Hall Street Grill

I went for dinner with my husband and my boss on a Wednesday night at 6:45 p.m. It was very busy and we did not have reservations but were able to get a table.
I ordered the mahi mahi. It was delicious. Service was excellent.
I’m subtracting two stars because I thought the prices were too high. For the cost, they should include a salad or soup option with the meal.

The food and the service here are excellent — always perfect. The interior is warm and inviting, I love to take clients here for lunch.

Darn good! Had the scallops with beet a mushroom risotto. Perfect. Donna had the special blackened seared snapper with potatoes and veggies. We shared a key lime pie that was fabulous. Almost forgot we had the crab and apple crostini starter. Got a good deal on a bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon. Our server was not only fun, easy to be with but cute too.

So I’ve been here twice, both times joining my girlfriend’s habit of going here on Christmas Eve with her parents. Last year was a decent experience, good food (but not great), excellent service, decent ambiance, comfortable seating and so on. Overpriced but good, though not good enough that I felt moved to review the place. I mostly only review places I really like and only give bad reviews very selectively. This one is very well earned.
We booked well in advance. When we arrived at 5:25 PM for a 5:30 PM reservation we were shown to outside seating. We’d specifically booked early to avoid this. When phoned the day before we’d said we very, very strongly preferred to be inside, but they took that as a non-​100% answer and treated it as an okay to be outside and shuffled us outside anyway. When we questioned this we were told that walk-​ins had taken the good spots inside the restaurant and we’d have to wait 30 minutes for a table. Either they insanely favor random walk-​ins over people who like the place enough to book well in advance or more likely they overbooked the place and lied to us to cover this up, else why the call about it the day before?
While we were waiting for the news at news they gave the table they were going to give to us to another group, and it was the better table. Those folks scored because it would also mean that they would have finished eating, paid their bill and been gone fifteen minutes before we would even get our dinner (more on that later). That right there is immediately the worst experience I’ve ever had booking at what is supposed to be a fine dining restaurant. It was clear they had a «You need us more than we need you» approach to their customers. Either that or they liked us so much they wanted to keep us there longer.
The tent was well decorated and had heaters in the middle and some loud fan noise. For us this meant talking loudly to be heard and being both hot and cold because the floor freezing cold meaning so were our feet and legs, and our heads over-​hot because the table we’d been given had a heater directly over our heads. We kept asking for the heater to be turned off and they would and then a few minutes later it would be back on again, likely because another table asked for it. So probably we were too hot and others were too cold. It was a poor setup designed with higher profits in mind and not their customer’s comfort. Or maybe someone was having a laugh.
Our server, Christian seemed likely to turn things around. Like last year the wait staff are superbly trained and he was charming, friendly, engaging and helpful. The problem was whoever had assigned him to a group of 14 and to us. It meant long waits between him being able to serve us while he tended to that large slow group. Because this kind of thing never works out for smaller groups like ours most better restaurants have a designated server for large groups or a tag-​team approach. We had neither. It was very poor management.
Somewhere in the mix our orders were delayed and we sat around for over an hour and a half before our food arrived. The large group’s food arrived just after ours, though they had already ordered and eaten appetizers. An hour and a half of heater tag, cold feet, asking for more bread and watching other people get their food, including the group who got our table and came in after us. We watched them finish their meal at leisure, pay their bill and leave (how shocking that they were much better at the speed when it came to billing and rushing you out). I don’t think I’ve ever seen service that messed up before. How often do you see people come in after you, order more than you, eat, pay and be gone 15 minutes before you get your food? So on the plus side Hall Street Grill might just have set some bad service world record.
We didn’t sit in silence either. We complained and not just to Christian. We pointed out the problems. We were ignored. They did nothing to make it up to us. No expedited food order, no offer of a free dessert or drink, no discount and no visit from anyone with any authority, only a rushed apology from our chagrined server.
The food was very good, but not mind-​blowing. The place again seemed overpriced to me and I eat out a lot. There are only a few finer restaurants in Beaverton and I think that is the only reason this place survives. It reminds me of similar overpriced places in other small cities I’ve lived in, overcharging because there’s too little competition. They don’t believe they would last in the Pearl, Alphabet district, Hawthorne, etc, not with this combination of price and attitude. I regularly eat better food in Portland for half the price.
In the end we should have waited those 30 minutes for an inside table because we’d have had a better experience and probably would still have got our food half an hour earlier. That’s a pretty epic customer service fail right there.
So my girlfriend’s family tradition and all other visits to this restaurant

I have made reservations to have dinner on Xmas eve at Hall Street Grill for a few years now. This year, I made my reservation early, more than a month out, to make sure we got the time we needed. An early dinner was necessary to be home in time for my son arriving later on.
The day before the reservation, Hall Street Grill called to ask if I was ok with being in an outdoor, heated tent. I said that my parents probably wouldn’t like it, and that we strongly preferred being in the regular restaurant, especially since I had made an early reservation towards the beginning of the dinner rush and had made the reservation over a month ago. «Well,» said the voice on the phone, «we expect to get crowded with the walk ins, but I will put down that you strongly prefer to be indoors.»
When we showed up, about 5 minutes early for our reservation, we were sent right out into the outdoor tent. I’ve worked in restaurants and I understand Xmas eve is a busy night. But if I made the reservation to be at your place of business, it means I specifically wanted to have dinner at your establishment. It wasn’t a last minute, or casual decision. I made sure I had space reserved for me and my family. I made it clear that we really wanted to be inside. Basically, walk ins got better seating than I did, making long range plans and telling them I didn’t want to be outside. That sure felt great, let me tell you.
They said we could hang out in the bar if we wanted for 30 minutes if we wanted to be in the restaurant. I had a time frame, so this was out of the question. However, it might have been the better move, because…
Once seated outdoors with the hot air fan blowing loudly, and the overhead heater lights grilling down on my father’s bald head, baking him enough he requested they turn it off it was an HOUR AND A HALF before we received our food. I kept time. A large group sat next to us and our waiter, Christian, who was WONDERFUL and did the very best he could, had to take care of us and a large party at the same time. We sat down at the same time as another group with the same small number in their party, and they had ordered, eaten, paid, and left, and the table was reset before our food even showed up.
So, between my strong preference for being inside, as a reservation customer, basically being ignored, then being told I could sit in the bar for a half an hour if I wanted a seat indoors, to waiting an hour and a freaking half for my dinner while baking under the heating lights and having to talk loudly to be heard over the heating fan. and having to rush out, and being late for my arriving son, I think we are done with Hall Street for being together as family. We have been treated just fine in the past, and I could have easily forgiven the rush and the crowds and things being a little slow, but this was no way to treat a party that specifically wanted to be at HSG, making a reservation in mid-​November to make sure we could. Props to Christian for doing the very best he could trying to manage a small party and a large one at the same time. A large party deserves a dedicated server, and we paid the price. Not his fault, management’s. You were great, Christian! The food, when it arrived, was delicious, so two stars overall.

Whenever I’m in town for work, I always try to come here once.
Great place for a business meal or a nice date.
Seafood here has NEVER disappointed, and the butter with the bread is absolutely delicious. Food does take a while, but the bread and butter keeps me busy.
I had the salmon and it was fatty but in a good way. It literally melted in my mouth.
However, my gripe with this dish is how small it is! It’s one of the more expensive items on the menu and I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. I finished my dish at least 10 – 15 minutes before everyone else… they need to add more to it, especially if I’m paying more among everyone else!

I came in the other and ordered the coconut pawns and my friend had the same. We both agree that they are to die! I suggest any first timer to try. Not only was the food yummy the service was excellent! Our server Corona, was very welcoming and professional and we’ll be back with more people this place a true gem on the west side.

Obviously, by looking at other reviews here this place has a history of bad experiences and perhaps: A:) I should have known, it’s my fault for not checking out reviews on Unilocal before taking my friend out for a birthday dinner here, B.) this establishment doesn’t really care if it offers subpar dining at a rich price & C.) OK, blame it on the freezing rain for keeping us closer to home — my bad.
We started our evening at Hall Street Grill waiting a full 15 minutes for a server to even acknowledge our presence, but we remained calm because we were in a good mood celebrating our November birthdays. We ordered wine at $ 13 per glass and two salads to start. The wine was acidic and both salads came with live fruit flies as a garnish! Let me repeat: Live bugs roaming freely… After mentioning this to our server when she finally appeared table side, her reply was tepid at best. Apparently this must be a common kitchen mishap here. At this point we were discouraged. We waited for the main entrée and on a good note, the salmon was passable (full disclosure, living in Alaska half the year, I know good salmon.) The dessert was just ok. The service was truly lousy and for 130 bucks our evening should have been a a lot better. In our 30 year friendship we have never left less than a 20% tip. Tonight we broke our rule and left 15% hoping to make a statement. Honestly after dining out daily around Portland for a solid 10 days, this was by far our worst dining experience we have had. Truly crapola!

It’s not the worst place we’ve ever been to but it’s not amazing. The atmosphere is dark and cozy. Our waitress was very nice but everything took way too long. The GM did take items off our bill because they were served cold instead of hot or were under cooked. For that we are thankful! We were the only table in the restaurant so this was beyond unacceptable! The kitchen closes at 3pm and we (table of 12) were seated at 2:50pm and our order was taken at 3pm. Our food came out at 3:40pm. We weren’t told the kitchen was closing at 3pm from the lunch shift and preparing for dinner. We would’ve gone somewhere else to eat. I understand they didn’t want to turn away a $ 166.00 ticket but if they weren’t prepared for it, the curtesy of letting us know the kitchen was closing would’ve been nice. The staff was very nice about everything but also very slow.

(I was told recently that I write a lot of bad reviews, and should write a few on places I really love. Here goes):
I love this place.
I could stop right here — but it’s worth knowing *why*
Around twenty-​five years ago, I discovered this gem, shortly after its new owners bought out an old-​and-​dying place which had long since seen its day. The new guys didn’t waste any time rewriting a short but well-​thought-​out menu, hiring a top-​flight staff, and overhauling the tired décor.
The result is, quite probably, simply the best restaurant in the far westside.
The head chef back in those days was Scott Neuman of ‘Oba!’ fame (we lost him early this year, as he left his position as head chef over at Oba! and returned to Texas); Scott’s creative influence and devotion to quality set the stage for a run that’s yet to lose steam.
Highlights and tried-​and-​true recipes: (1) The coconut shrimp appetizer [it ought to be on the DEA’s controlled-​substance list]; (2) their Caesar salad [with or without chicken]; (3) the chili-​coffee rubbed Ribeye; (3) the old-​school-​but-​well-​prepared Broadway Pea Salad [if you’re in the mood for a ’50’s-retro sort of thing].
The wine list is predictably top-​shelf, as is the bar. Go there for a special event, business lunch, or just when you want to treat yourself to the best the area has to offer.
You won’t be disappointed.

Food is good here, drinks are good. Dim lighting makes it feel more of a hip joint. Coming here often back in the days and one thing is always expected, poor service. I would never come here unless i was meeting people here.

Sorry, Hall Street Grill… It’s lunchtime, you’re not even busy… We shouldn’t have to wait for over 10 minutes without so much as eye contact from someone! We had to leave…

I enjoyed a lovely dinner at Hall Street Grill last night with my family and we all were in trance with our waiter Sundiata. His charisma and passion were what really got to us. He made the evening an experience. It was almost like he was a performer on the stage and we were his audience! He definitely made the night for us! The food was delightful as well. I especially liked that they grow their own produce outside the building. The Lavender Old Fashioned was a lovely cocktail– I even ordered a second!

First let me say that I’ve had some good experiences here in the past, I didn’t order anything they are known for, the staff is consistently nice, the ingredients seem high-​quality. Therefore I was generous in giving a second stars in this review…
Their menu is absolutely NOT accommodating to anyone on a gluten-​free and/​or non-​dairy diet. Severe limitations… They don’t even have a separate gluten free fryer… Really… Even places like Red Robin have a separate fryer for gluten-​free orders! For the prices HSG charges, and for how prestigious they pretend to be… are you kidding me… It’s 2015.
The draft beer selection is poor, extremely poor for happy hour.
The ¹⁄₃ lb burger, while higher quality meat than say Red Robin, was nothing special in appearance or taste. The ketchup was shitty Heinz or Hunt’s (clearly not organic and clearly containing corn syrup and/​or sugar). They are both unwilling and incapable of serving a «naked» Burger in a lettuce wrap. The burger patty came on a bed of shredded lettuce… Like a less holy Jesus set in a manger of greased, cut foliage.
The ambient noise of trickling water on the patio is synthetic and non-​organic, as water bubbles from a partially damaged concrete fountain. Build a creek and install some ground pumps!
The bathrooms are not well-​maintained and are in desperate need of new countertops (not just talking chips and scuffs… FULL ON erosion).
There’s a sharp ledge as you step inside from their outdoor patio, not marked well. It separated the front rubber for my energy boost Adidas when it snagged… made me glad I wasn’t wearing my alligator shoes shoes (again… unacceptable for how prestigious they pretend to be).
The mass of patrons is pretentious and snobby, with a few exceptions. Girlfriend and I spent $ 50 for happy hour…
Skip this place. Not worth the cost, even during happy hour.

The general manager contacted me and listened to my experience. I have to say with that level of customer service I need to update my review.

We came in for Happy Hour tonight because I remembered from previous experience that the food is great and they do have great happy hour drinks. Unfortunately, tonight is one of their off nights.
We ordered Fries and the Mussels and Clams. The fries came with nice ketchup and mustard sauce. However the Mussels and Clams came out with a horrible smell. We asked the waitress if the seafood always smell this bad at the restaurant, and her response was, for the 12 years she worked there, the mussels and clams always smells like feet. Which is exactly the description of the dish she brought out.
We have mussels and clams at many other restaurants, and I have mussels that I picked directly from the sea. None of them have smelled that bad before unless they are way over due their expiration date. She really believe that seafood are suppose to smell like feet at at Hall Street Grill.
I would advise future customers to not order seafood from here if the workers believe that their seafood should smell like dirty socks.

Happy Hour here has changed over the years. I feel it’s a bit over priced for HH, but it was still very good food. The presentation of our food was creative for sure. Their fries with truffle and blue cheese was so good. I’d get that again any day. Another go to for me is their blue cheese salad with a shrimp. Never disappointed. Our server Ashley was awesome and always made sure our drinks were filled. Even if it was just water. Try the lemon drops. Its one of the best lemon drops I’ve ever had!

Valentine’s Day 2015. I wanted something out of the ordinary special for my wife who has frequented this place but only at happy hour. I myself enjoyed a work function here so it was awesome (not paid for by me) most likely the reason. 2 weeks ago I was able to make a 4:30 reservation, kind of early but all I could find in the area. We were greeted and seated promptly at a comfortable booth near the bar. Most seats still set for their awaiting reservations.
We started with lobster bisque soup and the blue cheese dinner salad, both were amazing. The salad better than any I have had before, rogue blue cheese, fried onion straws, bacon and some sort of balsamic reduction in the plate. The wife loved her lobster bisque. Small but very flavorful. Next were the entrees, I went all out for the prime rib, 12 oz cut, horseradish mashed potatoes and green beans. I asked for medium, and it came out well past that, but I still enjoyed every bit of it. The wife had a cocoa rubbed tenderloin that was perfectly cooked and delicious. We both enjoyed our drinks, I had a Hefeweizen, while she had a cucumber lemon drop. We topped it all off with crem brûlée.
At 137 $ with tip we definitely spent a weeks worth of budget on one special dinner. While it was good, it won’t be a first choice next time due to the price.

Acting on a recommendation, I arrived at 11:30AM and was greeted on entry, seated promptly, and the menu looked promising. The choices were a bit more expensive than I’d usually lavish on myself for lunch, but this was an exploratory visit. The server was attentive and very professional. I’d ordered the Angus beef burger ($ 12) and a sweet onion soup ($ 8), and my selections arrived in a reasonable period of time. The sweet onion soup was delicious. The Angus beef burger arrived soon after and it was thick, flavorful, topped with melted Tillamook cheddar cheese and a mound of lettuce, tomato, and onions. Admittedly, for $ 12, I expected something… greater. I chose iced tea for my beverage, and my lunch came to $ 23. Service was polished and attentive, so I added $ 5 as a gratuity. I will return with my wife for seafood or prime rib dinner, with the expectation that our dinners (based on what I’d read of the menu) would be roughly $ 40−50+ apiece, so I will wait for an occasion.
In summary, the atmosphere is pleasant, service was very good, the noise levels permitted conversation, and the food was well-​prepared but seems somewhat overpriced. I’d recommend it for a party of 2 – 4 or a business luncheon with a good client. I look forward to returning with my wife for dinner.

This would have been a 4-​star experience if the bill was half of what finally arrived. But when you’re ultimately spending $ 75/​head, there better be some mind-​blowing goodness involved, and unfortunately the tastiness of the food did not offset the nausea we felt when we flipped open that little black book.
Despite its popularity, the gnocchi appetizer was not a favorite of mine — it was heavy on the mush-​factor and light on flavor. But the fish special and the prime rib were both beautifully prepared and presented. The wine list was fantastic and we made the right call by selecting one of their 25 bottles for $ 25. Dessert was teeny-​tiny, but tasty.
It sounds like we missed the boat by not coming during happy hour, so heed my warning: the food is tasty but doesn’t justify the crazy-​pants dinner prices. Head there during happy hour and enjoy the best of both worlds.