Jimmy's may be a run-of-the-mill roadside stand, but it is also the birthplace of HotDogCritic.com and the location of Arthur's first hot dog review!

Arthur, being recently introduced to YouTube, decided he wanted to make some videos but he didn't have any ideas for his subject matter. Since we often found that we were eating hot dogs every time we went somewhere fun, Arthur decided he wanted to do hot dog reviews and post them to YouTube. Since we had been at Great America earlier in the day but couldn't get a hot dog (they were too expensive and boring) I promised to find him a hot dog place close to home. Being late evening on a Sunday most of the top-of-mind places were closed, so there we were - Jimmy's Red Hots.

Arthur didn't have a name for his reviews yet, so when we got home we did a quick search and the domain "HotDogCritic.com" was available so we grabbed it!

During his first review Arthur was a little afraid of the neighborhood ruckus so he was a bit shy shooting the video. The staff was also a little gruff, and as an almost-seven year old he hadn't been exposed to such blunt personalities as were working that evening, so I needed to encourage him a bit to get the review in the can. He did fine in the end ;^)

In short, this hot dog stand is your basic low-frills roadside counter. You can't have a cup of water (even for a six-year-old) and you can't have ketchup (even for your fries). We asked if we could use the restroom but were given some half-hearted answer that it was out of order. We also asked a question about the hot dogs but the staff didn't seem interested in a conversation and basically blew us off. The "depression dogs" might be aptly named for the way we felt here. They're not bad for being comparatively inexpensive but the fries are soggy and saturated in grease that isn't changed often enough. Overall I found the staff rather short on patience and disinterested in providing much beyond the bare minimum service it takes to exchange a hot dog for your cash.

Jimmy's has been reviewed by many mainstream media outlets including WGN, Drew Barrymore, Phil Rosenthal, Rachel Ray, Chicago's Best and many others. They all seem to speak very highly of their experiences. Personally, I don't get it, watching Drew Barrymore ecstatically eating a hot dog out of a paper bag while sitting on the ground next to a dirty street corner and getting grease on her pants. I'm not sure if that's because it's a sponsorship situation (as it is with many channels) but maybe our random visit wasn't indicative of the typical experience. So please seek out those other reviews on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr2D4XA4qa0

https://youtu.be/R6vCQeMFvCQ

But this review, unfortunately, needs to conclude that on July 7th, 2019 the staff seemed completely disinterested in the customer service you might otherwise expect from a multi-generational family-owned hot dog stand that has been in business since 1954. They left us with a feeling that we were a nuisance for bothering them with our order, and that if we wanted fine dining, you know... something with clean surfaces or insect screens or a smile or somewhere to wash your hands... that we needed to go somewhere else. And it's cash only.