The Hat

What would compel me to get out of my pjs with no makeup to drive 30 minutes, 2 freeways in the middle of the night? This place! They have the best pastrami dip in these parts! It’s amazing, huge, and wow its good. These people know how to satisfy any body’s late night munchies. Got the dip and chilli cheese fries. I love the condiments. Everytime I go there’s no line. 5 Stars!!!

I don’t eat fast food… Except The Hat. The chili cheese fries are THE BEST. Always order the fries well done so they don’t get soggy with the chili. So addictive!!! Add pastrami to the chili cheese fries if you’re really a beast.

It’s Friday and I disengaged from my normal healthy eating rhetoric! Totally caved in! As the saying goes, «do as the Romans do, when in Rome» or it could be the other way around but I did what local Brea-​lonians do and that’s go into «The Hat» and ordered me up a Pastrami Sandwich!
Wow! Still as good as ever! Just as I remembered it! I was so excited about the whole venture that I forgot to take pictures! Gobbled it up quick and left no evidence behind. Forensics wouldn’t be able to detect any pastrami. It was completely consumed to the molecular level!
To have somewhat of a clear conscience though, I washed it down with plain water. No soda! Ah, feel better about myself already! Nuff said.

The Hat isn’t for the weak of heart or stomach. Their gigantic portions of high fat and grease are not designed to extend your life but to give comfort when you need it.
Just the pastrami spillover from the rolls is a meal in itself. These immense french-​dip delights can be eaten alone (with the idea that it will be your only meal of the day) or shared with one you love or are too cheap to fully treat.
I always ask for extra pickles and mustard. Adding yellow peppers gives you an extra kick in your mouth and lower digestive tract. I would also recommend their potato salad as well as a strawberry soda to guzzle while you’re trying to swallow a mouthful of meat.
Their chili fries are served piping hot and in giant portions. However, the chili is nothing special (maybe their recipe comes from Smart and Final?) but still worth a try.
The Hat is always full of customers and once you experience their food you’ll understand why. Burgers, hot dogs, and other dip sandwiches round out their menu (although I have been tempted to try them – I always end up with the pastrami.)
A tip of my hat to The Hat!

One of our favorite late night eats. Fast service. Food never disappoints.
The Hat is located somewhat near Brea Mall, Cal State Fullerton, etc., I rarely see this drive-​thru or inside/​outside dining area empty. The workers are friendly and efficient in getting out the food as quickly as possible.
Everything is big at The Hat. The chili cheese fries, the tuna sandwich, the onion rings, every thing you order will come super-​sized. Make sure you bring a hearty appetite and some friends, because you most likely won’t be able to eat it on your own.

We don’t go here very often because, although my husband loves it, I’m not a fan of the menu. I’m not a pastrami eater.
I am however a chili cheese fries fan! Well, here anyway. We decided to take our young son because everyone needs their mind blown at the size of the fries. See picture attached.
I do like the old-​school feel of this restaurant. It’s entirely booths and tables. Vinyl upholstry but everything is clean and feels authentic.
Order at the counter and wait for your number to be called. Their main star is the pastrami sandwich. It’s actually a wet sandwich as they dip it. But most people like this thing. I’ve poked around and tried a few other things like the French dip. I just can’t find my groove here. But I do like sharing the enormous chili cheese fries with the entire table. The only way they could be better is if they actually had real ranch dressing to dip the fries in. They have ranch but it’s in packets, like a ketchup packet. It’s just not the real thing.

Ordered the chili cheese fries with pastrami and it was massive! Didn’t realize the amount of food they give you for a very reasonable price. It is definitely share-​worthy with 2 – 3 people! The pastrami was delicious! The chili was pretty good and along with some crispy golden fries. My boyfriend ended up sharing the fries for me and saving his sandwich for later since we didn’t know the fries was going to be this massive! It won’t be as good if I were to save it later. Anyways, adding yellow mustard to it gave it a nice tang flavor to the pastrami, chili, and fries. Good place to try if you love pastrami!

Not loving pastrami this is hardly a place for me, not really any healthy or veggie options here.
That being said the pastrami fries my guys shared were a huge portion, and I did enjoy the gravy and fries themselves.
This place gets crazy busy, except a wait and a hard time finding a table at dinner.
Prices seemed high at first but given the portion size, you can pretty much share anything or have leftovers.
While i would not rush back, if you like pastrami this is the place for you!

The Hat specializes in pastrami, portions, and good prices. The wood paneling and décor will transport you into some cozy, old-​timey diner, and the food will transport you into a food coma. Make sure you bring a hearty appetite and some friends, because you most likely won’t be able to eat it on your own.
Pastrami Chili Cheese Fries? Say no more! I could not find it on the menu board, but you can order them for about $ 12. You’ll get a mountain of fries that is enough to split between 4 people. You kind of want to do this too, because reheating them will not bring them back to their former glory. I got a side of pickles and tomatoes to give some semblance of healthy eating, but who am I kidding. The fries are great on their own, thick cut and crisp, but fluffy on the inside. The chili and cheese is heaped generously on top, and they try to put a lot of pastrami too, but I felt like it needed more. I think next time I will get the Pastrami Dip sandwich to split, and just regular chili cheese fries, since those are only $ 5.
Thank you for not being diet friendly. You’re so unabashedly gluttonous that I felt a sense of pride scarfing down all those fries even though I ate dinner before and was just tagging along. Can’t really go wrong here, unless you’re a vegetarian.
Food: 4, Service: 3, Environment: 4, Price: 4

A heart attack ready to happen, but worth every bite!
We ordered the chili cheese fries covered in pastrami. This is a way to avoid ordering a pastrami sandwich and the fries, by combining the two and eating a little healthier by not having the bread. Yet, no matter how you justify it, there is nothing healthy about it. It’s the Hat, and pastrami is their game. And they do it really well. It was my first time trying out the Hat and it was great. I have to pay for it later most definitely, yet I couldn’t have been happier during each delicious bite. That greasy, yummy goodness will be truly memorable and if you like pastrami, this is the place to be.

Pastrami Sandwich, That’s all you need to know if you’re coming to The Hat.
I’ve been coming here for years and every time I come the pastrami calls my name. And why not, it is oh so good.
This place is BUSY, but they are fast and you’ll get your food in no time.
Parking is the same thing, BUSY. A little patience goes a long way and you’ll soon find a spot.
The pastrami is tender and super flavorful. the bread is a little crusty outside but soft inside, perfect! I prefer mayo to mustard and that just makes it even more yummy =) They give you a nice portion, I usually can’t finish a whole sandwich. Sharing is recommended.
I also got a French Dip. It was good, specially with the au jus dip, but not at good as the pastrami.
My newest discovery (with a lot of prodding from my nephew) was the Wet Fries. We got it with the gravy on the side (my nephew insisted) and he was right. The fries were already good by themselves. Crispy outside and soft inside. Yum! But after dipping them in the gravy, forget about it! YUM YUM YUM! Delicious
Service was quick (not to friendly though)
Price is very reasonable considering the amount of food (specially sides) they give you.
It’s not Langers, but for what it is, it’s really GOOD!
2015 Review #169

They aren’t innovative but they’re good at what they do.
Pastrami is tasty in everything
Loved the pastrami dip with horseradish sauce
Chili fries are great with the tomatoes and pickles added in

The hat knows how to make one killer pastrami dip. If you swing by and are trying to decide what to order, no need to go very far down the menu. Get the npastrami! It’s what they do best! PASTRAMI PASTRAMI PASTRAMI! Some people get a single dip and some do the double! Another great option that is not on the menu is chili cheese fries with pastrami on top! So amazingly delicious. If you haven’t tried the hat you are definitely missing out. Check it out!

Extra points for being open late! Hits the spot on a night out. The place has the vibe of your typical charbroiler, not too fancy, but good place to come for cheap yummy eats.
Ordered the pastrami and pastrami chili cheese fries.
Pastrami sandwich went well with the French roll. The meat was good, but not super high quality (not that you would expect that here). If you’ve never had pastrami, it is a salty thin sliced meat. They add mustard and pickles which go well.
Pastrami chili cheese fries: best thing I ate here! Soooo good, regular fries, not too thin or thick. Topped with a delicious chili, shredded cheddar cheese, and pastrami. Sooo yummy, I wanted more.
Guys that work there are pretty chill.

If big portions is your thing The Hat is for you. Chili Fries are huge, enough to feed 4.
Chili Burger is really good. Just as good as Tommies. I also like their Tuna Sandwich on wheat.
If you’re a health nut avoid this place.
If you’re Craving Tommies and you don’t want to drive too far The Hat is a great substitute.

3 ½ stars. We ordered a pastrami dip and a turkey sandwich with chilli cheese fries. I’ve been on this pastrami sandwich craving the last two weeks. First it was ToGos because it was nearby my work. Then last week was Portos pastrami. Then I saw the Hat last Friday so I knew I was destined to finally try the Hat today for the first time.
First of all I appreciated the fact that even though they were extremely busy, they called our number fairly quick. First look, the pastrami looked humongous and the turkey sandwich looked lean. And that damn chilli cheese fries looked like a heart attack indeed. That was just way too much. Perhaps it was meant to be shared for like ten people. I get it.
Liked the pastrami since it wasn’t too salty but salty enough. Liked it dipped so it didn’t feel so dry. Turkey sandwich was ok but not enough turkey, it was all bread and lettuce. And well, the chilli cheese fries was ok but I wasn’t a fan of the chilli. I like my chilli with more thicker consistency like Tommy’s.
I ll probably won’t hesitate to return when I’m on my pastrami craving. I just won’t order the chilli fries anymore.

I’m not quite sure what everyone sees in this place. My husband and I ordered the chili cheese fries, a roast beef sandwich, and (like a dummy) I asked the lady at the counter what I should try, and took her suggestion to get a cheeseburger.
The burger was pretty bad– basically a frozen patty, slapped with some american cheese and no sauce or anything special and was cold. The roast beef sandwich was lacking in my opinion as well. No cheese, no sauce– just meat, bread, and a side of greasy au jus. The chili cheese fries were actually decent, but the order was MASSIVE! One order could feed a family of 4 easily! I had specifically told the person ringing up our order we had never been there before and would’ve really liked a tip regarding the size on those.
Overall, we spent nearly $ 30 on fast food at a place that we had to scavenge to find a table at and left a lot to desire. Not a fav in my book…

The Hat… isn’t that a Monopoly piece?
Well as far as Monopoly is concerned I’ve sure been spending a lot of cash vacationing lately, NOT because it has anything to do with my job (and no my job doesn’t pay me to travel, they only let me work remotely with advanced notice). I just like to travel and I like to eat and Unilocal.
Well, I can say for sure that they do NOT have small portions.
An order of onion rings looked like it could stuff a full shopping bag.
I swear our order of onion rings had a field of onions in it. The batter was solid and stuck to the rings and didn’t peel off like some onion rings do.
So, this is my brother’s go to place. While I like to dine at expensive restaurants he likes the local hang outs.
So, its good to meet up and learn from each other. Makes us more well rounded I think.
This place has his favorite orange bang drink and it also has my favorite drink, Horchata so this was a winning choice!
The pastrami sandwiches remind me of an upscale Arny’s sandwich.
Kind of fatty but thinly sliced pastrami with swiss cheese on a semi warm bun.
It also had this homely feeling to it. Not quote a fast food feel, but not quite a restaurant feeling either.
This was a nice pit stop in the middle of our LA adventure!
3.5 rounded up to 4.

Love coming here with my friends and we all share because they give you a lot of food! I recommend the chili cheese fries with pastrami on top! It’s really bomb. You can never go wrong with the pastrami here. The chili is super good and almost creamy. I’ve been coming here for years and it never disappointments. The staff here is really nice and the manager is pretty cool.