Description: The Hat is a fast service burger/sandwich stand known for their world famous pastrami sandwiches. If you like pastrami, you will probably have heard of The Hat. I think this restaurant is definitely on par with the Los Angeles area's other world famous sandwich and fast food restaurants.
We went to the original The Hat in Alhambra, at the corner of Valley and Garfield. There are other locations in Monterey Park, Pasadena, and some in other parts of LA County and Orange County. But the Alhambra location is the original established in 1951, and still going strong.
The Hat is a walk-up restaurant with a menu board above the counter. The menu has the original pastrami dip, burgers, chili burgers, pastrami burgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, steak sandwiches, cold sandwiches, and all sorts of sides.
I ordered the pastrami burger and my friend ordered the original pastrami sandwich. We shared a side of chili cheese fries and got two drinks. Our total was $20.25. We were given a number and our drink cups.
The Hat has the regular soft drinks and iced tea, but they also have a drink I don't see everyday... BANG. They have Lemonade BANG, Pina Colada BANG, and Orange BANG. These are whipped drinks I really liked as a kid. I tried the Pina Colada BANG. It's not exactly a Pina Colada, but quite tasty drink nonetheless.
The Hat keeps prices low by being simple and frugal. The most expensive item on the menu is $6.99. The seating area is quire simple. Faux wood paneling, florescent lights, old black, and white photos of The Hat restaurants in the 1950s. The condiments are all single serve packets kept in huge bins along the wall. The food is wrapped in butcher paper, and the plates are recycled paper. One doesn't come here for fancy china, or a romantic ambience, but really really good food.
After a few moments, our number was called. I went and got our food. The sandwiches are in paper take out bags, and our chili cheese fries are in a large recycled paper tray which also doubles as a drink holder.
The chili cheese fries are HUGE... they look like they serve 6! Unfortunately they do not have half orders of this. I took a few bites of the fries and discovered that they weren't greasy as one would expect. They were quite good, if decadent.
My pastrami burger was excellent! The taste of the juicy burger mixed quite well with the pastrami. There was a LOT of pastrami topping my burger, and the pastrami was shaved thin and almost melted in your mouth. My friend loved his Original Pastrami Dip. It's thinly shaved pastrami dipped in its original juices, served on a roll with pickles and mustard.
A quick glance around revealed people from all walks of life eating here. People came here by bus as well as luxury car. People know to come to the Hat for good food.
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