JL Beers — Restaurant in Fargo

Since they do not have a way (or at least an easy way) to comment to them on their website, I will use this avenue to convey my experience. I have eaten here many times and would consider myself a "regular".

Yesterday, in an effort to support them during this lockdown time, we decided to get our lunch from them. Since they don't do delivery like many of their competitors, we drove their and parked in their lot. I called and told them that I was sitting in their lot and gave them my order. They said to give them 5 minutes and come in and pickup my order. This is the first issue I have as they are now asking me to come in to the store - touching 2 sets of handles - and also coming into an environment where there are other customers that are coming and going. There was actually a customer that passed me going out as I was coming in - which was closer than the recommended 6ft "social distance" that is recommended.

Once we got our food - which the guy giving it to me was not what I would consider thankful for the business - the first thing I noticed was that this to go order had far fewer fries than what I normally get when I eat in. Since I have never got a to go order from there before, maybe that is all the fries that come with it but during these times I would think that they would do what some of their competitors do and that is include more of what you are ordering rather than less. Overall very dissappointing experience. I will be recommending to others to avoid them for take out.

Being in customer service for over 30 years, here are a few things I would recommend to management. First, do what some of your competitor's are doing right now and offer some type of discount for people to drive to your business and pickup their food since you don't offer delivery. Second, offer curbside service where you bring the food out to the customer. Even my vet - Casselton Vet in Fargo - is offering curbside pickup and dropoff of animals with appointments and many other restaurants are doing it. Third, make sure your employees are showing that they are grateful for those of us that continue to go out and support your business. Remember, there are many restaurants competing with yours for our business. Finally, make sure you are not scrimping on the little things like fries. You may have saved a nickle on my order by shorting my fries, but then you get negative reviews like mine.

I'll see you when this...

JL Beers is a casual, fun & friendly dining experience in Fargo. As the name suggests the selection of beers offered is far beyond what you would expect in most burger places & in fact is the main draw for the restaurant. The selection ranges from the plain & boring American style beers such as Budweiser & Coors for the unadventurous to unique styles that you're unlikely to find anywhere else. The tap beer menu is divided into beer styles such as dark so you can easily find what you're particular taste is. For those uncertain what they like or those interested in trying something different the waiters will give a taste sample. This encourages experimentation & removes the risk from ordering something unfamiliar. I tried the Summit Saga & the Surley Furious. I chose Furious. The dining experience is casual, guests seat themselves at high tables or at the bar, the atmosphere is dominated by large screen tv's showing sports or news. This is a burger place & the food menu is as sparse as the beer menu is varied. The menu offers 12 different signature burgers, or of course you could make your own creation from a list if available toppings. Burgers come with fresh made chips or fries. The food is cooked in view of customers behind the bar & if you sit close to the grill expect it to be hot. The service is fast & the food is good, but nothing special, an average burger I would say. I had the JLapeno burger. The chips or fries are excellent due to the fact that they're made to order & always hot & fresh. Based on what you get the cost seems high. For two people to get two burgers & two beers the bill was $40 with tip. One unique thing about JL Beers is that they bring post cards to the table that have a picture of JL Beers on the front & on the back a place to put in the name of a friend & tell them to buy the sender a beer. A neat advertising idea, but they could have taken it to the next logical step by actually collecting the postcards & mailing them for the guests. I wonder how many end up unmailed in the garbage because postage is paid by the customer? In summary JL Beers is a different place to check out if you're in the area & like to try unusual beers or in a hurry to eat & just want a burger, but if you're coming here to drink expect to rack up a significant bar tab...

Showed up at a busy time little after 5:30pm, of course there is a wait, that's understandable. What I don't understand is why 3 open seats were right up against the bar, during peak business time, and a few customers could hold them open for guests who weren't even there yet. That is poor management to allow that to happen. After about 5-10 minutes after bringing it to the attention of the greeter who told me about them waiting on a guest, he said he would go check with them to see if they were still waiting on a guest. He proceeded to walk past them, not speak to them, then go to the other end of the bar to talk with a coworker then after never actually discussing it with them, sat us after a larger group left.

No apologies, no sincerity, nothing.

To put things into perspective I ate here a few months back when it was slow, wait staff all seemed to genuinely hate their jobs and didn't care that they showed it. Unenthusiastic, no sense of hospitality at all.

This only time this location hasn't let me down, is when I picked up my food to go.

Burger was...