BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Florida

The food was delicious but we had poor service. Our server Damien seemed very pleasant at first and we ordered water to start and asked for a bit to look at the menu. He came back around to our table super quickly and we told him we still needed to look at the menu. It then took probably 20-25 minutes or so for him to come back and take our order! We watched him repeatedly pass us and double/triple check on all his other tables.

While ordering, my boyfriend said what entree he wanted and the server replied "Okay then. Do you want soup or salad with that?". At the end of the meal, we found out that this was not included at all and it was an extra SEVEN OR EIGHT DOLLARS for a bowl of soup. I've never had a server ask me that after ordering without telling me that it's extra or isn't included. My boyfriend only got the soup BECAUSE he made it sound like it was included.

We had wanted to order drinks when our meal came out (since we didn't want to drink them on an empty stomach while waiting for food), but he put the food on the table and scurried away before we could say anything and we could NOT seem to get his attention again to try to order drinks. So whatever. We didn't get drinks. My steak also came out room temp and really rare instead of medium rare, but I still enjoy rare steak so that wasn't really an issue.

After finishing, we tried to use the rewards app to order a pizookie. We'd been to this restaurant once before and hadn't realized they made many different flavors/types of these (we thought it was chocolate chip only). The server seemed really annoyed and was very short with me during that exchange. I asked to use the rewards app for it and he said "Okay, what do you want?" I replied, "Oh, I think the coupon is for the pizookie?" his reply was just "what kind." very short. "Um, sorry, I didn't know there were more than-" he cut me off with "let me get you a menu". he set the menu down and left. The restaurant is really busy, of course, but we watched him check in with every other table multiple times and even heard him talking to the table behind us incredibly friendly and taking the time to tell them how much he enjoyed serving them and wasn't rushed at all.

I'm a very anxious person and really dislike causing anybody trouble. His demeanor during that really made me extra anxious and I totally lost my appetite because I felt like I was completely bothering him by being there. We ended up not ordering a pizookie at all and leaving. Oddly enough, he was extremely pleasant when he dropped the check off and as I told him I didn't want to order the pizookie afterall.

I was extremely pissed about the soup being added on at the end especially, but I still left a 20% tip because I know what it's like to work in food service and would never stiff on a tip. My boyfriend and I do not go out to eat very often and we were trying to celebrate my first promotion in my field after having graduating college last year. I've been telling my coworkers what a bad time it was. I don't know that we'll ever go back, free...

First of all, I would like to say that I’m not the type of person that writes bad reviews, having been in the hospitality industry for over 30 years… If anything, I’m one of those people that gives the benefit of the doubt, because I understand the challenges of working in the industry. That said my wife and I vowed after our last poor experience at the Oviedo location that we would not go back however, on Monday it was my day off, and I was having a craving for a French dip so I decided to order takeout… I mean how difficult can that be right? I placed my order using the online function and was told my order would be ready at 12 PM… So I proceeded to the restaurant and arrived at about 1145, about 15 minutes before.. I walked in and knew where I was going so I went to the counter for pick up. There was nobody behind the counter and they were five tables in the entire place after a few minutes the bartender. (who incidentally, had exactly 0 people at the bar) asked me if I had been helped and I said I had not that I was there to pick up an order for Robert … He said “hang on a minute” and disappeared into the kitchen. Emerged a few minutes later and said “she’ll be right with you” So I waited… And waited… And waited. Another 10 minutes went by. By now it’s 12 o’clock. when the girl finally emerged from the kitchen, she did not smile at me, make eye contact, tell me, my food would be right up, or even acknowledge me she had a bag in her hand, which she promptly put on the counter behind her, and said, simply “not for Robert Mason“ left the bag, and then disappeared back into the kitchen. I waited another five minutes I made eye contact with the hostess, who walked over and very pleasantly, asked me if I’d been helped and I told her not really that I was still waiting to pick up my order that was supposed to be ready at 12 PM she said just a minute and went back into the kitchen. 3 to 4 minutes later the takeout attendant a appeared with my food and told me to “Have a nice day” No apology for the wait, no explanation for her attitude.

I went home and told my wife the story and she was in disbelief. If you’re going to be in the service industry, then you should enjoy serving people and have basic courtesy. Maybe she was having a bad day, but there’s no excuse to get poor customer service or be rude. Based on this experience, we will...

Another busy meal at BJ's. We arrived around 5:45 and had to wait around 1/2 hour to get a table. We each (wife and I) ordered martini on the rocks...do not do that! No gin taste whatsoever. I believe we had water on the rocks...we ordered BJ's amber beer...that was good!

We each ordered a meal salad...I had the Santa Fe and wife had the kale salad. Both were very good. Portion was excellent...unusual ingredients made each salad special.

Do not order an appetizer...we ordered a spring roll appetizer to split...it took forever to get there. I think the restaurant should have an expedited service level for appetizers since the entree should take longer to prepare. The meal size salads were delivered before we finished the appetizer..

The room is as noisy as Chilli's, which is not a compliment. Way too loud, but maybe the noise is pleasing to the 30 and 40 year oldsters who made up most of the dining population.

The waitress appeared to well trained, but she did not know that she should be in the kitchen from time to time to get the food out. The supervisor did not appear to circulate to see if diners were doing OK...I would have asked where was the food.

In short: We enjoyed the food...very extensive menu; we did not enjoy the $7.50 each martinis...I thought BJ's must have watered down the gin; timing of food service needs to be worked on...appetizers should come out more quickly (isn't that a way to sell more beverages?); I did not feel we had value for...