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Chicagoans Continue to Wait Hours For Jollibee's Filipino Fried Chicken and Spaghetti

When will the Jollibee craze subside?

Jollibee lines haven't died down.
Jollibee lines haven't died down.
Yelp
Ashok Selvam is the editor of Eater Chicago and a native Chicagoan armed with more than two decades of award-winning journalism. Now covering the world of restaurants and food, his nut graphs are super nutty.

The long lines haven’t subsided in Skokie, home of the Midwest’s first Jollibee. They’ve erected tents for customers who continue to wait for a taste of the beloved Filipino fast-food chain. Even the drive thru is periodically shut down to deal with overwhelming demand. And then CBS Chicago traveled to the northern suburb to chat with some customers who continue to queue and wait more than an hour for buckets of fried chicken, spaghetti, and "Yum Burgers".

Chicago has hundreds of places for fried chicken, and Jollibee isn’t the first fast-food joint to pair up fried chicken with spaghetti. Chicagoans could walk to a Brown’s Chicken & Pasta if that combo was all that was important. Though, Brown’s pasta was never as sweet as Jollibee and doesn’t come with sliced hot dogs.

This line is redick. #jollibee

A photo posted by Will Schlaeger (@schlage5) on

But as the TV crews from CBS Chicago discovered, nothing about this experience is overhyped for the immigrants and Filipino Americans who wait for hours. One customer drove seven hours from Minnesota just to spend more time waiting in line.

So, this is good news for the village of Skokie, as Jollibee has become a destination with no signs of slowing down. This is bad news for fans who stayed away during opening weekend hoping to eventually stop by when the lines died down.

Jollibee

3534 W Touhy Ave, Skokie, IL 60076 (847) 674-3900 Visit Website