Houlihan's — Restaurant in Overland Park

A Truly Horrible Dining Experience… and They Didn’t Care.

We arrived during happy hour and opted to sit outside on a somewhat hot day, but their patio had sufficient shade. When the server arrived to take our drink order, I asked which craft beers were on tap and which cocktail she recommended. She seemed irritated with the questions and acted like she just didn’t want to be working. We all have those days, so I thought no big deal. I ordered the Pink Elephant cocktail ($9), which is premium French Vodka infused with organic blood orange juice, mango, passion fruit, and La Marca Prosecco. It was just OK because the flavors from all the great-sounding ingredients were muted or the drink was watered down. When we got our drinks, my glass had a chip in it and nasty lip stains around the rim (check out the pic). When I brought it to my server’s attention, she didn’t care, nor apologized, and took the drink back and went inside to get another one. Now, I know it’s not her fault, but when I served food, I apologized for things like that.

When it came to food, I ordered my favorite dish, the Char-Crusted Ahi Tuna Salad ($15 for the large size), with strips of tuna, lettuce, cashews, banana chips, carrots, scallions, cilantro, wontons, and a banana-ginger vinaigrette. I rarely order salads as a meal because I typically leave hungry, but this is a good salad. However, when it arrived it was a third of the original side. I thought it was the small size and asked both the server and manager, but both assured me it was the correct size. I would have loved to have seen the small size because the large could have fit within a cereal bowl. I just sent it back. My wife wanted to try their new vegan Impossible Burger ($11.50) which is an Impossible Burger patty, cheddar, special sauce, lettuce, tomato, served in a brioche bun and a side of fries. It looked great and she said it tasted great. Our kids ordered the Taco Bowl ($7) that had “taco meat,” cheddar cheese, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa, served on a large, white tortilla. When the order arrived it was only crumbled up hamburger meat with no taco seasoning—only salt. Most of the ingredients were served on the side like an afterthought, not as a complete bowl. This was Houlihan’s phoning it. We were befuddled as to how our small kids would eat this meal as it was served, so we asked for spoons. We were given large soup spoons for our 4 and 7 year olds, which are simply too big for kids that age to eat a meal. Also, the kids meal should’ve come with carrots and when we asked for them, it took forever and when it came out, the carrots were unpeeled (check out the pic) and all of them were laid skin-side down to cover that up. They looked like they hadn’t even been washed!

After our food arrived, we realized we never got silverware or napkins and had to get them ourselves. It was just one thing after another. When the manager stopped by shortly after the food arrived at our table, he asked “how are things,” I gave him a rundown of my drink and salad size. He seemed disappointed, took the drink, one kids meal, and salad off our bill (even though I had already sent it back), and said, “let me know what I can do to make this right.” After the unpeeled carrot incident, I sought out the manager to show him and he just took them and asked what I wanted—which was the check to close this ordeal out. When the manager came to our table, he asked if we wanted anything and we declined. It was clear he was done with us—even though we weren’t the ones creating the problems, just reporting them—and stopped caring and walked away. Additionally, not once did our server apologize for any of the things that happened. Tables being difficult and tables having bad experiences are two different things and the manager should have realized that and not have treated us as if we were causing the problems. All in all, it was a colossal failure on customer service and...

Visited here for a weekday lunch for KC Restaurant Week and had a pretty good experience! The hostess opened the interior door for us and greeted us right away. She was very friendly and gave us the option of a high top or low table. The high top seating was relatively comfy which to me most high tops end up being an un-comfy stool with no padding.

Our server was a nice guy and did a great job through our whole meal. Between the two of us we ordered: the Chicken Tortilla Soup & Roasted Tomato Bisque for Course 1; So. Cal Fish Tacos and Brentwood Chicken Sandwich for Course 2; and the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake and Crème Brûlée for Course 3. The tomato bisque was very hearty, well seasoned, and I loved the grilled cheese fritters! My mom said the tortilla soup was a little bland but had good ingredients. The fish tacos were about what I expected but that is not a dig - they were prepared well and had a great taste! The tortilla chips were warm and salted perfectly but the salsa was just too sweet with no spice. The chicken sandwich was huge and pretty standard. The cheesecake was rich, thick, and had a nice balance of caramel and cheesecake flavor. And of course the brûléed vanilla cream really elevated it! The Crème Brûlée was so delicious and had that iconic crispy top. I will say it had a more subtle if not duller flavor than most that I've had but overall, it was really fantastic!

Overall, we had a really good lunch here at Houlihan's and even though I visit here maybe yearly, I usually expect this kind of experience. The food is always really good and I don't think I've ever had bad service here. It is nice that they are one of the participating restaurants for Restaurant Week and they give a 3 course lunch that includes...

Overall good experience, I got the 3 courses for 25.99. I started with the Char-Crusted Tuna. This was cooked perfectly rare with a wonderful wasabi mayo that added just enough heat when paired with the sweet Thai chili. Although I feel the garnish was too big for the dish. For the entree I had the Seared scallops which had an understandable $4 upcharge. These were also perfectly cooked with a good risotto, although the asparagus part of it was lacking but the arugula and dressing attached to it well made up for it. The Basil-infused olive oil played no part in the flavor but the balsamic reduction added a welcoming acidic flavor to the scallops. Overall a well orchestrated and presented dish. For dessert I had the vanilla bean cheesecake which had a great cheesecake flavor but was over the top with carmel topping and another cheesecake dollap that lacked any vanilla flavor, especially vanilla bean. I also felt the graham cracker crust was somewhat soggy, but overall a good dessert. My wife had the Top sirloin steak with grilled asparagus and garlic green beans. Both vegetables were cooked perfectly al dente with a slight grilled flavor on the asparagus and great flavor on the green beans. So many restaurants easily mess up both these vegetables, but Houlihans cooked them perfectly. The steak was good, but tough although top sirloin is not a premium cut of meat so much grace is given. The service overall was good, after our server came. It took 7-10 minutes to see a server after being seated. We contemplated walking out over this and later in the evening we saw a table do just that. Overall great experience and...