rack & helens bar and grill

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 atrackand 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.

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 tryrack& 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 uprack& helen's!

i don't like smoke.rack& helen's allows smoking so i won't/don't frequent this establishment. when mayor mcdonald grows some balls to outlaw smoking in private places..............i'll probably frequent these non-smoking places when they become available.

my favorite resturant!!!!. i love this place! they have put lot's of money and upgrades to this restaurant! lots of beer on tap and lots of food for the price! i love there salsa (unlike bandido's nasty chuncky salsa) it has a great flavor! i love there nachos! unlike (wings etc) you don't get nasty round chips and runny beans with no meat! you get so much meat and other stuff, it is hard to finish! and my favorite is the grinder!rack& helen's is easy to find, great staff and excellent food! i go there all the time and i'm from fort wayne..lol...

awesome. it is always a positive for me when a restaurant starts you off with chips and salsa. i particularly enjoyedrackand helen's salsa and they give you a bottle of it so you don't have to wait for refills. i ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich and not only was it two large chicken breast but it was tasty. i had a great experience the atmosphere was very cool and the staff excellent.