Jonah's Seafood House, 2601 Oyster Bar, and Market & Bake Shop — Restaurant in East Peoria

This review starts out with this comment - Andrew is a fantastic bartender/waiter. He alone keeps this at 3 stars instead of 2 stars - If I were rating just his over all performance than this would be 4.5 stars.

I ate a Jonah's 2 nights in a row - first night was because of a personal recommendation - 2nd night was become I wanted to give them a chance to redeem themselves before I left a review.

I'm in town from Florida - (seafood destination) for a remote training event in East Peoria that I manage.

Night 1 : I came into the oyster bar side and was seated immediately, I was greeted by Andrew. He had a great attitude from the get go. He asked me what I wanted to drink and like the pain that I am I replied what is your recommendation (Do you have any speciality cocktails?) The ginger based drink was very good, almost excellent. Next I went through the menu and decide I had to try oysters, being it was an oyster bar and whatnot. I figured I'd still be hungry and added a red beans and rice. My meal started the unhappiness trend I experienced throughout the remainder of my meal. So the oysters we're listed as 6 ( I thought 12 halves) Instead it was 6 halves - Menu is tricky and they inform you of on the half shell, not in the description but on top portion of the menu. The oysters were shucked well and tasted fantastic - came with unblended ketchup, lemon, and horseradish (nice touch letting you blend in the amount you like) - Red beans and rice was tiny and I mean super freaking tiny. They were very soupy and completely bland (No seasoning what so ever)

Day 1 recap : Positive - waiter was on point and made me feel happy to be there.

Negative - Drink was 9 dollars (Expected and not completely unreasonable) Oysters for 6 halves 13 dollars and worst red beans and rice I've ever had around $3.75 - Tipped 5.50 on $27.50 and was so hungry I went to Burger King afterwards.

Day 2 : I went back with my lead instructor to give it a second chance - even more terrible than the first night. We walked into the restaurant side and was told the kitchen closed 3 minutes before we got there (9 pm kitchen closes {Super Lame}). We then decide to sit at the oyster bar and give that menu a second go. Michael order Oysters Rockefeller and 2 gin and tonics. I ordered spinach and artichoke dip, clam chowder, and crab cake sandwich with spring greens.Before the soup came out I tried the same tactic from the night before. I asked the bartender to help me with a cocktail ( I saw this bartender the night before as well as the one that served me the night before). He was not happy that I asked him to ask my previous bartender to make a second choice. They recommended the blood orange margarita. It was dipped in salt instead of sugar which made the drink totally suck. The Rockafeller was all cheese and bacon which is yummy but no oyster made it pure bacon and cheese for 14 dollars. The dip was completely unseasoned which made it bland. Michael's gin and tonics were perfect and he was appropriately buzzed. My clam chowder was creamy and sweet - I had to season myself to make it close to how I'd make it. The sandwich came out with coleslaw instead of the salad. He went back and got me a salad and it was good but lacking any ingredients. The crab cake sandwich I took off from the bun and ate separate. I encountered 5 pieces of shell.

Good: Gin and Tonics, clam chowder

Bad : everything else including the $74.55 bill - I still tipped $12 because I can't do less than 20% unless they are rude or terrible in an extreme way.

I would never recommend this restaurant - They have $60 meals which I can only imagine my...

I have never complained or reviewed a restaurant before but this time just WOW! Went to this astablishment with high hopes, waitress was decent, but the food was nothing above a cheap Applebee's. The fillet mignon was the most tasteless steak I have ever had and i don't usually buy ex[pensive 60+ dollar meals but I'm here on business and i said why not? my 6 year old son could cook any cheap steak from wall mart better then this gourmet steak I was served, the other person at my table was also very dissatisfied with his steak as we dipped it in the cheese sauce of our potatoes just to fork it down. Ok but what about the rest of the meal? a very small luke warm baked potato that I had to put all my cold fixings on my self... not very satisfying, Au Gratin potatoes "sweet but not bad" and the crab, nothing I couldn't get at any other restaurant for half the price.... so what do i do with this completely overpriced mistake? that did not even fill me up for over 60 bucks? complain to the manager,? make a scene and try to get my meal discounted? NO! I very politely went up to the hostess desk and waited "the hostess being 12 feet away at the bar socializing with the two bartenders" I waited for well over a minute, knowing that I was noticed as soon as I approached the desk but not attended too by the person who's job it is to stand in that spot and deal with customers. FINALY! the hostess asked me from the bar 10 or so feet away "can I help you?" making me walk over to the bar area to talk to her infront of the two bartenders, I told her that i am not the type to complain and I don't want to get your managers involved but my steak was completely tasteless and the rest of my food was nothing special for a $60 meal, I just wanted to give some criticism on my way out before paying my over priced bill and not make a big deal out of it. The hostess told me VERBATIM! "ok, thanks" nothing els just ok thanks........ with this fresh out of high school stuck up attitude and thats why I am writing this review, for the first time in my life I complained about the food trying to be discrete about it and then the hostess was compleatly rude about it!! I would blame the cook for the complaint but the hostess takes the cake for worst service I have ever had. next time ill go to McDonalds if i want to be treated so rudely and spend 6 dollars not 60! March 8th 8...

Sadly very disappointed. We had very high hopes for our dining experience at Jonah’s. But We sadly did not even get to order and eat our meal. We had reservations for 6:30 on Valentine’s Day. Granted, I understand on a date night holiday you should expect a large crowd and a big house but to be frank it was an absolute zoo. There was not even anywhere to wait patiently for the staff clearly working hard to seat people. We made reservations almost 3 plus weeks in advance, we not only waited close to 40 mins for a table of two we got the pleasure of doing so standing in front of the bathroom entrance where we constantly had to move for other guests. The speaker playing music was blasting to the point we could not even hear the reservation names being called. Then when we were seated we were given a table in the back corner of the lounge and got the privilege of sitting among the large number of those still waiting for a table. The table was wobbly and un level. While the all two of the staff we interacted with were very pleasant and cordial given the circumstances. Once seated we waited an additional 15 mins to be asked for a drink order. I just feel that people that make a reservation at a very generously priced restaurant do not make a reservation to sit in the back of the lounge amongst a large host of people staring at you as they strain to hear their name called. My girlfriend who made these reservations as a surprise to me was very upset. While we do Not nor did expect to be seated in the most prime location. I think the lounge should be for those wishing to sit there or wait. Not those who called to reserve a dining table in the dining room. Clearly they over booked and those in charge of keeping order and organization where in over their head. I’m sure the food would have tasted just fine had we decided to stay but unfortunately at that point the mood was uncomfortable and disappointing to be paying top dollar...