Fatburger on La Grange Road in Orland Park, IL
Our wedding planning trip to Chicago continued this morning with a trip to meet with the Reverend we chose for the ceremony. After we took care of that meeting, we had a couple hours before our next appointment and J was starving. Since we were already in Orland Park, we headed over to the big business street and started looking for food. J’s mom suggested a brew pub on La Grange Road. I said any place with a burger was fine with me. We started towards the brew pub, but as we were driving, J noticed the Fatburger. She figured that would be faster than a sit down restaurant and it would satisfy the burger criteria.
Fatburger is a west coast burger chain that, at one time, was co-owned by former Spartan Magic Johnson. The chain was started in 1952 in Los Angeles. Up until the mid-9o’s, the chain pretty much only existed on the west coast, but expansion brought store farther to the east. The company now has 93 restaurants across North America, Asia, and the Middle East.
The store in Orland Park is in a strip mall on La Grange Road near 151st Street. We pulled in just after 11:00 and there was only one other person in line. Fatburger’s slogan is “The Last Great Hamburger Stand.” The decor is that of a sixties diner and while it’s technically considered fast food, they do cook your food to order.
We got in line and looked over the menu which is mostly burgers. They do have a couple chicken sandwich options and a Bocca burger. J’s mom ordered the Fatburger without the relish and pickles. When she ordered, the cashier repeated her order to the cook who then repeated it. Then, another guy poked his head out of the back kitchen and yelled “Fatburger” as well. We all got a pretty good chuckle from that. She got skinny fries and a drink to round out her order.
One of two Fatburger locations in Illinois...this one in Orland Park
J ordered the Spicy Fat Chicken Sandwich. She added cheese and bacon to the lettuce that came on the sandwich. She also got the skinny fries and a drink to make her order complete. Her sandwich was really pretty spicy. She said it was good and when she got down to the last few bites, she gave it to me so I could get a taste. I was a little surprised by the spice level, but it wasn’t overpowering. The Skinny Fries were the kind of fries that she likes and she cleaned those off her plate.
I ordered the King Burger with just cheese. The difference between the King Burger and the Fatburger is just the size of the patty. The King Burger is a 1/2lb while the Fatburger is a 1/3lb. I left all the toppings off and got my sandwich plain. I got Fat Fries with mine and no drink. They had Coke products and I still had a Pepsi in the car. I’d be ok until we got done eating. The burger was really good. It was still a fast food burger on a fast food bun, but it was straight off the grill and steaming hot. The Fat Fries were steak fries and they also just came out of the deep fryer.
Fatburger was good. When we started heading towards lunch, I never would have guessed we would have ended up at a chain fast food place, but it’s a chain fast food place that I’ve never been to, so I was alright with it. There’s nothing that jumped out to me as being better as far as the meat goes. They do have different toppings than the other places, but I’m not a toppings person. Our lunch was good, but it costs about $10 a person, so it wasn’t cheap fast food.
There is one Fatburger location in Michigan if you’re interested in trying it out. The store is at 28308 Telegraph Road in Southfield.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
The Chicago area Fatburger stores are franchises owned by Kanye West.