BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse

Update 1: After I made this post I was contacted by BJ’s social media people as a result of my Twitter. They apologized and requested that I send an email with my concerns. I did just that last week. Earlier this week, I received e-card worth $30 from BJ’s. I will be using it in the next couple of weeks and will let you know the results.

David and I have a weekly date night, usually on Fridays. Last Friday, David and I chose to eat at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. I had gotten a coupon off Facebook, so I thought it was as good a time as any to try out BJ’s.

Things started out on a good note. When we arrived, we were seated almost immediately and provided menus and silverware. The waitress didn’t show up immediately to take our order, but I felt her arrival was timely. I told her immediately about my coupon and she wrote down that I had a $10 off $35 coupon. I ordered the Orange Twist Mocktail (which included free refills) and the Seared Ahi Salad. David ordered the Fire Roasted Barbacoa Chicken. We also shared an order of Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms.

The food was excellent. My Seared Ahi Salad was tasted great. One of the best salads I ever had. BJs is generous with the amount of tuna included in the salad. The pieces were nicely sized and seared perfectly. The dressing on the salad was extremely flavorful. The wasabi added a bit of kick to the salad but it was not too strong. It was a wonderful salad.

The mushrooms were also great. The mushrooms were nice and firm. There was plenty of stuffing included in each mushroom and the lemon pesto sauce was so good. Nice and flavorful without too much tang. I really enjoyed my share of the mushrooms.

David said his meal of Barbacoa Chicken was also good. A little spicier than what he was wanting on Friday, but he still enjoyed the chicken and he ate every bite.

As you can tell, we were very happy with our food. If we were making a decision on whether or not to return was based solely upon the food, we would be regular diners. Alas, the arrival of the waitress was the last thing that was done in a timely manner.

Let me start by saying that our waitress was very friendly. However, I do have to wonder if she is new to waitressing. Everything was slow and it was like providing attention to our table was an afterthought.

It took much longer than it should have for our appetizers to arrive at our table. In fact, our small plates had been waiting several minutes before the mushrooms finally arrived. We made quick work of the mushrooms and we were then left to wait a very long time for our food to arrive.

After our food arrived, the waitress returned and asked if I wanted a refill on my Orange Twist. I said yes and then proceeded to wait another very long time for my refill to arrive. When I had just given up hope, our waitress passes back by and says my drink will be coming in a few minutes. After a long few minutes, I finally see someone from the bar walking around with my drink completely unaware of where it needed to go. I would have tried to get her attention, but she wasn’t coming anywhere near me. She then returns to the bar, presumably to check again where to deliver the drink and then eventually made it to our table. While the service had been slow up to this point, I could have ignored it given that it was a Friday night. But it’s near the end of the meal where things really go downhill.

When the waitress later returns to fill David’s water glass, she spilled a significant amount of water on the table. She did apologize for the spill, but never returned to clean up the spill. After another long wait, she returned to see if we wanted our check. She didn’t ask if we wanted dessert, just if we wanted the check. It’s a good thing we weren’t interested because we were beyond ready to go. We said we did and then had to wait forever for her to return with the check. In fact, at one point she passes back by our table and says she will be back in a bit with our check and then adds okay as if it were a question. I can assure you that by this point David did not think the continued wait was okay.

Once we received the check, we had not been credited for our $10 off coupon even though we had exceeded the $35 bill requirement. We then had to wait a long time for her to pass near our table so that we could get her attention to let her know about the mistake. Once we let her know, she said she forgot and would get her manager to fix it. I thought she would then return promptly with our new check. I was wrong. I don’t know how long we waited but it seemed like forever. David then promptly put the card in the check holder and sat it up, so she would know to return for the check. After another long wait, she did walk by our table but she didn’t even bother to grab the check. After we waited way too long for our waitress to return, David finally walked to the front to see if he could pay the check. No one asked him if we liked our meal. They showed no interest in the fact that we had given up hope on paying the check and brought the check to the front so we could pay and leave.

Overall, the meal was very frustrating. What I find most frustrating is that I loved my food and want to be able to say I will be returning again in the near future. Instead, it will be a long time before I return to give BJs a second chance. The service, especially at the end of the meal, was so bad that it is going to be a long time before I want to give BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse a second chance.