The Halfway House

This is one of those places that I go to every few years. I rarely think about it, but when I do my foggy memory tells me I’ve never had a bad meal in it. This visit came about by accident as we’d intended going southwards but sudden happy necessity took us towards Belfast. Needless to say we hadn’t booked. So at 6pm on a Saturday evening 3 of us rolled up. The friendly, efficient staff welcomed and fitted us in. Good size table and comfy seating. So three of us dined. Connecting to wifi was difficult and far to slow here. The barman was trying to flog a chilli based cocktail to guests who were just about sitting down and he was trying too hard. Other staff were similarly offering drinks to guests barely seated and we were among these guests. Slow down guys take just a minute out, say you time it as you hand out the food menus? We were seated beside a couple celebrating a 35^th birthday with a precocious 4 or 5 year old lad in tow who screamed to get his wishes and it repeatedly worked. He took 80% of their time and it was clear as they pandered to him they weren’t comfortable. I’m not of the generation that finds this sort of situation tolerable or healthy for either adults or children. Anyway to the food. Two had burgers topped with bacon and great chips and declared all the food really very good. Unusually for me I opted for a vegetarian so as I could try the Fivemiletown goats cheese with a portobello mushroom, basil pesto, fusilli pasta and garlic focaccia. I also had a portion of great onion rings on the side to avoid having three servings of chips. The vegetarian food was really tasty, memorable in fact. Especially the garlic bread. I sprinkle a little salt on garlic bread as I find it really brings out the garlic flavour. All our meals were about £11 each. As I said cheery attentive staff, and the steaks passing by our table looked and smelled terrific but not too many were quaffing the chilli cocktail. I like my chilli a lot but not as a drink. Maybe I’ll try one when it’s minus one outside! Worth visiting.

We don’t live too far from the Halfway and used to go a lot, however it has changed hands a lot and wasn’t great for a while. We recently paid it a visit though and I can honestly say everything was back to the way it used to be — fab! Really good food and good quantities. I honestly don’t know where the previous writer got pretentious from for it’s really down to earth and very popular with us locals ! In fact — just try and get a late booking for mother’s or Father’s Day and you’ll see what I mean.
Love it!

Pretentious with a capital P.
Appalling food, diabolical service, if you eat in the bar area expect dirty sticky seats.
As a ex-​restaurant owner my advice to this place would be clear out the staff and start again. This time with kitchen staff at the least known how to boil a egg.
Avoid this place at all costs.

Pretentious with a capital P.
Incapable of preparing even the simplest of dishes. Ordered a beef burger that tasted of nothing except a slight hint of fish. A salad that was reminiscent of the kind of thing my grandmother would have serve up in the late 1940s just after the second world war.
The rest of my parties food was equally poor and although we complained this was ignored by members of staff. We should have pursued this but we had all had enough and just wanted to leave.
As a ex-​restaurant owner I think that the only way forward for this place is to sack all of the floor staff and replace the monkeys in the kitchen with humans that can cook.
We sat in the bar area with dated décor and dirty sticky upholstered.
A place to be avoided at all costs.

The Halfway has gone through a lot of changes in the last 20 years, sad to say they haven’t been for the best. You’ll get the general idea when you see the latest signage on your way there. Look out for the blue knife and fork on the white backgrounds, remind you of a motorway service station? Then you won’t be disappointed. Cold, sterile environment with tables you won’t want to sit at for longer than necessary and food that you can only be polite about.

Oh no…
Guys have aliens landed??? Kidnapped all the good staff (or at least all the ones who knew where the kitchen was)
We were here recently for a family function.
It was booked for 2.30…we showed up at 2.29 and the ‘waitress’ (I use that term loosely) swanned about like a fairy looking at herself in every available mirror (your hair was cat so you need not have bothered)…get the orders in woman!!!
There were about 25 of us. it was during the day and only 2 other customers in the whole place but man!!! There must have been an invisible tent outside with 4,000 customers in it which would explain the SLOWWW service. I was going to start eating the table it was so bad, basically they fu**ed up. The stuff was not even semi prepared for us, so what should have been a pretty quick lunch turned out to be a loooooong drawn out affair. I could have understood the delay had we just wandered in off the street looking to feed a large group, but a definite booking had been made several days before.
And there were only two choices! Beef or Salmon… race horse speed they ain’t got here.
I can tell you they were not out catching my salmon cos it was as dry as a bone and needed every last drop of ‘sauce’ to make it palatable.
Bleargh!
There was a tit in a blue shirt and a vacant expression fannying about like an old woman at a bake off putting salt and pepper on the other tables (un occupied) so he wouldn’t have to clear our crap away once we had finished. It is a real art form making yourself look busy doing nothing at all but this guy has it off to a T.
GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY AND DO SOME WORK YOU USELESS ***** *****!
Not impressed, staff away to hell.
Must be under new management since my last visit.
Give it a miss

This is a high quality restaurant! The food is absolutely beautiful. The menu caters to all tastes, from chicken dishes to sirloin to light snacks. Prices are more expensive than the other local restaurants but well worth the extra few pounds. Watch out for the side orders not being included in the meal prices so allow for this when paying. The drinks are also a little more expensive. The service is good but the restaurant is very busy and therefore service can sometimes be a bit slow and ad hoc. Booking is essential as there are rarely any free tables at the weekend. Parking is on street. This restaurant is very hard to locate so allow extra time to find it!