Ray: It was a beautiful, blue sky, sunny afternoon when Josh and I walked from his apartment in Wallingford to a restaurant in Freemont called "Ha". I guess it's more of a bar...
When we arrived I noticed that the interior paint job was kinda like being inside a tequila sunrise. Red on the walls, fading to yellow at the ceiling. It was a creative approach, that's for sure. We sat ourselves and I noticed right away that the table was a mess. Crumbs all over my side of the table, plus this dried smear of some kind. I knew that the waitress would clean it up when she saw it. Well, when she came up, she put the menus over the crumbs and took our drink order. I just brushed the crumbs off to the floor and avoided the "smear".
The menu had several tempting morsels. There was a chicken pot pie, Fish & Chips and Steak Frites. I was really tossed on that, but when I found out that the steak was a 14 oz NY, my decision was super easy. So, after a bit our beers arrived and we placed our meal orders. The beer I ordered was the Freemont Summer Ale. I have to give that brew some kudos. It was deliciously refreshing. A perfect summer ale to be sure!
It wasn't very long before our dinners arrived. The plating was the steak along with a pile of shoestring fries. The steak was perfectly cooked and absolutely stunning. I really, really liked it a lot! The fries were pretty good, but being somewhat over-salted, I couldn't eat more than half of them. I just couldn't take that much salt.
We were almost finished with our dinners and our beers were gone, but nobody seemed to notice. When we finally finished our plates and they came to take them away, only then did they notice the empty glasses. We did order another round. That's when disappointment started to set in. I mean, when we finished that 2nd beer, we just sat there waiting (and waiting) for our check. I thought we were in the Hotel California or something. We finally flagged down a waitress and just handed her our cards to try and expedite our exit.
I would love to pile on the stars for Ha because that steak was so wonderful, but the negligent service and the dirty table (complete with that nasty smear) will only allow me to go with three, so 3 stars for Ha. I say, clean it up and make customer service a priority and this place would be flat out amazing
Josh: We kept it close to home Thursday and took the short walk to Ha! in Fremont. I've been here a couple times in the past, thought I was probably due for another dinner there. They have a small dining room in front with the bar, and a couple back dining rooms that look like they might be good for party reserving. The walls are all painted like a sunrise, dark red on the bottom leading up to orange near the ceiling. It definitely looks like type of place that is a one-off neighborhood spot. I like that originality.
We took a look at the menu while we waited for a server to come take the drink orders. I went with the Fremont summer ale (a seasonal favorite of mine) and decided on what the entree was going to be. The menu looks pretty good, but one thing was definitely standing out: the 14 oz. steak for $17. The menu stated that they have different cuts of steak, so it depended on what was on-hand. "New York steak" said the waitress when I posed the question. "My favorite!" said me.
The wait between the drinks being ordered and the meal being ordered was abnormally long. The bar was pretty full of what I can only assume were regulars, and it seemed like the wait staff was primarily concerned with this group of customers.
The meal arrived and looked really good. One bite revealed that looks were definitely not deceiving, the steak was delicious. Ever since I learned how to cook a steak a few years back I've had a hard time being impressed with restaurant steak, but this one was pretty damn good, and a steal for the price.
Once the meal was finished, it took forever for the server to return to take the plates. Seriously folks, the service was terrible. Friendly for sure, but terrible nonetheless. We ordered one more beer and drank them down while waiting for the check.
I don't know where to go for a rating of this place. The food was better then expected, but the service was absolutely atrocious. I would really have no problem going with 5 stars if they could be a little more attentive to customers who aren't sitting at the bar, but that wasn't the case. The service was terrible. 3 stars. read more