Pear Tree Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Macon

Since rebuilding from the most recent fire, the new AJ's / the Pear Tree is much roomier, but a bit more "sterile" feeling, losing some of its original ambience. Decorations have a lot of local flavor with old signs from the Macon area and other touches but it strikes me as a bit of Cracker Barrel mixed with a bit of sports bar with tvs (volume off) around parts of the place. The restaurant is always very clean.

The bar is entirely new, the bartenders are pretty competent at the basics, and they have a decent selection of mid-range booze with some high end stuff mixed in.. AJ's has some specialty drinks that are pretty good like the Moscow Mule, served in copper cups.

Over the past 5 years I've frequented them, AJ's / the Pear Tree has tried different serving styles to be more continental, but they never seemed to hit on a style that worked well to make them unique. Today, the tables are uncovered, they have good cloth napkins, drink glasses are plastic Coke glasses, silverware is on the low end of average restaurant ware, plates are simple, and menus are laminated. Specials and desserts are listed on a chalk board which gives a personal feel to the place. Some beef dishes are served from a cart with a sterno heat source and they make a little show in serving it to you - it's very nice.

The restaurant is all hard surfaces (floor, walls, and ceiling), and it gets noisy with just a few diners since there is nothing to absorb the sound. There is some music to give background sound and the selection is easy rock typically, pleasant enough, but it gets drowned out by restaurant noise. Lighting is appropriate.

The food is all good with some very exceptional dishes. It would be nice if the menu had some more seasonal variation (like a summer menu, a fall menu, etc.), esp if you live locally as this is the only decent place to eat in about 30 miles so after a while, you'd like to see a change.

The tomato caprese this summer (2017) is exceptional!! Several of the appetizers like the shrimp cocktail and toasted ravioli are excellent. Their onion rings are famously great!!

I've found the steaks to be average but the prime rib is excellent and the pasta dishes are good. I've had better fish. Salads are served family style and french bread is served sliced, warm, and in a paper bag. The family style salad and the paper bag never appealed to me personally, but the salad has always been fresh and the bread of crispy crust, soft interior and tastes very good. Salad dressings are generally very good though I find The croutons to be too oily in general.

The food is served in adequate quantities, not too much, and not too little. They have a decided lack of vegetables and soups on the menu which I find disappointing.

A soup and sandwich lunch option would be fantastic, esp in the winter!

Generally, prices are ok.

You are always greeted warmly at the receptionist stand and shown to your table. Except for a couple of experience hands who are very good, the wait staff is largely young and inexperienced though they try hard. It is not unusual now to see appetizers served to the wrong table, but they're learning and you've got to give them a pass on that.

Many on staff seem to be late teens / early 20s and like many of that age, some lack self confidence and interacting with customers is uncomfortable for them, but they all have a great work ethic from growing up in hard working families, are very polite, and seem to work well as a team.

All in all a...

My husband and I were there on a Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm. There were not many people in there and we had been on the road since 8:00am. I ordered the fillet and my husband had the prime rib. The food was amazing!!! The fillet was so tender that I could cut it with my fork! The thing that bothered us was we were rushed by our waitress. We had ordered the onion rings and when we were almost done they brought the salad to us. I ask the waitress where the restroom was and got up from the table. While I was gone my husband fixed his salad. Before I got back, the waitress came and ask if I was going to eat the salad, almost like she wanted my salad plate and she knew where I was! So when I return, we were eating and she comes up beside me and looks at my plate and remains there. A few, very few minutes later she comes over and takes my husbands plate and my plate that still had salad on it! A few seconds later the steaks were on the table. Best steak I have ever had! But once again the waitress hovered over us. My husband ask for a to go box and we filled the box and he excused his self. The waitress brought the bill and laid it on the table. After about a minute she returned and ask if our card was available for processing...I know the look on my face was priceless! COME ON... my husband wasn’t even back to the table yet! Next, I was still using my plate, I love the bread we were served and was soaking it in the Au Juice from the steak. The bus boy comes to the table and starts clearing the dishes. Like I said I was still using my plate and I picked up my bread and took a bite and the bus boy took my plate! So there I was with a piece of bread in one hand and Au juice in the other and no plate anywhere. I looked at the boy and I said “are we in a hurry?” He says no I’m just getting these out of your way... I understand that there are times when you need tables for customers that are waiting to be seated but there was no one waiting! Food definitely GREAT!!! Service EXTREMELY RUSHED!

I don’t feel like we even had a chance for an enjoyable late lunch! Sorry this is so long, but the experience...

Was not impressesed at all. The managers of the place didn't really have much of a personality. The waiters and waitresses only took the orders, and even when our waitress came to take our drink orders she took off so quick I barely caught her to ask a question about a menu option. She came back and took our order and that was the last we saw of her until the food came. My husband ordered the prime rib which was good, I ordered the whiskey burger to find out they only cook it to hockey puck level. It had no flavor any what so ever other than the BBQ sauce. It was so dry and the ends where crispy. It was suppose to be a half pound burger and the two patties together maybe made a quarter pound. They served water in the glasses that were on the table but I refused to drink out of mine because I saw they stocked the napkins and silverware in the cups before hand and when they placed them on the table they would take them out to set the table. (Not sanitary) The only food that came out that didn't look dry or over cooked was the salad and prime rib. I also felt claustrophobic because they had so many food runners. Just in the small section we were in there were five food runners. They had about ten to twelve total. That did not include from what I counted six or so servers and bartenders. They were continuously running into one another. The manager was continously short and rude to his workers, no wonder none of them took the time to engage with the customers. This place is way over priced. The quality of their food and their service does not measure up to what you would expect from what they think is high end restaurant. The only reason it got two stars was because the prime rib was good and the...