BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Coral Springs

I just could not overlook this and let this chronic problem go anymore without saying something. In my last (2) takeout experiences, it has finally become completely unacceptable.

I've been reluctant to complain because both of the managers are excellent and really nice, but, they are allowing this to go on and I should not have to ask for them to come to the rescue and correct this every time I visit.

I ordered take-out pizza on 6/9/25 at 10:27pm and again on 6/20/25 at 10:40pm. On both of these visits, I had the same server. Her name, per the receipts, is Ayah.

In the first visit, as I usually do, I request to use the condiment shaker for crushed pepper. It is insane to use your tiny takeout crushed pepper. I'd have to open 10 of the tiny containers to try to sprinkle it on a large vegetable pizza.

On this 1st of 2-recent visits, Ayah insisted there was no crushed pepper in the restaurant. So, you are selling Italian dishes and you have no crushed pepper in the restaurant? Not believable. I should just accept this lazy lie?

Customers are just supposed to spend over $30 for a pizza and just accept this crap like they are doing you a favor to serve you? They had plenty of it!

When I asked her to get the manager, she seemed annoyed and instead she stormed into the kitchen and went over to a table to find a condiment shaker and slammed it on the takeout counter and walked away. I had to flag her down, a 2nd time because she walked away so fast, to ask for a copy of my receipt. She prints the receipt and again places it on the take out counter and walks away and says nothing. In context, the restaurant is dead. It's late on a weeknight. It was not busy.

Like a fool, I actually leave a tip every time I come in, too.

On this last visit that inspired this review, I told her as I was paying and leaving a tip, I will need the crushed pepper shaker, as well. She goes back in the kitchen and brings out a large plastic container from the cook area that has to be about 2-quarts in size with no spout on it to shake and then walks away as she leaves this container on the counter.

So, she's gone from the counter and I'm left standing there. A couple of minutes later, a cook (not a customer facing person) who seemed like he was wrapping up his shift and going home, sees how I was abandoned by Ayah and approaches me and offers to help. He takes this huge 2-gallon plastic container back into the kitchen and finds a smaller container that he fills with crushed pepper. Again, no spout to shake or control the output, but, I graciously thanked him and added it to the pizza and left.

On the first visit, it was late and dead. Not busy and on this 2nd visit, it did not seem outrageously busy, either, it's still late at night around 11pm. Frankly, I order less and less.

You have a captive audience late at night when the family owned non-corporate pizza places are closed. From them, I get no hassle, the pizza is just as good and they have a counter full of all the condiments like you'd have at a table or like you'd find even at McDonalds and the condiments are filled. It's part of side work at the end of the night. Can BJ's not afford to have a dedicated condiment shaker for crushed pepper by the takeout counter like you have at tables?

I eat out a lot and do takeout for a pizza, a couple of times a week. Business is not great. Places l used to wait on line for 20 minutes to get seated now have empty tables even on a weekend night, sometimes, and at an earlier more peak time, too. Jobs are also not as plentiful as they used to be.

If you have someone that is not happy to be there and have a job or is not a people person that enjoys interacting with customers and assisting them with a good experience and appreciative of a tip, that isn't even mandatory for a takeout order, then that person should find a different type of job that is not customer facing and BJ's would be better served by finding people to represent them in the front of the house that do not alienate their customers and motivate them to go...

I ordered the shrimp scampi. It was overall, okay, however, I would say the dish lacked in seasoning. It needed an acid to break through the cream of the buttery sauce. Traditionally, this is done with lemon. As you can see, the garlic knot looks like a generic brand garlic knot anyone can purchase from frozen. Despite my pacing, about 1/3 of the pasta remained. And you'll notice the shrimp was not pan seared to enhance flavor and add texture or depth to the dish. I would strongly recommend reducing the portion size of this dish, reducing the price, and putting effort into improving the quality of the flavor by adding proper seasonings and applying good cooking techniques. The shrimp scampi was priced at $19.95. The remainder of the review will be about the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer, and the jambalaya, the salmon, and the fried chicken wings and fries entrees, and finally the service. These items were ordered by the remaining dining party of which was a table of six.

When we were seated, we were left to our own devices to figure out how to view the menu. Only one physical menu was at the table along with six sets of silverware. We eventually figured out the menu could be accessed by a QR code on the table, however, the online menu was confusing. For example, not all fish dishes available are listed under seafood and the list of entrees is not comprehensive. There are several sub menus which make looking for dishes containing a certain protein or dietary restriction difficult.

Beginning with the appetizer, some of the tortilla chips were undercooked such that they were still pale, stale in texture, and covered in visible oil. The spinach and artichoke dip also tasted bland, needed salt, and was lacking in spinach ( it was visually more creamy and texturally more thin than a traditional spinach and artichoke dip). The sweet tea was very sweet (described as syrup by one guest and returned by two guests due to how sweet it was) although I had the strawberry lemonade which was good. The salmon lacked flavor and was returned for buffalo wings and sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries, although crispy on the outside, seemed to dry out the mouth after a few servings. The chicken wings were slightly mushy at the bone which was described as likely having undergone a few freeze-thaw cycles. And the jambalaya also lacked flavor according to another guest.

Given the lack of guidance provided on how to access menus, the dirty plate one guest received for sharing appetizers (which had to be requested), being brought two incorrect plates of food intended for other dining guests (nearly three, we told the waiter the dishes in his hand were not ours as he approached and we'd completed our meal), I do think the floor staff suffered from poor communication.

One guest chose to order dessert. He got the peanut butter cookie with vanilla ice cream. I will say that dessert was a clear highlight. Specs of vanilla bean could be seen in the two scoops of ice cream. It was served on a cookie that was just baked in a rustic miniature baking pan. It was visually stunning and delicious!

Overall, our dining experience can be summarized as one that suffered from poor staff communication, a lack in culinary technique, and overpriced frozen food items. I don't know if this is the norm for this establishment, but I hope they are not just benefiting from the large population of people in the area... I wondered how many guests return? The six of us decided we would not.

Quality should matter (our waitress was given a significantly large tip. We realized the matter may not have been...

First time dining here and it did not go so well. Perhaps my expectations were a bit high because I always check out guest reviews and we came here excited from what we read. The smoothest part of tonight’s visit was the arrival and seating. Host/hostess were hospitable and seated us quickly. Great interior atmosphere. Once seated, we waited 11 min before we were greeted by our server. (I always pay attention to this time cause in my opinion it speaks volumes of what’s to come). Server was polite and friendly. Took our drink, app and kids meal order and off he went. Our daughter wanted kids pasta and we requested the chicken on the side. The appetizers beat the drinks to the table by seconds, but still before. Looked like a manager was running some food, he dropped off the appetizers and said he would bring a us some small plates. At this points our server was dishing out our drinks. The manager came back with four small plates (there were 6 of us in total) and said he would return with a couple more. He was never to be seen again. Our server came back around about 5 min later for a quality check on the apps so we asked him for the extra forgotten plates. He returned with them quickly then took our entree order. My mother and sister shared an entree and requested no sauce on the ribs. Soon after he left again came my kid’s pasta entree however the chicken was not on the side as requested. We went ahead and just accepted it and let her eat because we knew it would be some time before anyone would return. Then our food comes out and my sisters ribs had been sauced so we immediately made the staff aware and they took it back to correct it. The food itself was nothing incredible. Ribs and tri tip were nothing special, a little dry and tough. Fish n Chips also not impressive. I’m guessing they add rice flour to the batter to make them crispy. It’s not a bad method, just makes it mealy for my taste. The Ahi Taco app was really good though and I would def order them again. There was no quality checked for the entrees. I had to wave the waiter down about 5 minutes later to ask for malt vinegar. He didn’t even acknowledge the incident with the ribs. I feel like we kind of “lost” his attention. But we did receive the new order quickly. The table next to us did get their quality check which sort of irritated me, but ok. We ordered a dessert to share and for whatever reason that took the longest to receive. The table next to us, which arrived well after we did, had finished up their desserts, paid and were headed out the door while we are waiting for our dessert. I was just looking for someone to walk by so I could cancel the dessert and just get my check. Naturally, the next person who walked by our table was the one who brought our desserts. The plate the dessert trio was on was blazing hot, meaning it had likely sat under the warmer for a while. That would explain why it took so long and why the cookies/brownie were nice and hard and difficult to break apart with our spoons. However, this was our first time here so maybe that’s what was intended though I can’t imagine why. We finally paid our tab and left. My opinions on the food are just my opinion, to others, those same entrees might be amazing so I wouldn’t not go back because of that. There are a few other things I would like to try, but it is not just about the food for me. I don’t know if I want to risk another disappointing experience. Apologies, I was really hoping this would have been a...