Hat City Kitchen

Fun lively place to hear grate local live music and have a good drink. Conversation is tough if you are not in the dining room. Food is very good and priced well. Parking can be tough on the street, but usually not horrible.

The chef knows N'Orleans cooking. We knew when we sat down and saw a bottle of Crystal hot sauce on every table, it was just confirmed by the amazing Cajun clam chowder, the fried chicken, the jambalaya, and the bread pudding. I cook this stuff myself, so I'm picky: And I'll be back.

The ambiance is really cool and there's a lot of live music here - which is neat. The service is really friendly, but not really organized. The food also took an incredibly long time and was pretty mediocre. That said, I will definitely give this another try.

The wait time is horrible. I waited for over a hour to get my food. The only reason me and the wife didn't walk out was because it was already late and it was hard to get a babysitter. Don't waste your time here. The food is good and it was probably good because I was starving from the wait.

HCK is a unique venue for music!
Was there last night and the groups were really fantastic!
It's a hub to see local roots play close to home.
There is no other establishment in the Orange Valley
that has the variety of LIVE music that HCK has.

However, the food is a big disappointment. Not once, but every time.
The servers work hard and try to accommodate your wishes.
But what's going on in the kitchen?
Food takes too long to be served, comes out sporadically
and really lacks flavor..

Portions and prices are wildly inconsistent.
The wedge salad is enough for 2 but when did we start counting the number of mussels?
And these are the typical issues one finds in many restaurants but when a simple spinach salad comes out an hour after it is ordered??

The opportunities of making this a happy marriage of food and music are there,
but management has to step up to make it all work.
Why is the downstairs typically crowded and yet the dining room is only half full?

I will certainly be back for drinks and music
but I will not be coming hungry and that's unfortunate,
because it is a revenue source that HCK continues to miss out on.