HopCat — Restaurant in Holland

TL;DR Great food, just don’t recommend the brisket due to it being too bland. Service was wonderful. Prices were high, but well worth it. Great desserts, despite limited selection. Saw they have multiple locations so I signed up for rewards. Got a reward on our first visit, which does expire in one month… so we will be back!

Full review:

Delicious food, though a bit on the pricey side. Definitely happy we tried it out. Joined the rewards program and already got a reward after one visit. The bill for three meals, two appetizers, two drinks and one alcoholic drink, and two desserts that we shared as a family was just over $100. The blue tropical rum drink was like an alcoholic smoothie, in a good way. The crème brûlée cheesecake we ordered without strawberry drizzle. It was good but part had no crust, so when we got down to the crust part it was even better. The Reese’s peanut butter chocolate cheesecake was a mix of chocolatey crunchy goodness. The nachos just so good, despite me having sore teeth from my braces being adjusted. They weren’t soggy and I just gave the jalapeños to my hubby who loves them, because I can’t handle fresh jalapeños. I had the brisket tacos which I don’t recommend sadly. They were okay but there just was little to no flavor in the brisket. It was soft and easy to eat just not flavorful. Hubby had the chicken melt which was pretty flavorful with crispy toasted bread. The chicken with the melt and nachos both had lots of flavor, so they do chicken very well. Our daughter had chicken and waffles, and let us try it. Hubby said the chicken was really juicy. Without any syrup on my bite of her waffle, it was very sweet and yummy. Reminded me a little of an elephant ear taste. I was very impressed and we got lots of drink refills when needed. Our waitress Denisse absolutely blew me away for one main reason, I always ask for no ice in my drink. I ended up getting 4-5 refills and without me saying a word she remembered and brought me every one with no ice! Sounds like a small thing, but no waitress has ever remembered for one refill let alone that many times. The place wasn’t super packed but it was busy enough that I’m sure that took effort for her to be paying that close of attention. The bathrooms weren’t smelly and felt comfortably clean. We were all very full and couldn’t finish the nachos, fries, waffles, or chicken melt. Almost forgot, the fries were sour cream and onion flavored and it was a flavor I never knew I wanted on fries. They weren’t too chunky or skinny and had just the right amount...

My daughter and I are big fans of the Grand Rapids location, so we were excited for the opening of the Holland location. We went on a Wednesday night and were quite disappointed. We were promptly seated by a friendly hostess which was great. We had to wait a little while for our server to take our drinks order and order some fries for an appetizer so far so good. We got our beverages promptly. Took quite a while to get our fries and place our order. After a long wait to get our food, they cooked the living day lights out of her chicken strips and my BLT was tiny and had one slice of tomato on each half, it was just average. The fries were poorly seasoned and everything was super salty. My daughter did not want to send back her chicken as it would take too long to get something else. We waited a long time to ask for boxes and get refills. She tossed two small boxes at our table and I had to go to the hostess stand to get a larger one for my daughters meal. By this time the four top next to us had received prompt friendly service from our server. Ordered, ate, got their check and left. We still had to wait some time for our check so we could pay and leave. I was very disappointed and I'm not sure if I will return. I would not recommend the restaurant to anyone at this point. If I do return I will update my review.

Update:

After being contacted by the manager he made things right and invited us back for another visit. Our second visit, on a Friday, was a significant improvement. Our server was attentive and helpful. We received our drinks and food in a timely manner and enjoyed ourselves much more this time around. I was also able to try a few selections from the beer menu this time. My daughter ordered the chicken again to see if it had improved and it was cooked just right, juicy and crisp on the outside. Everything was well seasoned and my burger was very good. Based on my last experience i will definitely return and suggest this as a stop to others. I will leave it at 4 stars as there was an issue...

This visit had so much potential! Our server was super nice and friendly. We ordered the pretzel nugz as an appetizer and the first one I grabbed to eat had a small hair on it, possibly only noticeable to me b/c it held onto a large crumb. So we hate being “those people”, especially because my husband works in management in the restaurant business. We waited a bit to attempt to let our server know about the issue, but she didn’t come back anytime soon and the kids were starving so we tossed that one aside and they just went ahead and ate them. When our food arrived, I noticed my burger was extremely well done. Like charred. They offered to remake it and it came out much better. The burger and fries were quite good actually. But as we were sitting at our table I noticed people leaving at other tables. The young man who was also the host was bussing the tables. He sprayed the cleaner onto the top of the table. Not the seats at all. Wiped down the table, and then wiped down 2 small sections of the wrap around booth, where the people didn’t even sit. This didn’t sit extremely well with me as it was my first visit to a restaurant since COVID-19. I also don’t like that they are reusing the same rag over and over again when cleaning. I will say that I like how seriously the manager on duty takes the whole wearing a mask thing. There was an issue with a guest that left a table without a mask and he was on it. Lastly, as we were paying, our server told us that she had the manager comp one of the burgers. But the bill didn’t reflect it. She told us that as she was walking away with the credit card so we were hoping maybe it would come back cheaper, but it didn’t. So what we are wondering, were they going to charge me for my remade burger that was charred?? Was that the comped burger??? If so that’s kind of insane! Either way our visit definitely had some issues, but had so much potential. We are out of towners from the opposite side of the state, this was our first time eating at...