The Hot Spot

The Hot Spot closed??? This makes me really sad. I used to LOVE going their on a Sunday morning for a tall glass of spa (cucumber) water and an egg sandwich with my friends. The owner was really awesome and always super friendly. Plus, they always had «Finding Nemo» on the TV. I was obsessed with their lighting. :(

as a current resident of brooklyn, i have become accustomed to a new york brunch.
basically, passable food and all you can drink screwdrivers or mimosas or bloodys… you get the idea.
hot spot is what i miss about chicago brunch. cute place. good options for brunch and no rush.
i was a bit miffed that they don’t take credit cards, but we got past that.

From the moment, I walked into the Hot Spot, I knew this was going to be good.
Aside from the fact that I walked in gagging from laughter as my twitchy friend, Imran K. hopped and jumped so dramatically through rain puddles outside, I literally spent the entire time in Hot Spot laughing.
I paused my laughter long enough to inhale some pancakes. They were so good. Imran got the franch toast. also delish.
Loved the décor
Loved the breakfast
Loved the owner
LOVED the prices.
I will be back.

Anyone who doesn’t like the Hot Spot should be destroyed.
The location, food, prices, and service are all really good. Very comfortable atmosphere. It’s nice to see a good amount of sane children in there, it softens the place up.
I had the pleasure of hogging down a breakfast burrito ($ 8 and it was HUGE) plus a small order of Loganberry pancakes ($ 4). The best preparation for a Sunday afternoon of nothing.
Do it.

Eggs benedict was heavenly. But the best part, if you’re a tea freak like me, was the English breakfast tea with lavender. *dies* And their potatoes? Awesome.
Best place to rant over ex-​gfs and such. I went with an old friend of mine. The service was great, our waiter was extremely friendly. It was a very colorful and nice place. And people were low-​key.
This is also a great location for the neighborhood, I love it.

I like this place for breakfast. (partially because it’s close to home and there is parking nearby if needed)
Sure, it’s pricey considering the neighborhood but the food is always good and the coffee is just about bottomless. While the colors might be a little harsh if you’re nursing a hangover, there’s nothing better than some loganberry pancakes with bacon/​sausage — or my personal fave the huevos rancheros with chorizo!
My beef — I seriously dislike the potatoes — i always think they taste a little dirty and I want them to have some seasonings or a little kick to them. But they’re often underdone and blah. Keeps me away from too many carbs though… ha!
The one thing I read in a bunch of other reviews is that what you got a couple months ago isn’t the same as what you’re getting now. I also agree with that — I ordered french toast and it used to be huge pieces of glorious french toast and for like $ 8 it seemed right. Last time I had the french toast I felt like I was getting ripped off. I know times are tough — but it’s not good if your REPEAT customer is getting something different than they are used to getting. (just in case the owner is ever reading)

I ventured to The Hot Spot for a late breakfast with three other people. First of all, the décor in this place is very cute and produces a small town feel while still having a plethora of available tables. I have a very hard time passing up a breakfast burrito of any kind, and today was a day unlike any other so I set out to indulge in a breakfast burrito. The burrito was very good and comes with potatoes (which they neglect to inform you on the menu)… the potatoes were delious and the burrito was good, not the best I’ve ever had, but it sure hit the spot.
My only gripe about this place is the fact that they only had 1 server on a Sunday morning. that seems a little peculiar to me being as it’s usually a high volume time. It took nearly 15 minutes to get water refills, and I felt bad for the overworked server. However, the service was quite alright given the circumstances and would not deter me from eating here again…

I feel bad writing this review and like most of you, I’ve gone here several times. When I first got my job (right across the street) I absolutely fell in love with this place. They had an extensive menu, generous proportions, and very friendly service. Needless to say, that has changed since this economic crisis has come into play.
For example, about a year ago I ordered one of their «make your own omelettes» with ham, cheddar and avocado. It was amazing, filled with almost a whole avocado I would say and even came with 2 pieces of toast. I ordered the same thing about 8 months later (I like to switch up my order every once and awhile) and got about 4 very thin slices of avocado and ONE SLICE of toast. ONE slice? Is this a joke? Come on now, bread really isn’t that expensive. The avocado I can understand, but getting one piece of toast is just absurd to me.
I also used to always order the cobb salad, and as most of you probably know, a cobb is quite loaded. But reflecting recent hardships, their salad is a lame cobb salad (i.e. less tomatoes, less avocado, a half hard-​boiled egg, etc.) AND they even raised the price from $ 8.50 to $ 9! More money for less salad? Umm, we’re struggling too Hot Spot, times are hard for everyone.
In addition to that, they have down-​graded their menu from about 40+ entrees, to now about 25. So, there isn’t very much to choose from. They have raised their prices on all of the entrees too, not just the cobb salad. The staff is still as friendly as always, but sorry, that’s just not enough for me.
I hope Hot Spot owner/​employees look at Unilocal regularly, I want them to know they aren’t fooling anyone. I want the old Hot Spot back! :(

Three of us came here for brunch on a Sunday afternoon around 11AM. There was no wait for a seat luckily, as it was one of the few tables open. The service was outstanding. Our waitress brought us drinks, follow-​up milk, and our food very promptly.
I ordered the eggceptionally sandi. It was very, very good. My only complaint is that the menu listed it as «eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and Canadian bacon.» When I ordered it, the waitress asked if I wanted it with everything. I said yes as it sounded healthy and tasty. When the sandwich came, there was a super delicious hollandaise type sauce. I ate it because I liked hollandaise sauce but I would have skipped it had I known it was on there. Could you please add that to the description?
The brunch was really cheap– about $ 10 per person including our drinks. I would definitely recommend. It’s not an experience worth traveling to try out but if you are in the neighborhood, I would definitely recommend.
There was a sign up saying the space is available to rent out for parties. The backroom has a chalkboard around the middle of the room on all four walls. I couldn’t help but think this would be a great space to throw a children’s birthday party.

I really would have liked to have enjoyed The Hot Spot quite a bit more then I did being a sit is less then a block from my bunker of solitude; sadly they where dead seat on making me hate them despite proximity and potential.
First star to drop is for the décor, normally I am not one to be critical of but this place looks just a little bit like the color wheel threw up all over it. It is bright to a degree that I would not recommend stopping in if you have a hang over.
We’ll drop another star for service. Over all the staff was nice, attentive and I would even dare to call some of them attractive. Overall I would like to be able to rave about them but they perpetrated what I consider to be an unforgivable sin upon me; namely they served me a ‘flavor enhanced’ iced tea with no warning that it was not a cool, tasty and refreshing regular iced tea. Sounds petty I know but you try having to choke down a mouth full of mind bendingly wretched minty death when you where expecting the aforementioned cool and refreshing plain iced tea.
Closely related to the service, and costing another star, is the fact that the food came at a rate only slightly faster then the glaciers leveled the great plains oh so many years ago. At times this is a forgivable sin but in this case I have to grip about it because the place was simply just not that busy, there where several open tables the whole time we where there and we are also not talking about kinda slow here, we are taking about sitting around wondering about what you want for you next meal slow.
The food itself when it came was middle of the road to disappointing. I would drop a star for it but I feel I have ravaged them enough at this point and it was not exactly bad, just not that good. Nor was it particularity creative and I found the corned beef hash to be one of the biggest breakfast let downs I have had for a long time, it was all hash and no corned beef; who knows, maybe they ran out. If I could drop a half this would be the spot to do it.
We will

YIKES… SEND YOUR FOOD BACK HERE AND YOU GET THE SAME FOOD BACK. I went there with my mom this weekend. She ordered a patty melt and it was the wrong temperature (rare)…she asked for well.
They took the melt back and returned 20 minutes later… yes 20 minutes later with the same exact sandwich. My mom put ketchup on it inbetween the bread… that is how we knew as well as the fact that the meat was stil raw and the plate arrangement was the same. Needless to say my mom ordered another sandwich-​the reuben…35 minutes later it came out. The owner served the sandwich since the waiter never came by again in between. (He just glared right through us and past us) The owner did not say a thing… she just dropped the meal off and walked away… how about an appology??? Thanks Hotspot for ruining my sunday experience with my mom… and PS I missed church because of it.

I’d forgotten this was just down the street from my place, but I will not make that mistake again, oh no. Maybe my friend and I beat the rush, but we were seated without hesitation at 1pm on a Sunday in the back room. We were very glad that we weren’t hungover — can you imagine having to nurse one next to those amazing walls that are turned up to 11? Someone noted the back room has chalkboards for little kids. Um, we definitely changed tables just so we could doodle on the walls while we chatted and waited for our food.
Our wait was entirely reasonable and the food was very worth it. I had the Loganberry pancakes, which were delicious, and my friend made her own omelette of mozzarella, spinach, and roasted red peppers, which was excellent. We shared back and forth for that perfect sweet and savory mix so essential to the brunch experience.
Service-​wise, our waiter was friendly and competent, but we tried to joke around and be fun and he wasn’t having much of that, which I think is too bad, especially since towards the end of our meal we were the only customers left in the room. Also, the music was mostly atrocious and from a radio station, so half the meal was spent listening to loud commericials. I despise commercials, and that was almost enough to knock it down another star, but if the food stays this tasty I’ll just suck it up.

The best thing about The Hot Spot is the funky, colorful décor. And there were tons of pictures on the wall drawn by kids.
Food is just okay. Standard diner fare and a little on the greasy side. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here, but I enjoyed my breakfast. The coffee was horrid but that is forgiven since street parking is easy peasy.

To sum up my visit: Food — Pretty Good, Service — Okay, Décor — Hideous!
The concept of this place perplexes me. Why choose décor that is so bright and in your face yet have food and service are just average? It’s like walking into an episode of Twin Peaks. Feels like you are in some small town that’s unforgivably quirky and everyone seems to have forgotten how bizzare it is. To boot, the waiter accidentaly threw a balled up piece of paper at me on his missed attempt to throw it into the garbage can. His response was to laugh, asked where it went, then said, «Dude, I’ve never done anything like that before.» I walked out of there feeling like it was a bad dream and disappointed because it’s only 2 blocks from my house!

Great food, ok atmoshpere. its cute in front but i never sit in back, there are no windows back there and they have yellow florescent lighting, ick.
so far everything i’ve had there is sooo good.
the service is friendly but a bit too slow, if you’re in a hurry don’t eat here. so far every time i go there they have back to the future playing, kinda makes it feel more like a sunday at home when you were younger and you would flip on basic tv and wgn would be playing this film, which i find kinda comforting.
definitely a great place to get brunch.

I’ve been here a few times and the experience has been up and down. The Reuben is really good, with perfect rye bread. The potatoes were cold. The breakfast burrito rocks. It’s huge. You’ll want to eat the whole thing, but you’ll regret that overstuffed feeling if you try. The coffee is good. Don’t like cucumbers, but the cucumber water is pretty good. The last time I went, got the breakfast special which was a couple enchiladas filled with black beans, corn, and summer sausage with two eggs and potatoes. Everything was really good. The scrambled eggs were great, the potatoes were hot, and the enchiladas were tasty. The food arrived almost too quickly as I was reading the paper.
Stacy and the staff have been very friendly. When I told her I was new to the city, she had lots of recommendations for places to go in the neighborhood. This place could be really good, and I’ll keep going back to try new things and look for that consistency that would rate more stars.
Be sure to wear your sunglasses walking in. The bright paint on the walls is blinding at times.

Hot Spot was our first breakfast experience here in the chicago area! and i have to say it was pretty good! Paul got the Heuvos Rancheros (YUM!!!), and i was just in the mood for yogurt and granola. Paul’s meal was wonderful, mine was just Dannon lowfat yogurt *yuk*, i was hoping for somthing more fresh. but the toast was great! Although i wished that our ‘Unlimited” coffee cups had been filled more often, i was very happy with the service. Everyone was so nice and helpful, and when they found out we were new to the City kept back nothing when giving us suggestions on stuff to try in the area.
Gotta love the kind midwesterners… I’ve missed you.
Try this place. we will probably be back to explore more of the menu… you should too!

I live a 5-​minute walk from here, and had never been in the 2+ years I’ve lived in Logan Square. I decided to go yesterday for brunch with a friend and it was good.
Just good. *shrugs*
I got the corned beef hash, which was as expected, nothing special. He got the breakfast burrito, which was the same. Big portions. We both got coffee, which was nice n strong, but nothing to write home about. The prices were about spot-​on with what I expected. The service was a little slow, and when we first got there the person behind the counter ignored us for a few minutes. Finally I just said, «I guess we can just sit at the bar, then,» and we bellied up.
I thought the grass wall was cool. I was looking at it awhile, seeing as how there isn’t much else to look at in that particular area of the restaurant, and I realize that had to have been painted from the ceiling down. Took a lot of work, and it ended up pretty nice. I didn’t mind the yellow on the walls; thought it was more cheery than blazing.
In all, it was fine. I’ll probably go back for brunch because it’s so close, but I honestly didn’t experience anything worth raving about. Maybe next time — I hear those lingonberry pancakes are pretty good…
EDIT — Aaand, 3 stars becomes 2. I went back this morning and while we were seated quickly (in the LOUD back room), after that, we were largely forgotten. After we ordered (he got the breakfast burrito, I got the fruit and cheese plate), we waited about half an hour before our pissy server came back and clambered our plates in front of us and skulked off without a word.
The fruit and cheese plate consists of 2 past-​their-​prime, un-​hulled strawberries, some un-​cored green and red apple slices, a few slices of orange, a handful of scattered red grapes (about half were kinda slimy and questionable), 2 slices of toast (the best part, and with ONE jelly packet, lol) and yellow cheese planks and white cheese planks. Guessing mild cheddar on both, though I could be wrong on the white, because it was so mild it didn’t taste like anything.
Whatever they put on the green apples — guessing acidulated water, as I could mainly taste lemon and not apple on the granny smiths — had sloshed onto the bottom of the plate, making a distasteful little pool that poisoned the taste of anything else that touched it, and made for drippy, soggy cheese. Yuck. I mentioned this when we paid to the lady up front — guessing owner/​manager — and she denied that they soak their apples in anything, which I have to say I’m darned near certain is not true — my tastebuds don’t lie. She asked me if I mentioned anything to my server, and I replied no, because we didn’t see her but for when she brought the check out (15 minutes after we’d finished). Additionally, the toilet in the front restroom was functioning poorly, and I fixed it.
Disappointing.
EDIT AGAIN, part deux! HOW could I forget? I had also ordered grapefruit juice, and it came to me with a freshly-​perished fruit fly on top. YUMMY! Rather than suffer the wrath of the server (if I could ever get her attention), I simply spooned it out and went about my bidness.

Oh my YUM.
I’m simply going to list the amazing things Hot Spot offers to it’s lucky diners:
1. Cucumber water
2. Bottomless GOOD coffee
3. Perfectly constructed, 2^nd most beautiful soy latte I’ve ever seen.
4. Apple-​wood smoked bacon, in thick slices
5. yummy, lightly seasoned, skin on roast potatoes
6. Best breakfast burrito I’ve EVER eaten
7. Stellar eggs benedict
8. Lovely owner who chats it up with the customers
9. Good prices
10. Outstanding service with a smile
Come here, and bring all your friends. It’s one of those rare breakfast spots that isn’t too big for it’s britches, and will never serve you a meal that is less than solidly delicious.
1 drawback? Blindingly yellow walls. I like the polka dots, but the walls made me feel crazy.

i have lived around the corner from this place for a year before i knew it existed, and I am sad that I lost that time with Hot Spot. It is one of my favortite breakfast spots in all of Chicago. When I don’t feel like waiting an hour for fancy eggs at Lula, I come here… and always leave happy.
I have tried just about everything on the breakfast menu and loved it all! I even took the «honey butter» off my french toast swearing that i never met a «honey butter» that I liked… and I wound up smothering my french toast with it (the waiter told me that they make it there). All the ingredients taste very fresh, the coffee is strong, the food comes out pretty fast, and the food is cheap.
The place is so bright and cheery, it is hard not to be happy in this joint. Plus they are always playing the most bizarre 80’s movies… which totally perks me up.