Hug-Hes Cafe

We just moved to Syracuse from Dallas and this has been just as good as the «big city». Everyone got something different and we were all impressed. Warning, the beer bread will fill you up its so good. Their chips and salsa are awesome!

This location is the second one I’ve visited with the first being in Ogden on Harrison Blvd. They have a variety of American selections. I’ve tried this location right after they opened and had a lukewarm experience. I decided before I reviewed them, I’d give them another chance after they’d had some time to get settled into a routine and polish off the edges.
The service had greatly improved from our first visit and we were greeted promptly and seated at a much better table than previously. The restaurant is laid out a bit strangely and the tables are all rounded with the food coming out on square plates that don’t fit well when you have ordered few items. Our second seating had a bigger table to the plates were not as big of an issue. The waitress was friendly and kept our drinks full.
The food is ok, but not great. My meal was the Portobello Chicken with a grilled chicken breast that was scorched on one side. I could smell it when they set the plate down. I powered through and ate it because the sauce helped to mask the taste. The sour cream and cheese mashed potatoes didn’t seem to have very much flavor. My meal came with a side salad that was very good and had great blue cheese dressing. My husband got the chicken fried steak which was better than my chicken but not really a wow factor there.
This location is very popular and seems busy all the time. I’m not sure if we just got an anomaly both times we’ve come, but I cannot see coming back here. I so hoped this location would be great because we live nearby and there aren’t any good sit down restaurants in our neighborhood.

Have not had a bad meal there yet!!! Friendly service, good food and a wholesome atmosphere. Try the Hugs Café on Main Street in Layton. It is really good, too…

Food was really good! The service away initially slow to come take our drink orders but like I said the food was great! We really enjoyed the atmosphere. Will definitely go again!

Great food and atmosphere! Loved the free bread! I had the BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes and they were both great but I especially loved the mashed potatoes. Our server was very nice and took great care of us! We got some cookies to go and those were so good! We got the pumpkin cookie, the chocolate chip cookie, and the sugar cookie! We will definitely be returning. I wish the prices were a little lower but over all great experience!

The beer bread. oh my word! It was so good with strawberry butter. I was not prepared for how delicious it would be. We decided to stop here on a whim, upon a friends suggestion. The atmosphere is very cute and actually more like a martini restaurant then like a café. It has very intricate lighting details and a cute patio. Ok on to the food! We had fried mushrooms and fried zucchini. The mushrooms were great, super crispy and hot. They didn’t wow me with flavor, but they were crispy! If they were fried stuffed mushrooms, they would be awesome! The zucchini was a fail. soggy blah. My fiancé ordered the mahi mahi and I got the salmon. Neither was impressive, seared enough to be crispy at all, or had much flavor. Looking at it, you would have thought the complete opposite, but it was truly dissapointing, especially for the cost. As was the Sour cream mashed potatoes– to dry. The buffalo chips were excellent and the side salad was great as well. We would go back. and would just get a salad and bread ;) and maybe try a burger or a sandwich. And maybe next time we will have room for a cookie.

This review is for the Syracuse location. Food was pretty good, but we had a to go order and didn’t receive our beer bread or cookies. That’s the reason I’m willing to pay the little higher price, so when you don’t get it, it puts a damper on my whole night. Called back after I was home and realized they had forgotten them and they didn’t seem to care or offer to make it right. Make sure you check each container if you order take out.

I feel bad for rating Hug-​Hes this. The restaurant itself is super cute. They seem to have a popular following in the area as we had to wait 15 minutes to get in. However, the food was sub par. Everything but the garlic potatoes was incredibly BLAND! I know it’s a local place but that doesn’t mean that it’s ok to be afraid of spices.
The clam chowder seemed more of a flour base then a cream base. The chicken in the Alfredo was left in super long strips and not seasoned at all. The spices in the alfredo sauce were so mild that they were barely passible when on the noodles but left gaps of desire when that was all that was on the chicken to flavor it. Even my daughter ate a bite of the chicken and she indicated that it was plain and dry. My mahi mahi looked nice but didn’t have much flavor either. Hell, even some salt on it would have been an improvement. Yes, I can salt it myself but a sign of a good dish is that you don’t have to add a lot to it when it comes to you. The only 2 things that were passible were the bread and the garlic mashed potatoes.
They did have some rather large looking cookies when we left that seemed promising but given that everything else was a disappointment we didn’t want to have their cookies follow suit so they were passed up.

This place came highly recommended but I was a little bit disappointed. I went for lunch. We were seated right away and the service was great. I ordered the Turkey Club with the Hug-​Hes pasta salad. The sandwich was okay, but nothing special. I had heard people love the pasta salad but I thought it was kind of boring — not really my thing. The portions were big, but more than I could eat. I would have preferred to have half the sandwich and pay a few dollars less. It’s hard to justify spending over $ 10 (almost $ 13 with tip) on a mediocre sandwich. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing but I thought the whole menu seemed overpriced. The beer bread was good. I probably won’t go back.

I would recommend this café !!! The food was so good !! I had the pan seared salmon. The salmon was seasoned perfectly !!! It had a nice season sear on it and the best part (wait for it)…It was NOT over cooked !!! It was served with tartar sauce and a lemon wedge. In my opinion it just needed the Lemon wedge. You had your choices of two sides .
My husband had the boneless barbecue ribs !! That was fork tender!!! With little fat !!! The barbecue sauced reminded me of the store brand Bullseye. I did not mind that too much .
The service was great. The only problem we had was our table was very dirty. They cleaned it up and apologize.

I’ve eaten at the Hug-​Hes in Ogden years, and this location does not disappoint. I’ve eaten here several times, and have never gotten anything that I was disappointed with. Beer bread is amazing. Dense, moist, served with a strawberry butter. The bread alone is just about enough to bring me back.
I recommend the clam chowder when it’s available. (Fridays?) Mexican club wrap is a favorite. Burgers are good. Fettuccine is great, and comes with a huge amount. Desserts are good too. Prices are a little higher than most of what’s available in the area, but the food is better. And it comes with the bread…

Not impressed my second time here. The seafood salad was bland, absolutely no flavor. The lettuce was fresh and crisp, the tomato red and juicy. But that’s the only flavor in my sandwich. Service was slow until it was time to leave then it was fast, but not rushed.

One of the better places for lunch in Syracuse. Good selection of items form the menu, friendly staff, and good food.

Service was slow and unfocused. The food was drab and tasteless as though it were leftovers on the stove for hours. Wife actually fell mildly ill from the food which was cured by a tums thank goodness but we will not likely go back anytime soon. The onion rings were good, does that help?

We ordered catering for a baby shower event.
This place doesn’t disappoint.
We ordered the smoked pasta salad and beer bread!
YUMMY!
Thank you

Great food. Went for a date night and loved the bread, country fried steak and wings. Didn’t prefer the fried pickles but I tend to be picky on those — same with the buffalo chips but overall it was good food and we will be going back.

They were crazy busy today on Valentine’s Day, but when they were able to get us seated, the service was good, and the food was excellent! My wife got the New York strip steak, and it was a great cut with a good pepper sauce. She absolutely loved her buffalo fries, and the homemade fry sauce. I had Portabello mushroom chicken, and thought it was the best chicken I’ve had in a long time. Great tasting sauce with artichoke hearts, tomatoes and Parmesan along with the mushrooms. The sour cream and cheese covered mashed potatoes were the perfect side for it. Very very happy with our meals, and so glad this restaurant is right around the corner from our house!

Was exciting to see a new sit down option here in Syracuse. An added bonus was they served alcohol which tends to be frowned upon in these parts by A sizable portion of local residents, so it was good to see a business perusing that area of the market.
The wife and I arrived on a Friday night approx 1 hour before closing. It wasn’t near busy. There was one persons before asking about some pastries and pricing and we waited for probably 10 minutes until another wait staff took us to our table. It was a bit small half circle table facing another group of people directly across from us. I would have preferred with the array of empty seats, perhaps another more private table could be afforded, but we just took the seat anyway.
A couple had come in after us and sat at the half circle table beside ours. They were attended to first. But we were not long after. The menu indicates beer, wines, etc but to ask for the drink menu. There were some logistics still being worked out with the alcohol licensing so they estimated that it would be another week before adult beverage options were available. No matter.
The wife ordered chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with garden salad and cheese mashed potatoes.
I ordered fish and chips which came with fries and garden salad. There was some question of buffalo fries and I was reminded it came with fries. Anyways…
We ordered and we received the beer bread that we had heard positive reviews on. It was rather tasty. Dense bread served with a side of what seemed like strawberry butter together with regular butter. It was good.
The food we ordered was good. The Fettuccine seemed ok. My fish and chips seemed fine although my wife got her salad before the meal and I received mine just prior to my meal coming so it was a rush to eat with the little real estate on the table top and so food doesn’t get cold.
Later the waitress brought a side of buffalo fries that I guess she thought I ordered from our initial order when I guess I was asking about it. I said I didn’t think I ordered it, so she took them away. I would have been happy to try them either way.
Aside from a couple service stumbles, the food was good. Will try again. I think we might have made it probably too close to the closing the when things were winding down and staff just wanted to go home, or maybe they are still within the adjustment period. Either way, we’ll try some other time and see how it goes.
Sorry for the long winded review. First one as I’m a Unilocal newb. Shoulda taken pics but I’ll remember next time.

Super excited to see Hug Hes make its way to Syracuse. If you haven’t been here before, you have to try the beer bread, chicken pasta salad and a sugar cookie on the way out.

This place is beautifully decorated, I love the chandeliers especially. The only thing I was not a fan of was the flatware. For a place that looks that good and has gorgeous plating, I was left shaking my head. On another note, the food was phenomenal. We went last Saturday night, we chose to sit three of us at a small booth rather than waiting, it was cozy. The server was nice and somewhat attentive. Given the fact they were busy, and it had just recently opened, we were really were impressed. This will be a place we return to often.