Jimmy G’s Famous Hot Dogs

If it’s hotdogs you seek, run in the other direction! Famous hotdogs? Famously horrible! Not sure how they get away with even having the word hotdog as a part of the shop name. Very expensive too. You have been warned.

Very basic hot dogs. No real distinguished taste. Better off buying your own hotdogs at the market. Overpriced and very basic. Don’t waste your money. Keep it moving

Maybe it is because I come from an area originally where there are really stellar hot dog joints, or maybe it was a bad night. I couldn’t tell you for sure, but when I ordered a hot dog with ketchup mustard pickle and onions… only to be told the place doesn’t have pickles I was a bit surprised. So I adjusted my order to just ketchup and mustard on top, since I never can decide which I like best. What I received was a hunk of white italian baguette with a somewhat warm hot dog and too much ketchup and mustard. I ended up ripping half the bread off, and dabbing at the condiments so I could taste the hot dog… which was mediocre at best.
I would be willing to try another item on the menu and see if maybe it was just a one-​shot, but for a famous hot dog place, I was almost saddened by the quality and presentation of my food.

What happened ??? My order of 2 hotdogs the last 2 times were wrong. Come on man. It’s 2 hotdogs !!! Quality went way down. Girl at the counter took 10 minutes to ring my order on a handheld dollar store calculator… it was very awkward. That being said I’ll never return… NEXT !!!

Not quite sure what was more displeasing, the mere hint of steak at the very bottom or the overload of undercooked unseasoned potatoes piled on top. But wait there’s more. as I walked into the store after placing my order over the phone I was greeted by a very rude employee «we’re closed» discourteous and out of line. food and service was much better when Ray Sbarro was there.

I love hot dogs and even though the Italian dog has great taste, the actual hot dog tastes cheap. Need better quality of hot dog.

I went here with my wife and two small children. We ordered kids meals and 2 sandwiches. It came to $ 25. Way too much. Especially since they gave my 6 year old daughter SOUR MILK that was THREE MONTHS past its fresh date. The only offer I got was a juice for «the same price».

I still have family on Anderson Street in the ‘Burg. For many years we would walk up to Casino and sit at one of the back tables eating «Casino Dogs» like we were in some kind of eating contest. They would deliver trays of singles and doubles loaded with Italian Frying Peppers, Wedged Roasted Potatoes, and Dark Mustard. We would mange until we were nearly comatose. It was not unusual for each of us (3 generations) to wolf down three, four or five Torpedoed beauties apiece. If this was a first visit, it was a right of passage to eat the first one by yourself, while the rest of us watched and encouraged the fastest consumption possible.
We were all saddened when Casino closed its doors, and Mr. Sbarro retired and then opened the first Tony Goes on Cloud 9. We really missed those authentic Dogs. So, when I realized that Jimmy G’s was the reincarnation of Casino upon my return to the Trenton area, I went over that very day to try one.
Truly, so much of the original experience had to do with the old Casino shop and the people who worked and ate there. It is hard to separate the Dog from the Dog House. But, walking in to Jimmy G’s wasn’t bad. It is a simple place. Clean, bright and organized. The warm greeting announces every visitor. The wall menu sets out the relatively limited options. No problem. I was there to recreate the Casino moment to the greatest extent possible. That’s what I ordered. That’s what I got.
While true that the new rolls can overwhelm the intention of the sandwich, I saw the improvement intended by offering more than an old large hot dog bun. It was a huge bite to get the tip of the creation into my mouth. It was more like trying to get the Hindenburg blimp back into its hanger. Unhinging my jaw was the only way to get it done.
Gggguuullllpppp!!!
The taste was so reminiscent of the old days. Soft Potato, Mildly tart and slippery Pepper. Dark Mustard bite. Finally, the meat sausage boy hidden beneath it all at the bottom of the roll was pierced, releasing its garlicy mix of pork, beef and oil into the mouth, like a coiled rattlesnake striking out. Bam!
Yes. It was that good for a frankfurter fanatic. But, I wasn’t just eating a well designed and executed Devil Dog. I was consuming one of my fondest memories brought back to life.
How often does that happen?

The Italian hot dog, or Trenton Dog is a dying dish. Some places still serve it, but most of the original purveyors of this nitrate-​laden delicacy are gone. Jimmy G’s still serves a good one in the proud Chambersburg tradition of the the owner’s family. The «dog with the works» is a traditional Italian hot dog, and comes covered in fried potatoes, peppers and a smear of brown mustard (they offer the choice of yellow instead, but why would you?). Everything is cooked nicely and blends in a low-​brow symphony in your mouth. The only problem is that the buns they use are so huge, it swallows up all of those beautiful flavors. opt for the double dog with the works for the extra buck and a quarter to better fill out the bun. Another option is their «Kielbasy» smoked with the works. Purists might scoff at you, but forget them, they’re your tastebuds, and it is delicious. Jimmy G’s has a whole menu of additional options, including pork roll (or Taylor Ham for those north of Mercer Country), egg, Italian sausage, fish and ribeye sandwiches, as well as: gasp!: salads? I can’t vouch for the flavor or quality of any of these items because I’ve never ordered anything other than the dogs or «Kielbasy» with the works. The place is small and can be a bit hard to find. It’s in a small strip mall along with the Mercerville Post Office and across the parking lot from an Applebee’s. Be warned, they’re closed on Sundays. :-/

This place stinks. I went here back closer to when they opened. Overpriced for what you get and not on pizza bread, but I would have given them a 3 star rating due to the fact that the food was average and the only Italian hotdog on my way home from work.
But I’m lowering my score because I just left there 6÷5÷14 about 6:15pm and my order was totally wrong. I ordered hot sausage with the works. I received sweet. Hot and sweet don’t even sound the same so not sure how they screwed that up. There’s also no mustard, so the sandwich is very dry. I got a smoked kielbasa and there’s no mustard either.
On the wall it says works is onions, peppers, spicy mustard.
Now that I think about it my last visit had 2 sandwiches with no mustard either.
I won’t be back. If I wanted something dry I’d drive to the desert or eat a spoon of cinnamon.

You are better off buying a grilling your own hot dogs. very basic and not good.

The only place I know where you can get an authentic Trenton-​Italian hot dog (correct me if I’m wrong?)
And they’re perfect.

The important thing to remember if you’re going to come here is to get the double dog if you’re going to get a dog at all. They use big, bready buns in which a single dog is lost in size, as well as lost in flavor against all the bread. The double dog gives you enough meat to go up against the giant bun. The double dog with the works is an Italian style dog that comes with fried potatoes and grilled green peppers. The keilbasa with the works is also a good choice, with the sausage being big enough in size and flavor to go up against the bun.
The dogs themselves were good, and I’d be happy with a regular, single dog, but only if they put it in a standard hot dog bun instead of the big roll. I’d also love to see a chili dog option, just because I like chili dogs. So there.
I read in the township paper this weekend that Jimmy G’s is owned and run by the children of the guy who used to run the Casino restaurant in Trenton, known locally as Tony Goes. The original name to the joint was Jimmy Goes, which makes sense in trying to draft off the Tony Goes legacy out of Trenton. I suppose whoever bought the Casino also bought the «Goes» name.

This place serves Trenton Style Italian hot dogs and other inexpensive sandwiches. This is a must go for something cheap and easy. Also, a taste of old Trenton.

Great Italian hot dog — just like Tony Goes (Hamilton) or Casino (In the Burg) …had the rib eye steak with provolone and broccoli rabe. Which was awesome… just wish it was a lil bigger for the price… overall the prices are cheap tho.

First, some background on me going into this place: As a child Tony Goes Italian Hot Dogs were my absolute favorite meal on Earth. I would request that for my birthday or any other time I got the chance. When they closed I started going down to Casino for what I thought was a good but not perfect substitute. Then they closed and I found a little place in the Trenton Farmers Market that was not as good as Casino, but still good. For the past year there’s been nothing close and now Jimmy Goes opens LITERALLY across the street from my house. You can imagine my fear/​joy/​hopes for this place.
The Italian Hot Dog with the works is served with potatoes, peppers, and spicy mustard. I prefer yellow mustard to spicy for this type of dog, but other than that it is a pretty well-​made sandwich. I think they are less generous with the toppings than the previous locations, but overall it is a good amount of food per sandwich.
The kielbasa comes either smoked or fresh. I have had it both ways and while I quite enjoyed the smoked variety, the fresh just wasn’t my type of sausage. I would recommend the smoked to anyone who is looking for something a little meatier than the standard hot dog. Both types of kilebasa come either plain or with the works, ala the hot dogs.
My brother had a steak sandwich and seemed unimpressed. Steak is his go to sandwich and he’s a pretty good judge. I thought it might be interesting to try a steak sandwich with their home fries on it, but my brother was unimpressed by the combo.
I’ve seen price thrown around as an issue, and I am not quite sure how I feel about it. If you are purchasing just hot dogs and everyone only needs one, you could feed your family for $ 5 a head, not bad at all. The issue is that I for one need two dogs to feel full, and so do most of the folks I’ve eaten here with. That brings it up to $ 10 per adult and that can start to get pricey when you think about the fact that you are getting hot dogs and potatoes. The kielbasa and steak are overpriced in my opinion, but not to the point that I would never order them, just that they won’t be a regular purchase.
The only real complaint I have with the place is that the service is spotty. This is obviously a brand new establishment and the staff are all pretty young and just learning. There is one young lady (very skinny, blonde in a pony tail) who seems to know what she’s doing above all of the others. But today I ordered two dogs with just potatoes and was asked if I wanted mustard, I specifically said no mustard, and my brother bit into a sandwich with mustard (which he hates). One of the charms of Tony Goes and Casino was that the owners (or someone very closely related to them) worked the front end and had a relationship with the patrons. I see the owners going back and forth from the front end and the kitchen all the time, I wish they’d just take over the register and engage customers.
I’ve eaten here several times in the past three weeks with 8 different people. The consensus is definitely positive, but there have been one or two occasions when someone was less than thrilled. On one instance my wife and brother’s potatoes were undercooked. Even though it might sound like I’m being nit-​picky and critical, please keep in mind we are talking about Italian Hot Dogs in Mercer County, to be less than thorough would be an injustice.
To sum it all up? Give this place a try, I think they will become a Hamilton institution once they work out some opening day bugs.