J. Alexander's Restaurant — Restaurant in Centennial

Dear Gentle Reader it is with heavy heart that this author casts her review a lowly two. But take heart, Dear Reader, as this review was originally going to be a one but the peanut butter pie, reminiscent of a frozen pie consumed in my youth, increased the rating.

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we. We decided to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary at J. Alexanders as it is a place we frequent often. We were greeted and seated very efficiently, kindly and quickly. Once seated a full 20 minutes passed before we were acknowledged by our server who had the demeanor of Roz, from Monsters Inc. The server was not able to speak knowledgeable about the wines offered and visibly sighed when questions were asked. Once beverages were decided on, she began to walk away and we begged her attention to order an appetizer. She all but rolled her eyes and left. Another 15 minutes passed and we still had not received our drinks and had asked two different people for water. Our appetizer arrived with no plates, so the waiting continued. Drinks were delivered and placed on the table in a manner equivalent to slopping swine in a barn. The lemon drop martini had a lemon slice with seeds, which does not make for an eye catching enhancement and requires the consumer to stay alert to avoid swallowing them. We were mostly amused at this point and assumed that at any moment a camera man would reveal himself and say "gotcha". We waited yet another long set of time before our order was taken and then a full 25 minutes for food to be delivered. No refills on beverages were offered. Our food arrived and was placed on the table with the same attention as the drinks had been.

The food was mostly on point with the exception being the twice baked potato which contained the salt equivalent to the Atlantic Ocean.

After our plates were removed we were asked if we had room for carrot cake. We said we would prefer peanut butter pie. We were then informed that under no circumstances would we be allowed to have this pie complimentary to celebrate our anniversary. We were completely unaware that free carrot cake was offered as an anniversary present and certainly did not choose this restaurant for that gift. We assured the server that we did not mind paying for what we wanted but her insistence to have the carrot cake was very entertaining.

We then waited for another 20 minutes for the delightful, peanut butter pie. Thee best part of our dining experience. That is until the server, came back to our table after we had consumed almost all the pie, instructing us to wait, as she then placed this candle in dregs of the pie and lit it in a lame attempt to make our day special

Once dessert was completed we waited for another 20 plus minutes to pay our bill. Dear Reader, we were at this restaurant for nearly two hours for an uncomplicated lunch and felt mostly like we were unwelcome and certainly not like we're celebrated.

We can assure you, Dear Reader, that we have learned a thing or two in our 37 years of marriage and one of the many things we have learned, is how to smartly spend our money. You can be assured that we will not be spending any money at this restaurant in the near future. The experience, much like the martini, had...

My grandparents have been going to this location ever since it opened its location on County Line Road. I would go with them back when they would give the kids etch a sketches to play with and the entire family would get their chicken penny pasta soup. My grandmother and rest of the family still go there and get the soup. I however just went there and the waitress with grey hair and in a bun and wearing glasses said they don’t do the chicken penne soup except for Thursdays. my grandmother knows the manager and they will make it for her every time she and the family goes in. She was just there on Monday and had it, but I’m being told that they only make it on Thursdays. Now when the manager talks to me he says that they rotate their soups because of Covid. So how is anyone supposed to know when they will have the Chicken penne pasta soup? Then I ordered a Dr Pepper and she said they only have Coke and she named only three types, Dr Pepper is part of Coke but they don’t have that kind. When the drinks came out the water glasses were empty and the coke we got was not even halfway full. Then one of us gets a refill and the waitress was searing at my wife and watching her and talking about her. I never once got a refill. Then I ordered the French dip to split with my wife and I am kidding you not, it was only like 2 minutes and then the food was out. The meat was so pink we could not eat it and what we did eat was still cold and tasted raw and salty. We will not be back. My grandmother said that if she was there with me they would have made the Chicken penne posts soup wich they always do any day of the week. We even went to Batten Rouge, Louisiana and got the Chicken penne Pasta soup at a J Alexzander’s out there and it was on a Sunday and had not one problem. Will not be back to this location on county line road. This waitress was snotty and hatful and tried to make us leave because she did not want to help us and wanted to go home. Hostess was snotty and rude as well and made us ware in the lobby for 12 min before I said something and she thought we were already done and leaving when we had just arrived. Will never be back. Even when the waitress asked how the food was we told her it’s not as good as the Chicken...

I wish I could say something positive about this particular J. Alexanders, but unfortunately they do not uphold the same standards of any of the others we have frequented. J. Alexanders is one of our very favorite restaurants, however this one has consistently failed us. We only had one good experience here in the past five years and that's only because the General Manager, Ben Atlee had to make up for the previous bad experience. We've given up hoping things will improve because it's not going to happen. The expectation bar was set long ago from going to so many good J. Alexanders or Redlands Grills elsewhere but we continue to try going to this one again and again, always hoping our previous bad experience was an isolated incident, but always leave very disappointed. We are done trying because it's not going to change.

The specials of the day haven't changed in years and neither has anything else on the menu. When you spend $14 for a premium cocktail, you expect more than a 1oz shot of liquor, especially when you're spending $300 at the establishment. When you spend $14 for a premium glass a wine, you expect more than a 1/3 of the glass filled when it's given to you. When servers are expecting 18% - 25% tip, they should earn it. The service was pretty bad and you shouldn't have to ask for side plates with appetizers or ice in your water or straws with your drinks or condiments with your sides. When you order the soup of the day and they forget to bring it, it's too late when your entrée has already arrived. When you ask what the house wines are, you shouldn't be told, I'm not sure. When I go to J. Alexanders, I expect more than a Chili's experience and I'm sorry to say that's exactly what you get from this...