The Hearty Hooligan — Restaurant in Hamilton

My husband and I came from the Niagara region and our friends from Toronto as this is about the halfway point between us. Parking was easy to find. There is a green P lot behind the building. I'm not vegan, but I am pescatarian and enjoy going to spots with vegetarian and vegan options. My friends and husband are omnivores. The food is good for vegan food. I've been here twice. The first time we got the pizza rolls and nachos which were ok (nachos were my favorite). They did not taste that good reheated though.

The second time, I got the mac and cheese and my husband got the seitan platter. Our friends got the dill pickle mac and cheese and seitan platter. My husband was a little disappointed the fryer was down because he really wanted hashbrowns. The mac and cheese was better when I added ketchup. The seitan had a really delicious BBQ sauce on it. Our friends loved the dill pickle mac and cheese. I wish I had tried it (maybe next time). We also got desert this time. The punkaroo ice cream was very watery but the banana cream pie ice cream was really well made and absolutely delicious. Their other sweets looked really good but we didn't get any this time. I do wish there was an option on the menu of getting some of the other deserts besides ice cream when you dine in.

The staff were very nice and friendly. Unfortunately, I have not had the greatest experiences with people who are vegan. I have often encountered vegans who are pretentious and judgemental. I don't know if the staff are vegans themselves but they were very friendly and down-to-earth. They weren't your stereotypical vegans. The atmosphere is adorable. Very colorful 90s cartoons (Simpsons and Futurama) and mostly 80s/90s punk music in the background. My friend absolutely loves the decor and ambience. The bathroom was gender-neutral and very clean. I appreciate that they are LGBTQ+ friendly and felt very comfortable there. I will definitely be back when I am in the mood for vegan food and...

The food was decent but the employees were extremely pretentious, rude and generally made me not want to return. Just a selection of things the worker said in the brief time we were there (we ordered takeout)

These people who called in are so stupid, of course we ran out of things today. How could they think we'd have things while we're open. It's 30 minutes until we close (repeated at least 5 times. It wasn't btw, they still had an hour left). Thanks yeah we do insert complicated thing which is why all our stuff is so good. I work really hard and make the best drinks. Um everything on the menu is the best. We really worked hard to narrow it down to only the best stuff (the menu was all over the place, they may have narrowed it down but it's far from streamlined) We're out of this because we were SO busy today. They advertised all over Facebook for this weekend and somehow didn't expect customers? They were out of a LOT of their basic ingredients (not just prepared food which is understandable for being an hour until close).

It's too bad that decent food can be wrecked by such a terrible employee but honestly it wasn't worth walking in those doors. Maybe if they did delivery I'd try it so that I don't have to interact with them in any way.

Oh and for their nachos they realized their beef replacement has no flavour and tried to make up for it by overloading on spice. I hoped for quality ingredients rather than just eating salt. I mean it's still fine because salt is a legitimate way to make up for food tasting bad but I had hoped a vegan place would attempt to...

My favourite restaurant in town and I'm not vegan. These cats are crushing it. Go now. Support them. People = so cool, Food = amazing, place = rad!

My absolute favourites are the pickle Mac and cheese and pickle fries. If you are a pickle lover - you have to go! They've even had pickle and peanut butter cupcakes. I sadly missed the pickle day they had there, they added even more pickle items!

The iced coffee and pumpkin spice latte are perfection!

The anti warrior burrito or bowl is incredible! It's so much food, and it checks all the craving boxes!

Loved salad in the chicken Caesar salad wrap, a lot of salad which is rare. Nicely cut lettuce and tossed perfectly in dressing - not too much or too little. I know it's a bit odd to be excited about salad, I'm surprised personally. Could have definitely used more or a different kind of chicken though, there were tiny unbreaded pieces. Was expecting big crispy strips or something! And no tomato or nothin, I'm a toppings gal and there was no frill. I should have asked them to add though, so that's on me. If you want to eat a tasty salad on the go, get that puppy! Brilliant idea really.

Also love the selection of flavours of the baked goods! Cupcakes and cookies galore! Unique flavours, and lots of other goodies in the freezer to take home!

Staff are so friendly and approachable. Always happy to answer questions or give recommendations.

Looking forward to...