Houlihan's — Restaurant in Virginia

I don't think I have ever written a review as negative as I am about to write for any establishment.

I have eaten at this Houlihan's for many years and have always been very happy with the restaurant. Last night, I decided to take my family out to dinner (I had a birthday coupon for a free entree). There were other parties already seated, including a large party that was being very loud.

We (only a party of 3) were seated and looked over the menu. Our server was very inattentive. We ordered our drinks and we wanted to put in an appetizer because we were hungry. She eventually worked her way back to the table and took our appetizer order and then walked away without even asking if we were ready to place our order.

When we finally got her to return to the table to take our order she brought us the check! I said, "No. we would like to place our order."

The service was extremely slow for having very few guests in the dining area. The entree my wife wished to order was sold out for the night. The menu was not the full menu I am used to seeing at this location. There were fewer choices listed on the menu.

My wife asked about the ribs (which she really didn't want to order) and asked if they were on the bone or boneless. Since they were bone-in, my wife wanted to know if the meat came off the bone easily. The server said that the ribs were her favorite item at the restaurant and the ribs do easily come off the bone.

We sat for a while and our appetizers and salads did not come out. Also, they did not refresh our drinks. I asked for a manager and the manager came over and talked to us.

I feel that this manager was very inexperienced. We were not happy at all and considered leaving. The manager reassured us that he would be taking care of us and that our food was almost ready.

We decided to stay. When our food did come out we were very disappointed in the food. The ribs were not as described and were actually quite dry.

We told the manager that we were leaving and he asked us to just pay for the drinks (one soft drink, two waters) and the appetizers.

We were not the only party to walk out. Another party also had an issue with placing their order and they did walk out of the restaurant.

As I mentioned, I have been to this Houlihan's many times, but I don't think...

Where to begin… For starters, this is not the Houlihan’s you are expecting. For at least a medium period of time, they don’t have booze… They have a very limited menu… And they are not taking credit cards. Apparently this all has something to do with the recent transition of the attached hotel from being a Holiday Inn to being a double tree. I was all excited to be cruising by and see a double tree with a Houlihans attached which made me feel assured that there was good accommodations, good beer and good food close at hand. In the end, it all worked out… But definitely not up to the level that I would expect of Houlihan’s and Doubletree. Right on the door to Houlihan’s there are a bunch of home printed signs telling you, no booze, no credit cards, and many other things. Once I got past that, I was greeted by a host/hostess that just wanted to tell me his life‘s story of misery before he seated me or answered any of my questions. The first bartender – female whose name I don’t remember - was nothing short of rude and unhelpful when I asked her what beers they had. Truly, Lulu saved the day when she arrived. She is definitely the one bright and shining star of the evening crew. She answered all my questions, provided great service, and basically salvaged my mood and evening. I was the only customer when I first arrived, but around late dinner time the bar area basically turned into a loud golf clubhouse. They apparently crowded all of the customers into the bar area by design due to limited servers. there were only a handful of things on the menu. Chips and salsa we’re basically gas station quality. Kansas City strip was good, but there were no vegetables to be had on the entire menu. breakfast service the next morning was great… But the food itself was mediocre at best. The whole thing was more like a McDonald’s and Motel six experience with broken computers than it was what I would expect out of Houlihan’s and DoubleTree… But they still charged Houlihan’s and double tree prices....

This will probably be the most honest review I have ever given about a restaurant. Let's start with the waitress, very plesent young lady. If you deside to waste your money on really bad food this is the place for you. Get me once but never again. Let's start with drinks my beer was good. My wife had a bloody Mary she couldn't drink. Appetizers, fried dumplings, over cooked the dipping sauce was a burnt barbecue sauce that was unedible. The wife ordered the tortilla soup ,had to send it back it was served cold. The young lady brought back a new one, it was hot but taste like chicken soup. I went to order a brime rib dip, if you eat prime rib you should have a option for rare, medium or well done, apparently this is premade so they only serve it well done. So I just ordered the French fries, they were not to my liking.My wife ordered the hamburger, this was unedibale, no seasoning at all. She took two bites covered it with her napkin and pushed it aside. As for the gentleman who said he was the manager since 2009 which in fact I know was b* because both of my kids work there when the restaurant was really good. This guy must have worked at the hotel in 2009 as a janitor. The owners should really take a look at hiring a chef that knows how to cook not a guy they hire from McDonald's. The chef is the most important person at a restaurant he makes the rest of the employees look good. I am going to try to post my receipt so you can see what I was charged for that was unedible. Well I guess the owners don't want me to be able to share my receipt I cannot download it. Just a note there are much better places to spend your money and...