BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Irvine

Some companies get it and others don't. Some things are convenient and others not so much. As many of you know BJ's can be hit or miss in terms of wait/service. Case in point. I've literally come during a rush and been told 30 minute wait, driven to another BJ's 30 miles away and been seated and eating before my friends who I left there was. That's the kind of massive discrepancies you'll find at some BJ's. It's very area and time dependent. As an early adopter I'm all over online ordering, mobile apps and of course rewards programs. Chipotle gets it, easy, fast, quick to navigate, accurate, convenient. BJ's online ordering is the exact opposite. Their large menu is not intuitive, it's not fast, it's accurate, but when you pull up into curb side and call in, maybe they pick up, maybe they don't. Maybe the ticket on your foot says 21 minutes before pick up and maybe your food comes out 14 minutes late. Maybe you eventually come inside and see the dining room pretty empty. Who knows. I haven't and certainly don't have the time to track and document the rushes here, but I can tell you if you want to get back to work in a reasonable hour and think that curbside or ordering ahead will work. It will not.

As with most BJ's the food is solid. You can't really complain as their menu selection is good and they have solid items and great beer pairings. It's not a sports bar despite their full bar and TV's and dark wood. It's not the cheesecake factory with their way too big a menu and lack of more salt of the earth items. My go to items are the avocado egg rolls and santa fe spring rolls, balance, bold and I like the avo cream sauce for both, when fresh are excellent appetizers, seared ahi tuna salad and a cocktail or craft beer. Don't expect too much local, but I'm a fan of their Tatonka stout. They have a very middle eastern seaboard brewing style across their in house offerings. Love the craft root beer, but too bad it's not free refills. Nothing is overly hopped (except Hopstorm), seasoned, roasted or IBU'd so it's a basic, but full offering.

Service is ok, it's pretty good when you come here late or early, but in between, forget about it. Staff is very polite and usually apologetic so I generally sit at the bar for faster more attentive service. Classic dark wood, wall window ambiance. I dig the gluten free menu options and the small bites offerings. Spinach stuffed mushrooms have tons of flavor packed in single bite sized eats. Baked, not fried. Fried artichoke hearts with just lemon are just fine, no need for aioli aka mayonnaise. Don't get the mac and cheese, it's a kinds of failure. Something about the mixture of meats and cheese for a deep dish really separates the supreme pepperoni from the veggie options. The classic is ideal for the sausage. It's maybe kinda close to the style they do in Chicago, but very corporatized. Burgers are ok, tons of fries, but it ain't no red robin, they need work. Higher heat, better meat mixture, the burgers are well put together. I prefer the pork chops over the steaks because honestly if it aint prime steak it's not worthy. The pork chops are almost never dry and it's a hearty meal. Spaghetti and meat sauce are pretty solid a backup when carb loading. Appetizers are pretty large in general and shareable which is why the small bites are so good for those who eat alone.

Pizookie is excellent, even to go. A must try is the salted caramel with the extra caramel sauce. Literally this 1 item is the saving grace to an otherwise mediocre restaurant. I'll keep coming back for that alone, love the 3 pack, but a variety sampler of all would be great, sure you can do it on your own, but ordering is a pain online like this.

They are open late so your ideal is for people who get out of work late or those looking to wind down with a nightcap, but more often than not the experience will keep...

I’m not someone who usually writes bad reviews. If I love a place, I give it 5 stars, and if I don’t enjoy my experience, I just don’t go back. However, I’m truly sad about what happened at BJ’s last night because this location holds so much sentimental value for us. We’ve celebrated countless anniversaries and birthdays here, met with friends, and even had our wedding dinner at this restaurant. Naturally, for my daughter’s 5th birthday, we decided to continue our tradition and visit “our” place.

I’m familiar with the usual wait times, so to avoid that, I used their own app to join the waitlist ahead of time. The app showed that we’d have to wait only 10 to 20 minutes, and by the time we arrived, it indicated it was our turn. However, when I walked in to check in, the experience was disappointing.

There were four staff members at the front, gossiping and laughing. I tried to explain that I was on the app waitlist, but they didn’t even listen or check the app. My daughter was visibly impatient, and they saw it but still didn’t acknowledge us. After waiting 15 more minutes, I approached them again to explain the situation. One of the staff members, with an attitude, told me, “The app can’t say that. We can only text you.” If that’s the case, why does the app show a specific wait time? The system is confusing, and the staff seemed indifferent.

When I tried to explain further, another staff member cut me off mid-sentence with a condescending tone, saying, “It’s your turn now.” I felt like I was talking to a group of high school students with no idea how to handle customers or provide professional service. I even had to ask them to show us to our table because they didn’t bother to direct us. Eventually, a different staff member led us to our table and apologized.

The only reason we didn’t leave was because it was our daughter’s birthday. Despite everything, we tipped our waiter fully and tried to stay as normal as possible for the sake of the occasion. I ended up just ordering a soup and salad because I was already so upset. This was the last time we’ll be visiting this restaurant. Weak customer service and unprofessional attitudes ruined what should have been a special...

Had to give 5 stars because of the combined efforts of Brady and Bonnie but there are a couple of things that are concerning. First BJ’s has a new shift change that directly affects customers at peak times even on Fridays. Today we went in, requested Brady, sat in her section for a minute, to find out she was going on break and moving to another section so she wouldn’t be our waitress. The entire reason we go to BJ’s is because of the extraordinary service provided by Brady and Bonnie. Lucky for us Bonnie took over so we enjoyed a spectacular meal but we were very disappointed to have our server switched after we requested her. If the new server hadn’t been Bonnie we would have left. I heard other people grumbling and upset about the switch as well. Bonnie was a champ and took over seamlessly BUT she and Brady are the only 2 servers that give extraordinary service. We go all the time and have tried many servers and it’s true. So if either of these servers begins service and is switched no one is going to tip them what they deserve if they leave half way through a meal and are replaced by an unskilled server. This idiotic rule serves no one well. Original server loses tips new server is beginning with a dissatisfied customer and has little incentive to be a great server and the customer suffers! BJ’s please fix this. The other issue is in the past but is important for next year. In 2022 I purchased $1000 worth of gift cards, this year the process of getting gift cards was so difficult that i didn’t get any! I didn’t want to go to take out, then stand in line and practically beg BJ’s to take my money, it was much more convenient when the servers were able to get the cards for you. Plus it was fun to see the servers compete to sell the most card and make everyone merry! Please consider bringing that gift card procedure back and changing the shift changed to different sections, get a floater during breaks. This method is dissatisfying to customers. This is not working! Lastly, I must say the cinnamon roll pizzookie is amazing! Definitely a keeper!! Thank you Brady and Bonnie! Please...