Harpoon Willy's — Restaurant in Robbinsville Township

This restaurant has a unique atmosphere to it which is quite interesting. It has warm low lighting for an intimate atmosphere, and feels like an old Western saloon, somehow - maybe the lack of curves, the deep-colored wood everywhere, the lighting, and the massive bar. I'd say reserving beforehand is a good idea; it's jam-packed in the evenings. The music could barely be heard, which is how I prefer it.

Onto the food: We ordered the firecracker shrimp for our appetizer. This is fried crispy shrimp in a wonderful spicy sauce that seems to have a spicy mayo base, with some purple leaves for garnish. It's an amazing starter that reminds me of a dynamite shrimp dish from another restaurant that I adored as a kid. I'm so happy to find something similar to that again.

I'd also like to point out the expertise of one of the bartenders who took care of us and also took some of our orders. My friend got a Mai Tai and I got an Arnold Palmer. My friend is normally not one for cocktails, and I normally don't like any drink that's not water, lemonade, or hot chocolate/cocoa, so I was very pleasantly surprised to actually really like my drink, and my friend liked theirs too. We were quite impressed.

I'm afraid the mains were a tad less stellar. My friend's three pigs dish was good, but not stand-out. The mac n cheese that came with it was nice. The steak experience which I ordered wasn't good; the steak had too much salt sprinkled on it, and appeared to actually be double-salted. Much of the exterior was covered in salt. Even one bite left a salty aftertaste for a good 30 seconds. My friend ended up eating maybe a quarter of it since they didn't want it going to waste, but it was too salty. The bartender taking care of us did tell us at the end that if we'd said something at the start, they could have remade it, which I wasn't aware of, so I'm glad to know that.

My friend and I also shared some drunken clams, which again were okay. The apple crisp I had for dessert was really good - we very much enjoyed that one. My friend got a key lime pie which was okay.

The one thing which really put me off, even more than the oversalting, was that when my steak dish was brought out by a waiter, it was kept rather haphazardly and diagonally on the edge of the table, half hanging off. I had to move it quite quickly to ensure it didn't fall off entirely. Given the plate had hot food, I feel this was rather dangerous. I'm not sure if perhaps it was a lack of training or an exceptionally busy night, but either way, that was a big risk.

I found that the bartender taking care of us (who appeared to be in charge of the whole section we were sitting in) was extremely professional and friendly, clearly with many years of experience under her belt. The junior staff, I feel, were perhaps undertrained, and perhaps there weren't enough of them. Many of them appeared frazzled and rushed, and of course there was the steak dish half hanging off the table.

The total for us two was $180. Most of it came from the steak experience, which was $59. My friend's pork main was $30, and the drunken clams were $19. While I was really excited to have a nice restaurant open up in the area, I unfortunately don't think I'll be coming back soon besides for the shrimp and the apple crisp. Maybe in time, when the processes have been smoothed out a bit and the staff are a bit more...

My finance and I decided to try out Harpoon Willy’s for the first time. It’s a nice little restaurant and we enjoyed our dinner. I’ll start out with the pros - It’s got a good atmosphere, attentive service, and decent prices for being in the “rich” part of Hamilton. You can expect to pay about $30-40 per dish. I like how they have a small and focused menu. From the food to the decor everything feels intentional, and it works well.

There are some cons though… We had the grilled octopus for an appetizer and it was way too spicy. I could have misread the menu, but I don’t even think they described the dish as being spicy. As someone who is sensitive to spicy food this is a huge pet peeve of mine. At least warn me first so I don’t order it. I felt like I wasted my money on that one. I personally think you should just remove the spicy sauce from the octopus altogether. An appetizer should have a mild flavor, you don’t want to overwhelm your palate before the main dish even comes. My mouth was burning so much I couldn’t even taste my dinner. The flavor from grilled octopus should come from the charcoal and the fish, it doesn’t need extra spice or sauce on top… A little salt, pepper, maybe some lemon and then grilled is the best way to enjoy octopus as an app. And this way after eating it your palate is still in tact. We also got the calamari as an app and that was delicious.

I had the Halibut for dinner. I thought it was pretty good. I would have liked the zucchini grilled instead of fried though. Typically when people order fish it’s because they’re looking for something a little healthier. The fried zucchini on top felt out of place and unnecessary. That’s a minor thing though, overall the dish was done well.

On to the desert. I got the New York Cheesecake and again the menu wasn’t clear. I got home and it was covered in strawberry sauce but I was expecting a classic, plain New York cheesecake. That was disappointing because I don’t like the tartness of strawberry sauce so I had to scrape it off. The cheesecake was also kind of flavorless. It tasted dry and it was really dense. It wasn’t great. The best cheesecakes are light, fluffy and sweet with a nice buttery crust on the bottom. If you guys fix the octopus app and maybe sell some homemade deserts I think your restaurant could be top notch.

Oh and the service was good too. The only minor complaint is that our food was delivered and two seconds later the waitress came back and asked us if we liked everything (even though we didn’t even try it yet). Another pet peeve of mine… Should give the table five minutes to settle in after the food arrives before coming back.

Overall I would say it’s a nice place and worth trying out. I think it could always be better though, especially the desert quality...

I was looking forward to visiting this new restaurant and hate to be leaving a two star review but unfortunately it's warranted. I wish I could give 1.5 stars.

the only good thing about our visit was our kind waitress and the garlic hummus appetizer (good value for money and delicious).

I ordered the truffle parmesean chicken and unfortunately it was undercooked and raw, which I did not notice until after I had already taken a bite. I politely showed it to my waitress who brought someone else over and they agreed it was undercooked. they offered to remake it which I said yes to. my friend slowly ate their burger while we waited for mine to come out, but they were basically finished by the time my new meal came out. the new chicken was fully cooked thankfully. however, we were both shocked to see the chicken was literally half the size of the first one. I have uploaded photos of each. it was actually really strange how different the size was. me and my friend both noticed immediately without question. when the bill came, I would've expected the chicken to have been comp'd. I was a bit surprised at that. so I did tell my waiter that I'm fine with paying it but honestly was surprised to be charged. she double checked and they did comp my meal.

all that aside, our meals in general were nothing to write home about. my friend said their burger was undercooked and just OK. My chicken was alright. not horrible not great.

I can understand it being their first day open and maybe making kitchen mistakes. I get it. but the inconsistency of the same chicken dish wasn't ok and I don't think it's ok to make me uncomfortable enough to mention my meal being comp'd. I'm definitely not someone that normally does that and personally,, if they had comp'd it without me mentioning it, then I may have even considered going back to give them another shot. I live close by and I'd love to actually like this place, but I just can't with how uncomfortable the...