JJ Hadley — Restaurant in Altoona

I have now had three interactions with JJ Hadley's and the experience has not been great. I will say before getting into my negative experiences that this place does make good food and has solid beers and cocktails. However, my negative experiences strongly outweigh the good.

First Experience: My wife and I went with some family and we were sat immediately. However, it took 20 minutes before someone acknowledged our presence. Then, when we did receive service, it took another 30 minutes to receive our drinks. I actually received my pizza before the beer I ordered. The service, overall, was very poor and no one seemed to care. There also seemed to be about 10 employees standing around, more concerned with talking to each other than taking care of customers.

Second Experience: Basically, slightly better than the first experience. Service was extremely slow and we never saw our waitress again after receiving our first drinks. It's a shame too because when I go out to eat, I like to enjoy a few drinks and we actually wanted more food, but decided to leave because service was so poor. Again, appeared to have plenty of staff standing around doing nothing and they were not busy.

Final Experience: This is where I still have a sour taste in my mouth. I have never been treated so rudely by an establishment. I was assisting a friend in planning a reservation for a group of friends. We called weeks in advance and they informed us it would not be a problem, but to call back closer to the event as they only accept reservations 4 days ahead of time. Sure, no problem. So, we call yesterday to confirm the booking and we are told that it will not be a problem, if we are okay with sitting outside. Sure, no problem. They tell us they will call us back to confirm, but they never do. So, we call them back and all of a sudden they tell us they need to talk to the manager, as now they are prioritizing walk-ins and they also had questions about our group, and that they will call us back. However, I figured this would be easier to discuss in person to avoid any confusion and also the fact that we need an answer ASAP in the event we need to make other arrangements. When I show up, the young lady was very rude and accused me of being rude for not waiting for them to call back. When I asked to speak to a manager or supervisor, she simply told me "no" and the reason was that they were busy. There was no one in the building and once again, plenty of people standing around. When I tried to explain why I was there, which was to simply discuss and come to a decision faster, the young lady wouldn't even let me stay inside while she went and talked to "someone." She forced me to wait on the patio (it's 95 degrees outside). She came back out, almost instantly, and said "yeah, that's going to be a no." She also claimed she talked to staff and I could then see the manager inside was avoiding me, like a coward. I bet if I was there to compliment him on his pizza making skills, he would have spoke to me. The other thing puzzling about this whole situation is that they stated it would be problematic if anyone in our group was under 21, which we are all older than that. I guess the staff isn't capable of checking IDs, that might be too much work from what I've gathered in my few times there.

The irony is that I am also a small business owner, in the restaurant business. I understand completely that sometimes you get too busy and sometimes have to tell customers no. However, never in my life have I come across an owner/manager too afraid to have a cordial discussion with a customer who was just trying to be helpful. Reading some other reviews, this seems to be a common theme. It's one thing to have a good product, but the business acumen of this place seems to be off and I think the owners need to realize there is more to running a business than just making good food. Being a good owner/manager means dealing with the good and the bad. I hope this place figures it out because it is a good...

My sister booked a table for 9 people at 6:30pm on a Friday night for her birthday. It was busy, but not completely full. We were put in the upstairs restaurant, alone with no other tables. And then… we were left there for 25 minutes with no one addressing the table. Finally the server arrived in a flurry telling us they had 4 callouts and that her “head was spinning”. We were absolutely ready to order so she took the order and then we waited an additional 15 minutes for waters and drinks, although my sister’s drink was forgotten and had to be requested again, it showed up at least 30 minutes after we ordered (and an hour after arrival!).

Next, we waited for food. The side salads came, and my sister’s entree salad came as a side. Then after another wait, the person who sat us brought two-thirds of the meals. We waited another 15 minutes with no completion of the table. We watched To Go orders getting boxed in the kitchen, but no sign of our pizzas. I had to go down to ask where they were. They clearly forgot or missed them on the order! At this point, with empty water glasses and no food, a full hour and a half after arrival, I was about to give up completely when a chef dropped my pizza and told me it was on the house. Well, at least I suppose!

The server finally came up and checked on us and filled the waters and I asked for the check which still took 15 minutes to arrive. The whole thing was shockingly bad and truly one of the most disastrous dining experiences I’ve ever had. I felt sorry for my sister who picked JJ Hadleys for her special day. We’ve eaten there before and we go back for the food because it’s very good and they have a nice selection for vegetarians. The service can be patchy, but this was something else.

The point of this story is - where was the owner or manager? No one ever addressed the table, no one communicated that there might be this huge delay and no one (other than our frenzied and vacant server) apologized for what was happening. There was a hostess sitting in her stand for nearly the whole duration - why was she not directed to refill or deliver waters? What about the staff member who sat us? A bartender? ANYONE to help make up for the missing servers?! Why were we not offered drinks or desserts to appease the situation and massive delays? We are good customers - loyal and live locally. We were ignored! What does this all mean? Sadly, this is not a professional business who values your custom. And,...

This is an update to address in-house experience. I've had consistently good experiences dining in at JJ Hadley recently. The lastest order was a delicious turkey pesto sandwich. It was well presented and served promptly. In my opinion, it was heavy on the carbs (served with waffle fries) and it created a slightly bland presentation. A small side of cranberry sauce, (or chef's choice of something similar with some color), served on the same try, would improve balance and presentation, but that's a small detail in the overall experience. All in all, JJ Hadley is a good dine-in option in downtown Altoona.

Worth noting . . . .There's a fresh, invigorating, buzz in downtown Altoona these days (lots of renovation occurring on 11th Ave) so be prepared to navigate around construction activities if you arrive by car.

Here's my former review: This review addresses take-out only. I have not eaten in the restaurant enough to provide an accurate review of in-house dining.

The pizza, no matter which variety you choose, is exceptional and consistent. My favorite salad is the grilled vegetable salad. The greens are always fresh and the other ingredients are plentiful. However, the vegetables range from perfectly grilled to mushy and raw. Grilled vegetables in a salad is a great concept - a wonderful complementary blend - but it is lost if the vegetables are not consistently prepared.

For dessert, I have tried cheesecake and salted caramel custard pie. The cheesecake was mediocre - to be fair, it's really tough to excel with cheesecake - there are many excellent options out there. The salted custard pie was, quite honestly, the best salted caramel concoction I have had in a many years. Sadly, the slices (please see photo) have been tiny.

For in-house dining, JJ Hadley's is in a great, walkable, spot in town across the street from one of Altoona's remaining rows of attractive historic buildings. The in-house dining experience is enhanced by historic ambiance but reviews of in-house food, beverages and service are best left to others with enough first-hand experience to share informed opinions.

For take-out, the entrees and salad are good value. The desserts are not. JJ Hadley's is an average, 3 star take-out option that could be a five star favorite with appropriately sized dessert portions and attention to prep...