The Hayden — Restaurant in San Antonio

I realize that it’s Father’s Day and everyone in the place was very busy. My family/table and I are NOT the ones to be rude or pushy to service people at all. Nonetheless we had a pretty bad experience today. We’ were a bit late maybe 13 minutes to our reservation, but we didn’t mind having to wait more bc we know it was busy and they were behind. By the time we were sat, our server was just kind of passive aggressive and a bit rude, to start. We asked for water all around and she jokingly said “water? What’s that??”, as if inferring she needed some water too. We all looked at each other confused. We got our waters and our coffee and asked for some creamer. She went and saw two other tables and took orders before my dad asked for the creamer we mentioned earlier and she put her hand up to him and said “yeah I’m working on it” clearly she forgot. Later we asked for a refill for coffees and she seemed upset we needed a refill but in a joking manner?? To myself and my family it just wasn’t funny. It was 6 of us, we got our orders 2 at a time, over the span of 1.5 hours since we were sat. Half of our plates were cold but my family decided to just eat our orders anyway bc we they were already so hungry. I was the last one to get my plate; once I got it she came and asked if we wanted the check 5 minutes after she dropped my plate off. I had ordered the chicken biscuit, a few minutes later she came by and said they only had 7 biscuits left an hour ago and I asked “will I is still get my biscuit with my plate?” and she assured me I was. When I finally got my food it was the wrong order and I told her “oh that’s not my food I had the chicken biscuit plate ” to which she replied “oh THATS what you had!” And then told me she’d be right back. She comes back of course no biscuit, fine I said I’ll take that old timers breakfast you brought out. She leaves again, comes back to tell me the servers are already eating it…???? lol I didn’t know what to say to that. She then told me “I promise I put your order in! We did get a new system though and they didn’t tell us how to use it, that it was just like the last one. Would you like anything else?” At this point I didn’t know what to say bc they told us they were out of toast, out of god knows what else. So I just opted for another old timer breakfast. Our server was ultimately very passive aggressive, snarky and just made a terrible experience on a special day. Again I realize it was a busy day but the snarky comments and the constant needing to explain to us and complain to us about things we quite frankly don’t want to hear as paying customers is just not good service. I don’t remember her name bc I don’t think she even introduced herself. We still tipped a GOOD amount bc we believe service people deserve to make a livable wage. My order was taken off our ticket to make me feel better I guess. Now I see why the other location closed down. Service like this isn’t even sub par sadly. Would love to talk to a manager about...

Bottom line is four stars, because we loved a lot but not all, and $55 is just too much for a lunch of a potato appetizer, two sodas, and two soup-and-sandwich specials. The food was good (a few items incredible, even), server wonderful, and the restaurant comfortable with a terrific sense of humor, but everything wasn't so consistently amazing that we'd race back at that price and certainly not with the entire family.

We were grateful it happened, but we were actually wrongfully lured in by Google Maps. The Hayden came up in a search for "German Restaurant." I should've dug deeper, because two reviews talked about "German Potato Salad" (which isn't identified as such on the menu and didn't look like German potato salad in the reviewer's photos). This isn't a German restaurant but rather more of a gastropub / modern take on traditional Jewish dishes. It was an exciting option, so we went for it and frankly, glad we did!

The Latke was not what I expected, served like a piece of pie rather than small coins, but everything (texture, taste, temperature, and toppings) worked so wonderfully. Neither of us liked the tomato bisque as it seemed to have an almost tobacco(?) flavor to it... not to be crass, but there was a smoky, dried leaf taste to the soup... not our preference. That said, they graciously replaced our tomato for the matzo ball, which was a much better choice and had a delicious broth flavor... Grandma Stella's recipe is a hit with us! The pastrami sandwich was a tasty combo of ingredients but made the bottom bread soggy and included some larger slabs of fat, which isn't for me.

But nothing could've prepared us for the grilled cheese sandwich... BEST GRILLED CHEESE EVER! I don't understand... we've literally had grilled cheese all over the world and tried so many grilled cheese restaurants, but this one takes the cake. The bread was perfectly soft and crispy but no area so hard it hurts your mouth. The mixed cheeses somehow simultaneously tasted like two separate items and yet one item combined... AND they stayed soft and gooey from the first bite to the last... I don't get it, either. So, maybe we won't bring the kids, but Mom and I might sneak back for a Grilled Cheese now and then.

So I'd say it's a little too casual for a formal date night and too pricey for a family night out, but if you're a tourist already spending more freely, want something different with a loved one, or trying to find something new for visitors, make sure to stop by the Hayden... and get a side of...

I had an overall bad experience at the Hayden today when I went with my partner. We arrived at 1:50 PM to be seated and decide on our food. We did not know they closed at 3 PM on the day so we already felt pretty bad about coming so close to closing but we figured we could eat quick and leave to finish the rest of our day together doing something else. We decided on our appetizers and orders, waited for our waitress and then were told after we had already been given the menus that they did not have the ingredients for the Pastrami sandwich, which is the one we both wanted, along with the Matzo balls and Fish and Chips. This was the first mistake because why were we not told before perusing the menu that there were items unavailable? I understand it being the latter half of the day but if we had been told they were out, we could have had something else ready to order and not have to take more time to make a decision, wasting time for both us and the waitress. At this point, we had ordered an appetizer at least and waited on that while we made a new decision on entrees. Then, our waitress came back and we placed our orders but then we were told that they were also out of fries. How does a restaurant run out of fries? This is basic inventory management. And again, why were we not informed until we asked??? At this point, it is 2:40 and the waitress apologizes for the wait but does not tell us a reason as to why everything is taking long and we still have not gotten our appetizer! We ordered pimento cheese and chips! I have no idea how fancy it gets but how does it take an hour to have cheese and chips ready? Finally, we are fed up with the wait and ask for the food to go because we do not want to sit down anymore to eat. We finally get our food in to-go and they forgot the cheese and chips and the side potato salad my partner got because they were out of fries! They brought the check without the cheese and chips on it at least but the potato salad was charged and we did not get it! We gave up, left them the food and walked out. It was utter disrespect and incompetence on management of inventory to not have the proper stock for food for items even if the holidays are coming up. And on top of that, not keeping us in the loop and not even being able to bring what they did have in a timely manner is unbelievable. Bad experience even if the vibes of the...