Hal’s Bar & Grill

Went to Hal’s last Saturday night with some friends. This was my first time and based on the appearance I had high hopes. The place looks like it would be a restaurant that actually takes food seriously. Sadly, the experience was very disappointing on so many levels.
1) when I asked the waiter about one of the wines, a Cabernet, he had no clue. It was obvious that he was not a wine drinker which is fine. But if you’re going to serve fine food and wine you ought to be able to speak intelligently about it. I then asked where the wine was from. He replied he wasn’t sure but he believed it was somewhere around or near Napa. Wow, really?! Thanks for that. Do you even know where Napa is?
2) we all ended up ordering ribeye steaks. The menu did not indicate what accompanied the steak. After our waiter left, we realized that this had not been mentioned. We were able to flag our waiter down and asked. He indicted that the steaks came a la carte. Do you think you may have mentioned that considering we had ordered nothing else. Who on earth would simply order a slab of meat with nothing else? Maybe, just maybe we didn’t know it was a la carte since the menu didn’t indicate that.
Consequently we then ordered the artichokes and Cesar salad. The waiter said that these dishes probably would not be served with the steaks because the steaks were already being prepared. Great!
3) we ordered one rare and the others medium rare. The steaks were served well done. No red. No pink. Just cooked all the way through. Wow! Outback gets an order better than this place.
We sent the steaks back and ended up having to wait an eternity for the new set of steaks. The steaks themselves were okay, not great.
It’s safe to say, I won’t be dining at Hal’s again when there is an abundance of great restaurants in the area. As to the waiter, his priorities seem to be on perhaps hitting the waives and the ganja before coming into work. He seemed totally stoned and was sporting the nice red fried face tan of a committed surfer. Again nothing wrong with that but be ready and prepared when at work.

Pan roasted duck was amazing. Great service, food, and atmosphere. Love love loved it!

R.I.P. Such a great place across the board. Sad to see it go and hope this comes back in another location.

Oh Hal’s!
You will surely be missed. We were privileged to have our last turkey burger here last Sunday. Quite the scene. Don came over to say hi and says they will reincarnate down the road and then possibly something about somewhere in Playa Vista?
Don and Linda, thank you for many years of feeling at home in your place. Oh and Chef Manuel Mares is a class act too, big time.

I like Hal’s and I’m bummed that they’re moving. I tried to have dinner here with a friend but we were 15 minutes late so we lost our reservation. Hopefully I’ll get in before they move. I especially like their jazz performers on Sunday and Monday evenings.

Came in for a business lunch during the workweek at noon, great setting for a meeting as the restaurant is not very crowded and you can easily communicate. For the main entrée I ordered the Bloomsdale Spinach Maltagliati which consisted of oven-​dried tomatoes, burrata, basil, fresh-​cracked black pepper. The chef who made this dish mush have been an expert from Italy as it literally was one of the best pasta dishes I have had the pleasure to enjoy for lunch. Five stars !!!

I think I found my new comfort food go-​to spot near home. I was entertaining a few out of town friends this last weekend and made a reservation. When I read bar and grill, I have to say I was a little reluctant when my friend told me she wanted to wear heels, but I trusted my fellow Unilocalers and it paid off!
This is not your typical bar and grill. It is nicely darkly lit and has great ambiance. We ordered the cheese plate and calamari to start. I had the roast chicken and it was absolutely amazing. They must brine their chicken or something because it is so tender and so incredibly tasty. I ate the ENTIRE thing. It was served with fries — a little overcooked for my taste but with all the chicken I ate, there wasn’t much room left for them anyway! The hubby loved his turkey burger and my friends enjoyed their plates as well. My friend said her carnitas pizza was really spicy and that’s saying a lot for her since she is now a Texan and likes it hot.
The price-​point was moderate. Definitely not cheap but worth every penny. Service was a little slow but it was absolutely packed at 9:30 on a Friday night.
I’ll be back for more of that chicken!

Ok so I forgot to write this review on Monday. My rating would be about a 3 ½.
The place is really nice, nicer than I would have thought for a bar and grill. It is quiet and serene with a cozy feel. The staff was nice for the most part. The young lady at the door sat there the entire time. Although I’m not sure what she was supposed to be doing.
As far as the food… I had the turkey burger which was good and fresh. However they didn’t have pickles or ranch smh.
They messed up my friends order. She ordered the flatbread, but they brought her calamari and fries. It wasn’t bad, a little overcooked though.
Overall, the atmosphere was really nice and the food wasn’t bad.

I like the vibe here. Friday night super popular. Im not sure if this place is the only one opens late on Abbot Kinney, but 2 am is really a late closing time. So it turns to a bar feeling after 9pm, really loud music and made people really have to shout. But you feel relaxed. A lot of people would just hang near the bar standing, which was a little crowded, but if you like crowds, you will like this. They have pretty solid cocktail, very strong, no fake alcohol.
Food was just okay to my standard. Not outstanding, but not bad either. But it is a great place just to hang out with friends, or you just wanna get drunk.

I came here for a dinner with some co — workers and the service and food were amazing and up to par with my expectations from a restaurant on Abbott Kinney. The ambiance was nice — although i found the paintings a little weird but hey thats just my taste.
There is an excellent selection of imported European beers, not on tap but still pretty delicious and great collection. I ordered the Icelandic porter, which was very tasty it’s rare to see this beer in restaurants so that was a plus.
The appetizers were pretty a bit hit or miss depending on what was ordered. We got the asparagus, calamari and lamb chops. The asparagus was a bit too deep fried — tasted too oily for something that is supposed to be healthy. The lamp chops were really delicious — very tender and not too gamey — although there were only two lamp chops on the dish.
I ordered the rib eye with sides of winter room veggies, and spinach. The rib eye came with a side of onion rings, the onion rings were a bit too deep fried and oily for me, but great if you like onion rings. The steak itself was amazing — it was gigantic about the size of my hand and very tender. I could only finish half of the steak because it was so large. My favorite dish was the winter root vegetables — a nice combo of carrots, squash and potatoes, with a nice crispy candy glaze.
Overall I found this restaurant to be very enjoyable with a nice selection of foods, I’d come here again.

I wish I could give Hals at least 4 stars for their food but I can’t. I decided to book a Valentine’s Day dinner for my fiancé and I. I’ve been to many prix fixe menu nights at other restaurants, so I don’t expect red carpet treatment. But what I do expect is descent ambiance on a special night where we’re spending over $ 200. The restaurant was crowded (of course). Even with a reservation they sat us upstairs, by the exit sign by the waiter station and a coat rack. Don’t be cheap and pack everyone in and make up seating areas which is clearly a banquet space on regular nights. We decided to make the most of it and had a great time. But I’m disappointed the restaurant sat us FAR away from all the action in the main restaurant. I’m sure this place is wonderful on regular nights. But don’t book for a special occasion. You’ll risk being sat in an awful location of the restaurant.

I too LOVE Hal’s so do my friends, boyfriend and familia.
I could go for the burger and fries alone but the Jazz… Steak…Caesar Salad… Fried Calamari… Crispy Fried Jidori Chicken… Are all great contenders that I personally have tried I’m sorta addicted to the burger and fries I need to venture out a lil bit more. I also love the crowd great people and great conversations.

I’ve been here for brunch, lunch and dinner over the years. My most recent visit was on ¼/​15 for brunch. It was a group of 3 of us. We didn’t have reservations, but were able to get in right away.
I started with a bloody mary, but wasn’t a fan (It was mild, not spicy enough; I thought it tasted bland. However, the other two in my group enjoyed them); so I switch to Mimosas. They tasted typical, but as the brunch progressed, I noticed I got less and less orange juice and more and more champagne.
As for my meal, I had the Hal’s Special Huevos Rancheros. It was excellent! Prepared perfect in my opinion. In fact, I would say its the best item I’ve had at Hal’s over the years.
As always on Abbot Kinney, great for people watching. Will definitely be back.

Service: −500÷5
Food: ⁰⁄₅
So we came here because our friends were playing blues tunes on a Wednesday night. Supporting friends and having some tasty drinks and food sounds awesome, right? Wrong.
We walk in just before 7:30, and it took a couple minutes of standing close enough to breathe on the service staff to be acknowledged. Then, rather than pleasantly asking «how many in your party?» and giving us pertinent wait-​time information, we were greeted with «There’s a wait.» And only after asking, still pleasantly, «how long is the wait?» were we able to get a half-​voiced, no eye-​contact «at least 25 or 30 minutes.»
Then, after a good 40 – 45 minutes, we were taken to a table in the back of the restaurant, where we immediately ordered an appetizer.
(30 minutes later with no appetizer)
Server comes up to us for the second time and we ask if there are available cocktail/​dessert menus. Apparently that was a rough question so after asking twice, he left for another 10 minutes before returning with one cocktail/​dessert menu and one enlarged dessert menu identical to the one alongside the specialty drinks. -.-
Then, before we can really peruse the first few items, we are interrupted by the hostess who then tells us something to the effect of «since you haven’t yet ordered an entrée, the owner does not want you seated here» And this is in a full restaurant, with a live band performing. There are no other seats AND our appetizer was still not out.
So, a few minutes later, our calamari comes out. It is fried with an oversalted batter next to an extremely salty cocktail sauce… and nothing else. Then, two pieces in, my date finds shells… In her calamari. I, myself, had no idea that squid/​calamari even had the potential to have shells found in it. But yes, it is – actually scientifically, possible. However possible though, it is extremely unacceptable to serve calamari with shells still in it at a restaurant.
We did not finish it. We were also given the check without asking for it… (Seriously?)
Then, two members of the band we came to support, came to sit with us. It took them at least 30 minutes and 7 instances of polite asking, to even have an opportunity to order a beverage.
…
This place has the absolute worst service staff and attitude that I have ever encountered.
For a place that charges the prices the prices they charge. Even with excellent service, I would never be returning. I think my blood-​pressure increased at least 30 points from the amount of salt they managed infuse into the… 4 or 5 pieces of calamari I choked down with the aid of excessive amounts of lemon and the last few drops of water I had.
Additional note: Across the span of an hour and 40 minutes we spent, I was served one small glass of water and was never checked on again.
So after paying the check and leaving the table to go all the way back to the front of the place to enjoy the music from the bar area.
By this time, we had figured that we would surely be done interacting with this atrociously inhospitable restaurant staff. But alas, we were not. As the band was packing up, our server (if you could even call him that…) rushes up to our friend who had been playing sax all night and demands payment for his complementary beverage. The poor guy was contractually entitled to an entrée and two drinks. He had just one drink with no entrée, and this passive-​aggressive «server» was insisting that he pay for it.
I’m embarrassed to have been to such a disrespectful and offensive establishment. I refuse ever to return and will forever discourage anyone I encounter from giving them any business.
Save your money, your health, and your peace of mind by avoiding this place like the plague.

Miss the Jazz

Love Hal’s!!!
I’ve been dinning here for over 5 years.
Hal’s never disappoints me… I done here a few times a month. I love going here for wine and the worlds best turkey burger.
The food is fresh and service is always on point.
They have a great happy hour.
Parking sucks… But it’s worth the drive around

Hal’s is a Venice fixture.
I’ve been going to Hal’s since I lived in Oakwood and could walk there on Thursday nights for ½ off selected wines.
My favorites…
Tuesday/​Wednesday night /​12 off selected wines ++++++
Sashimi appetizer (ahi tuna, scallops, salmon, jalapenos,
tangerines, lack sea salt, avocado, tangerine
sesame seed dressing) ++++
Rock Crab, Avacoado & Watermelon Salad +++++
Manuel’s Salad ++++
Squash Blossoms +++++++++++++++++ don’t think they serve them any more :(
Penne (spicy sausage sauce, pecorino romano cheese) ++++
Roasted Wild King Salmon (pinot noir-​frozen ice vinegar butter sauce,
oven roasted heirloom tomato, risotto, early girl
tomato, horseradish, relish) ++++
The servers have all been there forever… they’re amazing.
The biggest downsize to Hal’s is it’s so loud you can’t hear yourself think. You might as well just pretend you hear your date, friend, business partner, etc. …or bring a whiteboard and some markers.

Came here for lunch. Had a reservation and was sat at a booth. I really like these booth tables, they’re made out of some kind of stone. Gave the place a cool vibe and was a nice balance from the white table cloth tables. I also like the large ceiling in this place.
We ordered:
VEGGIE BURGER: This burger is impossible to eat, but most veggie burgers are. Liked that there was squash on the burger and the avocado added a nice touch. I would probably order this if I was to come here for lunch again. The sweet potato fries were way too sweet, in my opinion.
VEGGIE PLATE: I got the veggie plate which is a choice of 4. I got the tofu, the fresh baby vegetables, and the fries. I asked a double on the tofu since I only wanted 3, but when my portion came there was barely any tofu! Was disappointed. Overall, the tofu tasted like nothing (which is a huge bummer for a tofu lover like me) and the veggies weren’t that flavorful either. The biggest bummer for me was the fries. While waiting for our food, I was super excited to see the fries go by. They looked soooooo good on other peoples plates! Unfortunately, when mine came, they were not very tasty. I didn’t feel good after eating them either. I can’t describe how they tasted, but they were not crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Service was okay. Nothing special but they got the job done and were pretty friendly about it.
I would probably come to Hal’s to try dinner but I don’t think I’d come back to try lunch. I think I ordered the wrong thing, but being a vegetarian, there’s not really a lot to order.

Aawww… Not sure what happened, but the porterhouse 1 week ago was full of gristle, thin and ended up being served to to my 4-​legged family members: (
1 bad meal does not shake my loyalty though — Going back tonight and looking forward to a great dinner.

When I think of Venice, CA fondly I always think of one of its oldest institutions… HAL’s. HAL’s has been on Abbott Kinney longer than any other business on the block and will continue to thrive despite being the grandpa of the family because it is simple, it is good and it offers a guaranteed good time.
The bartenders make a mean martini and their turkey burger is amazing. It’s my favorite in LA.
The menu is simple, unpretentious American fare with meat, fish and poultry options and the food is always prepared with professionalism. It’s not the best plate of grub in LA but for $ 25 and under for entrees, you get solid quality for what you are paying.
The service can be curt and rushed and generally lacks a certain je né sais quois but the art of true dining service unfortunately only exists in a handful of establishments.
It’s really the atmosphere, the clientele, the artwork/​photography and the live Jazz that intoxicates me. It’s a big, wide open space with comfortable seating. There is always an eclectic group in attendance, people I actually want to be around which is rare in LA and especially now with the new and unimproved Abbott Kinney the kind of people that it has attracted makes it the sister school to Beverly Hills High.
Most places on Abbott Kinney, the clientele piss me off. They are eating out to show off their new shoes, haircut or fucking handbag. They are out to show how awesomely privileged they are, not to contribute to their environment but to suck it’s life force dry with every selfish breath they take.
The people that go to HAL’s are as jovial, sincere and genuine as the restaurant itself and now that I have moved out of Venice, it is the reason that I return to Abbott Kinney.
Thank you Hal for being an establishment with character and heart. There aren’t many places like you left.

Cuisine excellente, cuissons maitrisees, cependant si vous aimez le bruit, prenez une table au rdc sinon demandez une table au salon à l’étage