We recently went to
Yard House to celebrate DH's birthday with a few friends. We went there twice before and although we thought the food was expensive, we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, and the service was good, so we thought we'd head to Yard House again.
Unfortunately, this most recent visit will probably be my last visit there.
We arrived at about 11:15, shortly after it opened at 11am.
We were seated right away, and our server came to greet us and took our drink orders. She seemed pretty friendly initially.
Immediately she advised us that there was condensation dripping onto the seat next to DH from the ceiling (from the pipes that went down to the kegs). It didn't really bother DH or the person who eventually sat next to him (there were 5 of us and 2 others joined us a couple of hours later).
We ordered a couple of appetizers. One was the Onion Ring Tower.
Everyone enjoyed it. I thought it was tasty and I really liked the batter.
We also ordered the Spinach Cheese Dip.
This was pretty good, but people commented on how the spinach was just in really long pieces. I really liked the flatbread that went along with the dip.
For our meals, the following was ordered:
Vodka Shrimp Pasta
Chicken Tortilla Soup and Grilled Hot Pastrami
Roasted Turkey Club. This was my lunch--it was okay. I only ate 1/4 of it because I was full from the appetizers, but I did think it tasted a little dry/bland. Even DH thought so (he ate my leftovers for dinner). The fries were nice and crispy.
DH ordered the Surf and Turf Burger with Garlic Fries. He really liked everything and ate it ALL.
NY Steak Sandwich with regular Fries and Sweet Potato Fries (the person who ordered this couldn't really decide on what kind of fries to get so the server suggested he get 1/2 regular, 1/2 sweet potato).
Eventually two other friends came by to join us for dessert.
They ordered the Kona Sundae. It looked GOOD!
Another bunch of friends ordered the Dessert Trio, which included samplers of Lemon Soufflé, Peach Apple Cobbler and Chocolate Soufflé. Everyone seemed to have their own favorite, but my favorite was the Lemon Souffle.
Because we were celebrating DH's birthday, I asked our server if they do anything for birthdays, and she said "Yes, you can choose Lemon Souffle, Chocolate Souffle, or Peach Apple Cobbler."
DH chose the Peach Apple Cobbler.
Overall, the food was okay, but (still) over-priced, and our server was friendly, but we had to wait a LOOOOOONG time for just about everything. We had to wait for her to take our orders, for our food, for some drink/water refills, for our dessert, for our bill...
Speaking of the bill, the little birthday treat was $3.95! I didn't think we'd get charged--most places comp the birthday dessert, but if DH had known that we would get charged for the birthday dessert, he would have ordered whatever he wanted instead of what the server offered.
Also, we were charged 18% gratuity. Supposedly they charge 18% for parties of 6 or more.
As the day went on, the service just started to go downhill.
We were there for just under 3 hours, much of the time just waiting and waiting.
I've been to many restaurants with 10 or more friends and I can only think of one other time that the service was similarly lacking.
I'm sure Yard House would be a much better place for pupus and drinks and to watch sports, but despite a couple of good appetizers, that was probably my last visit there.
***Note: Guest Relations did contact me and apologized, and offered a gift card.
Yard House Waikiki: 226 Lewers Street, Honolulu, HI 96815, (808) 923-9273
