Red Hot Ranch

Fries are amazing. Negative stars on a Chicago dog with no tomato or pickle. Aka everything. But had sport peppers and celery salt. Next time will ask to GET IT RIGHT. Service was great. This would be 5 star had they followed Vienna code and not David Berg code.

I like to see myself as spoiled to have friends that lived in Logan Square. I just counted and realized I’ve been visiting Chicago at least once a year for the past 4 years. Every single one of those trips, after a night of drinking and debauchery, I am a fan of stopping in at Red Hot Ranch and getting a polish dog with everything (including hot peppers… be warned though, they are HOT!) and fries. I am so much of a fan I specifically ask to to go here, get my food to go, then sit in my friends’ living room, chow down and complain about how my mouth is on fire but that I cannot stop eating.
The best piece of advice I can give you here is to order more than one. They’re cheap so don’t be stingy and think that you’ll be okay with just one. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
Ah yes, here’s the warning: CASH ONLY!

Not the best hot dog I’ve ever had, but it’s fun to pop in while I’m doing laundry at Mighty Clean. If it’s nice outside, chill outside on the picnic tables and watch the cars go past on Western. Fries are their strong suit.

Okay this place ain’t so fancy and basic AF but I’ve never tasted such a great basic Chicagodog. This place is located near the blue line and they do have some outdoor seating. Ketchup is provided upon request.
The people were very nice. The service was fast and cheap. What really amazed me were the fries. Put yo fries in your dog… ugh amazing!
Definitely a great place if you have the munchies… not from experience — some guy who was high on something bought like three hot dogs and fries haha.
Also, this place is open super late which was perfect sincere didn’t arrive in the city until 1am. Definitely going to make some night trips here during my stay in Chicago

The dogs aren’t well cooked, the buns are nothing special, you might as well go to jewl osco and microwave something yourself. They have nothing hot, even though the name states «red hot ranch,» like wtf?

This place has amazing cheese. What’s stopping the 4 from being 5 is that I want a pickle on my hot dog. This place is mustard relish onion sport pepper. While the selected toppings listed above are standard at a lot of places in the city I like all of that with a Locke and tomatoes as well. Traditional Chicago style. Great fries also. Hand cut

I used to come here a lot more in previous years when I had friends living in the area and still find myself coming back for the double dog and fries for 4^th meal.
I got kinda turned off a year ago when I thought it was a genius idea to come for dinner. My roommate and I had a dog/​fries each and we split the shrimp but it was very subpar. Prolly because we were sober.
I came back tonight because I was in the area around 9:30 PM and got a half pound of shrimp with the spicy cocktail sauce, and was pleasantly surprised how good it was compared to a year ago! My order came with 9 – 10 jumbo shrimp and was def enough for a late dinner. I’ll admit I thought 9 dollars for solo shrimp was a bit steep, but the quality was there! I also attached a pic with a shrimp next to a Marlboro so you can see the girth.

Im not sure what is going on, but we ate there today and the fries were awful and the dogs were terrible! Like they swapped out for something totally gross and cheap. What happened Red Hot Ranch?

Not even worthy of a full star. The hot dogs are not Vienna at all, they should make them pull the Vienna name off their sign. Then they want to change for a refill on the soda they are charging $ 1.35 for. I would not recommend going there at all. I will not be back also. Stan

I’m not really sure how this place has any good reviews. The hot dogs are not Chicago style– they weren’t on a poppy seed bun, no tomatoes, no pickle, and no celery salt. Also it was the smallest, thinnest hot dog I’ve ever had at a restaurant. They give you your hot dog all rolled up with the french fries so when you open it, it looks like somebody sat on it. The fries were also incredibly greasy and the cheese sauce was cold and gross. The dudes serving us were pretty nice so that’s why they get 2 stars. Not worth the trip. Go to Fatso’s instead.

After reading that this place was the third best hotdog place in Chicago, I was pretty pumped and ready to be blown away. Sadly, I was not. The food was edible, but was no better than what I could get at the grocery store.

Great prices and their homemade fries are amazing. Not the best hotdogs I’ve had but still a great to go option!

The hot dog and the polish dog seemed pretty basic to me. The fresh cut fries were not anything special either – unseasoned and bland. We were searching for Chicago style hot dogs but this place didn’t seem to have it. The customer service could have been better also :(
Overall, the only catch for me is that you can get a hotdog and fries for less than $ 5. Other than that, I wouldn’t make a trip back.

Dogs: Average. Definitely not bad though. Not at all soggy.
Fries: Holy shit. Amazing. Fresh cut.
Shrimp: Believe it or not, super tasty.
I’ve walked over to this joint many times, and despite people telling me how good the shrimp were, it took me a year of coming in to finally try them. They are so good. Wish I tried them the very first day!
Also, they use that unique can fake cheese that I like (I always get a cup of cheese for my fries), so extra points for that too.

The folks and critics at Thrillist and Time Out are quick to proclaim this mediocre hole-​in-​the-​wall Logan Square’s answer to Fatso’s Last Stand. Like most establishments in Logan Square, this assessment is overrated, inaccurate, and probably written by a clueless hipster.
I stopped in on a Friday night at 1 a.m. on my way home from a bar. At this time of night, Fatso’s would be poppin’ with rap music blasting, fryers and grills smellin’ delicious, and a raucous, drunk crowd. I expected much of the same at Red Hot Ranch. Unfortunately, to my surprise, it was depressing and empty, just like the food I was about to regretfully consume.
My companion and I split a dog and some shrimp. The hot dog was bland, to put it plainly. Nothing special at all. I could get a better hot dog at (insert generic suburban hot dog joint) any day of the week. The shrimp, like the fries, were relatively flavorless, most likely due to spending too much time in the fryer.
Luckily, the teenagers working the counter were friendly; hence the second star. For good hot dogs and shrimp, head to the otherworldy Fatso’s on Chicago and Oakley. Or to Hog Dog Station on Lawrence and Kedzie. Waste of my time.

I go here all the time best shrimp & hot dogs in Chicago
Theyre open till 4 am plus the guys that work there are pretty friendly
I’ve seen them bread and clean the shrimp too so u know they’re always fresh!

I didn’t love it. Not sure what the big deal is.
The food was just ok, It was also really sloppy which wouldn’t matter if also it tasted great but sloppy just doesn’t fly with mediocrity. We waited a really long time for it, there were only two people in line in front of us. Really just not impressed. The food and experience were not terrible, but I probably would have been just as satisfied with Taco Bell. Ew.
Perhaps I just wasn’t drunk enough? Or this just isn’t what I’m looking for in a hot dog.
If I ever happen to try Red Hot Ranch again I’ll try their shrimp, those seem to be popular.

Did the double hot and fries; $ 4.75 was a good price for this much food. Like the other Red Hot location on Ashland, the hot dogs here are only ok, not great. You come for the fresh cut fries… how fresh? Like, the guy dropped a potato into the shredded, then dropped the fries into a fryer for three minutes, then poured the happy goodness into my bag. I need to do the polish and the shrimp to round out this review, but if you go to this location, stick to the fries (at Ashland, you’ve got the burger option). The guy behind the counter Thursday for lunch was an ace, he moved fast, and cash only speeds everything up (for reviewers that knocked Red Hot for being cash only… you are obviously new to Chicago. Carry cash!).

*UPDATE*
So some guy wrote me asking why I gave only one (1) star in my last review. Well, its because RHR doesn’t have pickles! A hotdog place without pickles is obviously run by cheapskates! It’s in my opinion «PSYCHO». They ought to change their name to SPAHN RANCH because that was a ranch full of psychos too.
Get some pickles, or remain a vagrant hotdog charlatan existing on the sidewalk of life.

What would you expect at 3:32 am. Chicago’s Northside has very few options at that time in the early morning and sadly fast food is a main one. Of course there are always diners but I wanted to grab something to go fairly quickly, so I could have a cup of coffee and get to bed.
Per reviews and photos, I’d made my decision on hot dogs and fries. I ordered two and waited some minutes for my order to be ready. Fries were prepared fresh on the spot. I tried to find anything wrong with this place, mostly because late night food like this is usually good with a crap load of booze. I was shocked at how good it was. Let’s start with the fries, they were at that place between fully fried and kinda soft. Nice texture and easy to eat. The hot dogs were good and the bun was the right amount of steamed soggy. I wonder if that’s why they use a waxy paper to wrap the dogs & fries in. That time before you eat allows the heat from the fries to steam the bun, giving it a more authentic steamed feel. Two dogs and all the fries were way too much for me. Carb overload. The cost was $ 7.50. I don’t usually eat this late, well not these days anyway. But, the night before was a long one and I needed a meal. The craziest takeaway, is that I was sober and this was pretty tasty. Maybe I was terribly hungry and I think that. Whichever the case, it was good.
The menu is as basic as it needs to be. They do dogs, fries and fried shrimp. I think they also do two other types of encased meats and that’s the whole menu. Make one thing and do it correctly and well. look at all their reviews.