Hott Mess

Best hot dog I’ve had in years. Never knew tatar tots could be that good and the chili is incredible.

«Out of this world good.»
Those are the words that my father and I say to each other every time we indulge at Hot Mess food truck. Tots of all taste preferences, cuisines, and spice levels. Fresh tacos and salads. And the most obsess-​ably good pork tenderloin sandwich you will ever have in your lifetime — I guarantee it. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Hot Mess crew. They will tell you the legendary Pork Tenderloin Sandwich is sold out because the people of the Tampa Bay flock toward the thin and crispy goodness that lies between two buns (also with mayo, pickle, lettuce, tomato, if you so choose).
As if it could not get any better, Hot Mess is a true Tampa Bay Lightning fan. There is only one thing in this life that beats having Hot Mess and hockey in one evening — 2 Hot Mess entrees and the Bolts in one evening.
If I have not been clear in my review — RUN, don’t walk to Hot Mess truck whenever possible. Check their twitter/​facebook for their locations. If you’re at a foodtruck rally and see the pink flames, there is no competition. Just go to Hot Mess. Your taste buds will thank you.

Best food truck I’ve ever been to. I went one year at sunset music festival and I scan the streets for it ever since. I ordered the Greek tater tots and it was mouth watering. It’s the type of food you never want to end! I will find you, and I will eat there again haha

I’m totally crazy about tater tots so when I spotted this truck at the monthly Food Truck Rally at my husband’s office complex, I didn’t need to to much more browsing to know what I wanted. While the topped tot options looked amazing, I couldn’t resist the Hott Chihuahua — a taco/​chili bacon-​wrapped dog on a pretzel bun. I added a side of plain tots and WOW. Everything was delicious and probably awful for me. Husband loves gyros like I love tots and he made a beeline for the Tots-​Ziki — tots topped with all your gyro favorites. The gyro meat was good but not the best we’ve had. Our biggest surprise was the high quality, super salty feta. It provided a nice balance to the veggies and tots. Overall — great experience and I can’t wait for my next visit!

It’s hard not to like tater tots covered with other unhealthy food.
The first time, I tried their signature tots. The second time, I tried the Mexi Tots. One issue I have is that the toppings do make the tots soggy quickly. Also, the ground beef is not the greatest quality. They are dry and under seasoned. I could live without either. Maybe I’ll try the buffalo chicken tots in the future.
This is definitely not a healthful place for a meal, but it is a great place is you have the munchies or a hangover.

Pretty good. So far I’ve only had their hot mess tots. Which is pretty much all that good fattening stuff anyone would like on top of some delicious tater tots. What not to like about that?
I got to try their food at the flicks’n’food trucks event, conveniently placed right next to the pour house. This type of food goes great with beer and friends. The food came out quickly, tots were crisp. Good amount of sauce on the tots, the green onions on top really gives it a great flavor. Overall yummy!

Had Hot Mess at my husbands 50^th birthday party. Pulled up right into my driveway. Great time had by all. Nice and professional crew.

This food truck has bacon wrapped deep fried hot dogs! As good as that sounds, I like to keep my lunch on the lighter side. It’s great that they offer some healthier options, like the buffalo chicken salad, taco salad, and grilled chicken Caesar salad.
Taco Salad $ 8 — Delicious! It’s loaded with taco beef, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, and tortilla chips with sour cream and homemade salsa on the side.
Hot Mess Tots $ 8 (tater tots topped with seasoned ground beef, bacon cheese sauce, chipotle lime crema and scallions)

Love when this truck comes to my building. I immediately decide to not eat what I brought every time. The pork sandwich is HUGE. I usually split this with sometime. They also have tots topped with different things. Can’t go wrong with the buffalo chicken tots. Staff is always super friendly which is s plus. I will always come here when they show up in my area!

Yay, what a nice surprise to see food trucks parked outside our building! Even better surprise was to find Hot Mess here too! There were 4 trucks for a company event but they were also serving paying customers.
I had the buffalo chicken sandwich… shredded buffalo chicken with blue cheese chunks and blue cheese drizzle. YUMMY! Today’s special was toasted ravioli with marinara sauce. The hot mess tots looked delicious as well.
So happy to see the trucks in St Pete, hope they make it a habit!

Got the mexi– tots and the breakfast tots. A lot for your money. Breakfast was great. Mexi was okay. The taco meat has an acidic taste.

First saw this food truck at Cigar City, then the largest food truck rally, and again I saw it at Big Guava! I have had many of their food items and they are all amazing!!! My top faves are the sweet potatoe tots and the buffalo chicken tater tots. Purely amazing and very unique!

We discovered HOTT MESS while I (my sidekick Law just kept saying yum or not for me as I did due diligence for our wknd in Tampa). We were going for the Worlds Largest Food Truck Festival. I knew with 208 trucks and so many choices I wanted to try all the trucks that truly offered something that had a UNIQUE TWIST. So I looked for every truck on FB or the Web/​Yelp/​UP, many nights of food porn let me tell you.
I had my GREEN LIGHT list and my LOOK AT list. Finding HOTT MESS on FB gave me chance to see some of their food as well as a sample of their menu.
They were MY first truck to visit. They had many wonderful choices that day, but I ordered the Tots Ziki… HOT, CRISP tots topped with all the WONDERFUL makings of a GYRO. Not only was it a good looking dish, it was one of the best uses of tator tots that we have ever had.
But its not just the food that will draw you in, its the GREAT ENERGY that the crew has;Friendly and Creative. A combo that will bring us back to try many more options of their ability to take the simple and jack it up to be a HOTT MESS of YUM.
We are proud to be HOTT MESS GROUPIEs :-)

There was an event at the Lykes Gaslight park off Madison St and Tampa St. The event was Groups rally against child sex slavery. So of course there are a couple things that need to be present at an outdoor public event… #1, places to go to the bathroom, and #2, food and drink. *Thankfully, this review of «Hott Mess» isn’t about the bathroom and really about the food truck, although I must confess I didn’t use the bathroom there so I can’t review that. (Can you even review a port ‘o potty?)
…Back to my review, so I saw Hott Mess, positioned right next to some benches, which meant that if the food is good, even better for the location. We’ve all heard it before, location location location. What caught my eye was the Hott Mess Tots, it had looked good by the description and was even better in person. Look at my photos for reference. I had to get a main to go with my side so I picked the bacon wrapped Nathan’s dog with cheese sauce, bacon bits, onions, and lil’ mustard. It tasted as it should be and I was impressed. The bun was a pretzel bun so it was the perfect counter for the gooey mess. All in all, 4 stars, loved it, going to have to try it again, maybe some other variances. Supposedly they park down the street for lunch every day, but my work isn’t in this part of town and I don’t have much time so it’ll be hard to get to them. The motto for this food truck should be «Let’s get messy!», napkins included.

I had the privilege of experiencing Hott Mess Food Truck before the Lightning game last night.
They had a variety of messy tater tot dishes (among other things). We went for the tots covered in hot buffalo sauce shredded chicken breast (Hooray for white meat!), tomatoes, blue cheese and other good stuff that I can’t remember. The Hubs and I dug in and nearly licked the container.
Great friendly service and delicious tots. I hope to run into this truck again soon.
$ 8

Tater tots with a variety of toppings? I’m in.
Hot Mess food truck had perfect timing today with my lingering hangover. I was in need of something greasy and tasty– and this hit the spot. I got the Italia Tots– tater tots covered in marinara sauce, mozzarella and pesto… SO GOOD. As a gluttonous last minute move, I also got the sweet potato tots topped with marshmallows and caramel sauce. Not as good as the Italia tots but still worth trying.
My facebook friends seemed to be equally as into the tot varieties as I was when I uploaded the photos.
I’ll definitely keep an eye for this food truck around town.

Boy, this place sure picked a good name. Their signature dish is freshly fried tater tots covered with a variety of delicious things, mostly involving meat in some way. I tried the Italian Mess, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil, and it was so delicious that I’m glad I didn’t have to share.
And yet I’m pissed that I didn’t have to share, because my Mess also included pesto. That hadn’t been on the menu board, and I had to notice it and then ask whether there were pine nuts (yes). Had my wife taken the first bite, the day might have ended differently. Y’all, I don’t ask much. But if your product has a common allergen (nuts) and you list every goddamn ingredient EXCEPT the allergen, you’re cruising for a courtroom bruising.
Still… it’s delicious. See you at the next rally!
(Edited to add: I checked whether or not pesto was on the menu board before waiting in line again to ask about it. I didn’t want to waste my time. On this occasion, it turns out that pesto WAS NOT listed on the menu board. The owner’s statement may be accurate in most cases, but it is not accurate in this case.)

They offer a variety of sandwiches, hot dogs and a yummy assortment of tater tots. I had their namesake tots, the Hott Mess Tots covered in seasoned ground beef, spicy cheesy sauce and zesty chipotle lime crema. They even offer dessert tots — sweet potato tots covered in torched marshmallows and caramel sauce — a must! They show they care by even offering shots of Pepto Bismol and antacid chews. You can’t ask for more than that!

MacDinton’s Food Truck Rally…
The Line Up:
Hott Mess Tots.
HOLY HANGOVER CURE IF YOU EVER NEEDED ONE. Tots, liquid cheese, ground beef (super fine, not chunky), scallions… I grabbed a fork & went right in & was not apologetic about the dive.
I’m interested in running into this food truck again!

The fried mac and cheese is out of this world! I’ve had something similar at the fair and it was hard and goopy. Hott Mess has perfected the fried mac and cheese! I sunk my fork in the meatball sized mass of crispy breading to reveal a creamy pocket of cheese among al dente pasta. Once the pouch was punctured, it was like eating mac and cheese out of a well seasoned, fluffy, bread bowl. There’s a bit of spice in the macaroni and the breading seasoned in flavors that compliment the cheese perfectly.
I also had the name-​sake sandwich. It is a mess, in a good way! Remember the napkins. It was like a sloppy-​joe with taco meat, or maybe a taco with a bun instead of tortilla… either way it was completely unique and blended a mixture of texture and flavors in a way I have never experienced.
The truck is run by a Dad, Mom, and daughter and are super sweet and want to give you a good lunch where ever that may be for the day. They’ll be one of the trucks serving Tampa General Hospital as their cafeteria is remolded over several months, check them out there. Great comfort food for medical staff and hospital visitors.