BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Goodyear

Tonight we had a reservation at 10 pm to celebrate my friends graduation from Emcc and another friends birthday. We showed up with our original full party of 8 people around 950 and was told to wait till 10 pm for our table to be ready. While outside we saw a few workers hanging out in the patio watching tv. We didnt think much since everyone should have a little fun or break at work. Around 1015 one of my friends went inside to ask for an update of our table if it was ready. We were told that table isn't ready. We checked again at 1030 and was told they are cleaning and setting it up. Our party was excited and ready to enjoy our dinner.

Once we got seated 5 to 10 minutes later we were greeted with two servers. One girl was shadowing another gal. (I am all for this because I was a server of 10 years. So I welcomed her with open arms.)

However things didn't go smoothly like it should be. They introduced themselves, put drink coasters down and walked away. As they were walking away. I asked if we could start the table with some appetizers and some waters. Since we been sitting at our table for the past 10 to 15 minutes. Majority of the table was even ready to order our entrée. But I thought since the girl was new why not let her do things her way so she isn't overwhelmed with a big table. Half the table ordered alcoholic drinks and we all showed our ids.. when it got to me I was given a look and a little giggle by both servers. Not sure why or if they weren't sure about if I was of age but they gave me my ID back like normal. I didn't think much since out of everyone at the table I am the oldest and shouldn't have been questioned. However I see the two servers laughing and discussing something in the kitchen. To everyone surprise the gal who was the trainer came back and told the whole table that she needs to collect everyone ID because it's graduation night and they need to store the ID at the bar. We all thought it was weird but we all gave her our ID even the guests who just ordered water.

Two drinks were delivered to the table. One drink was to a person who turned 21 the day prior. And his drink was purchased or paid for by someone who this restaurant claims has a "fake ID". So clearly this restaurant doesn't care if someone has a fake ID or not because she was able to buy or pay for the alcohol even though 5 minutes prior was told her ID is fake and they can't accept it.

We spent roughly 30 to 40 minutes at our table and only water, two alcohol drinks and an appetizer was brought to the table. I am not sure how the rest of the night would have went if we did order our food since we left. Not sure if we would have gotten our food before closing or not based on the rate of service we were given. Seemed like we weren't welcome as guests since the beginning waiting for our table 30 to 40 minutes past our reservation. As the group we walked out and only paid for what was brought to the table.

I want to give this restaurant another chance in the future but I just wanted to share our experience we had tonight. How things were handled wasn't professional and to be honest against the law if they claim someone ID IS FAKE but openly will accept a payment...

UPDATE as of 2/8/24

Attempted to dine in and give this location another try - only to be further disappointed.

There is a manager at this location (with blonde dreads) whom really requires some additional training before being trusted with this establishment.

We were dining in about 4:30pm on a Thursday and were witness to this manager referenced above loudly belittling her staff on the busy restaurant floor. The staff member approached the manager and requested help, only for the manager to loudly threaten the employee with a “write up”.

Whatever the cause for the threat of the write up, surely the manager should know better than to subject the guests that are dining in to that conversation. Mind you, this conversation took place right next to the double doors leading to the kitchen, where the manager could’ve easily removed herself and the employee from the restaurant floor. If that manager was properly trained, or cared to concern herself with the comfort of the guests dining in, or her staff, she would’ve had the professionalism to have that conversation out of the view/earshot of guests.

Wes was our server and was absolutely amazing! He made sure we didn’t want for anything during our visit. Wes was diligent about ensuring our drinks were properly refilled and continued to check on us, even after our bill was paid. Our order was fulfilled completely correct thanks to Wes, his attention to detail and his ability to perform his job well.

11/25/23 - COUNT YOUR DAYS, BJ’s!

I ordered takeout yesterday and part of my order included a cup of coffee. When the server brought my order to the car I inquired about my cup of coffee… he notified me it was “in the bag”. When I inquired about what he meant by that, seeing how I was obviously perplexed by how a cup of coffee could be carried out in a food bag, he stated “i don’t know, that’s just what my manager told me to do” and then turned and walked away.

Upon closer inspection I did find my “cup” of coffee in the bag with the food… but instead of being in a to-go cup (you know… so I could actually drink my coffee as I drive away) it was placed in a to-go SOUP BOWL pictures included

I want to have empathy for the server, as I know that anytime the coffee is place in a to-go cup, it is handed to you, without a heat protectant sleeve, at an insanely hot temperature. However, if this is a known issue, why is the managers solution to serve to-go coffee in a soup bowl container? Surely the manager can contact corporate for a more consumer friendly remedy to the inadequate to-go...

Worst experience I have had at a restaurant. The management and staff were very rude. When reaching out to the general manager there was not even a response. My family and I went to your restaurant to celebrate two birthdays, we were a big group so 18% gratuity was added. The experience started off great up until it came time to do the payment. The server was given part cash and 5 cards to finish the transaction. While I understand this may complicate things she did not give us any indication of it when she took our cards. She came back after some time and informed us she was unable to process the cards because of the gratuity but didn't offer any sort of alternative. So we asked her (server was named Jaida) what can we do to fix the issue and she wasn't clear on what could be done. So we didn't know what to do. We offered to take the cash off or take the gratuity off and we would pay for it and she said that she would not be able to do that. I again asked what can we do to solve this issue. She was very confused and said she would just run the cards but handed one card back. Again we were just confused so I walk up to the manager on duty I believe Deleon and right off the bat he was very argumentative and just rude. By the end of it I offered to put it all on my card and we completed the transaction. But he continued with the poor attitude. We asked if the other cards would be charged he said no because the other cards were not ran. Well we check our accounts and they were. So I go back to ask him and he continued with the argumentative attitude and overall rude behavior. I asked him to please let me talk because I had questions and he continued to make faces while I was talking. I realized that nothing would be solved with this type of behavior and I just informed him I would be reaching out to the general manager. He replied with a great. As I was walking away he said "thank you for the positive attitude" in a very sarcastic condescending way when I was already 20 ft away. It was an unnecessary comment. I along with the other 15 guests were completely put out by his behavior and will definitely not...