Halo Restaurant in the SW

[89s1]

Originally posted by max_boost


Maddog doesn't even post on here anymore. No need to call him out.

The fact he left was the root of my humor, I'm fully aware of the situation.

[ekguy]

I've been to Halo a few times. Never ordered much food more like a pit stop for a couple drinks in a nice place with whichever girl I happen to be chilling with at the moment...

Bartender there is awesome...Well one of them anyways. Made our montecristo's with double the alcool by accident and instead of being an ass and charging us for doubles or even just remaking the drinks just told us to enjoy the stiffer drinks...

French onion soup is amazing there. Also their deserts are quite nice as well.

Atmosphere is a bit upscale compared to most chain restaurants and makes for a very decent date location.

[Isaiah]

Good feedback, thanks.

[RedGallardo]

Originally posted by bubbley
Hows the atmosphere there good place to bring your gf?

Girlfriend, or just a date. Works well for either.

[zipdoa]

Originally posted by natejj
I read this hoping for a restaurant where you could play Halo at your table.

or one where you were served by master cheif...

[Energykenji]

My husband and I went there for our Bday as a gift from my sister in law who lives in Australia. The food was delicious, we both had steaks and I had the Caesar Salad to start and he had the French Onion Soup. It was all great. The service was fantastic. His sister called from Perth and made the reservations for us and somehow paid for the evening. I am assuming she left her credit card number. We will go again for sure.

[nonlinear]

Originally posted by KyleTA
I ate there when it first opened a few years back.... food was shit.
My steak was over done, and was not a nice cut of meat to begin with. Also it was really overpriced for the quality of food we got.

we just tried Halo for the first time and wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Everything about this place, from the decor to the table settings to the food is extremely pretentious and (for the food at least) poorly executed.

I had the 'heavenly halibut tarragon' ($30), which was an unseasoned poached halibut filet served under a tarragon cream sauce that had a few baby shrimp and couple chunks of chopped scallops in it (haha). The halibut was tasteless and rubbery; i'm guessing it had been frozen (or pre-cooked or something). The sauce was VERY bland and since it was treated as a condiment really didn't impart any flavour to the fish. My gf had sliced veal covered in a mushroom marsala sauce ($26). notice a trend here? like the halibut, the veal had simply been cooked unseasoned and covered in a sauce, and there seemed to be no effort to make the flavour in the sauce part of the main event...

Both entrees came with the same sides of steamed green beans/carrots and mashed potatoes. The beans and carrots were cooked properly but tossed in an all-too predictable sweet glaze (maple?). i'm not sure what was going on with the mashed potatoes; there were obvious chunks of real potatoes in there, but the bulk of it seemed like it had been prepared from instant potato flakes (think KFC mashed potatoes). maybe they make a couple of real potatoes and mix them into instant potatoes?

Talking about it on the drive home, we decided that both meals were reminiscent of those cheap frozen dinner entrees you can buy in the supermarket, or something that you would be served on a flight. Not just in terms of quality, but right down to the 'contrived' recipes and presentation. I honestly couldn't tell if things were being made fresh in the kitchen, or being assembled from Sysco boxes and bags, but either way it's obvious that there is a fairly inexperienced head chef calling the shots here. It's really too bad, because the building is quite nice and there aren't any other upscale restaurants in this area to compete with - so they could do much better with a decent head chef.

Prices are on par with Catch; entrees range from about $25 to $60, which isn't expensive when the food is superb, however at Halo this is way overpriced given the quality of the food. You could find the same entrees at an upscale chain restaurant like earls or moxies for about $18-$20.

That said, our sever was excellent and kept our drinks topped. food brought out quick (although we were given two appetizer plates and didn't order an app.. not sure what that was for). Gave him a good tip, but we won't be going back to Halo when we have far superior options in cgy such as Catch.

Catch is in an entirely different league... if you've been to both, you undoubtedly know what i mean.