Jasper's Backyard — Restaurant in Conshohocken

Some coworkers and I visited Jasper's a few years ago, on the company dime, of course... the place is upscale and pricey, after all. I went with another group of coworkers today. In both cases, I'd rate the food as "good enough for the price"... not REALLY tasty, but well-prepared and seasoned enough that you don't want to flip the table and storm out to the nearest Indian restaurant 😂 I had the crab burger with fries. Just like the first 2 times I ate there, the food was not bland, yet not too exciting or awesome. It was "satisfactory".

One thing though. The service staff I saw years ago was (obviously) completely gone, replaced by a whole new set of servers. The previous set were "normal" servers... besides the normal greeting, they engaged in short pleasantries, cracked a joke now and then, and were overall seeming affable. That's what we'd consider "normal" for a restaurant of this caliber and price range, right?

However, the experience was different this time. As always, my party of 4 maintained our high level of friendliness and respect (just as normal, sane professionals do). Our server - Morgan C. - had a dour and basically unhappy look on her face the whole time. Ditto for the other servers (including the one guy), but they didn't seem quite AS unhappy as ours. At first we thought Morgan just had a "Resting B*tch face" (hey, genetics can be tricky).. but then we realized she COULD smile because smiled A LOT when she was handling the table next to ours: a quartet of wealthy-looking white businessmen in suits. While she was attentive enough and functional with OUR table, it felt "cold" and "necessary" - she afforded us NONE of the same "warm vibe" she gave the other table.

Before I finish this review, lemme address the Elephant in the room.

In today's sociopolitical climate full of over-sensitive "triggered" people, I suspect that you (the reader) might assume, "Oohh I get it, this reviewer is just a misogynist who expects women to act like always-smiling dolls, for the male gaze and comfort"... and I assure you, that is definitely NOT the case here. Even the MALE server seemed unhappy as well, however, HE was not our waiter, Morgan was. So this is not about a particular gender or demographic, but customer expectation at a restaurant.

(Social awareness and Honesty are HIGH on my priority list, so the fact that I have to even "proactively defend" my honest sincere review, is PROBLEMATIC in and of itself 😑).

Anyway... perhaps Morgan was having a bad day... but the ENTIRE WAIT-STAFF? Doubtful. I'd expect this type of "no-frills service" from a tiny Chinese Restaurant, not an upscale joint like Jasper's. I suspect that the staff needs a little more re-training on taking care of customers from a VARIETY of backgrounds and different "looks", REGARDLESS of the time of day or peak hours.

Bottom line: Our experience today was NOT inviting, encouraging, or tip-generating... so I'll find it very difficult to return or recommend Jasper's to anyone.

However, if YOU are already accustomed to the servers at Jasper's (maybe because you're a rich white businessman in an expensive suit 😎), then knock yourself out! The location is great (free parking), the inside looks nice, the bathroom is clean AF, and the food - while a bit pricey for the regular non-wealthy layman - is...

Myself and 4 of my friends went to Jaspers Backyard for brunch the other day. We sat outside under the tent which was very nice and comfy. We felt distanced from other guests, felt the restaurant followed all COVID-19 guidelines and our waiter took great care of us. The reason for my two star review was because we got ripped off on our drinks. 4 out of 5 of us wanted to order a brunch sangria which is $7 a glass on their menu. I asked the server because we had ordered 4 of them, would it be easier if we just ordered a pitcher to make things easier for him. He said he wasn't sure if they could do it and would be right back after he checked. He came back, said he would do it and we ordered 2 pitchers of white sangria for our table. After a few minutes he came back with 4 wine glasses filled with ice and only ice. Then came back with 2 pitchers of white sangria also filled to the brim with ice. Once poured into our glasses the pitcher barely filled all four of our glasses (which is fine, that's just a common part of the restaurant and bar industry to fill everything with ice, I get that). We then ordered one more pitcher during the duration of our brunch. My issue is when we received the bill, they charged us $45 for each pitcher! That's $135 for 3 small pitchers of sangria! For those keeping score at home, $7 for one sangria times 4 servings in each pitcher would be $28 per pitcher. Where they get $45 each is absurd. We got ripped off and I definitely won't be going back because it. My advice is to buy individual glasses and unfortunately make the server run back and forth. Otherwise you're overpaying...

This was the worst service I’ve had in a long time. There were two bar tenders working the bar in the small room to the left when you walk in. We first sat at a high top and weren’t greeted for about 6-7 mins, but we prefer to sit at the bar anyway so when a couple got up we moved. First round of drinks were delicious, second didn’t come for over 20 mins. The one bartender was definitely struggling and kept forgetting what we ordered (she asked us 3 times to repeat our dinner orders after we originally placed them, didn’t write them down any of the times she asked). She also took our drink orders and then never rang them in. I’m giving her grace because she seemed new and was reading a paper while making house cocktails, but the second bartender wasn’t tending bar for 80% of the 1.5 hrs we were there. We could clearly see him texting on his phone in the back for 10-20 mins at a time. Even when he did the bare minimum to notice us, he was in no rush. How do you keep employees like this? No urgency, no customer service skills, and for people with clearly horrible memories THEY DIDN'T WRITE A SINGLE THING DOWN?!?!? I was a server for 10 years and never worked with such a complete and utter lack of responsibility for servicing my customers. We will not be back...