[3] Pitchfork gave the album a 6.6; Dayna Evans' review criticized the lyrics on one track, "Murky Water Cafe", as ("lines that resort to cliché or grab at low-hanging cultural fruit feel not only dated, but cringeworthy") and musicianship ("They sell themselves short by assuming they were just another meat-and-potatoes rock band, and on Scatter the Rats’ weakest moments, they actually sound like one.").

[8] Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave Scatter the Rats 3.5 out of five stars, writing that they are "cramming crunchy guitars and lurching rhythms into an updated stew of nasty punkabilly bounce, heavy metal muscle, and no-frills rock & roll" while stating that L7 "still snarl and pack a vicious punch".

[1] Rolling Stone praised the album citing the strength of the band's "pile-driving guitar riffs and quirky ear candy.

"[9] LA Weekly singled out the song "Stadium West" as "classic L7: punk fuzz and drone, with spit and fire in all the right places".

's review from Zahraa Hmood gave the album a seven out of 10 but criticized it for being inconsistent, with immature songwriting in the middle tracks.