Hard Times Cafe

My family enjoys stopping in when we're shopping on Glenwood. There's something for each of us with the lengthy menu. My favorite is the chili.

We went to Hard Times today and found it had closed. We have been coming here for the best chili for over 11 years and will miss it. We never had a bad meal or bad service during all this time.
Good Bye Hard Times, we will miss you. Where will we get chili now?

It cold and windy tonight so my mind goes to chili and if it's good chili, then it's Hard Times. I like half Cincinnati, half Texas, 4 ways. With a cold beer, it's the best. Even their own-brand root beer is good. The place is a bit dark but you not there for the atmosphere.

I love this unique restaurant. They bring you a sampler of their four chilis when they seat you. You can order the chili so many ways -- over noodles, on a burger, in a burrito, or with a variety of toppings. Very yummy, especially on a chilly winter day.

I love eating chili at Hard Times on a beautiful fall day on their patio. They bring you a sampler of their four kinds of chili. All very different and all really good. There's a Texas chili, Terlingua red, Cincinnati, and a vegetarian chili. You can get chili served in all kinds of ways: on potatoes, on spaghetti, on Frito's, and the list goes on. And if you can't decide on one kind...you can pick more than one.

Food was not fresh, quality was fair, price was high for what you received - would not recommend go down the road to Char Grill, much better deals and quality

I found the food to be good, the service was fine when I was there for a mid-week noon lunch. The wait was short, the food arrived quickly, and the staff was friendly.

The chili options were good and the unique dishes incorporating the signature item was interesting and fun.

If I were to have any complaints it would be that the chili is served luke-warm. Me? I want my chili coming to me hot, but my dish wasn't even warm enough to melt all the cheese.

Hard Times Cafe has the best food of its kind in Raleigh. Period. Always fresh and tasty. The burgers are the best in Raleigh, entree salads are outstanding.

I'm sad to hear that some find the service questionable. I feel it is far better than most places I've eaten in this city. I've worked in food service, and at least the servers at the Hard Times Cafe appear to be working. For some reason, it's hard to get good service in Raleigh. Most places I've seen, the servers stand around and watch TV/smoke/huddle and talk and can't be bothered to do much else.

I have been to this place 4 times. Two times when they were busy, two times when they had no one there. GREAT AMAZING WONDERFUL CHILI, except you may not be able to enjoy it from all the animosity you have against the wait staff/host. It takes forever to be seated even if the place is empty. The orders [drinks etc] do not always come out the way you wanted them to. Don't even try to "eat-in" if you are a family with young children. They can't seem to understand or accommodate more then one high chair. The place must be tried at least once because their chili really is incredible [other things there so/so to mediocre i.e. ribs, chicken fingers etc...] I will definitely go back to this place but I will never do eat-in again.

After reading great reviews, I visited the restaurant on June 4th. We were seated outside after waiting about 5 minutes to get seated to begin with. They weren't busy at all but it took a while for someone to even come up to greet us. Scott was our waiter, and as soon as we sat, we ordered water to drink. But.. he never brought us water or come back to our table. We waited honestly about 15 minutes and walked out. I'm not sure if he forgot about us but we weren't willing to wait that long for food.

My friends and I love this place! Recommend you sit outside and try to get Scott to wait on you; he is the best! I find the food is consistently good and not overpriced like so many other places in this part of town. The service is efficient and the staff friendly; not pretentious like some places on Glenwood South where the servers sometimes act like they are doing you a favor to take your order and aren't you lucky to have gotten a table. It's fun to sit out on the deck and watch the beautiful people of Glenwood South while enjoying the best Marguerita's. I think Wed is Wings/Lings night which is cool and you can also get Coronas by the bucket. The Veggie Chili is the best in town.

I don't know. I arranged to meet a group there at 10:30 last week. The hours said they were open until 11 PM. They were closed up tight. I give them a zero. If they can't keep regular hours, don't bother.

Hard Times Cafe has a veggie chili with veggie "meat" in it on the menu. I like to get it over spaghetti.

They also offer a veggie burger but it is not vegan.

This is a Chili joint. And I don't mean cold. If you like chili, you can't beat there different varieties they serve.
They Have the best chicken sandwiches/Burgers. They use real cheddar cheese. Try the Rootbeer, it has honey in it. It's now one of my favorite places to go. And if you're looking for an almost Texas feel to the atmosphere, this is your place.