In a contemporary review for "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau gave "Hormoaning" an "A–" and found it almost as good as their second album "Nevermind" (1991) and far superior to their first record "Bleach" (1989), particularly because "without David Grohl they're sludge monkeys". He named it the 33rd best album of 1992 in his list for the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by "The Village Voice". In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Bekkala gave the EP four out of five stars and called it "a revealing entry in the catalog of the most influential rock band of the '90s".