Houlihan's - Upper Arlington

I am normally a big fan of Houlihans. This time my lunch had clearly been sitting under a warmer for awhile and seemed to be a smaller serving size than previously received there. I had chicken fingers and had to request honey mustard sauce. They brought my soup out after my lunch arrived, I'm usually asked if I want it before the meal. A member of my group had to ask to have her water refilled after waiting some time. I was overall not impressed.

Normally would review Houlihan’s as amazing, but our quick experience last night was frustrating. We decided to go to Houlihan’s last night to celebrate the fact we had gotten married the previous day. Created a reservation with no problem for 8 pm online because we didn’t want to walk in an hour before close and make anyone stay late to make our food. Drove half an hour only to get to a locked door. When someone came to the door, they informed us they had been closed since 7 pm due to low food quantity and decided to close early rather than have to tell customers what they still had available. There was nothing posted on their Facebook page and they should’ve canceled reservations if there was no way to fulfill them. My husband and I love Houlihan’s, but it will probably be awhile before we come back just due to the frustration that was felt.

The food was really good, but the service and overall management of the restaurant has fallen dramatically in the past year. I understand that it’s more difficult to hire good people and retain them during the current pandemic. Reduced dining-in by the general public has made food service a less desirable occupation. Proper training has been forgone as the reduced staffing levels have to focus on serving food to the customers that are in the establishment. Unfortunately, a full staff that has been properly trained may not be in place for quite a while.

Staffing clearly an issue. Out of some ingredients. Dusty.

All I have to say is the food was delicious, but the service was horrible.

We arrived for dinner during Happy Hour. Drinks were $5.00 and appetizers were $5.00 each--had 2. A very nice and delicious dinner with interesting flavors for $15.00. What a bargain!

Good food, but it took two hours for the whole meal for 4 people when they weren’t very busy.

When we entered the restaurant no one was at the door to welcome us. We did have reservations but the inside the restaurant was virtually empty…which should have topped us off for what was to come. Waited for quite awhile…so when no one addressed us…went to the kitchen area to get help. Waited again and finally a man who appeared to be a manager seated us outside. Food was good…tacos, hamburger etc. when we ordered dessert the waitress brought our checks even though we weren’t done with our meal. Needless to say the evening was not a winner. It was apparent they did not have enough staff to run the restaurant as we have known it to be from past visits.

It was sprinkling rain and they closed the patio. Said it wasn’t safe for workers. We aren’t eating inside because of Covid.

Service is not good. While the food is good, there were errors with both orders. Special requests like no bacon Or dressing on the side were forgotten. My entree came out 10 minutes before my girlfriend’s. So she sat and watched me eat. Then I did the same when I finished and hers came.
It seems like management has their hands full of problems. Hopefully they are fixed soon.

This is a great family, date, friend-gettogether restaurant. Great happy hour and staff from host, bus people, servers, bartenders, to management.

our server was absolutely phenomenal

Kids were celebrating homecoming and had a great time. The waiter was awesome and had a good experience with them treating them like grownups and they acted like it with such great service.

The service and food were both excellent, especially on a Friday night. The only downside was that the table was sticky. Everything stuck to it including our check and arms. maybe it's time for new ones?

We will be back

It was a great weather day so we were on the patio. Waitress was attentive food was yummy.

Pretty dead on a Monday evening. Took kids to dinner while my wife had a dinner with friends. Out of salmon...which is unfortunate but with the current challenges, understandable. However it took nearly 35 minutes for a kids chicken sandwich, burger and chicken salad. Server didn't check on our table the entire time until I asked the bartender to send her over. She then told me 1 more minute for fries. Then 5 minutes later food came. Poor communication. I was also surprised that the manager never came over and said anything. not to mention, they charge over $3.00 for a club soda. Disappointed again with my experience here. Should've chosen Hudson as usual.

Food was very good, However food was a little slow in coming, I assume it was because of the staffing shortage just like every other business. Server was very good and did apologize for the delay with getting our food. Over all everything was very good we will be back.

Despite having limited staff, the staff did their best to to get orders taken and out as best they could.

We returned after a bad experience last time. Service and food were excellent tonight!

Excellent ambiance, food and service.

The food was fantastic and the service was awesome despite it being quite busy

We were greeting with an immediate 40 minute wait before even asking if we had a reservation, which we did. The place was almost empty, so the wait in a Thursday seemed odd. The waitress was very sweet but forgot many of our drink/refill requests. The famous mushroom appetizer was awful.

Our party of five requested an outdoor table and were seated at the only large table there. Normally we love going to Houlihan's, but this time was very disappointing. The service was excruciatingly s-l-o-w. An hour after we were seated, we were still waiting for our entrees to arrive.

I ordered my filet mignon medium rare and asked for a fruit cup instead of fries. The steak was medium well, but I didn't bother to send it back since service was slow. The entree arrived with fries, and I had to ask for the fruit cup. The rest of my meal and my friends' meals were delicious.

The sun was very bright, ice melted quickly, and the waiter should have refilled our water and beverages frequently. It was the manager who replenished our water toward the end of our meal. It took a very long time to receive our checks.

We will eventually return, but it won't be any time soon!

First ones in the restaurant, had a reservation and waited 1.5 hours for our food and an hour for a coffee (that I asked for twice). Watched many other people come and get their food before us. Had to ask for half of our food order to come out, as family members were going to be late for their next activity. Pretty poor service for how not busy they were. Food was great once we act got to eat. Have had better experiences eating here before but disappointed we brought out families here this time.

Everything was great except the patio was again closed dt no wait staff

As usual, the food was great. Unfortunately, we had Daveon serve us on what was possibly his first day waiting on tables. With a little more training and practice, he’ll be fine.

As always, It was a delight to dine at Houlihan's! From the very cordial and accommodating hostess, to Noah, and his trainee, and of course our meals! We enjoyed our night out!

Are waiter Kelly was great! We have at Houlihan’s several time recently. It is always excellent

The potato soup was fabulous and both mine and my husband’s burgers were really good. My father said his club sandwich was okay but my mother’s dinner was, unfortunately, not satisfying. Her salmon was tiny. I think she ate it in three bites. And her “mashed potatoes” were more like scalloped potatoes and very undercooked—crunchy even. Our server was wonderful but it took FOREVER to get our food. I only saw two servers in the entire restaurant and it looked as if there were only two cooks as well. And the manager appeared to be serving meals and cleaning tables because they were so short staffed.

Food was good, decent value and service was excellent. Speakers next to our table was awful as we were unable to converse without shouting--a common issue with many restaurants.

Houlihans used to have very good food. My friends got the steak and very grisly. Chicken lemon picayta noodles were not even al dente. Noodles and company gad better noodles!

Service was off this visit. Long wait for water, drinks, etc. Over an hour for dinner to be served cold. Very unusual experience. Guess if you go to a place often enough it’s bound to happen.

Enjoyable office lunch with great service

The service was great and the food was very good.

The food was very good. The stuffed chicken is always delicious. A couple in our group had steak and they said it was excellent.

CAUTION: We now call ahead to see if employees are masked. We were disappointed earlier (8/11/2021) to find employees unmasked - despite countywide advisory to mask whether or not vaccinated. We chose to sit outside for safety, but mistakenly sat downwind of where the server had to stand. Live and learn. Call ahead.

Grilled Atlantic Salmon was flavorful and flaky. Reluctant to get the green bean side dish, but was very very good. My friend got the fish and chips - said it tasted oily - not crisp like usual.

We had a really nice time. Food and atmosphere was perfect for a nice evening out. Service was a bit slow and they got our order for apps wrong at first l, but I was all corrected and the food was good and the portions were large. Loved the mushroom appetizer.

This was our first visit, and everything was amazing. The service, and food was excellent. Highly recommend.

It was OK. Nothing special.