Dot’s Diner On the Hill

Dot’s is such a special place. The food is cheap because it’s clear that the ingredients are quality. Come for a good, hardy American breakfast. Nothing extremely fancy, just delicious breakfast. It is a little slow, but it’s a fun place to hang out and I always notice something new and quirky on the wall (or on the ceiling)! The people work hard to get you your food and are very friendly.

The ambiance has changed over the years; there’s something about the hippies at the grill that drew my attention to this place, however, the food is still amazing and they hold the record on my book for the best damn huevos rancheros I’ve had yet!

I’ve been coming here for nearly 5 years. Dots is the best breakfast in Boulder, and the only breakfast place on the Hill. Portions are sized well, and nothing on the menu is more than $ 10 !
Try the breakfast burrito and Swiss sizzler!

Just what you want from a diner. Good service, cheap eats. Their biscuits are the best I’ve ever had.

This place was so awesome. My bf and I were in Denver for the weekend and didn’t have plans Sunday so decided to drive to Boulder. Breakfast is our thing and we were a little worried we wouldn’t be able to find a place for breakfast food since it was 1pm. But there was Dot’s! We saw a few people sitting outside and decided to try it– I’m so happy we did. It’s such a cute quirky place. The staff were incredibly friendly. I ordered their Texas toast French toast with real Vermont syrup (extra $ 2 but worth it in my opinion) It came with sausage and an egg. The French toast was really good, but the star of the meal was my boyfriends eggs Benedict. This place made me a fan of that dish. Their hollandaise sauce was so creamy and the egg was perfectly poached, English muffin was crisp. It was just to die for, my mouth is watering thinking about it. One of the waitresses also had her cute dog at work with her and I’m a dog person and really enjoyed his company. Next time I’m in Boulder I will absolutely be back and would recommend to anyone who wants a laid back tasty breakfast!

We loved this cute little place. It was fun to sit at the bar and watch our food be made. We highly recommend the huevos rancheros and biscuits. It was a great way to kick off the day. Friendly and quick service!

Great diner for price. The staff is always friendly and the food is always good. Perfect place for a starving grad student to get a big meal at a fair price.

Great, chill little diner. I visited on Sunday morning and got the «two thirteen» combo which is two French toasts, three snausages and an egg any way you like it.
The diner is well lived in and there was slow, old fashioned country music playing in the background. it was perfect. The food won’t set you back much and they serve only cage-​free eggs, which is awesome.

I used to come to this cozy little café back when I was a CU student in the 80s — it was called Mother’s Café then, and it was great, but excruciatingly slow.
I’ve been to Dot’s Diner three or four times, and the food has been delicious each time — yesterday I had the house breakfast — eggs, sausage, fried spuds, toast and lots of black coffee. While it wasn’t extravagant or particularly special, it was a solid, hearty meal made just how I ordered it. My wife had a breakfast burrito with chorizo, my son had a stack of pancakes and three eggs, and his girlfriend had waffles. Everyone enjoyed their meals and was pleasantly full afterwards.
But the service remains rather slow — it was rather quiet for an early Saturday afternoon and it still took close to 45 minutes for the food to arrive.
A great place for a leisurely breakfast or lunch, definitely not a dine ‘n dash kind of joint.

The service was actually great– very attentive and nice. Huevos Rancheros was delicious. So were the chocolate chip pancakes. Nice presentation of the Hot Chocolate. We will definitely go back.

Amazing. The hash browns and biscuits are incredible. Cage free eggs and vegetarian/​vegan options galore. The price is great too. A must-​stop for anyone coming through boulder.

The food at Dot’s is to die for, and I love that they have tofu for us egg-​haters! My only complaint is a server name Jocelyn, who may be the most annoying person on the planet. She seems to have no idea what ingredients are used in very common menu items, and she also comments on clients’ food choices in an awkward way, interrogating them about whether their usual eating habits are «healthy» or not. Avoid her, order the breakfast burrito, and you’re good to go.

Of course the huevos were fabulous, as was the coffee. For a semi-​crowdophobe like me, though, coming in late morning on a weekend was not such a good idea. Also, trying to use my laptop computer amid this crowdedness, is now ony a vague traumatic memory. I was impressed by the patience, kindness, and resilience of the cooks, waitpeople, and other staff here. Quite impressive. The overall atmosphere of this popular hill breakfast/​lunch destination on late weekend morning was: clusterf – k. Not really anyone’s fault, just the way it is. Next time I will go in around 2pm. That’s when the nice lady at the register said a person like me could avoid the crowds. Good information for anyone else who’s a crowd avoidant type like me. But too many of us could create a crowd. :o)

This breakfast spot is alright. I had toast, scrambled eggs and hash browns. Everything is pretty standard. It was good but not STUPENDOUS. There’s not that many breakfast spots in this area so I think this might be as good as it gets for this area.
The restaurant is very small and cozy. It feels like a lodge restaurant in a city like Mammoth. The bathroom is tiny as well.

When my girlfriend and I entered the restaurant we were greeted by a friendly staff and a charming environment. I ordered a cheddar and salsa omelet with hash browns and a biscuit. My order was not the issue at all, my girlfriend however ordered three chocolate chip pancakes. When our food arrived it all looked great, but things soon changed when my girlfriend took her first bite. Her pancakes were undercooked. A somewhat crispy exterior with a sickening batter filled, uncooked interior. This wasn’t a huge issue, we simply pointed it out and they went to go make another, no big deal. Right? WRONG. Instead of quickly fixing the mistake, it took an additional half an hour to reproduce another set of pancakes. So they waiter comes back out with another set of pancakes and what do we get? Another set of undercooked pancakes! Unbelievable! I brought the pancakes over to the waiter by the kitchen and pointed out how the inside of the pancakes were not cooked and batter was oozing out of the middle yet again! I got no apology as the waiter regretfully brought over the pancakes to the kitchen announcing that the customer thought they were undercooked. So we sit down for another dreadful 20 minutes waiting for the damn pancakes and yet again another group of undercooked pancakes comes out! It was so absurd! Do you guys not know how to make a pancakes? They’re supposed to be cooked all the way through! We were not charged for the worlds worst pancakes, which was a fair gesture. We tipped and thanked them for the service and left to never return.
Pros:
Interesting environment, good biscuits and hash browns.
Cons:
Poor customer service due to a non efficient laid back staff.

Dot’s is the epitome of your greasy spoon diner in a college town.
I ventured here all the time in college and it is always my go to breakfast spot when I come back into town.
Although the service is slow and not exactly friendly, the food is great and the décor is standard Boulder. I’ve never gotten anything but the breakfast sandwich which comes on one of Dot’s famous buttery biscuits topped with egg and avocado. It is just incredible.
Dont wait for your waiter to come back so you can pay, once you get your bill you have to take it to the front register to cash out!

Great breakfast, great price. I’ve been here at least 25 times and I always get the breakfast burrito Xmas style. NOTE: the location provided by Unilocal is incorrect. The real location is on university hill, the southwest corner of university and broadway

The best restaurant in the world — in the hippie/​diner category. I only eat the huevos rancheros so it’s hard to review other things. I love coming here. I used to come in college, which was a hundred years ago. When I’m in Boulder, I still have to come here. No I’m not being nostalgic. I know my huevos and these are some of the best. Look at the picture! They have a wide selection of vegetarian food and I noticed a few things that were gluten free, including pancakes. Yum.

Living in the San Francisco bay area for 30 years now, I just finished making a «Huevos Rancheros –Colorado Style» breakfast for my wife (of 26 years) and me.
During our wonderful breakfast, the question arose: Does Dot’s Diner still exist?
And I am absolutely delighted to discover, via Unilocal,that it does!
The year was 1980, and I was hitchhiking across the continent as an unemployed, college educated soul, in a raging recession. And Dot’s Diner was a fun, cozy –and crowded café in an old converted gas station, on West Pearl Street. The customers were an eclectic, yet gregarious mix of hippies, professors, college students, and blue collar workers.
Not fully understanding the menu, I asked a hippie, sitting next to me, what he was eating. Smiling, he freely explained that it was «…huevos rancheros: An experience more spiritual than metaphysical…».

That settled it. A few minutes later, I was served up a full sized, piping hot huevos rancheros –with breakfast sausage and a cup of strong black coffee. The ranchera sauce was so strong that I literally cried through the entire breakfast. But I came out of the «experience» a true believer.
But, while the San Francisco bay area is a culinary mecca, the only way I can get a proper huevos rancheros is to make it myself.
Here’s the recipe, for you nostalgic ex-​Boulderphiles out there, who need an occasional «Huevos Rancheros –Dot’s Diner Style» fix:
Dot’s Diner Legendary Huevos Rancheros
— Lay a 8″ or 9″ diameter white flour tortilla (we now use multigrain) on an oven-​proof dinner plate.
— Smear a generous amount of vegetarian refried beans over the tortilla.
— Place in a 300°F oven.
— Fry one or two… or three eggs, over easy (Dot’s Diner served these with three eggs).
— Place egg (s) on the now warmed up refried beans/​tortilla.
— Turn the oven up to 425°F.
— Cover eggs/​refried beans with a generous amount of dark-​red ranchera sauce.
— Cover ranchera sauce with a generous amount of grated sharp cheddar cheese.
— Place back in 425°F oven until grated cheese is fully melted.
— Sometimes, after taking the huevos rancheros out of the oven, I dot the top with pieces of ripe Haas avocados.
— Serve with links of breakfast sausage, and a cup of black coffee, medium roast, but brewed strong.
Update:
Another Dot’s Diner customer contacted me, as she was unable to find a recipe for the ranchera sauce.
I just simply buy a 7-​ounce can of Herdez Salsa Ranchera, off the shelf.
But one may only be able to find it at your local Hispanic grocery store, as it’s made in Mexico.
It tastes about the same as Dot’s Diner, as I remember.
But if it’s too spicy-​hot for you, just substitute your favorite salsa instead, as that’s exactly what I do for my wife’s huevos rancheros.
Enjoy!

Dot’s is surprisingly healthy for a diner, serving cage free eggs and organic coffee among other good-​for-​you items. They also serve really, really good biscuits and gravy. I mean really good.
The diner itself seems pretty old and kind of dirty. If you’re a germ-​a-​phobe I’d bet my last dollar that you would be a little freaked out about eating here. I however have always lived by the creed of whatever doesn’t kill me just gives me a stronger stomach so I had no qualms about eating here. Also, did I mention how good the biscuits and gravy were? I might be tempted to eat this dish while sitting on a city street sidewalk.
The service is a bit lackadaisical, but very friendly. And the place is pretty inexpensive.