The Garden Grill & Bar

Hotel restaurants have an awful reputation. Unhealthy, uninspiring, bland and over priced food. When staying at a hilton garden inn you might hope for a bit more. If this restaurant is any indication you should expect LESS. Wait staff and management were barely coherent, particularly about food allergies. When I informed him about my son’s peanut allergy and if there was any risk of cross contamination I heard. «Shrimps and all that are bad for the allergies» though we had no shellfish allergy to worry about. My $ 24 fish and chips (usually a safe bet) came with unsalted oily/​soggy fries and 4 trader joes fish sticks — not kidding. The Tabasco sauce bottle has obviously been refilled with some mystery sauce. My wife’s sandwich, which on the menu promised bacon and avocado in fact had a 2 cubes of avocado and some bacon bits sprinkled on. Pasta with marinara was way overcooked. After a long day traveling it might be tempting to just stay in the hotel and try to get a decent meal. Try pizza delivery because this place is a disaster.

You could almost miss this restaurant, standing in the lobby. A long table sits in the lobby facing a TV and a collection of tables hide in the farthest corner from that table hidden by a coffee service that resides there permanently. The kitchen is visible through a cut out in the wall where waiters pick up orders skirting around a large table that serves no apparent purpose other than to cut them off from the diners. A couple of menus and specials lay upon it along with what must be a Hilton specific green placemat that draws my eye every time I see one. A full bar assumes the corner across from the mystery table. A strange set up overall with a very humble sign next to the kitchen hole spelling out the name and hours of this built-​in restaurant. I hope guests aren’t put off by it because the service is extremely friendly and professional. They quickly took my to-​go order of chicken pesto flatbread with a bottle of wine. They called me down when the order was ready and very artfully packed a tray with glasses, food and a cleverly re-​corked bottle that allowed them to place it sideways without leaking a drop making it easy for me to carry it all by myself and still open my room door. A smiling manager told me to enjoy as I walked past the front desk, though I wonder now if the thought that I was going to finish the bottle by myself didn’t make him so cheerful! I picked the red peppers off the flatbread but found the pizza to be an excellent pick for a relative bargain hotel price of $ 14. They arranged it with fresh tomatoes, basil and slices of grilled chicken breast over pesto on a thin crust just sturdy enough to hold up the toppings and sprinkled salad greens on top of it to counter the salty flavors. I consider this bar and grill a reason alone to pick it over the the nearby Hilton and its over-​priced 144 Restaurant. It’s more relaxed and offers great food at moderate prices if you can overlook the haphazard layout.