AJ’s Smashed & Smoked — Restaurant in Belleville

AJ’s is one of my favorite burger places. First of all, the people that work there are the best. They always greet you when you walk in and for the first time visitors they do a great job of explaining the process of seating yourself and ordering at the bar. When your food is prepared they bring it to you at your table.

The menu is simple with smash burgers, smoked hotdogs, salads, sides and fries. I do visit quite a bit and I have some recommendations.

Try the single (or double) smash burger with salted fries. This is a classic meal and for a while was my standard order.

The fried chicken sandwich tossed in hot sauce with blue cheese dressing. This was a game changer for me and broke me from my standard burger/fries order. So delicious and quite filling with a side of fries.

If you like blue cheese and hot sauce then definitely try the blue cheese fries.

The beer selection here is great and they also have a small but quite good whiskey selection.

Speaking of drinks, I highly recommend their bloody mary. It comes garnished with bacon, pickle, olives, cheese, lime wedge and rimmed with a smoky sweet barbeque rub. They are just about perfect and are an excellent way to start your Saturday morning. In fact, if you don’t like yours let me know and I’ll come up and finish it for you.

There is nothing I can complain about when it comes to AJ’s…Well, I do wish the bar was a little bigger so more people could sit at it but that’s all I got. For those that are upset about no one waiting on you at your table, don’t let the fact that you have to order at the bar ruin your day. If that is the worst thing to happen to you then grab yourself a delicious burger and a Busch beer and sit back and smile about how...

AJ's is absolutely killer! The food here is excellent, and prepared and plated perfectly. I never thought I'd be commenting on how good a salad looks in a red basket or styrofoam container, but here we are! The burgers are excellent, and the wings are some of the best in the area. Try the "Hot AF" - it's not actually too crazy hot, but has an epic flavor. I love adding the cucumber salad side with some hot wings! The business is in the old Jefferson's location, and all the decades worth of artfully redesigned dollar bills are still on the walls and ceiling. Personally I think it's a bit odd of an atmosphere and layout - but that isn't really why you're here... You want great food on the west end of Belleville, and boy do we not have enough of that! On the roughly 50 days a year that it's tolerable weather outside, their patio is a great place to sit - full roof and with a window to the inside. In short - give AJ's a try, you won't be...

We were greeted by the employee behind the bar, seated ourselves, then the employee who greeted us came over, tossed menus on the table, and told us to order at the bar. I went to order at the bar and the employee rang up the order and told me to put my card in the device to settle the tab. I do not mind paying in advance but to have the device ask me to provide up to a 25% gratuity to an employee who has not done and was not going to do anything except drop off our food seems a little exorbitant. I left a 10% gratuity and felt I had over tipped. The food...