OK, I'll admit I am very prejudiced when it comes to Houlihans. I worked at one from my 18th birthday to the day I graduated college. Â ACE does a great job in NJ, way better than old Houlihans corporate, which was a mess. Â When it comes to a quick dinner and a movie, this is where we go. The menu is huge, and I could recite it by heart, by I always go heartland chicken salad with buffalo style chicken. Â My last visit I had the carrot cake in a jar, which was awesome until I got home and saw there was enough calories in that bad boy to feed me for the day. Â Oh well, it was worth it for the 1 time. I'll be back (but no carrot cake).
Review Source:I live within walking distance of this new Houlihans location and since they've opened, I've just been so thoroughly unimpressed and disappointed. As a franchise, each location is mandated to meet the parent company's (Ace Restaurant Group) criteria. Sadly, this location just does not deliver the same quality as others and the service is way below par. The wait staff are constantly bickering to one another and the 'bartenders' are beyond unfriendly...unless you went to high school with them!! Then again, watching the wait staff and management reminds me of high school...
Food was pretty bad: my normal selection is the Brentwood Chicken Sandwich; a tasty marinated chicken breast atop a buttered bun with spring mix, tomato, bacon, onion and melted smoked Gouda with a chipotle mayo spread (that I never get). While this may sound good, the Woodbridge location leaves half of these items off and it always arrives lukewarm, like everything else. I have a hunch food is not arriving hot because the staff are too busy chatting in the front of the house to notice orders are ready. I once waited over 45 minutes for a bloody chicken breast...at 2pm on a Monday! Horrible food, horrible (watered down) drinks, and most notably: horrible service. The management is aloof to all the problems and as a result I never see a large crowd. I don't recommend this location at all; drive further on Rt. 1 to the New Brunswick branch and enjoy a passable meal. Drinks are still bad (diluted and sugary) no matter what the location, but the service is better.
I've been going to Houlihan's for years. Quite frankly, Houlihan's is one of my favorite chains compared to the others. Â I've been going to the one in Secaucus, Bridgewater, and Paramus for years, and decided to give this new location a try. Our waitress was really sweet and charming. The menu itself is gigantic, with a lot of different options for everyone.
For starters, we ordered the Spicy Chicken and Avocado Rolls and the Thai Chile Style Wings. The wings were fine. So were the rolls. However, I have had better tasting wings at other Houlihan's before. Not to mention, the food was served lukewarm. I was expecting it to be hot but it didn't come out so. For my entrée, I always order the same dish: Tuscany Lemon Chicken (chicken scaloppini sautéed in olive oil then tossed in a creamy three cheese lemon sauce, and served over fettuccini, topped with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese). Now, I've been ordering this dish for years, but for some unknown reason, it just didn't taste the same there. Again, the food came out lukewarm and it didn't quite tasted the same as the other times I had it at Secaucus, Bridgewater, and Paramus.
I probably wouldn't return to this location just because the Houlihan's in Secaucus is way better.
The quiche is pretty good at Houlihans. Â Sometimes the lobby smells like they pump it full of eau de Caesar salad, and you'll be waiting there long enough to notice. Some of them have handheld trivia games, so you can play against yourself and lose. The purse hooks in the bathroom look like tiny musclemen. But yeah, I really only come here for the quiche.
Review Source:This was my first time going to houlihans. Â
I was not impressed by their food at all!
I had to send back my margaritas three times!!
I mean, how hard is it to make frozen blended margaritas??
Food was soggy, salty or tasteless, and carelessly prepared.
I would try houlihans in different locations
But I am NOT going back to the one in metuchen on route one!!
I know I know its a chain. Â But out of all the chains I have to say this has to be the best one!!!
They have added tapas to their menu and the goat cheese and artichoke balls are something that would be served in a high end restaurant for 3x the amount. Â
The food is always delicious, and the service staff is very attentive. Â
I have to give it to you guys-your doing a great job. Â
+ if you sign up for their club they will send you a $15 coupon on your b-day and a lot of other promotions thru e-mail that make this place affordable, if you like to dine out frequently.
Been going to Houlihan's for years. Â First the one in Holmdel and then the one in New Brunswick. Â Was very glad to see this one open as it's the most convenient of the 3 that we've been too (actually 4; pretty sure I've been to one in Manhattan too, and oh yeah the one on Rt 17 in the Paramus area makes 5). Â
I guess you can say I am a fan of this chain. Â Actually, I think Houlihan's is my favorite of this restaurant genre. In my opinion, it blows away Fridays, Chilis, and the rest.
I read some of the comments about the service at this particular location and do find myself in partial agreement. Â They do seem to sometimes get things wrong. Â However, the servers and managers have been top notch in making them right. Â I've never had a problem with attitude here but it is true, they do need to stop making these mistakes.
Last time out, we had a waiter who was very funny and very charming we enjoyed the fact that he seemed to really like his job. Â On the other hand, he brought the wrong chicken for my wife's salad (grilled instead of the fried she ordered). Â Quickly rectified but on the other hand, why did it happen in the first place especially since it wasn't busy at all last night?
By the way in addition to our salads (Heartland & Ahi Tuna) we really enjoyed the bruschetta appetizer.
The food here was great, just as good as any other Houlihan's I've ever been to. This is a fairly new location, so everything is new and the bar area is great.
However, the service experience I had was nothing short of atrocious. We went late at night (9pm) and were seated immediately, but our waitress was always too busy socializing with the other workers to really care about us.
She finally takes our order...but the salad I ordered never came. Then our entrees arrive and my fiance's meal is completely wrong. Not even close. My fiance politely informs the waitress that the order is wrong, and the waitress actually had the nerve to ARGUE with us that she (the waitress) didn't screw up, and that we really ordered what she gave us. Uhhh...I'm pretty sure I know what I ordered, thank you very much!!
Instead of doing the right thing and taking the food back even though we made it clear we didn't want it, she repeatedly said (even more unbelievable) to us that "it was fate" that she got the wrong order. When I said that I didn't get the salad, that also magically "was fate" that I didn't get the salad. What planet are you from?!?!
A manager made the rounds and asked us how everything was, but I'm not the type to complain at a restaurant or make a scene, so we just said everything was fine and he moved on. I figure if you really have a bad experience, just don't go back, which we won't (to this Houlihan's anyway...I've had excellent experiences at others).
Amazingly, we get our bill and the salad is still on there. I point that out to her and she looks surprised and says she's sorry. She then tries to push dessert options on us, no thanks, we just want to get the hell out of here. We're pretty sure you'll screw that order up too. And, while I wasn't expecting anything for free, I'm surprised that the waitress decided to charge us for my fiance's messed up order, even though she barely touched it and it was obvious that it was not what we ordered.
I'm cutting my losses with this location. They are relatively new, but they need to get their act together. The staff seems too young, and maybe that's the problem. Most other Houlihan's I go to, the staff is usually older and more professional. These all looked like college kids looking for an easy job with a bar and social hangout.
Judging by the other negative reviews on here, my poor experience isn't alone.
Horribleeeeeee! I went there with my bf when they first opened in this location. We love this chain and normally go to the one in Weehaken by the water. This location in Metuchen is much closer to us so we decided to give it a chance. The service was terrible, the waiters were confused and our order was messed up. Fast forward to four months later, we decided to give this place one more shot. This time the kitchen and the waiter forgot our appetizers and 30 minutes after ordering we neither had the entrees or the buffalo wings. The kitchen blamed the waiter and the waiter blamed the kitchen. Even 7 months after opening, they don't have their act together. After 40 minutes of frustration and hunger we left to go eat at Unos next door and had a great meal!
Review Source:Positive experience. Have not been to a Houlihans in over 5 years. Did not care for the food back then. Things have changed and for the better. The nachos were good as well as the enchiladas. The flat bread pizza was a little soggy but my wife enjoyed it. The kids meal was good. Based on my son eating both sliders. If he didn't like it he would have stopped after one bite.
Review Source:We recently had lunch on a Sunday here. I had checked out the menu online and liked what I saw as I eat healthy/vegetarian. I was right about the menu, good choices. The negative was there was no one in the place and the service was extremely slow. It took about 1/2 hour to be served. We chose not to complain to the manager about the service but the server never even came over to apologize. I might try it again to see if they had a bad day for some reason.
Review Source:My family and I have been wanting to try out Houlihan's for a while now, and we did today for a Father's Day lunch. Â The inside of the restaurant is quite spacious, and we were seated right away in a huge booth. Â The menu is gigantic, and there were a lot of different items that sounded fantastic. Â We chose fried pickles from the small plates section, and the ultimate nachos for starters. Â The fried pickles were crisp and delicious, and it was just enough; a perfect small plate. Â I didn't have the nachos, but my parents and brother liked them, and said they had tons of chili on them.
For my meal, my mom and I both chose the Heartland Chicken Salad. Â This was a giant salad, and we both loved it. Â It had pieces of breaded chicken, bacon, tortilla strips, spicy pecans, mixed greens, tomatoes, jalapeno jack cheese, carrots, bell peppers and red onions. Â We both brought home half of our salads. Â My brother had fish tacos, and he said they were great, and my dad liked his bacon cheeseburger as well.
I'd definitely return! Â There are lots of options, and for the four of us, the meal only came to $73 for two appetizers and four meals. Â Not bad at all.
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