Jim's Restaurant — Restaurant in Austin

I have literally been coming to this location for 30+ years. Usually for breakfast but sometimes for dinner. Of course breakfast is where it's at and with that you typically get the A-team when it comes to the staff in the morning. Never any problems in the AM. In the evening it is another story. It's not even the B-team out front but at least the kitchen staff is ok so the food will be decent. Not last night! Our waitress was nice enough but after spending an hour listening to hear yelling at her two young children in the middle of the restaurant we were ready to go. I actually don't have a problem with the kids being there, stuff happens and sometimes child care doesn't work out. The problem was our waitress constantly YELLING across the restaurant for her kids to sit down. I'm pretty sure I heard her yell "I'm not telling you again" 20 times in that one hour. On top of this, the entire wait staff seemed to be on their second day with NO training. Any time a new guest came in the staff all got really confused about who was supposed to seat them until our waitress would just holler at the customer to just "find a seat and someone would get to them eventually". When our food finally came (mostly breakfast fare) is was good except for the fact it was almost 10 minutes from when the first plate arrived to when we got our last plate. I got the biscuits and gravy and I hear our waitress yell to another waitress and cook that "the gravy look too watered down and ain't no way he's (me) going to like it". She then proceeded to bring be the watered down biscuits and gravy and it was like water. She told me it was my choice to either take it or she guess' she could ask if they will make it again. I say that I'm not ok with it and she says "well I guess you want to wait". She takes the food back and tells the cook "he says it no good and I guess you have to make the whole thing again". All with attitude. Finally get the rest of our food, while kids are almost done eating as they have had a 10 minute head start and we consume our meal listening to the yelling of children for the next twenty minutes. We finish our meal and patiently wait for our ticket - at least another 10 minutes of yelling. No check ever comes so we go up to the front to pay. Our waitress finally finds our check, $56 something to which I give her $70 cash. She then gives me two $5 and some change. It takes me a second but I realize I did not receive the correct change. I go back to the front and ask her about it and she says "No way it's wrong, its a computer it ain't wrong". I find our ticket and show her it was $56 something and she says "ya and you gave me $70 so whats the problem"? I say $70 minus $56 doesn't equal $10. She says "well I don't know what to tell you, thats what the computer said so it is what it is". She pulls out her phone and essentially threatens me that she has a calculator and she is going to show me how wrong I am. She then says she will have to get the manager?!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! All of this craziness has been going on for the last hour and there is actually a manager on duty who is OK with all of this? No manager comes and we finally get the correct change and leave. As we are walking to our car I walk to the back of the restaurant as we noticed several times that the staff would mention the manager and then walk out the back door. There sitting in a black truck with the door open is what I can only assume is the manager in his red Jims shirt smoking a cigarette. Probably just hanging out back so he doesn't have to listen to all...

Great food (when its not cold and soggy) terrible service. I had a door dash order tonight at Jims on 12000ish Research Blvd. When I arrived at Jims for my pickup I already had the email that it was probably done. There was one door dash delivery driver in line and 2 tables with people. The place was very quiet. I saw what looked like about 4 large to go bags packed on the counter behind the lunch counter area. After being in line for about 5 minutes Terry the manager who was frantically working on prepping to-gos greeted the doordasher lady in front of me, got her 2 orders and she was off on her way. I remained patient in line at the register, Terry never greeted or acknowledged me nor even made eye contact, but it was obvious he knew I was there...he seemed very busy, so I waited patiently. About 10 minutes in (still 2-3 bags packed on the back counter) and the waitress on shift asked if me or the guy who'd joined the line behind me were waiting to be seated or if we had a door dash. We both were awaiting door dash orders. Another 5 minutes (15 min. total) go by and I'm starting to get impatient....the waitress came back to the door and sat 2 more parties in the dining room and assisted the person behind me with his order. As she helped the guy behind me in line, Terry finally spoke again ....(he'd still not even greeted or acknowledged me or the guy behind me) Terry got upset with the waitress telling her if she was going to get that order then she should do them all...he briskly went to the kitchen. Waitress lady got the guy behind me out the door and she grabbed the only bag left on the counter, which was mine and checked that everything was packed. All but the gravy was accounted for and when we opened the chicken fried steaks the gravy was smother on them instead of on the side like they normally do. I was on my way finally....pretty upset that I'd been staring that my chicken fried steak for 20 minutes packed and ready to go....and now finding out that it was sitting there getting soggy as could be. I get to my car and Terry walks out right behind me for his smoke break. I worked in the service industry for a long time...pretty terrible service from Terry and Jims tonight. My food was cold and soggy, bad experience overall. Terry's either having a terrible night or is in the wrong industry/job. I love Jim's restaurants' food, next time I will just go check the to-go bags myself and be on...

I went into Jim’s reluctantly- but decided to give it a try as my son wanted to. I arrived and was totally ignored first sign that this was going to be a disaster. Our waitress was hurry and did not give us a moment to decide- as I realized this was not going to be a great dining experience I ordered just as quickly as the waitress wanted us to- my son had a plain burger with no added fixings - just the patty and the cheese- I ordered sunny side up and a sirloin medium rare - and my son wanted the mozzarella sticks - the burger patty was so dry that my son could not eat it - he kept complaining about the toughness- my steak was burnt and bitter - I could not eat it- I ate the biscuits and drank the coffee- to go I ordered a slice of chocolate cake- a slice of Boston pie and a slice of COCONUT pie - the waitress was in such a hurry she did not get the order to go correctly when I got home - (by the way the slices of cakes were for someone that asked me to get them) - and the person opened the boxes- there was a slice of carrot cake (that no one eats) - a slice of chocolate cream pie (that I NEVER asked for) where was the coconut cream pie? The waitress did not care- she never once acknowledged us nor did she smile - the place was not busy so my question is - why were there so many workers around eating in front of the customers - talking to each other - and ignoring the customers- bad service! I asked the waitress about a piece of string in my meal - she did not even look at it carefully and said it was from the eggs- hmm - okay - I quickly paid and left the steak uneaten as I could not eat it - not a great dining experience- I did not expect a five star hospitality but still acknowledged the customers and at least come by the table once to ask if all was okay! Bad customer service and the food was horrible- not to mention my take away order was incorrect as she did not take the time to write down what I wanted- Disappointment and dissatisfied to say the least- I will not be going back to that place of business! Horrible customer service and the food was really bad!!!! Train your staff- a smile is...