BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Brea

I was extremely disappointed in the service my fiancé and I received on Friday night 2/10/23. We walked in and we were not greeted at all.

There were 2 girls by the take out table on their phones & 2 girls at the hostess stand also on their phones. When we walked in, they all just got quiet & starred. It was extremely uncomfortable. One girl at the hostess stand was shorter with red or light brown hair & the other one was a little taller with darker hair. Both were extremely rude. Especially the girl with the darker hair. She showed on her face that she was annoyed we were wanting to eat there. Not only did she do it to us, but to everyone else that walked in. She asked what we wanted and I told her nicely “for 2 please” instead of saying “okay one moment please” instead she looked back at the shorter girl immediately and was gossiping with her for a few minutes before writing my name down for a table. It was extremely uncomfortable & the energy in the room felt horrible too.

When we were waiting for our table, I’m assuming the manager walked over the girls at the takeout table & caught them on their phones and sent one of them home. I’m glad management is doing something about this but there for sure needs a lot of training with the hostess stand on the basics of customer service & professionalism.

We finally got seated & the girl who was being extremely rude sat us. She was rolling her eyes and being extremely annoying. Again, not only did she do it to us but she did it to everyone else. The hostess stand is the first impression of the restaurant & we thought our waitress was going to be rude too. Our waitress was great but the hostess over sat her and she seemed a little stressed out.

When we left, the girls at the front were just on their phones again and all got quiet again. Unfortunately, we will not be back to this location as it seems a lot of training is needed. There are many other locations with nice employees. It’s okay to not love your job. But fake it to make it & don’t make customers...

Update: 5/28/2023

Someone told me it was National Burger Day so of course I had to change my order to a burger lol

BJ's Smokehouse Burger: the crispy onion strings was great for the presentation and gives this burger some added texture. The applewood smoked bacon was tasty but I would have preferred longer pieces so that it didn’t fall off the burger. Overall, this burger was delicious and satisfied my burger craving.

Turkey Burger: this burger was very good and topped with so much baby field greens.

Oven-roasted salmon fillet: this is one of my friend’s favorite go to dishes! It’s a good sized salmon and perfectly cooked. The lemon chardonnay butter sauce is so delicious!

Enlightened Barbacoa Cauliflower Pita Tacos: the Roasted barbacoa cauliflower, roasted red peppers and sweet corn were a great combination. The Seasonal Bistro Grains were very tasty! My friend loved these tacos. One of other my friends was so intrigued by this dish that she also ordered this to go.

Great service. Wonderful dining experience.

*This is a great go-to place for late night eats with friends!

I was craving their Power Bowl 😉😋

Enlightened Lemon Thyme Chicken

Herb-roasted chicken breasts with a Big Poppa Smokers’ Desert Gold rub, brown rice, sautéed red onions, fire-roasted red peppers, tomatoes, Brussel sprouts and a lemon thyme sauce

Atlantic Salmon

Oven-roasted salmon fillet, lemon chardonnay butter sauce, rice pilaf, steamed broccoli

Cauliflower & Quinoa Power Bowl with Blackened Salmon

Roasted barbacoa cauliflower, Peruvian quinoa + brown rice, black beans, corn + fire-roasted red pepper, succotash, cucumbers, pickled red onions, pico de gallo, feta cheese, house made guacamole, Greek yogurt crema, cilantro. I never get tired of this Power Bowl!

Tip: if you’re there for their late night happy hour, sit in...

One of the worst experiences I've had dining out celebrating my daughters 15th Birthday. First ordered our drinks and asked for 5 waters and only 3 showed up. We survived the water, then ordered mazallera sticks and it took FOREVER to get and once we did get them they were cold. We were so hungry we ate them anyway. I had finished my drink and asked for a refill and again it took FOREVER!! My daughter's root beer was flat with a weird taste and had no carbonation and made her feel sick we returned it and asked for water. Then we waited again FOREVER for our food and finally my sons deep dish pizza and it also showed up cold. My wife and mother in law ordered the chimcurri chicken and also came cold. My spaghetti with large meatballs..can you guess..COLD!! But I and my son were so hungry from waiting that we just ate it anyway. My waitress was always no where to be found and I walked up to a man in a blue dress shirt..presumably the manager and he was FANTASTIC!! He came over and told him about our experience and he immediately took the cold chicken plates and had the kitchen make new ones. They came out HOT and FRESH and fast. He apologized and offered free pizookis for desert and asked how he could make it right. He was on point and I have to thank him for making it somewhat right. We also overheard another table complain about the experience and that they were also regulars just like us. So we weren't the only ones having a bad night out dining. We will consider going back but most likely won't be back and find a new place going forward. Now that the manager gave us free pizookis we are again waiting FOREVER for this as well so it would seem that it is the cooking staff that made our daughters birthday so...