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 at rack and helen's severaltimesand i'd like to share our observations. first this is the service. in all 3timesit 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.

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 moderntimesand to ban smoking.

good food - consistently. negatives - (a) waaaaaaay over in new haven ;) , (b) the smoke, even though there are "smoke eaters" , attimescan be overwhelming, and (c) quite crowded at times, leading to difficulties in finding seating and/or longer waits on the food delivery.

positives - (a) well, since they are that crowded, shows just how good they are!, (b) food is quite good, (c) service is always with a smile, (d) prices are reasonable, and (e) decor is enjoyable, pleasant wood surroundings, comfortable.

update - august 20, 2010 - two of my favorites continue to be the sausage rolls [add ham, bacon, and chicken to it to create a 'special'] and the pulled pork sandwich [the 1 pound version - yea, i love leftovers ;) ]. the chips and salsa, for a place that is not a mexican restaurant per se, are both quite tasty. and, you will not go thirsty here - example, today's lunch wait staff brought over 3 cherry cokes, each time a new one just as the previous one was not even 1/2 empty - the last one put into a go cup. good food, good service.