I think about Node.js the same way that I think about the set of wrenches I have downstairs. It is a tool that I use for specific tasks. It lets me do some things in JS that I wouldn't normally and it does it efficiently enough that I don't need to look for other tools.

I don't use it for full applications so I don't have some of the same issues that @ufmace mentions (ouch!) and those are clearly a problem.

I suspect that a lot of the hate comes from people that would like a better Node.js so they could use it but resent that it isn't available