BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse

For a tuesday night, it was absolutely packed .
Waited 15 minutes for a table.
The server took a bit to get to us he was apologetic and said it was very unusual to be this busy and that late.
The chicken parm was an incomplete dish and a mess when served .
The French dip was a mess as well.
The burnt ends burger was fantastic, as was my salad with the tuna.
The server never brought the bread that should have come with the pasta dishes .
As he promised .
Other than that, the flavors were great.
we also had the pork sliders as an appetizer, and they were fantastic.
All n all not a bad experience.
He seemed to be a bit understaffed.
I felt kinda bad for the team .
Everyone was working hard .
I've been in their shoes on many occasions.
It's not fun and service suffers .
But on any given day I am sure they do amazing .
Would definitely return.

Owner response

Visited our local BJ's restaurant and brewery in Elk Grove, ca.
This particular restaurant is located in what I would call restaurant row for Elk Grove.
Many places to eat and to choose from.
We have been to many BJ's before but this is our first review of this chain and location. First this location is very popular with the locals, so be prepared for waits in some occasions.
If you can, call their location it will advise of wait times and sign you up to be on the wait-list if need be.
A separate phone call needed for reservations.
We called and only had a 5 to 10 minutes to wait so we placed ourselves on the automated wait list.
No pain no hassle.
All we had to do was give our name to the greeter when we arrived.
No wait. We were seated at a table behind the bar.
This is a brewery also, so many people watching the NBA playoffs, some special occasions also were being celebrated. Our server was being trained.
His name was "Conner" and he was a personable young man, polite and looked to our needs.
Took our drink requests immediately and asked if we had a loyalty account.
I ask you how many server's ask you that upfront or do you have to tell them that information? So "Conner" was on it as far his responsibility to guests. For appetizers we order garlic cheesy bread sticks for marinara dipping sauce and also Brussel sprouts cooked in brown sugar and Sriracha.
The bread was served warm, and was soft and sweet.
IMHO really all it needed was some honey butter, instead of the marinara sauce.
The brussel sprouts were tart and crispy, while the siracha gave it some heat and spice kick. For the main course my wife ordered the chicken breast served with mashed potatoes covering the chicken and asparagus on top.
My wife stated the chicken was moist and the mashed potatoes had lumps which indicated made from scratch.
The gravy was thick and seasoned. I ordered the New Orleans jambalaya.
The jambalaya come to you in a large bowl.
I recommend you mix the in bowl thoroughly, so that each bite has enough spices, chicken, sausage, rice and vegetables in each bite.
At this BJ's the cooks passed my test for ingredients, spice and cooking at the right temperature so as not to undercook or overcook the dish.
I love jambalaya and it's hard not to judge places based on actual Louisiana cooking, but BJ's passed my test and standards for being moist, seasoned well with all ingredients I expected. For dessert we shared a caramel topped chocolate chip poozokie cookie heated with vanilla ice cream on top.
I delicious after dinner treat We will return to this location again and will forward to being served by "Conner" and experiencing other food offerings off their menu.

Owner response

The food was absolutely exceptional tonight, I ordered the full rack baby back ribs and it was done very beautifully.
Along with some beers, I had a very nice experience. What made it better was our server, Tacker who had the perfect amount of professionalism and humor which made the whole session a very nice vibe.
He made sure we had a good time rather than just serve and be done with us, which I always appreciate! The interaction he had with us was genuine rather than just a throwaway server-customer interaction. Would definitely come here again!

Owner response