What's Cooking America - Restaurant Reviews
Portland, Oregon Metro Restaurant Reviews


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Overall Ratings:
***


Overall Review:
  All-in-all, this restaurant was a disappointment to us. We do not leave with any great feelings about our dinners.

Review Date:  February 29, 2008

Cuisine:  American-style with an emphasis on pasta, seafood, and steaks

Alcohol:  A large bar area with a full selection of alcoholic beverages.
Their very popular happy hour is every day from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Attire:  Casual to dressy casual

Location: Located in Beaverton on Hall Blvd and Westgate Drive.

Open Hours:  Open daily
Lunch: Monday - Friday: 11:15 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Dinner: Sunday - Monday: 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Tuesday - Wednesday: 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Thursday - Saturday: 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.


Parking:
  Parking lot available

Price Range: 
Moderate

Reservations: Reservations are accepted.

Wheel Chair Assessable:  No - have to go to the back of the restaurant.


Rating Key Explanations:

* Bad (will never go back)

** Fair (below average - will not go back)

*** Good (would consider dining there again)

**** Very Good (will definitely go back)

***** Extraordinary (will be back as soon as possible)

I make every attempt to remain anonymous while reviewing each restaurant.  All meals are paid for by myself.  This way, I can report the most honest and trustworthy restaurant reviews possible. Other recognizable critics frequently get special food and service. I forgo any perks so that my restaurant experience will be similar to yours.

If you would like to add a review of this restaurant, email Linda Stradley. Also feel free to send me suggestions of restaurants for review.

Disclaimer:  None of the restaurants reviewed on this site have given any sort of financial incentive to Linda Stradley or her website, What's Cooking America. The restaurants had no foreknowledge that a review was going to be written.
 

 


Hall Street Grill



3775 SW Hall Blvd
Beaverton, OR 97005

Map & Directions
 

Phone: 503-641-6161

Web Site: http://www.hallstreetgrill.com/




 

In the 90's when I was still in the so called "working world," this was one of my favorite restaurants for lunch with friends. I never seemed to get there for dinner. So, I decided it was time to dine there and check the dinners out.  My husband and I ventured out on a rainy Friday evening with our neighbors that we enjoy dining with. The parking lot was packed and the restaurant and bar seemed to be full. They had a very boisterous crowd in the bar area.

The evening started out bad when the hostess placed us at a table located next to the kitchen where traffic was frantic. Naturally this did not please us. When asked to be moved to a quieter table, the hostess said all the tables were reserved. This didn't go over well with our group as we had made advance reservations and were not "drop ins." After letting the manager know, he immediately moved us to another table.

Our server was a very pleasant and personable lady. We were never served the bread at the beginning of the meal, and the salads we ordered were also not served. We went straight from our ordered appetizers to our entrees.  They did "comp" us a couple of sorbets to make up for their oversight. So, as you can see, our dinner didn't start off well.

Menu items we ordered:

Starters:

 

Artichoke Crab Dip - $9.95
Served with sliced onions, parmesan cheese, garlic crostini.

Very good! Our group enjoyed sharing this.

 

 

House made hummus with pita - $6.95
Served with cucumber and grape relish.

The hummus was delicious!

 

Soup and Salads:


Sweet Onion Soup - $5.95
Served with Emmenthaler Swiss and grana parmesan cheese

My husband and I shared this soup. It was good, but not great!

As I stated above, we had ordered the Classic Caesar Salad and the Hall Street House Salad. Both salads were never served to us.

 

Entrees:

Smoked Pork Osso Bucco - $23.95
Slow cooked Carlton Farms pork shank over creamy polenta.

My husband ordered this, as he really likes Osso Bucco. He will usually order it when it is on a menu. When his Osso Bucco arrived, the meat was cold!  I mean it was really cold and not warm or hot. Of course, this was unacceptable. The waitress took it back to the kitchen to warm it up. By the time he got his dinner back, the rest of our group were finished with our entrees. Another bad "strike" against the restaurant.

He said it was good, but not great!

 

Wonton Crusted Ahi Tuna - $26.95
Served with stir fried Asian vegetables, fingerling potatoes, and spicy sesame aioli.

Our friend said this was a very unusual combination and also presentation.  He wasn't exactly excited about it.

 

 

Grilled Sea Scallops - $24.95
Served with a cauliflower puree, blood orange cram, leek, and fennel.

This was the outstanding dish of the evening! The scallops were tender and perfectly cooked. The cauliflower puree was outstanding. If I could rate the restaurant on this dish, they would have gotten four stars, but they rest of the dinner didn't live up to this rating.
 

 

 

Fiery Prawn Fettuccine - $18.95
Diced chicken breast, wile gulf prawns, spicy tomato and garlic sauce.

This was a very spicy pasta dish, but I knew that when ordering it. The biggest fault was the prawns, as the tails were not removed from them.  This is a dangerous way to serve shrimp or prawns when it is mixed into the pasta. Also it was very awkward and hard to remove the tails when they are covered with sauce. This dish was good, but nothing special.

 


Cranberry Sorbet

They gave us a couple of their cranberry sorbets to try and make up for all the mistakes made. It was delicious! It was especially nice after the very spice fettuccine.