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2014-12-02
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Came here for lunch as I walked by here a while back and it was still under construction at the time with a "We're COMING BACK!" Apparently, this is the same Hal's Japanese that was once in Central then moved to Tang Lung Street and now relocated here. I had heard good things about the food in past years so was wondering if it was the same. So, visited it today.Hal's serves Japanese Western food. Things like Japanese hamburger steak with rice. That type of thing. The outside of the restaurant is
Hal's serves Japanese Western food. Things like Japanese hamburger steak with rice. That type of thing. The outside of the restaurant is very pretty, all in wood with wacky curvy windows. The inside of the restaurant is just plain light wood tables and chairs in a minimalistic design.
I came in and was given a table immediately. The maitre'd took some time to fix my table as it wobbled. I thought that was very courteous. Then he told me that he will return with the menu. That's when things started to go downhill. I waited 10 minutes and no one returned with a menu. Not only that, I had no place setting as well. So, I sat by myself for 10 minutes, no menu and no place settings. Just a blank empty table. FINALLY ... after a bit of waving, a waiter came by and I asked for a menu and perhaps a place setting? The waiter apologized and came back quickly with one and offered me a glass of water. This is after waiting 10 minutes for someone to come by and only after asking for some attention.
Lunch menu consisted of various Japanese favorites including Japanese hamburger, tempura, Japanese curry and pork cutlet and sushi. Prices weren't expensive. Probably ranging around $100 - 200.
I decided on Hal's hamburger steak with spaghetti with sauteed assorted vegetables. It included a salad, miso soup, rice and coffee or tea. ($98). I added an extra $30 for poached egg and garlic as I always think Japanese spaghetti tastes better with a poached egg.
I was given the salad pretty quickly after I ordered. It was alright. Salad greens were crisp. It had a very grainy version of Thousand Island sauce as dressing. It was a decent portion.
After the salad, I waited 30 minutes for the rest of my meal. I wasn't sure why it took so long but I waited anyways. And when it came, I was surpised that it was cold. I waited 30 mintues for the food. Did that mean, the food sat at the service window for 30 minutes as well and that is why it was cold??Anyways, the set also had a small plate of Japanese pickles. There was also a bowl of rice. It's very Japanese. However, I wasn't given chopsticks and when I looked around me, I saw everyone else had chopsticks along with knives, forks and spoons. How was I to eat the rice without chopsticks? A fork? After waving for a good while for some sort of attention, I was finally given chopsticks.
The miso soup was ok. Nothing exciting about it. Just regular miso you get at any low end Japanese. It was also the only thing in my lunch set that was warm..
The poached egg was poached in the cup and was all broken. Obviously, not poached the regular way. It was also ... cold. It wasn't just cold. It was ice cold. The amount of spaghetti is exactly what you see before you. The exact amount it takes to make a swirl with your fork. So, having a poached egg on top made it drown out the pasta into one big watery mess instead of soaking up all the yolky goodness. The pasta was also cold. I can't even say it was al dente as it was just plain hard and wirey. The "assorted vegetables" on the menu were few pieces of spinach on top of the one forkful of pasta. I added $30 for not only poached egg but garlic. Garlic was a total of 2 slices of fried garlic. I should have opted for the mushrooms. The hamburger steak was cold and a major over use of pepper. Izumi Curry makes a better Japanese hamburger steak and that's just really sad. To it's credit, the sauce on the hamburger steak was quite nice. It had a subtle sweet flavor. Too bad the hamburger itself had way too much pepper, the sauce was drowned out.
I noticed a couple beside me ordered sets and only one came. The other came after the other person finished her meal and they waited a further 15 minutes before the other was served. I suggest they watch Hell's Kitchen and learn ... all food goes out to the same table at the same time.To the restaurant's credit, the coffee I ordered that came with the meal was actually really good. It had a rich nutty fllavor. Usually the house coffee for lunch sets are one of three categories for me : tastes like dirt, mediocre or just drinkable. This was actually very good.
It took me 2 hours to finish lunch with all the waiting for food inbetween. I'm glad I had the day off so I wasn't in a hurry to leave. It's sad as the layout of the restaurant is stylish and nice and I really wanted to like it. But unfortunately, the service and the food was disappointing. I found it amusing that my bill came very quickly after I asked for it ... unlike everything else. I won't return.
张贴
