We tried their world famous Pastrami dip. Unfortunately it just didnt do it for us. Not bad, but not great either. Very crowded at lunch time which was a good sign. But the flavors were ho hum. Service was great and fast. We have been to Langers, Wexlers, Philipes, etc.... and The Hat just didnt measure up. Again Not bad but nothing special. Will have to try another item next visit. read more

I've recently become a Hat guy. I love putting them on my head and even though it's summer I can deal with the heat. So, my wife knows this, I have a money throwing problem. I just throw and throw it at people for almost no reason, but when it comes to hats I think it's justified. So I guess the point is I'm into hats. I think you will enjoy it too. That is all. read more

The pastrami sandwich is really good. Big portion too. I wish it came with fries or chips for the prices though.

Always enjoyed food from here pastrami is to die for this time I got a chili dog so over the top I highly recommend this place for the serious eater read more

Just what you would expect from this restaurant. Clean , efficient and so tasty with the high quality pastrami sandwiches. Service was also quick and friendly. read more

In my last review I complained about the Pastrami Dip not coming with au jus. I returned since and asked them about it and was informed that the pastrami is "pre-dipped" as it's put on the sandwich. Skeptical, I ordered one with a side of au jus anyway, and sure enough, dipping the pastrami an extra time made the sandwich far wetter than I expected. Eating the Pastrami Dip as-is was just perfect. I've also gotten the Roast Beef with au jus, and that was EXCELLENT. I've also gotten the hamburgers, the chili dogs, and the chili cheese fries. All excellent. I should mention that the chili cheese fries really need to be eaten with a group. I tried to eat them by myself (just the chili cheese fries, no other food) and it was just impossible. There's too much cheese and chili and fries. Just... So much cheese... and chili... and fries. You'd need like four dudes with four forks just going crazy in order to finish that thing off. read more

For years I've driven by The Hat and finally decided to try it out. Living in Lake Forest for almost 20 years and not trying this place out is almost unheard of. So I decided to pick the most ordered meal here which is the Pastrami Dip and the Fried Onion Rings. There is also a drive thru for this place for those of you taking your soggy sandwiches home. I just had to try it out fresh so we dined in to make the best of the freshness. You can grab a bunch of condiments that's lined up by the counter for your food. Your order number is called and you pick up your food from the counter. The seating inside is a very good sized one, it does have an old road side diner feel to it, which is cool since it gives the place a character. The pastrami was pretty decent sized, but the onion rings was literally a whole bag full. Luckily I didn't have to eat it all by myself because the portion was huge! The pastrami has a lot of meat on it and was delicious! Nice tender meat, cooked just right and with mustard and pickles. The onion rings went very well with it, and had a nice crunchy bite to it. Definitely worth trying!! read more

The Hat - Pastrami Dip and Onion Rings. - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

Burgers were really good but oh man the pastrami, chili cheese fries were out fo this world and highly recommend getting them. The pastrami sandwich was really yummy but just wish we did not get it dipped as the bread was soggy when we got home , but was still a great sandwich's I'm sure it would have been way better if we were able to eat it there. It's a must try place. read more

Is it healthy? NO. Is it delicious? YES! By now you already know all about the famous Pastrami sandwich here, but one thing worth noting is the hat has some of the best burgers in town! Very classic diner style burgers that rank up there with any other burger joint! Also, the chili fries are my kids absolute favorite! They are massive so unless you are a group of four or more, be prepared to leave or take leftovers with you! The Hat is a SoCal legend that must be experienced!! read more

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The Hat is like one of those secrets that you're dying to know about. To all outward appearances, this diner-style burger joint seems like any other, boasting about its "World Famous [insert food here]." But The Hat's "World Famous Pastrami" could really be the best pastrami outside of New York state. Really. The restaurant's simple menu includes things like the juicy and filling Pastrami Dip ($6.99), chili dogs ($3.39), burgers of all sorts - chesseburgers, chiliburgers, double-burgers, junior burgers (from $2.89-$6.99), and a number of cold sandwiches ($5.09-$6.99). But the secrets keep coming: what is not listed on the menu is the option to add The Hat's famous pastrami to anything else; for example, ordering the chili cheese fries ($4.79 originally) with a whole lotta meaty pastrami dumped on top = chili cheese pastrami fries (requires at least 3 people to consume and costs extra.) After ordering the chili cheese pastrami fries, we foolishly ordered two pastrami dips to share on top of the fries - just in case...in case thousands of calories was not enough to fill us up, I suppose. I've since learned my lesson, though the Pastrami Dip was filled with pastrami sliced impossibly thin, seasoned and radiating with flavor in a delicious submarine roll that made your fingers greasy. read more

Can I get a chili cheese fries with some pastrami on top? Pretty please? The mountain of perfectly golden fries with overflowing chili, sprinkled with cheddar cheese and then topped off with a handful of pastrami is the most delicious way to go for some clogged arteries. You'll most likely have to share the fries just because it's such a heavy meal. The pastrami here is mighty mighty delicious too, ooo yeaaaa. I had a pastrami sandwich and split the chili fries with a friend, which gave me the biggest food baby of my life, but worth every inch of my gut that stuck out. It's also located right across the bowling alley (Forest Lanes), so it's the perfect joint to hit up with a group of friends before/after a game of bowling. You can make of night of bowling ($1.50/game Mondays & Wednesdays) and then get your grub on! You best come hungry! read more

Excellent! Warning if you are on a diet don't read the rest of this review. Prepare for extreme pigging out. If you are craving simple dinner food with large portions this is the place. The chili cheese fries are good enough for about four people. It probably weighs about 2 or 3 lbs perfect for a Man vs Food competition. I have tried to eat it myself but only finished about half. This place is known for the famous Pastrami dip. Before eating here Togo's was my favorite place for Pastrami. The pastrami is so amazing that I refuse to eat pastrami anywhere else. Highly recommend! Bring some take out to work and you will be the most popular person in the office. read more

Pastrami dip, onion rings and chili fries... oh my! it's foodie comfort heaven! I haven't been here in awhile but wanted to give my review. Love this place. I haven't been disappointed at anything I've ordered here. Even the chicken salad sandwich is good! Love the hot dogs. One look at the line during lunch and you know why it's so good. One of the original comfort food places. Fair warning: one order of fries, chili fries or onion rings will feed a group of 4!! Awesomeness. :D The condiment bar and the chili peppers are great to! so hungry now!!! read more

Good food and huge portions. Always a stop for us on the way home to SD if it's on the way. Our favorite are the chili fries, pastrami burger and pastrami. If you order the "small" fries... be prepared to share! read more

I'm not a fan of pastrami. So this review is for the other menu items that I tried here. Out of the 4 things that I ate here, I basically only like one thing. The Chili Cheese Fries! So unhealthy, but oh soooo good! I also love how they don't have beans in their chili. I could just eat these fries as my meal and get full without even eating half of it. As others have already mentioned, they give you a huge portion, so make sure you share this with 3-4 other people if you don't want to waste it! Roast Beef with au jus - no flavor and soggy. The au jus tasted like water! Arby's French Dip and Swiss (which is roast beef and swiss cheese on a ciabatta roll) is 10 times better than this! Seriously! Cheeseburger - very dry. Adding a lot of ketchup to it didn't even help. Hot Dog - dry when I ordered one, nothing special. Lastly, what is up with their drive-thru speaker?!? Whenever they say something to you, you can't understand anything because there is just too much static or loud noise in the background. I guess it doesn't matter, as long as they make my order right, and so far they have not made any mistakes. Great customer service too! But it would be nice to know what my total is before I get to the window, right? Time to invest in a better speaker and one of those fancy drive-thru display screens. I'm sure the company makes enough money to afford one! read more

Two days in a row and yes I can go to this place and not order pastrami. Thursday night I went and got a chili burger and the chili cheese fries...yes I had somebody to share with- I love the chili. Friday for lunch "hey Paul you wanna go to the hat...?" sounds good lets go. this is where the Pastrami comes in and yes it was delicious even though i had to eat it outside in like 80degree heat. read more

Oh my, oh my... I am heading to Orange County Friday and all I can think about is The Hat! I do not need to say much more as it has been said before. Simply one of the best places I have ever had the pleasure to eat at! See ya tomorrow! ***** Accidently posted the above on the wrong address. I went in today for the amazing chili cheese fries and have a pastrami dip to go! So damn good!!!! read more

What better way for a foodie to die than by heart attack? Probably not to die at all... but if I had to, it would probably be with some good ol' fashioned Pastrami Sammiches. The hat is great. The Pastrami is seasoned so well, and paired with those onions and pickles, along with any condiment imaginable to man (all in packets on the front counter, so no re-usable containers here) the sandwich is yours to make! The only gripe i have is I wish they used a Hard/Crunch roll with their pastrami, instead of the soft rolls most deli's use. The Pastrami Fries have to border 3000 calories, but oh is it so delicious. I would recondite getting No chili, or Chili on the side, as eating this thing will take time.. and the more time you take, the soggier your fries get. No Bueno. I've never had their hot dogs, or anything other than their Pastrami Sandwich and fries... so i can't help you out with their hot dogs or burgers, or any other sandwiches.... but if they are as good as their Pastrami sandwich, you can do no wrong. Just remember to hit the gym, and do a few miles on the treadmill to burn off the intake of your meal! Or you can do what I do... fall asleep on your couch. =X read more

Pastrami dip, chili fries, pastrami burger, onion rings!!! Where does it end??? This place is the best! I give it 5 stars for the pastrami dip, the onion rings and the friendly staff. The hamburgers, hot dogs etc...just run of the mill but the PASTRAMI DIP sandwich???WOW! They need to offer milkshkes.... read more

You gotta love the hat! There is nothing bad about the hat.....unless you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. This place is so great when your hungry...you wont leave here with an empty stomach for sure! My go to is the pastrami dip and the wet fries (a huge heap of french fries smothered with brown gravy). The pastrami is different here than most deli pastrami in that it is shaved super thin. It awaits you in a huge vat of its own juice.....when you order it...they stuff it in the roll and your mouth starts to water. The fries are equally amazing....so hot and yummy. When they pour the hot gravy on top you wont care that you burnt your mouth on the molten goodness. The chili cheese fries here are really good, but be warned....you may not have room for the rest of your food if you order this! I am a fan! 4 stars read more

The Hat's chili cheese fries are IMMENSE. One order is more than enough to feed four people with LOTS of chili and cheese. Their "world famous" pastrami dip, however, isn't all that special and perhaps not world famous...a tad overpriced as well in my opinion for a normal pastrami sandwich. I would go back for the chili cheese fries, but not so much for their sandwiches. read more

I've been wanting to try The Hat for so long, and I have finally reached the glorious land of pastrami sandwiches. This is totally a landmark place to visit, especially if you're a big fan of pastrami like I am. The Famous Pastrami Dip is a standard staple on your first trip here, and it is PACKED. Mmm. I also got the Gravy Fries which are literally fries with gravy on top. Nothing special and probably should have ordered some chili cheese fries instead but that's okay. The size of one Gravy Fries order is massive, so expect to share... unless you can seriously eat it all by yourself. The guys next to our table had cheese and pastrami fries which looked GODLY so I will have to request those next time. Just a good, solid pastrami sandwich place that will make sure you leave stuffed and satisfied. Bon Appétit! read more

Came here for lunch today. Ordered a chili cheese dog which was super good and filling. I swear that thing weighed 2 pounds our more, I also order onion rings which were pretty good and I got a ton of those as well along with a soda. Definitely worth the price and the food is always good and hot and you never are left hungry after eating here. Will for sure order this again. Everything I've had here has been good and very hot. read more

The Hat - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

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This spot has been an all time go to favorite of mine since I was a kid! The pastrami dip sandwich is where it's truly at. There is SO much meat in the sandwich that it's almost impossible to finish the entire thing. The onion rings are also delicious as well as their gravy fries. I always ask for a side of peppers to bite into, gives that extra heat kick :) I'm happy to see this business is still running. Nobody makes a pastrami sandwich quite like this place! try them out if you haven't already! Had my little one try this sandwich for the first time and she fell in love! Great spot for sandwiches & if on a budget, a sandwich can easily be split between 2 people read more

Always a good meal. Pastrami sandwiches are excellent. Onion rings and fries are great accompaniments. Glad we can still get take out during these COVID times. Parking can be tough when dining in is available. The staff is always super friendly. read more

If I'm craving pep pizza but too lazy to call in then I'm heading for the chili fries here just to satisfy my gooey cheese craving. Sometimes fries weren't thoroughly cooked but most times the fries were crispy enough with big portions. read more

Very good pastrami indeed. I ordered the burger and fries with a small drink. The order of fries was enough to feed a small village. Too much! No fifth star because the sauces are all packets (yucky) and it's too expensive. My meal was $17.00. read more

The Hat - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

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The Hat is my go-to for pastrami sandwiches which are always super loaded with tons of meat. Tip: you can order gravy on the side for dipping, it's super delicious and you can just feel your arteries clogging up tight with goodness. The chili cheese fries are fantastic, you can order those topped with pastrami if you'd like, also great dipped in gravy. Another Tip: Order a side of chili! Put it on your fries, burger, hot dog, or just eat it on its own, easily transforms any food into a +4 flavor. read more

I just go for the onion rings because they give you a good portion but they lack a good sauce to dip them . Last time I got a cheeseburger , it wasn't that great . read more

The Hat - I just go for the onion rings - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

The Hat deserves 3.5 stars. I had the pastrami dip and an order of pastrami cheese fries. For 5 girls, this portion was perfect. We actually only made it through to eat all of the fries and half of the sandwich. This was just a snack for us before going out to dinner downtown LA. The great thing about the Hat was that they have a huge bucket of yellow chile peppers. My fave in anything! Their fries are thicker cut than Tops but still very good and crispy til the very end. read more

The Hat - Pastrami cheese fries are bomb!! - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

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I've been dying to try this place for awhile now and last week I finally did! I absolutely love the vibes here. It's kind of like a 90s themed restaurant. The food was a little pricey but as soon as it came out, I thought it was definitely worth it. The chili cheese fries were probably about 4 times the size of my burger. And the pastrami is TO DIE FOR. It's so tender and has a great flavor. If I had to change anything, I'd say that they should melt the cheese on the chili cheese fries a little more. Would definitely recommend! read more

The Hat - Chili cheese fries with pastrami - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

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The World Famous Pastrami is here at The Hat. At least that's what it says outside. And their Pastrami sandwich definitely doesn't disappoint. The place looks like an old burger joint ripped out of the 60's with the yellow themed color scheme. Stepping into the place at about 10:30PM, their menu in the back has in big bolded letters stating their Pastrami Dip Sandwich is $6.70. Like being hypnotized, I went straight to ordering just that. I also ordered a Chili Cheese Fries while I was at it. The Pastrami Dip definitely packs a punch with the amount of meat in it. I thought I had ordered a Philly Cheesesteak or something. The sandwich was just pastrami, pastrami, pickles, pastrami, mustard, and more pastrami. I think there might've been another garnishing in there, but there's so much meat that you don't really taste the other things in there. The sandwich was definitely above par, but I kind of felt that there could be times in life where too much meat could be a bad thing. Not terribly bad, but it's a little overwhelming at times. As for the Chili Cheese Fries, the 3 of us couldn't finish it; it's quite monstrous, but totally worth it. And there ain't nothing wrong with that. I rarely make an appearance down to SoCal, just because it's 300 miles away from where I live, but so far each time I've gone, I've rarely been disappointed with the food down there (though I suppose I get taken to the hot spots). Places like these make me want to go down more just to try new flavors that you don't get in NorCal. If you're getting the munchies late at night, then The Hat is a great place to go to fill your hunger and more. read more

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I first saw The Hat when I moved down to Socal for college. I saw their claim for "World Famous Pastrami" and thought to myself, "I should try this someday." Several years later and after moving back to Norcal, I finally had the chance to try their pastrami sandwich on a recent visit to LA. Into the first bite, one word came to mind: lard. The pastrami is so fatty. Obviously, it's not the place for a person who cares about their health. Yet, leaving that bias aside, I was pretty happy to how the sandwich tasted. The sauce definitely helps make this sandwich better. Would I come here again? Probably not. It's a decent place to come to but I rather clog my arteries another day. This particular store is a bit out of the way as well. If I do happen to go to The Hat again, I'll check out one that's actually in LA. 3 stars. read more

The Hat - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

When I do the dip, you dip, we dip. I went here with the recommendation from my cousin and it did not disappoint. TWO WORDS: PASTRAMI DIP. No need to say anything else. Maybe one more word: HORSERADISH. Put them together and you've got a recipe for success. read more

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I always get the pastrami burger and it's just so bad but so good!! The fries are ridiculous ! The portions are huge!! they have a huge array of condiments, pretty impressive lol The line is crazy for lunch, go early! read more

The Hat - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

Shared a pastrami dip and chili fries. I'm not usually a big fan of pastrami but this one was delicious. It wasn't overflowing with super salty meat like other places. It was perfectly seasoned and the meat was thinly sliced. I would come back for this sandwich but I do want to try other things on the menu. The chili fries, on the other hand, were gross. They were bland... absolutely no flavor on the fries or on the chili. Even though the serving was massive, I just couldn't get myself to eat them. And I'm a big believer in not wasting food but these fries were just yuck. Pastrami dip- 4 Chili fries-1 Overall I'll give this place a 3 cuz its so close to my house and there were tons of condiments. read more

The Hat - chili fries - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

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This place was okay. For me, not worth the drive. Nothing special about the burgers. When I ordered pastrami fries, I did not realize it would feed a whole family and more, that thing was huge! Needless to say, after having my burger and two bites of the fries, I was stuffed! Then I had to drive all the way home too? Not fun. The fries looked great, tasted okay... again not worth the drive. & I am someone who would drive a good distance for some good ol' fries! read more

The Hat - Pastrami fries - American Near Me - Lake Forest, California

Finally had a chance to try the infamous Hat with my friends after bowling down the street. They had a drive through I believe but we decided to sit down and eat. Of course as a first timer at The Hat I had to get their Pastrami sandwich. The order came out to around 8 dollars and some change. My friend got the orange bang and the chili cheese fries. My first impression when I was unwrapping my sandwich was that it just looked like any other sandwich. I took my first bite into the soft bread and made my way into the pastrami. I worked the piece of food into my mouth and chewed for a bit to see if I could extract any flavors I was missing but no luck. The legendary sandwich wasnt so legendary to me. Yes it was good, but nothing to rave about. My friend's fries on the other hand looked delicious with chili, cheese, tomatoes, and pickles drizzled ontop of fries for only around 5 dollars! I had a few fries but they also werent anything mind blowing. The orange however was very creamy and definitely worth getting! The inside was spacious and it seemed the staff was attentive, but we were three of the five customers inside at that time. read more

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Recommend the Chili Cheese Burger. Potato Salad was Yummy. Chili Cheese Fries with Tomato add on was big enough for Two

If you like pastrami you've come to the right place. The food definitely lives up to its reputation. Potato salad is to die for as well.