Here's the email I sent them Christmas morning.
Dear Sir,
This was my first visit to Hal's. In the company of 6 others I sat down to dine at 8. Most of the group were regulars and knew staff members by name.
The service at the bar whilst waiting for the group to assemble was good. The volcanic clouds of smoke rising from the scattered cigar smokers at the bar were of no consequence due to a very efficient smoke extractor.
Once seated I noticed that items were missing from the table. Side plates for most of the seats were absent. This was rectified by us taking them from surrounding tables after having asked our server to find some. I had to ask for some lemon slices 3 times. Some menus had pages missing or pages that had come loose.
The garlic bread we were offered was a mix of soggy or burnt husks.
The fried oyster appetizer was visually excellent but the overly generous parmesan cheese resulted in a gloopy mess of oil and teeth sticking blobs.
Now we come to the crux of the matter. The Osso Buco was fork tender and the succulent meat pulled away from the bone with the minimum of effort. Why was I given a steak knife to use? No confidence in the cooks ability to prepare this?
As to taste it was certainly flavorful but who told the cook to use a bag of salt. It was terrible. The meat could quite easily have been preserved for months with the amount of salt used. The bowling ball size blob of angel hair pasta was so glutinous it was impossible to separate the strands.
In summary it was a dining experience I would not wish to repeat.
Please update the menu prices on your web site.
http://hals.net/
