nothing to scream about.
Once again, very happy, way too full, and will keep coming back!