Houlihan’s: A Foodie Review

A TAGsgf.com lunch meeting landed at Houlihan’s where Scott has talked up the fish tacos since the restaurant arrived at Glenstone and Kearney. I’ve never known his palate to be wrong and I had never actually had a fish taco, so I had become feverishly excited. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Sitting at the base of a hotel means a constant base for customers, but simultaneously means tragic parking troubles when there are events. Today, we have no problems sneaking right into a spot. The lunch rush is extremely busy, but we’re able to quickly retrieve a table.

The first thing I notice on the menu is a 15-minute guarantee. Basically, if your food takes longer than 15 minutes and your group is smaller than six people, grub is on the house – an incredible concept, especially for people trying to grab a quick lunch. Our food didn’t approach 15 minutes, so they were safe today and it’s hard to imagine them being any busier.

The layout is pretty simple, a large open room with a bar offset, but near, the center. Groups of booths lay the structure for seating. Allen mentioned how it’s really nice, but not stuffy.

The lunch menu starts around $8 and, as a staff, we were not too creative. Chris and Allen went with the Southwest Chicken Wrap, while Scott and I scarfed the Fish Tacos. All entrees are served with chips and salsa. The wrap appeared pretty standard – decent serving of chicken with assorted veggies and a spicy ranch sauce. Both partakers seemed pleased with the selection. Put it this way, neither was outwardly thrilled or displeased. The flavor of the fish tacos was incredible – tortilla, fish (a lightly battered cod, I believe), a cole slaw (not technically, but there was a cabbage-lettuce blend which had a similar consistency), pico de gallo (the key), and the spicy ranch dressing. The toppings would make a delicious metropolitan taco, absolutely tasty. The only problem for me is that the whole taco was primarily toppings. I was impressed with the flavor of the fish, but had just a few small pieces on the two tacos combined. They didn’t stick around too long as hunger returned shortly after eating. That said, I will order them again.

Otherwise the menu is absolutely massive. Murmurs of happy hour came to surface, and I imagine next time we meet at Houlihan’s it will be when we have zero responsibility following ($4 pitchers of Long Island Teas and Sangria!?! Hope there’s a Yellow Cab nearby).