Houlihan's — Restaurant in Georgia

A second evening in the Richmond Hill and neighboring area and we decided to go to this bar and grill. Much like 5-star locales, I do not take it lightly doling out one-star reviews. But sadly, this place is more like zero stars, especially given the experience we had.

Right from the get-go I had a funny feeling about the place. The greeters, all of them young women and quite possibly high-school aged, had the chief among them being the most unenthusiastic and most unwelcoming greeter I have come across in quite some time. After asking us to wait a moment for a table, as the other two greeters had taken other folks to their tables, with a very hasty attitude she directed us to our table and very unprofessionally tossed the menus onto the table and walked away without another word said. Now, this alone is really not a big deal, easily overlooked and easily forgotten...if it were not for the rest of our dining experience.

After a short wait, our waitress showed up, friendly enough, but admitted from the get-go she was "new at this." (Boy, did it show.) Not only did she not have a functioning pen on her (we gave her one to keep) she took our order, which included drinks, appetizer, and the main meals - and then promptly forgot to put the dinner order in. This is after warning us that the kitchen was "backed up" and "running slow" this particular evening. The discovery of this unfortunate set of events came on the heels of her trying to give us someone else's order - twice.

To her credit, she admitted she forgot to put our order in, but by that time it was simply too late as we had another engagement post-our planned dinner time. We asked for the one dinner (my cohorts) to come boxed up to go while I asked for my order to be cancelled. We at least got our appetizer and I got to eat the side Caesar salad that come with my order, so at this point that was good enough for me.

Then came the wait for the order, which took longer than we had hoped and then came the wait for the check, and then came the ordeal of trying to pay for our check. Our waitress simply disappeared. I tried getting the young ladies at the door to help - that was sadly a waste of time, and then I tried to pay at the bar - another waste of time. In the end, a bartender had to run down our waitress to ring us up. I'm telling you, I can't really express how much of a rigmarole it was trying to get out of there. It was actually comical, if it were not for the frustration it caused on putting a crimp on our other plans for the evening.

Thankfully, I'm not from this area, so going back will not be an option. When I do return for a visit, this is one place that will be scratched off my...

My wife and I live in Hilton Head but we both grew up in Savannah, so we often do our date nights at different restaurants along the I-95 stretch. Last Saturday we decided to give Houlihan's a try. We'd seen the place a few times in our visits and it made our list of places to try. Though I believe it's a chain restaurant, it certainly doesn't have that "franchise" feel about it. The young lady who greeted us was charming and got the wife and me seated pretty quickly for a Saturday. The bar was busy, which is a great sign. Our server, Kira, was one of the more attentive waitresses we've ever had. My wife is hard to impress, and she was raving about how efficient the young lady was. At no time was my beer glass empty or was my wife looking at an empty tea glass! We had the mushroom appetizer. It was fantastic! It's so easy to over do garlic in dishes like that, and an over-garliced appetizer can simply ruin the main course by being overwhelming. It was dang near perfect. I'll be trying the calimari next visit. A neighboring table was enjoying a plate and seemed delighted. The wife had the stuffed chicken entree. As I've said, she's a hard sell, but she loved it! My Kansas City Strip steak was one of the best I've had in a while. Back in the day, there was a steak place in Savannah called Mary's that was my favorite of all time. I base my steak experiences on Mary's and Houlihan's was damn near as good! If only they had the hot rocks Mary's would serve their's on! Desert was shared, as the wife is always on a diet (though she took more than half of cheesecake). It was a perfect ending to our meal. While we were waiting to settle, the manager, a DELIGHTFUL young lady named Candace, stopped by to ask us about our experience. My wife was very complimentary, as was I. Over all, it was a superlative dining experience and we have decided to make Houlihan's a regular date night spot! Can't wait to explore the seafood side of the menu! Great job all around, guys! Make sure you ask for Kira and...

Called b4 arriving 2 make reservations for 10 people. They said no reservations, and when we arrived they asked me was i the Martinez party of 10!😡🥴😡But you told me on the phone you don't do reservations, b4 i arrived! Not cool at all! Especially being our 1st time at a Houlihans, and in Savannah.Then we were seated 20 mins later, ordered our drinks, and food 10 minutes later. Then after we ordered our food, we waited about 1 1/2 hours, before receiving our food. Was awful. Then after receiving our food, only 4 of our parties food was good. Everyone else's food had no flavor. Steak, Ribs, Fish Taco's, and Creo Chicken were good. The Mac N Cheese (like pasta & cheese poured over it), Meatloaf( no flavor at all), Salmon Burger( need some seasoning), Cauliflower(ok), Spinach Dip W/Chips( oily,greasy, hardly no spinach, and very watery), Chicken Alfredo(dry after adding double the sauce), Chicken Alfredo(no flavor), Mash Potatoes(Taste like Boxed Potatoes), and only the drinks were 100% good! Deserts (Cheesecake SoSo.Wouldn't buy again). Waitress "Raygan" was Amazing, Professional, Knowledgeable of All Foods & Drinks, and very patient the entire time! My Family was very impressed, and pleased for "Raygan's" excellent Hospitality! For the wait the Male Manager said he would take off only 2 (8.99) Spinach Dips! What! Seriously! Not a way to compensate customer's for a 1 1/2 hr wait time for food!Everyone seated behind us cane, orders, ate, and we were still waiting on our food! Well if it wasn't for us celebrating our mom's Graduation, this dinner would have been a disaster! We kept enjoying family time, to keep from being upset about the wait, and not so tasteful food we received! But overall Customer service from waitress 110%! Food: 22% out of 100%! Not a good turnout, so will not plan another Houlihan's...