Halfway Cafe

Came here to celebrate a graduation and an engagement with friends and had so much fun. Mary is a super attentive and quick bar tender and Jose, the manager, was sure to check in on us. They have a great beer selection and solid food choices. A definite recommendation if you’re in the area.

Came for lunch, excellent extended pub food, friendly staff, and a great value. What more do you want. Oh the fries are really good and turkey burgers with the brioche roll umm umm good.

Went here with a some friends to split some pitchers and have a few appetizers. I don’t often write reviews, but this experience was so awful I couldn’t help it.
1) Our first pitcher had dried food /​crusty sauce on the rim. As disgusting as this is, we finished our beers and kindly asked the waitress for a clean pitcher for our next round. She never apologized or even acknowledged that our pitcher was dirty, but rather seemed annoyed by us.
2) The food wasn’t great. This place isn’t well known for having good food, but this time was particularly bad. A person in my party paid 15 dollars for a salad (are you kidding me?) in which the «greens» of the salad were just the cores of the romaine lettuce. The turkey tips were dry and had to be cut with a steak knife.
3) Our next pitcher comes out, we pour our glasses and what floats to the top of my glass? Nothing other than a DEAD FLY. This says a lot about how clean the kitchen is, a dead fly in the middle of October, gross. We alert the waitress and ask for a new pitcher and new glasses for the table, since we had already poured all of our glasses. Again, unapologetically and visibly annoyed our waitress takes back our pitcher and brings us another.
4) New pitcher and glasses arrive. the glasses are visibly dirty on the inside. (2 out of the 4). At this point, we’re itching to just leave. The waitress who is now obviously displeased with us avoids are table for the rest of the evening. It takes nearly 30 minutes for her to come around again and get the check.
5) When the waitress returns with our check, she quickly, awkwardly says «have a nice weekend». Again, not once has she apologized for the multiple disgusting moments of the night. I’m not one to complain and usually let things slide, but this customer service is down right awful. We weren’t being picky or annoying here. I have a reasonable expectation of being served with clean dishes, which was clearly not happening. The waitress or manager taking the time to apologize to our table, or perhaps consider comping any part of our night would have completely turned around our experience, but I guess that’s not an unusual night for them.
In summary:
Dirty dishes, poor customer service and mediocre food. Don’t come here unless you’re trying to leave with Hepatitis A, a fly in your throat, or a burning rage in your heart from disconnected, mean waitstaff.

I have food allergies and restrictions, and halfway café accommodates them every time. I love the canton burger :) The manager is great, and everyone knows everyone. The waitresses and bar staff are awesome always friendly! love Thursday night trivia, play for free and win pizes… can’t go wrong :)

People seem to not realize they get what they pay for. This is a great place if you’re looking for casual dining that has a better spin to it. It’s not just pub food it’s way better; and it’s inexpensive.
The people that are complaining on here… They need to understand what the restaurant industry is like. I’ve worked over 18 years in the business, in many facets back and front end. This is a well-​run restaurant.
I’m a big fan of all halfway cafés. Great staff great food, great service. Don’t listen to the naysayers.

Good food, bar service is awful. Especially during the day. Bar is routinely left alone for 5 – 10 min at a time. Multiple times I would have bought another drink, but just left money out and left since there was no one around To order one from. The manager who is usually there during dinner, shaved head in his 30s, is very good and checks on everyone though. If there were more options around here I would not be back based on the bar service.

Best burgers and fries in town staff is also great been waited on by Chris many times very attentive. Jose is also a great manager gets to know all the customers and keep them happy. They have trivia on Thursday nights so come test your brain while you dine on great bar food.

Ended up walking out after our drink order of 2 waters and one beer did not show up after 12 minutes or so. Also witnessed other people being served who came in after us. To be honest I don’t think they even noticed that we walked out. I can honestly say that it is the first time that I have ever walked out of a restaurant.
I have been to the Halfway Café in Marlboro and had multiple good experiences there so I just assumed this would be the same.

After two recent visits to the Maynard location I think it worth noting that some steps have been made to improve the service. There’s actually a manager now complemented by several new waitresses that are a lot more courteous and energetic. The food was quite good and at a fair price. I’ll be back.

I LOVE THIS PLACE! Great food and drinks at resonable prices. The staff and Jose the manager are so friendly and helpful! You feel welcome the minute you walk in the door. EVERYTHING on the menu is delicious and the portions are big.
You have to try this place.

5 star for neighborhood burger/​beer/​fish tacos (really good!) joint. Generous quantities, exceptional french fries.
Special shout out to the manager last Friday when Women’s World Cup soccer on. Could definitely see he took pride in the restaurant and was very concerned about every aspect of the experience. Great job, great staff!

Horrible service. Went in on a Monday around 6:00 pm. and sat at the at the bar. Neither of the two bartenders paid me any attention, even though the place was half empty. I finally ordered a beer and asked for a menu. The bartender delivered me a beer with a look on her face like I had imposed upon her. I decided within a few minutes on an order of chicken wings, but neither of the bartenders was around. Several waitresses came to the bar with drink orders and asked each other where the bartenders were. One was in the kitchen waiting for a take-​out order; the other was at a table chatting with a friend. After about 20 minutes, one returned and I ordered my wings. I had to ask for some free popcorn. I didn’t get a placemat or silverware. After the wings, which were good, got delivered to me at the bar by a person from the kitchen, I had to ask the bartender for napkins. Half way through my meal, I needed another beer and had to wait 20 minutes to signal the bartender because they were playing with their smartphones. Ditto another 20 minutes to get my check. First time I have left a $ 0.0 tip in years.

Good option if your looking for a beer, tv and some grub. They are trying to push the menu in a healthier direction (which I understand) but give us the «usual» options as well. Brown rice is great but not as the only option or the «healthier» breads and rolls are nice but honestly I’m NOT looking for more healthy options when I’m at Hafeway Café — that’s not a shot just a fact. They have nice options for burgers, sandwiches and wings and baked items are worth the try. Service is efficient and friendly.

Stopped in for drinks and wings with a girlfriend last night and we had a great experience. The staff were super friendly and helpful. Drinks were perfect. And the wings were delicious. I really appreciate the number of gluten-​free and healthy options on their menu.
My only advice is to cook the steak to temperature ordered. We both ordered steak tips medium and they wrote really well done.

The wings are awesome, never had a problem with service, there’s a reason why the popcorn is free; you’re lucky there’s a sneeze guard. They’re quick at the bar, it can feel a little claustrophobic at night if its packed, theres always parking, and its a 20 foot walk to another bar if you get bored. And ill say it again, the wings are awesome.

Went there today and started off with an order of buffalo wings, the waitress brings me barbecue wings and I politely asked her if she could change it out for me and then comes back with the same wings with just buffalo sauce over barbecue sauce, it was obvious in the taste and the color, then once again I asked her politely and she began to become upset and denied it saying they made new wings when she brought the second order out 2 minutes later.

Halfway can be hit or miss. If you sit at the hightops or the long communal table parallel to the bar and the bar is busy, plan on waiting for service.
Good things about Halfway include: Points you can earn toward a future meal; Halfway fries are yummy; free (overly salty) popcorn; the chili is delish; and they have cold draft beer. They used to have 7 for $ 7 specials which became $ 8 and $ 8.88 specials.

Always good food. Easy to go to. Never great service. They share tips so always feel bad when you get the server that doesn’t deserve a good tip since. They have the worst soda but free popcorn.

Went back a couple times since they brought back the safari dog. Service was not the best, but today was top notch. They stayed on top of us and used a team approach to service the table. They are winning me back.

Every blue moon we try Halfway in Maynard again, hoping for a better outcome. But the result is always the same: Loud music with people trying to talk over the music; TVs turned to mostly redneck programming; mediocre food; and the overall sense whoever ultimately owns this place has stepped away and let the employees du jour decide on restaurant culture.
Tonight we had planned to head to Burlington for chow, but with thunderstorms forecasted decided to stay closer to home. Once again, the (crappy 80s music) was so loud people were talking louder and louder to have a conversation. Our waitress was clearly juggling too many tables. She was trying to be pleasant but it was obvious she was annoyed at having to answer questions about salad dressings and side options. Yes, we know it’s in the menu, but we’re asking because we didn’t spot the answers in the menu. In the end, our food was room temperature which wasn’t a deal breaker, but all the table Halfway insists on jamming into this very small footprint makes for uncomfortable elbow-​bumping dining. There’s just «too much» in this small place. Are all those TV’s necessary? There’s this overring sense you are eating in someone’s cluttered dining room with too many guests.
If nothing else, turn down the dang music. It’s not even «dining» music. It’s not a bar — it’s a restaurant withi a bar which demands a different atmosphere. Sticky tables; stick floor; poor lighting — just an overall ick.
My sense is the other Half Way locations operate within a larger space and with more owner presence.
I agree with another poster: Menu prices have gone up significantly — there are other nearby choices with better space. If this place was in a larger city closer to Boston, it would fail miserably. Here, it’s really more of a bar atmosphere no matter what time of day you go.
We are definitely done. It’s a skip and a hop into Cambridge or Porter Square — so many wonderful choices. Which is sad — because we like to support local businesses.