The restaurant has a unique menu, self-described as "tropical comfort food" and including elements of South Asian and Latin American cuisines while sourcing ingredients from the Hudson Valley.

The restaurant is oriented toward LGBTQ cultural themes, defining its hospitality style, and aims to be an LGBT-inclusive space, including hosting queer performance events.

The restaurant began operating a community fridge to benefit local residents, and donated profit from each of its dishes to racial justice organizations amid the George Floyd protests.

The restaurant is located on Columbia Street in Hudson, New York, where it occupies a storefront in a quiet area that is a short walk from the center of the city.

[2] Lil' Deb's is open for dinner service from 5-10 p.m., and for a time sold smoothies from a streetside window from 11 to 3.

It hosts a monthly late-night event, the Queer Night of Performance, where the dining room is transformed into a strobing neon runway to feature drag, fashion, and art.

[1][5] Lil' Deb's is affordably priced, as the restaurant targets local residents and artists, as opposed to the wealthy visitors who frequent much of Hudson.

[9] Clientele is diverse, including visitors on day trips to the Hudson Valley, locals, natural wine enthusiasts, and older diners.

[10] All employees are paid the same wage, including cooks, servers, and dishwashers, and all tips are pooled and split evenly among the staff.

Its décor changes regularly,[4] though at times its walls are painted coral pink, floors are patterned with a tropical plant motif, tablecloths have floral prints, lights glow purple, placemats have laminated collages, its chrome barstools have pastel or floral print seats, and unusual items are utilized to decorate, including neon green tennis balls (used on the base of chair legs in the dining room) and garden hoses.

[6] Television screens by the bar play a video of a nude male burlesque,[9] and stickers read "Will Schlep for Food" and "If U Gay, Perfect".

[6] Lil' Deb's Oasis was founded by Hannah Black and Carla Perez-Gallardo in 2015 to share their creativity with friends and transform the diner space nightly, serving dinners family-style on Tuesdays there.

[5] While the restaurant underwent renovations from January to April 2019, its staff operated tropical food pop-ups throughout the Northeast.

[4] For several months in this time and amid renovations, it operated as Fuego 69 in the back of the nearby Rivertown Lodge, offering "pescatarian hippie food" and donating 69 cents of each item sold to racial justice and community organizations, amid the George Floyd protests.

[15] Also around the time of the pandemic, the restaurant began incubating other ideas, including Circles, a "postmodern, transgender circular experience" created by a former staff member and chef, Tepper.

Among them is Ale Campos's "All the Bodies", an annual LGBT pride event hosted since 2018, named after Lil' Deb's inclusive restroom signs.