Hot Rods Burgers

Rrrrrr … it was boarded up … closed with two large pad locks … I believe that was the biggest clue … and I really wanted to try it. Darn !!! Darn !!! Darn it !!!

HORRIBLE customer service. I’ve been here both drunk and sober thinking that it would be different and decided to give it a second chance. The employees act like they own the place especially the younger male and female that work late nights. The food isn’t terrible, and definitely easier on the taste buds after of night of partying but I can’t get over the customer service… well actually there isn’t any! Go to the side of FACES night club and go to the lady by the patio who has a wide variety of food options, she is very nice and is fast at preparing the food. She puts Hot Rods and the team to shame working alone yet so efficient!

I was not impressed with the food here. I ordered a cheddar bacon dog and my boyfriend got a chili burger. Although the hot dog had a lot of bacon, the bacon was totally flavorless. The cheese was not the gooey nacho-​type cheese I was expecting, either. It was just regular melted cheese. My boyfriend said the chili on his burger was good and he would return for that.
The soda machine was not working, so the girl working did give me a free Rockstar which was nice of her. We also split some fries which were nothing special.
There were a lot of sketchy people who kept coming in and out of the dining area and it seemed like a lot of staff members were dropping off things, as well. Perhaps they take in deliveries in the late evening? All in all it was rather distracting and I was not thrilled with the experience. The two stars are for the friendly cashier and the good chili.

I love this place but… We need to change some of the music and we definitely need to get some PIZZA up in here along with some salads and other healthy choices. By the way Mike was amazing. He makes wonderful onion rings YUM.

Do people come here sober to eat? I haven’t, and wouldn’t suggest you either. Great late night sober up food. Although fair warning, you might wake up with the bubble guts. I would have given this place a higher rater for their yummy drunk food, except for their often extremely crappy customer service. There are a few people with great attitudes, however a lot of pissy ones. I totally understand and have sympathy that dealing with drunk people for hours must be grating on your nerves, but you seriously don’t need to take it out on everyone that comes through here. PRO TIP: If you take your order to go… make sure everything is in there. This place is notorious for forgetting stuff.

You eat here when you’re drunk. It opens late and has the fattening food that a drunk person generally wants and needs.

I’ve only eaten here late night and drunk lol. So take my review with a grain of salt haha. The chili cheese fries are bomb that’s all I know haha. Not the best but they are good for the price.

This Is Where Your Stomach Ends Up @ 3AM
SITREP
Nothing like wandering around Midtown at almost 3am, looking for someplace open, on Labor Day Weekend Sunday Night, in high heels. [Well, I wasn’t wearing the high heels, but the gals were.] ;)
THE SETUP
We got out of FACTOR IX’s Labor Day Ball (inside Midtown Barfly), we were gabbing with our peeps and let about an hour’s worth of time slip by. By the time we noticed and checked, places like Pieces (Pizza) were closed and La Ganarcha (Mexican) were still too far away to walk and we really didn’t want to cab there for just a mile.
We Unilocaled it, and realized that Hot Rods was just up one block and over another, so off we went, high heels and all…
LE MENU
This is a your great drunk food late night burger joint, and even a notch above to be honest. Lots of great burger options (singles, doubles, triples, with cheese also). They also had chicken strips, onion rings, frenchy fries (which we all got) and a lot of other interesting selections.
GRILLED CHEESE SAMMICHES
One of the eclectic specialties here is the variety of grilled cheese sandwiches that they create here with all of the fixens (tomatoes, no tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, other veggie extras, etc. etc.). All of them quite good!
SECURITY
Now this is something I hate to do, but it is «part of the total package» of this business operation and must be noted. Though Hot Rods food metrics are great and I’ll definitely hit it again, I am NOT a fan of the strong-​armed security associated with this place, and this is where they lose 1-​Star in my overall rating.
It’s obvious that Hot Rods is a lessee to the building, and it is therefore the building management that runs the «shut-​down» operations at 3am for all of the tenant businesses, including Hot Rods.
What is NOT cool is to be eating your order (like my friends were) or still WAITING for your order (like I was) and have security bulldoze in and yell at everyone they have to get out that it’s closing time. It’s clear to me and others that this puts a lot of stress on the staff of Hot Rods to get the orders finished, and stress on the customers who are being yelled at to get out. NOT COOL.
THE LOWDOWN
Great food, nice restaurant staff, but aggressive non-​customer-​friendly building management security — but then, why would they care? Afterall, we customers are just preventing them from punching out & going home… right?

I have eaten here a few times but I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I ordered a chicken club last night and it was completely raw in the middle. I, of course, took a few hungry bites before I noticed I was tearing through raw flesh. It makes me really nauseous to even bring it up again, but since they won’t answer the phone for me to tell them I decided to turn to Unilocal.So at least you know.

Most people on here who rate this down seem to say the service is bad, and while I can’t say it’s particularly good, I’d imagine part of the reason people don’t like it is because they’re drunk, haven’t eaten for 6 hours (because it’s 2am), are particularly impatient and/​or picky eaters, or don’t know how difficult it is for a staff of maybe 4 people to just churn out burgers as fast as McDonalds when there’s a line to the door of the place.
The food isn’t awful. I wouldn’t say it’s amazing or anything, but it’s entirely worth it’s value — being a pretty damn affordable joint. They have some semi-​creative items on there, and I’ve yet to have anything I disliked at all.
I, like most on here have only gone at night when it’s past 10 or 11pm and people are looking for cheap food after the kitchens close at the bars nearby. It’s way way better than McDonalds or other fast food choices, and it’s busy as hell for a reason. Are there better options for late-​night? I have yet to find one, really.

Yeah I literally only ordered two things. A corn dog and their regular dog on a French roll just minus the mustard … And I got a hot dog with cheese and bacon on a cheap Safeway bun… Yes I understand at this time you are use to drunk patrons and naturally they wouldn’t care but I got it to go and left. Yes it was my mistake not to check my order upon departure, but ordering a hot dog and corn dog and waiting over 15 min isn’t Rocket science. For someone who is in the food industry and cooks for a living … All I wanted was a freaking unhealthy dinner after work

Late night chilli cheese fries and hot dogs! If you’re sober sure the hot dogs will taste salty and the service will be lackluster. But if it’s 2am, the wait will be a tad long but worth it and the food will be the best late night food in the gayborhood aside from Petras. Cheers!

Nice to have late night choices instead of the usual 24 hour places. I got another sausage dog with bacon, cheese and some fries. Didn’t know I was that hungry because I ate it all and it was good.
Open till 3am on weekend nights people.

There are some qualifiers to this five star review:
— must be drunk
— must be starving
— must be after the bars close
Having said that, I’ve only ever been here when drunk, starving and after 2am. Seriously some of the best drunk food downtown. I love the chicken sandwich, add avocado, and my boyfriend loves the chili cheese footlong hot dog.
The place gets suuuper crowded and can be a bit rowdy. It can also take awhile to get your food due to these factors, but who cares? Tasty hot food after drinking your face off equals a win in my book. Bonus if you plan to bike home and work off those calories!

I’ve been here a few times, and this place is terrible. I really do not like the sausages they use, which have a mushy texture. I’d rather get a hot dog a 7 – 11 (which I actually think it great considering). It’s a 20 min wait for a dog when the place is near empty.

I got the patty melt. It’s dry. Food takes a while even though I ordered before the clubs/​bar closes. Don’t come in too late because everybody comes here after the clubs. It gets crowded and food takes even longer to come out.

I went there with friends the other day. Looked slow and there was only one dude working. We were really hungry so expected to wait a long time! But to our delight the food was FAST & GOOD!!! We really enjoyed our food!!!

Meh.
We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon for a quick bite after a bike ride.
There was nobody in there and just one guy working, he was nice.
I got the bacon cheddar dog which was okay. The hot dog bun was a little flimsy for the large dog. The cheese wasn’t totally melted which kind of irked me.
I used the ladies room which reeked of stale piss… I guess that’s what you get for coming here right after Saturday night I guess…

Ever since Plum Blossum closed, coming here after Faces is practically a requirement. The food is mediocre, which means that it’s amazing when you’re drunk, and this is probably why they’re open so late.
I had the bacon cheddar dog on my last two visits. The first time – and again, I was inebriated so I’m not sure how much this review counts for– it was really good. The bacon was wrapped around the cheddar and hot dog, and then there were more toppings on top.
The next time I came, the bacon and cheese were just kind of thrown on top of the hot dog, and there were no other toppings (see photo). I’m sure I could have asked for some, but, again, I was drunk, and didn’t feel like it.
The onion rings are pretty legit, but the shakes are honestly just terrible. I felt like I was drinking frozen yogurt with strawberry syrup in it. If you like more authentic shakes, I would not recommend getting one here.
The bathrooms are a complete joke, but then so is almost every other bathroom within a one-​mile radius that I know of.
Honestly though, I come here for the crowd. There is always something hilarious and barely legal going on in some part of this building.

So I guess this place is meant to be eaten at when you’re under some form of intoxication, and/​or ideally when you’re leaving the club stumbling and in need of some greasy food. Judging by the reviews on here, at least ⁹⁄₁₀ people seem to of been intoxicated when they ate here, and possibly even while writing their reviews…
When you walk into this place, it has the general feel of one of the clubs a few doors down. With TV’s playing loud music videos of Britney Spears, old 80’s music and Madonna, it’s quite clear what playlist they’re going for. Besides the music, the seating is dirty, cramped, and uncomfortable.
Now for the food: I got the cowboys style ($ 1.39) double burger ($ 4.49), with avocado ($ 1), totalling just under $ 7. What I got for my 7 bucks was two extremely thin burger patties, slightly overdone and crispy, with more veggies (lettuce and tomatoes) than meat on the burger.
I also ordered garlic fries ($ 3.99), and they just tasted frozen and lacked any real flavor. They were sloppily done with the garlic mix plopped onto one corner, leaving the majority of the fries plain and just gross.
Lastly, why are people writing «Drunk reviews»… if you’re too intoxicated to actually taste the food for what it is… you’re opinion for the night is no longer valid. Come back when you’re taste buds are actually connected to your brain. Using this logic I’d say a Del Taco Cheeseburger is the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had… but does that make it real… NO, and I would never go and write a review about how amazing the Del Taco burger was that I ate when I was hammered. Jeez people, get a clue, grow up.