Helvetia Tavern — Restaurant in Hillsboro

I want to start by saying that my issue isn't with the food, just the service. Great burger and onion rings. For some background, I worked in food service both front of the house and back for 6 years so I'd say I have a pretty good idea of how it should go.

We came in today as a group of 6 for lunch. Our server was someone I'd seen there the 1 or 2 times prior so this isn't an experience problem. We ordered our burgers and got 2 large onion rings and 2 half and halfs (half rings half fries). When we got our food, we were given 2 large onion rings and 1 half and half. When I mentioned to our server that we didn't get one, she remarked that she thought I ordered something else in a way that made it sound like she thought I was wrong. The thing about this restaurant is that they bring the check that THE SERVER WROTE with your food so you can pay at the end. So I can literally see that she got my order wrong. I normally wouldn't mind but the fact that she made a remark that she thought I was wrong was just ridiculous.

ANYWHO, so she goes to the back and a couple minutes later brings me an order of fries. Well, I didn't order fries. I ordered a half and half. Before I can say anything, she walks off so I'm sitting there waiting for her to come back so I can ask for my rings. She literally never came back. For the rest of our 45 minutes there, she didn't come back to check on us. I saw her behind the bar for a minute or two and they she'd go back to the kitchen. After 15 minutes of waiting, I went to the bar where a friendly cook listened to my problem and brought me the onion rings. Problem solved.

What really made me upset was the fact that she dropped off food and literally never checked back up on us. That is just unacceptable in my opinion. I'm not sure if this is just an issue with this one server or this is how it's done there but in the 3 restaurants I've worked in, that would never fly. Your job doesn't end once the customer gets their food. I still tipped 20% because I'm not a...

This place has been tucked away on my “must visit” for a few years now. Had this had been during a pre-pandemic visit, I would have rated 2 stars but am trying to give the staff the benefit of the doubt.

Service- Quite awful. It seems that only their back patio is available for dine in but that wasn’t very clear from the few signs posted around the building. We waited at the back entrance for about 10min before we were finally acknowledged and given a table. They looked fairly busy but seemed at visual glance to have enough staff. Once we were seated we got menus and water pretty quickly. We ordered a jumbo cheeseburger, normal cheeseburger, a side salad to start and a Dew to drink. Once we ordered, it took 30+ minutes for anything to arrive, including drinks, which they seemed to forget about and no one checked in on us or anything. Now this is a cash only establishment which we were fine with. Our bill came and it said $30.00 circled and I thought “wow that’s pretty reasonable” However it seemed that price was wrong as I gave them a $100 bill and they returned with $67. It’s three dollars, no big deal making a fuss over but just ended up being the cherry on a strange evening.

Food- sadly the best part of my meal was the side salad with my fries being in second place. The burger had great looks but an awful personality. There was this strange taste that I couldn’t identify- both my partner and I noticed this. It wasn’t the worst burger but definitely a 4/10. They were out of onion rings so sadly I can’t tell you how those tasted.

I would have loved to see the hats inside but didn’t think I could enter the building. Hopefully as things start to rebalance the service here will improve but unfortunately I’ll have to go somewhere else in...

A lot of friends had hyped this place up, so we had high expectations going in. We waited about 45 minutes outside in the sun before being sat, which was frustrating when there were several tables that were empty- just not bussed yet. It was clear they were suffering from lack of staff, but the staff that were working were working very hard.

Once we were seated, another 30 minutes from ordering until we got beer and water, and another 30 until we got our food. My burger was cold by the time I got it, and the jalapeños were forgotten. The waitress forgot to grab them after I noted they were missing, so I had to flag down a separate waitstaff because the original was nowhere to be found.

The meat was extremely thin in the burger, and overall, I felt like I could have made a better one at home. The onion rings, however, were pretty darn good. The atmosphere was neat, and it was a lovely little family-friendly spot.

If the wait wasn't so long and the food wasn't cold, I may have rated higher. I was very underwhelmed overall by the food. Would highly recommend owners get a covered waiting area for the guests not seated and waiting on a table, at least something temporary for summer.

I have a feeling that many of the issues we experienced would have been remedied with...