Houlihan's Restaurants Inc
Houlihan's Restaurants Inc Employee Reviews
Found 405 reviews matching the search See all 407 reviews
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Kitchen is horrible
Server (Current Employee) – Hasbrouck Heights, NJ – February 18, 2019
You wait so long for the kitchen to get food out correctly. Some managers are there not willing to help and lazy. The amount of running around you do for one table is not worth the money most of the time.
Pros
Money on the spot
Cons
The stress level is not worth it
Fun place serious about food quality
Chef, Manager (Current Employee) – Savannah, GA – February 9, 2019
Houlihan's has a nicely appointed dining room that can accommodate large groups and offers awesome take-out catering. The bar service is friendly but detailed and included many unique cocktails with fresh imaginative garnishes.
The food is current with many choices between full flavored rich dished and entree salads flat breads and lighter style entrees.
The ingredients are fresh and presentations are well thought.
The food is current with many choices between full flavored rich dished and entree salads flat breads and lighter style entrees.
The ingredients are fresh and presentations are well thought.
Pros
Team oriented culture that stressed learning and improvement.
Cons
Only one restaurant in area.
Could be a great to work (someday)
Assistant General Manager (Former Employee) – Springfield, VA – February 6, 2019
The springfield location is owned by the hilton so you are eligable for their benefits, but this location has terrible staffing issues. This is solely due in part to the GM & KM. Their attitudes and proffesionalism is absoluty horrible most of the time as well as thier poor work ethic . The average Asst Manager last anywhere from 6 months to a year before being forced out or fired ( i was one of them) because they are under the hilton umbrella and directly in contact with Houlihans on a regular basis, their actions go unchecked even after numerous complaint from staff and asst managers. I left on my own terms , but i still stay in touch with the few remaining staff members and nothing has changed. The KM is extremely hard to work with and getting food out of the kitchen without incident is nearly impossible when he is on site. unless there is a management shake (not likely) . its a great place to a fast buck , but not a career
Pros
hotel discounts, free food
Cons
poor management
Ask me in person
Assistant Manager (Former Employee) – Ramsey, NJ – January 31, 2019
as management, you work 5 shifts a week at 11 hours a clip based on the last time I worked there.
management training consisted on back house training in all stations as well as bartender and host training.
management training consisted on back house training in all stations as well as bartender and host training.
Fun work place. Easy to get along with people
Food Runner (Current Employee) – Lees Summit, MO – January 25, 2019
I enjoy my time at houlihans. The people I work with are very supportive and the managers are always easy to talk to and very encouraging. There are occasions when the job comes with stress especially on busy nights, but it is manageable stress and easy to thrive under.
fun fast work
Assistant Manager/ cook/server (Former Employee) – Brentwood, MO – January 22, 2019
I've learned a lot of great communication skills from this job and how to run a team of people.working under pressure and staying calm was a typical day at the job
Pros
taught patient
Cons
different personalities
Poor management
Line Cook (Former Employee) – Dubuque, IA – January 13, 2019
Being 2nd shift line cook we were made to clean whatever wasn’t cleaned from the 1st shift because management didn’t force the issue that all cooks should clean and maintain a clean work environment. Some of the managers have there favorites so not everything is equal some of the times
Pros
Food Discount
Cons
Management
new hires...beware
Server/Host (Former Employee) – Leawood, KS – January 9, 2019
the leawood location is run entirely via favoritism and nepotism. no matter what your experience is or the time you put into the store, you'll be regularly sidelined by those close to the managers, usually via family connections. if the managers don't like you for whatever reason, they'll make your life much more difficult than it needs to be.
management has been struggling to keep up with a disorganized back of house for months. morale between management and servers is mostly tense and dissatisfied except for in a few cases, and sometimes toxic. this is probably due to the fact that the managers and corporate will always put the individual needs of their servers last. almost everyone working there is unhappy to some degree because of this lack of personalization. one saturday night that i worked, the restaurant had to close for an hour and a half in the middle of a (very typical and not overwhelming) dinner rush because the kitchen couldn't keep up with orders. stuff like this happens constantly; it aggravates the managers, and they'll sometimes take it out on their attitude with the servers.
there's regularly homophobic language and hygienic breaches in the back of the house that go unregulated. management claims to have an open door policy about feedback, but it's ineffective, unfortunately. all in all, some of the managers exhibited behavior that was embarrassingly unprofessional in my time there.
tips are generally low because tabs are so low thanks to cheap food, lack of gratuity and constant discounts/coupons/comps. when i first started, the food would reach more... 30-40 minute wait times, making customers unhappy and resulting in lower tips. the sidework is unduly much, especially for how low the tips are. employee retainment rates are low because of the lack of effective management--only a handful of servers have been there longer than 6 months. the turnover rate was absolutely insane when i started because of the bad management.
the only positive is that the servers and hosts here are some of the best people you'll ever meet. most of the servers themselves provide fantastic service and work their tails off. the fact that they have to put up with this treatment when they deserve so much better is beyond me. less
management has been struggling to keep up with a disorganized back of house for months. morale between management and servers is mostly tense and dissatisfied except for in a few cases, and sometimes toxic. this is probably due to the fact that the managers and corporate will always put the individual needs of their servers last. almost everyone working there is unhappy to some degree because of this lack of personalization. one saturday night that i worked, the restaurant had to close for an hour and a half in the middle of a (very typical and not overwhelming) dinner rush because the kitchen couldn't keep up with orders. stuff like this happens constantly; it aggravates the managers, and they'll sometimes take it out on their attitude with the servers.
there's regularly homophobic language and hygienic breaches in the back of the house that go unregulated. management claims to have an open door policy about feedback, but it's ineffective, unfortunately. all in all, some of the managers exhibited behavior that was embarrassingly unprofessional in my time there.
tips are generally low because tabs are so low thanks to cheap food, lack of gratuity and constant discounts/coupons/comps. when i first started, the food would reach more... 30-40 minute wait times, making customers unhappy and resulting in lower tips. the sidework is unduly much, especially for how low the tips are. employee retainment rates are low because of the lack of effective management--only a handful of servers have been there longer than 6 months. the turnover rate was absolutely insane when i started because of the bad management.
the only positive is that the servers and hosts here are some of the best people you'll ever meet. most of the servers themselves provide fantastic service and work their tails off. the fact that they have to put up with this treatment when they deserve so much better is beyond me. less
Pros
amazing coworkers, generally good food
Cons
terrible management, slow kitchen
Great company to work for
Service Manager (Former Employee) – KS – January 9, 2019
Great company and culture. As a manager you are allocated a $200 Gold Card every month to use at any of the restaurants. Normal manager hours. They run a lot of promotions and discounts some times a couple days after being made aware of it.
this company no longer exists
Lead Server/ Floor Supervisor (Former Employee) – Fairfield, NJ – January 1, 2019
They are no longer in business and this was a hard job mentally and physically. I am glad I no longer work for this company. I worked a lot and had minimal compensation
dining / club
Bartender/Server (Former Employee) – Monroeville, PA – December 12, 2018
It was like day and night! straight up restaurant during the day then the D.J. shows up! was A whole new crowd! everyone we knew came to see us! we were the hottest spot in monroeville! everyone would make it the place on the way home! my staff was my family& always will be!
Pros
money
Cons
rough late night crowd
Managers are horrible
Hostess (Former Employee) – Bayonne, NJ – December 11, 2018
This job and manager sucked no one would help out and they just sat there like we were little slaves that had to figure out things on our own I had a full time job and did this on the side and when the season ended in my full time job I work full time at here and when my job opened back up they fired me because I went bak to work full time and when we would get payed out credit tip out every time no mater how many hours or how much was made that day will always be $6.31 which is impossible so they would take our money
Respectful staff for the most part
Server (Current Employee) – Westbury, NY – December 3, 2018
Managers are decent, the Kitchen is a lot more organized then most restaurants. Tip out is 5% but if you can deal with that it’s a decent serving job.
Pros
Good food
Cons
Gossip girls
fast pace customer service
Server (Current Employee) – Naperville, IL – November 28, 2018
For me the people you work with in the daily make or brake a company. it could be a great company or a company with bad values, what matters is that they find people with good values in the local level and that is what i think i have in my work environment.
Pros
good work atmosphere
Cons
production square footage
fast pace and busy
Busser/Dishwasher (Former Employee) – Bayonne, NJ – November 26, 2018
fast pace job when busy , usually start off getting the forks and spoons clean , rollin then up, setting them on the table, go on the floor keep an eye out for the clean that are done eating and clean the tables and set it up with new forks and spoons
Cons
not enough pay to much labor
Fast paced place to work, good place foe restaurant experience.
HOSPITALITY CONCIERGE (Former Employee) – Lansing, MI – November 24, 2018
I worked here for about 5 years and went back a few years later to help out. I started as a busboy and went on to learn every position in the restaurant. At the time i was working there the first time management turnover was very high. I was left training new managers and limited on moving up in the company due to my age. After a few poor managers I ended up quitting. I knew the regional manager well at the time and he said he would always keep a spot open for me if he could. At that point I was done with the company for awhile.
Pros
Great learning experience.
Cons
High turn over
Morning Shift
Cook (Former Employee) – Lees Summit, MO – November 20, 2018
I learned a lot working for Houlihans. First job to give me the opportunity to become a cook. Learned all of the stations, between Fry, Pantry, Grill, and Saute. All of my co-workers and managers were truly friendly.
Okay job
Accounting Coordinator (Current Employee) – Leawood, KS – November 20, 2018
It was fun when I started and before I started hearing the gossip and complaints about co workers. Small department with poor management skills, workload is unreasonable and company seems to be doing poorly.
Great place for picking up skills!
Management (Former Employee) – Champaign, IL – October 29, 2018
This was a great company to work for, as far as career advancement, benefits and the opportunity to learn a variety of skillsets.
However, the powers and titles of managers changed way too often, with a very high turnover. Also, all branches of management needed fo learn how to communicate better
However, the powers and titles of managers changed way too often, with a very high turnover. Also, all branches of management needed fo learn how to communicate better
Pros
Benefits: healthcare, 401k, paid time off, bonuses
Cons
many changes in managment, bad communication