Houlihan's — Restaurant in Mt. Lebanon

We came here after a Sunday evening from Heinz Hall, where we listened to the orchestra playing the sound track of Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secret, while it plays on a large screen. Since we were heading back to the South Hills, we decided to go to the Galleria mainly to try the Asian inspired chicken, alas they don't carry that item on their menu any longer.

Our wait was normal, about 15 minutes to be seated. However, this was were the issues about service began. The hostess was more interested in talking to whom I assumed to be a friend/relative/coworker than to properly give me more than the bare minimum of acknowledgement and proceeded to speak in phrases... example, instead of telling me I have the option of waiting or giving my number for a text alert, she said 'staying'. Needless to say I was confused. Ironically, it was the person that she was ignoring me for, that took the time to translate what the hostess meant to say or should have said.

The server was very pleasant whenever she was by the table. We ordered drinks and appetizers, then told her we wanted a couple more minutes before placing the order for the entrees...big mistake. Because even though the restaurant wasn't full, she didnt come back for about 15- 20 minutes. Another person brought over the appetizers, and didn't bring any utensils or napkins. Even though I told him we didn't have any he still didnt return with them. We had to wait a minute or two before we could eat. But to be honest, she was always smiling when she came to the table to do refills.

Let's talk about the ambience, they had a live band playing in the back of the restaurant. Which would be a nice touch if he didnt play too loudly for such a smaller enclosed environment. We couldn't hear each other talk unless we raise our voices for a while. Eventually, he did tone it down and we were able to enjoy the music. Music is a nice touch, but the level of noise being made shouldn't be overpowering.

I ordered from the chefs menu and I did enjoy my meal. The lightly coated lemon chicken with capers served with asparagus risotto. Only drawback was that others said it could do with a tad less lemon. But I think all Chefs' menus involve a bit of trial and error. The other meal ordered was a burger with note on the menu that the server will come place the melted cheese table side. I've included a picture of the melted cheese that came in a plastic thing which he slide on to the burger. The cheese looked like a piece of colored plastic. Not saying it was melted in the microwave but it looked like it was.

I gave my visit an okay rating because of a combination of food and service. Neither of which was fully outstanding. I would go back for the breaded cauliflower though those were fantastic! Maybe happy hour just for the...

Updated for 2017: We used to frequent the Mt. Lebanon location. It seems every time we go it gets worse and worse. This last visit was the straw that broke the camels back. When we walked in, employees were huddled around the fire place and I became concerned. As we were walking to our table there was a giant space heater sitting on a random table. I thought this was odd and unsafe. Needless to say when we got to the table it wasn’t a comfortable temperature. We figured okay. Maybe they are having a problem. We’ll tough it out. We were starving. We were greeted right away by our server who was very friendly. He brought us a jug of water to the table with our glasses. This is something new to us here, but it seems many restaurants are doing this now. I’m not sure where they filled up this jug from, but I think tap water would’ve been better. I’m not even sure it was water it was so gross. We both got something else to drink and ordered our food. I went to visit the men’s room and I wasn’t even at the entrance to the bathrooms and was punched in the face by a god awful odor. The kind of odor that no single human is capable of producing(I’m not one that’s overly smell sensitive). I held my breath and proceeded in. The bathroom had to be 100+ degrees. This made the sewage smell unbearable. There is definitely something major wrong with the plumbing here. The bathroom itself was disgusting. Think creepy gas station bathroom and multiply that on the grossness scale. When I got back to the table I started looking around closer and noticed the table wasn’t really clean. The dust on the fixtures around the restaurant, you get the picture. With how dirty everything was. I was questioning the kitchen cleanliness. I kept trying to talk myself out of how dirty it was because I was so hungry and didn’t want to leave or wait somewhere else. Huge mistake. Our food came out in a normal time frame. When it was delivered I noticed this god awful smell. I thought it was the dressing on my girlfriends salad. Nope, it was the roast beef on my French dip. I can’t even explain how bad this was. Imagine cat food left sitting out for a week. The smell was so bad that we both were gagging with the plate sitting on the other end of the table. I was beyond grossed out as I already consumed soup. I told my girlfriend to not eat her food as it definitely wasn’t safe. We hurriedly asked our server for the check and boxes as we aren’t ones for confrontation. We got out of there as fast as we could. Threw the food in the first garbage can we found and went elsewhere. It’s sad to see how far down hill this place has gone. There are many new restaurants opening in the Galleria and we will choose them over Houlihan’s from now on. I highly suggest you...

I gave this restaurant all one stars because of the way I have been treated. Whatever you do, DO NOT order food to be delivered. Every time I go into the restaurant and eat, I have ZERO problems. As soon as I order food to be delivered, there is always an issue with part of my meal missing and/or something that has spilled because they don’t take the time to wrap things in plastic wrap to avoid anything opening up or leaking. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for over 30 years and I’ve learned numerous tasks that can avoid issues. The last couple of times I ordered food to be delivered like I stated earlier, a portion of my meal was missing. I ordered French onion soup that leaked everywhere, and twice I didn’t get my french fries that come with the sandwich that I always order. I called and told them about it, and the woman stated that they put the soup in a water proof bag. That bag didn’t help at all. Soup is hot and the steam could have popped the paper lid open. If it was wrapped it wouldn’t have happened. There was liquid everywhere which you will see in the photo that I post. So the woman offered to send me some coupons which I didn’t ask for or expect because I’m not looking anything for free. She insisted on sending them, and I never got them. I called to tell her and she said she would send them out again. Never got those. I don’t believe she sent them at all. I don’t live far from the restaurant. I asked her who is responsible for checking the bag before it leaves the restaurant and she stated the “takeout person”. She even admitted it was their error. How could you not check the back to make sure it has the correct meal with the correct sauces if any, and plasticware. Whether they were just French fries or not, it doesn’t matter. The customer is still paying for what they offer on their menu for whatever meal they order. It just shows me that the management has poor managing skills, and their employees don’t care, and that everyone is just there for a paycheck. It’s no wonder why all their other locations closed. Their food may be good, but the way they handle business with their customers at least with me and what I’ve experienced is a complete and total disgrace, and I will not be ordering from them again, and I will leave this review on every...