J Fargo's Family Dining & Micro Brewery — Restaurant in Cortez

Family owned and operated! Not only was the food awesome, every time I've been there, but so was the service. During these difficult times for restaurants and bars to operate due to Covid, this place can still keep up a high standard of quality and ethics. They care about their customers and their staff. We were there one very busy Friday night and happened to over hear a customer complaining. His complaints were having to wait to long and they were out of food choices. The manager handled it very well. She told him that they were extremely busy and under staffed, as are most of these businesses these days. His families food was all satisfactory, but he wanted to be compensated for his meals and wait time. He ended up paying full price, as he rightfully should have. People can clearly see the place was busy. If you have half a brain, you'll know the wait times will be longer and food choices may run out. With suppliers of many companies and food suppliers having a hard time even getting restaurants food supply orders filled, and supply and demand shortages, it should be obvious that these things will happen. I happen to see the mans license plates, and they were from out of town. Maybe were he comes from that is acceptable behavior 🤔. I'm super glad that it's not accepted here. Shortly after that the manager saw her staff having a hard time filling orders because of running out of food choices, and the cooks frustration. Instead of letting her staff get short changed because of things out of their control, she decided to close down early at 7:30 pm. It was a good choice. Rather than have them get more complaints and possibly bad reviews and her staff not compensated fairly, she made the right choice to close early. They closed and locked the doors and let everyone still there continue their meals and drinks at their leisure. Because they did this, they have my utmost respect 👏. And guess what else? They haven't lost any business or staff either. Their steaks and Texas Tacos...

I feel like this place should be a better experience. I’ve been here a few times to watch football while working in Cortez. It’s been hit or miss (mostly miss).

Tonight upon entering I was asked to wait, which is fine, but I just wanted a seat at the bar. The place was a ghost town. Eventually the server came back, but it was awkward just standing there waiting to be seated at an empty bar.

I ordered a quesadilla. They very clearly are not keeping the griddle clean because there were little burnt chunks of other food and the tortilla had a very distinct taste of burger grease. It was served up on plate garnished with dark, wilted lettuce. I asked for the chips and salsa (on request). Chips were stale. It looked like the salsa was made in house, which would have been nice if it were fresh. Alas, it was not.

Too bad the volume was turned down on the TVs because instead of listening to the Monday night game, I got to listen to Marge Simpson’s sisters complain through their cancer kazoos about how crappy their supervisor is and how she never approves their leave requests.

I will say that what prompted me to leave the under-average review was the under-average experience accentuated with a 3.75% “Credit Card Fee” that was never communicated. I could have paid cash and saved a couple bucks, but was never given that option. Most food service and retail establishments don’t choose to transfer those costs onto the consumer. It’s just an overhead expense that is generally accepted because taking card payments is so common place now that it would be inconveniencing to customers and bad for business to not accept that method of payment. I mean, at least just bury that 1% Visa charges you in the menu prices. Do I really need to tell you not to mark up your service charges by 4 orders of magnitude, dump that obligation on your customers and offer them zero alternative. I just find...

The 1st thing that just rubbed me wrong. When someone sits in the bar. Their experience isn’t to be in and out. Their there to relax, have a few beers, maybe so food or dinner. Server came to the table promptly after I was seated. Told me about the happy hour special. About the 4 national beers brands they have on tap. I had to ask about the in house beers. My question to management is why aren’t you trying to push the in house micro brews? Isn’t that the whole point you have a bar to have an avenue to sell your products? Then the server just badgered me about ordering food. Within 5 mins of sitting down she asked me 3-4 times about ordering. So I ordered an appetizer and immediately wanted to take my dinner order. I told her I would wait till after my appetizer came to order. After I had ordered dinner. A house salad comes with the entree. She brought the salad to the table and about a minute later she brought my entree. I didn’t even have time to put the dressing on. I told her she could take the salad back and throw it in the trash.

To any patron it’s about the experience then the food or maybe beer. That keeps people coming back. If the experience isn’t good your going to have a hard time getting people to come back.

My job brings me to Cortez a few times a year. I personally will never set foot in your...