J. Render's Southern Table & Bar — Restaurant in Lexington

We keep trying this place every year or two because we forget the previous experience. Was it really that bad? Was it an off day? So many people love it, maybe it’s better. I’m leaving this review in part so I will remember that it’s really just kind of okay. Our last attempt was takeout near the start of the pandemic, and it was truly awful.

Long story short: if you go because you want to try it or are along for the ride, get the veggie platter. The sides I tried (except for the fries) are all pretty good to great. Collards, crispy Brussels sprouts, potato salad, cornbread, all great.

The meat should be the draw, though, and it isn’t. Everything I had was dry, and there’s no excusing dry, tough smoked meat. Go to Porterhouse BBQ or Blue Door and you’ll see what I mean. The sauce should compliment the meat, not require it so you can choke the meat down. The ribs were an okay flavor but hurt my jaw to eat. The pulled pork was okay, and my smoked chicken was just sad. I ate three bites and took the rest home to turn into a stew or something. It was extremely overdone, to the point of being almost mealy.

Don’t be fooled into getting the happy hour appetizer, either. We tried the balls (I forget the actual name), pork and Mac and cheese smashed into a ball and fried. That panko coating was dang tasty, but the admonishment to be careful because they’re so hot was very misleading. They were freshly fried but the inside was cold and didn’t have much flavor. The Mac didn’t seem to have any actual cheese. I had to use sauce to make it palatable.

As for the service, our waiter was nice enough. It took a while to actually order because the servers were clumped around the service area chatting. There were just enough tables Saturday at 5:30 that they might each have had one customer. We got our food fast, at least.

It’s just okay. We likely won’t be back unless we fall into the “local gem”...

A warm environment with a variety of seating options that maintains this throughout. Small local bands featured weekly. Lovely bar highlights the great variety of bourbons, mixers, and wines at various price points. Loved their Renders Tea with fresh mint. Happy hour daily with a nice range of appetizer choices to share. Outstanding bartender and server nicknamed “Jewels”. I was there for 2 hours to drink, eat and relax. This young woman never stopped working! Nothing distracting just clearly what she felt she was responsible to do as she clearly took pride; she even stated how much she enjoyed her weekend job there. Another worker, a woman with long blonde hair, made it clear she valued quality service and supporting her team as did a young man with short trim hair. It was clear they had respect for this business, the owners and customers. I cannot say enough about the menu! Exceptional BBQ selections with a range of homemade sides; as well there are mouth watering traditional southern main courses. I had the most delicious meatloaf a nurse recommended with southern green beans and smoky Mac and cheese. Major yummy! (Best green beans ever as they were had perfect texture.) The Jalapeño cornbread was the perfect accent. They offer catering as well as celebration meals in a private room on site. My husband and I are enjoying frequent culinary adventures now that we are retired. Hands down, J Renders is the BEST IN BBQ AND FAMILY MEALS! We are looking forward to a JRenders Tea made a served with joy by “Jewels” followed by another...

This place is the worst barbecue place in town. It’s way over price and the food is very mediocre. I could’ve went to a fast food place and got better barbecue than this. I got the “famous” pulled pork sandwich that they claimed was the sandwich that started the restaurant. There was hardly any barbecue sauce on it it tasted like a glorified grilled cheese. They claimed mac & cheese was on the sandwich but you could barely taste it. I didn’t even finish. The fries were not fresh. It’s obvious that they are frozen fries that they use. The buffalo chicken dip was runny and hardly hot. The only thing good about this place was a live music. We also came in and there were about four tables available and we had to wait 20 minutes for a table. They don’t have any type of seating for you to wait for an available table. So we had to stuff ourselves at the bar waiting on a table. That’s absolutely ridiculous. I’ve never went to a place that didn’t have adequate seating when waiting on a table to open up. After we finally received a seat over in the corner we waited for at least 5 to 10 minutes for our server to come over. We were so close to getting up and leaving. We came there on a Saturday night and there was no type of manager walking around making sure that everyone was taken care of. Everyone was just doing their own thing there. It was an absolute joke and I will not be telling anyone...