J's Corner Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Columbia

Last night was our fourth visit to J's Corner this summer for our group happy hour/meal. Our conclusion, just like the 3 star rating indicates, is that it's "OK." In fact, its amazingly OK. Nothing is great and nothing is bad. Food is okay. Service is okay. Prices are okay. Outside of this "okayness" are a few noteworthy things. First, the building is very nice and probably among the most enjoyable atmospheres in the area. Open and clean inside with enough TVs without being wall to wall. There is also a very well designed outside bar/dining area. Parking is abundant, too. With a view of Williams-Brice Stadium, J's is a perfect game day venue. Menu variety is excellent. Anyone should be able to find an agreeable choice. You can tell a lot of thought and planning went into this menu. On the negative side is the "craft" draft beer selection. Admittedly, its summer, but c'mon, would it hurt to have one brown ale or a porter on the menu? Yes, there is the obligatory Guinness, but it's the Bud Light equivalent of a dark beer. Without exception, every draft beer is a lightweight "safe" selection. I can understand catering to the average beer drinker, but there are enough taps to have a couple of adventurous rotators. Alcohol is a factor in where our group goes and there is nothing on that beer menu to bring me back and no promise of better beer to come. And, for the record, I have tried every beer on that menu with one exception. Summing it up, we "like" J's Corner (never had a "bad" experience) and every dish we have had has been "good" though they don't always live up to the menu description. There has been nothing any of us would say is great, but nothing that we would say "don't get this." It's telling that at the end of our meal last night, none of the six of us commented about our food. Yep. J's Corner is simply...

Not good. Took us five minutes of standing around for someone to come in and seat us, then another 10 minutes for someone to come get our drink orders. I would understand if it were busy, but there was one two top inside and a three top on the patio besides us. Took another five minutes to actually get said drinks and place our orders. Food Took forever, about 35 minutes to get to us. Once again, if it were busy I would understand but the place was empty. Yhe employees were all hanging out outside chatting and having drinks. Food wasn't good. My husband had a burger that was under done (seriously, 35 minutes and it wasn't even fully cooked) but on the flip side my pork chops were so dry I think they cooked them every bit of those 35 minutes. It was a paper thin porkchop, it should have taken ten minutes to cook at absolute most (as a previous chef, I know it wouldn't have taken longer). I choked down one but didn't finish the other. The Mac and cheese tasted like over boiled noodles with Velveeta melted over top, and the baked beans had a thick film on top in their little bowl which makes me think they put them in the bowl long before they brought it out. It wasn't the cleanest place I've ever been to. The picture is from the booth seat I was in. It's harder to see because it was dark in there, but it was covered in crumbs and yuck. The outlet was gross and full of finger prints, the floor looked like it hadn't been swept in weeks, and the windows were gross. Wouldn't send my worst enemy there. I'm not usually one to leave bad reviews, but this was...

My husband came here with a couple of his friends and he just rave about their captain crunch chicken tenders. I’m a big foodie, so I was excited about trying this place out. Let’s just say the food was just terrible. I ordered their Fried cheese (mozzarella sticks) and a meatball sub; while my husband ordered the captain crunch coated chicken tenders and pimento cheeseburger.

Let me start by saying, I didn’t know it was possible to mess up fried cheese. There was hardly any cheese on these sticks and to top it all off there was too much oregano. The sauce was just awful. Like the fried cheese, the sauce had too much oregano and wasn’t saucy enough. I do give them credit for trying to make the sauce from scratch. Unfortunately, I had the same experience with my sub, since it too requires tomatoe sauce.

The chicken tenders weren’t as bad. I loved the crunchy coating to it, but the chicken was just dry. The only good thing was my husband burger. He did order it with no tomatoe due to dietary issues and he received it with tomatoe. Obviously he removed it, however, waiters and cooks need to pay more attention to these small details.

My husband and I conquer that our visit together was awful. Since he had a good first experience he’s willing to give them a second chance. I think otherwise. Restaurants shouldn’t have good or bad days.

• This review is based on their food only. They have a great atmosphere. It’s the perfect place to catch a beer and...