rack & helens bar and grill

i absolutely love this place. it is a must visit if you're in the area. it has a large menue and everything i've had is great. the whiner grinder is still my favorite. there is a fairly descent beer selection as well. what really makes this place stand out is the atmosphere and service. it's just a little different than most places, you've really just got to go. every server i have ever had seams to be sincere and energetic. i have never had poor service. when they are busy and another server passes they ask if you need anything as well so you're never waiting on a drink.
lunches are slower and you can get in no problem. in the evening you may want to call and make reservations, especially for a larger group on the weekends.

rack and helen’s is a family owned bar/restaurant in new haven with upscale bar food and one of the nicer dining establishments in the town, which is probably why it is a good idea to get reservations if you plan on going as it can fill up and have long wait times. if you prefer more of a dining experience than a bar one, best to go before 8 pm as the lights get dimmer and they start to set up for any promotional events, like karaoke on thursdays after 9 pm and sometimes bands on the weekends.

they also catered food and it was a huge hit at the event i attended with the star being the pulled pork sandwiches. they have banquet room upstairs that can be rented.

the menu and look is a little like an applebee’s, but on steriods when it comes to televisions as there were over a dozen. it has hardwoord and sort of an l shaped layout with the bar and kitchen on the out edge of the l shape. they have a full service bar and serve appetizers, burgers, grinders, pizza, sandwiches, sausage rolls, some dinner offerings, and a few salad and soup offerings. one thing not on the menu though is dessert.

great place to eat in new haven if you're out that way. my friend had a birthday party here and they were very accommodating. food is great. love the drinks. my experiences have always been lovely. you can't go wrong!

not worth the price. used to be a little hole in the wall where you could get a good meal at a decent price. then they built a new, expanded place and went all upscale. that is fine, but they jacked up the prices to make the mortgage payments. i ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a coke and it cost me over $12! the waiter explained that the bacon was extra, the cheese was extra, the tomatoes were extra..... this is bar food, not fine dining. wow! never went back.

no smoking. what a nice surprise when we walked into r&h today for lunch and found out it's now smoke free. we almost always like their food but hardly ever went because afterwards you come out smelling like an ashtray. people who were previously put off by the smoke should now give it another try. the menu and the place in general still have it's minor quirks but the fact that it's now smoke free will make us add it back to the line up of restaurants.


-----12 sep, 2011-----

long time until i go back. my wife and i have eaten at rack and helen's several times and i'd like to share our observations. first this is the service. in all 3 times it was very good to excellent. prompt, polite, and helpful. it seems that everyone working in the place makes customer service
a priority and they do it well. the second item is the smoke. i hate smoke and they don't have a smoke free section, which is a drag. they do however have a very good air make-up system and it removes most of the smoke if it's not too busy. now the food. for appetizers we've had the mushrooms, cauliflower and the hot pepper cheese cubes. all we're pretty good and can almost be a meal by themselves. we've also had chicken club sandwich, pulled pork and their breaded tenderloin sandwich. again all were pretty good. this sunday 9/11 we stopped in for lunch. the wife ordered a pizza and i asked for a bbq cheddar burger. the pizza roll was pretty good.
however my burger was terrible. i didn't think it was possible to cook a patty until it was this dry and flavorless but somehow they did. in addition the bacon wasn't just "crisp" like the advertise, it was petrified. and the cheddar...instead of adding shredded cheese they threw on thick slices of the cheese and it didn't melt. yuck a waste of $7.50. they need to go to granite city to see how to do it right.
one other item that gets me is the fact you can't order a side of fries. you have to make it a platter for $3.00 more. i don't want a freakin' platter what i want a small side of fries. i've never seen anything like it. what happens if i'm watch the game and want a basket of fries to snack on, you can't get it. i cannot this of a single restaurant that does this. and to think we drove 60 mile round trip to eat here. it'll be awhile before i think i'll go back if ever.

not your average bar food. nachos, tater tots, french fries, wings, and everything else we tried were excellent.

good service and food. was told of this place by a friend that lives nearby. very pleasantly surprised. got a sausage roll and it was delicious. the staff was very helpful and it was busy there. will return.

...it is more bar than restaurant and is smoking establishment and the smell of stale cigarettes permeated the air. we were told it would be a 20 mintue wait for a table, but as had trouble breathing shortly after entering we decide to leave.

great place. i agree with the post below me entitled "has it all"
my boyfriend and i wondered into new haven when the deck downtown had an hour and a half wait. he wanted mexican, i wanted anything but, and we agreed we'd drive the 7 ish miles to try rack & helen's. we must have clearly looked like newbies because we weren't sure if we were supposed to wait to be seated or just slide in a booth. when we did find a seat, the manager came over and said he heard it was our first time, suggested some great drinks, and even bought out first round. the food was really good and if people were smoking in there, i didn't notice it. i thought you couldn't smoke anywhere in indiana anymore? regardless, we had a good time.

has it all!. this is the kind of place missing in most towns. not a same chain restaurant or a creepy local greasy spoon. this is great the food is awesome. the service attentive and friendly. the atmosphere nice too. the smoking is not noticeable. keep it up rack & helen's!

love the food!!. this place would be perfection if it wasn't for the smoke. absolutely the best service around. i have tried many items off of the menu and have never been disappointed...whiner grinder, chicken wings, burritos, enchiladas, sausage rolls, fried chicken, and burgers. (the sides are all very good too, i love the tator tots.)

only been their a few times, but the food was amazing both times. big juicy burgers, excellent wings and a bacon bbq chicken sandwich that is well worth the heart attack it will give you! service was fast and prices are fair.

nice facility, good service.. we arrived early afternoon for a saturday lunch. we were greated immediately and were seated in the spacious bar area. there only a few other patrons in the bar. there were five in our group with four of us ordering the pizza roll while the fifth member of our group ordered the stromboli. the portions were large and generous with high quality ingredients. our server, along with the apparent owner, ensured our glasses were always full. the facility was clean and tidy. the facility does allow smoking which would be about the only downfall of the establishment. the facility did not have that "stale cigarette smoke" odor which is characteristic of smoking restaurants but this was probably more a function of so few guests at the time of our visit. one fellow guest, a few tables away,did start to chain smoke cigarettes but she eventually left. overall, a nice facility with good food and good service. my only suggestion would be for management to bring the facility up to modern times and to ban smoking.

a joke!. i ordered the special and they asked if i wanted the toppings... sure why not then asked i i wanted chicken or beef( so i picke chicken). go to pick up order in a terribly smoky bar, and charged 3 extra dollars for the toppings and chicken instead of beef, and for a tiny thing of sour cream. if i had been told i would be charge extra i wouldn't have ordered it. i think they have shady practices and will not be venturing there for a return. i was very displeased to have to inhale all the second hand smoke and there is little or no ventilation. definately would not recommend this place to others.

best burger i ever had. the only problem was it was huge. the cucumber salad was excellent too. worth the trip!