Tasty Dog Fans Say Sentimental Goodbyes as Closure Looms

A small group of people have documented their final Tasty Dog visits on Facebook, typing brief but sentimental farewells to the Oak Park restaurant.

Village officials have given the business until Aug. 10 to vacate the building at 708 Lake St., which is owned by the Village of Oak Park. Tasty Dog’s owners reportedly owe more than $40,000 in unpaid rent and penalty fees, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Tasty Dog has three stars on Yelp with more than 70 reviews. But a quick look at the most recent critiques show customers haven’t been thrilled with the food lately.

On July 27, Kai K. of Chicago updated her previous 4-star review from 2013.

“I have no idea what the hell happened. Maybe they lost their head cook. Maybe they changed food supplier. Whatever it was, the food here is now B-A-D.”

Aaron G. of Chicago said he wasn’t happy about a soggy bun, the presence of lettuce and cucumber and a cold dog.

“Putting the wrong items on a Chicago Dog automatically will constitute a poor review.”

P S. of Oak Park said he and his girlfriend got food poisoning from a hot dog and a hamburger.

“Tasty Dog is living on good faith reputation built when they first opened across the street nearly 30 years ago. Back then, it was fresh fast food (if such a thing exists). Now, it’s just another hot dog dump.”

The restaurant does have a healthy number of positive 3- to 5-star ratings, and plenty of reviewers have recorded fond memories on the Yelp page.

Rona H. of Wheaton wrote on April 12 that Tasty Dog needed to be accepted as it is — a greasy spoon for hangover food.

“My friend and I sat there for 5 hours and chatted all afternoon, and no one batted an eye at us either. Perfect sit-down casual place just to chat about your dreams and goals!”

How do you feel about Tasty Dog’s expected closure? Tell us in the comments.