Punk rock denny's is a fair assessment.
Unlimited hashbrowns is a bit of a misnomer, though. You're really limited by how grouchy your server is feeling (server attitudes range from mildly annoyed to "my house just burned down" and tend towards the latter). I've waited 45 minutes for refills before and on other occasions I've just left rather than try to spend any quality time with my server.
In the last couple year's I've enjoyed eating more at Beth's Cafe, a sister cafe which is located near Greenlake on Aurora. It's the same menu, but with crazy goth-kid crayon-drawing placemats on every wall surface.
My favorite Hurricane story: I used to hear "Surrender", by Cheap Trick, every time I went in. They had both the studio version and the Live at Budokan version. One morning (10 am, probably) I'm eating hashbrowns and kind of bopping my head to that very song when a busboy walks by and sees that I'm listening to the music.
"Ever seen that movie "Over the Edge"?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"Well, you know that scene where the kid is sitting in his room with his headphones on?" -- and he gestures with his hands to indicate headphones.
"Sure..."
"I really identify with that."
And he walks away...
Addendum Jan 15 2003. I visited the Hurricane recently for the first time in, oh, ages, and I am dissapointed to say that it seems to have gone straight to hell. The prices have gone up, the service has gone down, there's been some minor and crappy remodeling that has done only harm to the place AND the walls have been painted garish and bright colors. It was 2 AM on a Friday night, which in years past would have meant a long wait for a table, but this night it couldn't have been more than a quarter full. Save your pennies and hit Beth's Cafe instead, is my recommendation.
Sigh.