Gilligan's Bar And Grill — Restaurant in Hampden Township

The food is great, but watch your check closely and be prepared for service issues. Hadn’t been here since a badly botched take out order during COVID, but my husband and young son wanted to try it for a Sunday dine-in dinner.

They seated us quickly without a reservation around 6:45 They were busy, but not packed. Many patrons looked to be finishing meals or paying. It took 10 minutes for our server to come ask if anyone had come over to us yet, then claim us as his table. He said he had other tables to check on and he’d be back to get drink orders. He must have been busy. It took a good while. It did gave us extra time to look over the extensive menu. We ordered. Swordfish with sauce on the side and 2 included sides for me, soup and a sandwich for my husband, and burger and fries for my son. The food was delicious. A Nice side Caesar salad came first. The burger for my son was huge, and thankfully the sandwich my husband got was large enough to quell his appetite because they forgot his soup. My swordfish had sauce on it, but, thankfully, it tasted good. 4 spears of asparagus as a side. The menu was unclear to me: it said the entree came with citrus butter and white wine sauce. I took that to mean they were separate things. Since my entree had citrus butter on it, I asked a different server to get a side of white wine sauce. Our server was nowhere to be found. The second server brought the sauce. Our server came back after the meal was done. My son had been waiting for a drink refill so we asked for that and the check. I offered him my lemonade (since it was not what I expected lemonade to be) and my 7 yr old also did not like it. Weird lemonade. I don’t know… They charged my husband for soup he didn’t get, and the pricing for the entrees was higher than on the menu. While we waited for the server, I went to the unattended hostess table and got a menu to check. The server eventually returned. He said there were up charges for my side salad and asparagus. There was no way for me to know that based on the menu. When I mentioned it, he pointed to his ordering device screen and said “it comes up here when I enter the order” “That all good, but where is that info listed for me to know?”, I asked. He flipped open the menu to show me where the info was and stopped mid sentence to say he’d get a manager (because he couldn’t find it on the menu either). He came back and stood awkwardly next to the manager. I asked her how we are to know there is a upcharge if it’s not listed on the menu. She flipped it open and expected to put me in my place. There was nothing in it to support her. She pointed to the menu items one by one and said some sides cost more. That was it… “If you go to the store, you’ll know, asparagus is expensive!” She said. I suggested if they aren’t going to have the up charges in writing on the menu, at least the servers could mention it when I pops up on their devices. “I’ll let the owners know”. I mentioned looking forward to trying the white wine cream sauce next time since I didn’t get any, and she informed me it was one sauce not two. She was a bit condescending when saying “on a menu the “and” doesn’t mean two things, it’s how they finish describing an item” , then she said if I didn’t think it had enough wine in it to tell it was wine sauce, she could talk to the chef.

no apologies were offered for charging us for the soup we didn’t get. That charge was removed, but not confirmed until we asked again. The server looked like a deer in headlights and wanted as little time at the table as possible. We had to call after him for a to go box while he sprinted away with our card as the manager left. Maybe the convo took time away from his other tables, or maybe he was just embarrassed for us.

There are much better ways to handle customers. From other reviews, it doesn’t seem like our experience was out of character for them. If not for their food being so good, they would have closed by now. Saving...

We came in to Gilligans tonight, which is usually a favorite for us. The wait was about 25 minutes, which isn’t bad for a Friday night at 6pm. The waiting area was accommodating. Our server was polite, but somewhat rushed. It felt like he was rushing through every time he came over to us, but we understood he was busy, no biggie. We ordered the crab stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer, which had 3 mushrooms (one per each of us), and there was a hair in my husbands portion. We didn’t say anything because we understand things happen, so he just didn’t eat it. I felt bad because he didn’t get to try the appetizer at all because there was only enough for each of us adults to have one. However, we all ordered our main entrees, and my husband ordered the Delmonico with a Caesar salad and rice pilaf. The salad came out and there was another hair in the salad. The first hair was a men’s hair possibly beard, the second was a long black hair from female. So he took them both up to the server and showed them. A manager brought out a new salad for my husband, which was nice. My MIL also had a salad with her entree and she was weary about eating hers after what was in my husbands. We ate our entrees, but at that point I think everyone was weary about what else could possibly be in the food. We got the check at the end, and I was shocked that they didn’t take anything off the check. They didn’t comp the salad, or 1/3 of the appetizer. Barely apologized, considering it was not one but TWO hairs, found in two different prepared items. The Delmonico was a $72 meal, and to have all of that happen before getting the entree was enough to set everyone’s appetite off. We ate a few bites of our meals each, and just packaged up the rest to take home. Spending almost $200 on a dinner out, and not wanting to eat the food is enough to write this place off for us, which is sad because we have always loved Gilligans, especially for special moments like Valentines Day and Mothers Day. I just wish the management or server would have been a little more attentive to the situation and acted like they cared a bit more. Hopefully someone will reach out to rectify...

My family and I went to Gilligan’s to celebrate what would have been my late grandmother's 90th birthday with our large family. Unfortunately, our experience was far from what we had hoped for. Despite having made a reservation well in advance, the restaurant claimed to have "lost" our reservation upon our arrival. To make matters worse, they conveniently had given our spot to two larger parties, one of which supposedly paid extra for their private room. Our family was never offered the privilege to “pay extra” when we made our reservation, of which we would have had we been VIP enough for this option. Clearly they favored whatever was going to make them more money and our family’s reservation meant nothing to them without even a curtesy phone call.

The staff was unapologetic and unhelpful, offering no solutions or compensation for their mistake other than splitting our party up at separate tables. This was incredibly disappointing, especially given the significance of the occasion for our family. We ended up having to leave and find another place to eat, which put a damper on our celebration.

I would not recommend Gilligan’s to anyone looking to have a special event or even a regular meal. Their lack of organization and poor customer service ruined what should have been a memorable day for us.

We also mentioned that our family are what other establishments would call “regulars”, the wait staff recognizes us and make a point to say hello. When we told the manager this, she said, “Oh, well I mean we get a lot of people in here, I don’t recognize you.”

It is also indicative that loyal customers are not appreciated, as conveniently after posting this review, I have been mocked by one of the “larger parties” that took our reservation. Clearly these individuals were of more importance, or so they think. It is sad that the management has to request a 5...