J&E Rootbeer Stand — Restaurant in Madison Township

The food is good though nothing to really get excited about. It’s an average place like others like this. They have a fairly decent selection of food items. The service seems to be pretty good but I have only gone there 3 times despite living just down the street. I was there during much slower business hours as well so I can’t give a good opinion on service during peak times. A good rule of thumb is you have your food in your hands a maximum of 17 minutes starting from the moment your order is taken. Now that’s for table service in a restaurant. I don’t think this place should be considered any differently. I’ve managed restaurants & worked in them for many many years so I know what I’m talking about. One thing I will note. I went in on my very first visit. I ordered chicken wings with onion rings & a hot dog with mustard, ketchup, onions & relish. They brought me a chili dog. I was NOT happy with that as I was VERY specific that I DID NOT WANT A CHILI DOG! It wasn’t very good. I liked the wings with one exception. I HATE breaded fried chicken wings & there wasn’t close to enough sauce on them. I picked up this order & ate it at home too or I would’ve sent it back! As I read what I’m writing here it’s actually starting to piss me off too. Another thing is I had seen a fish sandwich on their menu. I was in the mood for a fish sandwich so I stopped in to get one. The gal waiting on me said they didn’t have it. That they only put it on the menu for lent. WHAT!! For starters this concept the Roman Catholics have is in NO WAY BIBLICAL like most everything they teach. To not have an item when it’s on the menu for THAT reason is just heinous behavior & unacceptable! I understand if you just run out of an item but any other reason short of a food safety recall is asinine!! So I went down the street to Frisch’s & got my fish sandwich. I do have to say the girl waiting on me at J&E was very nice, apologized & offered me a free drink for them not having the fish. I declined & left. One consolation was several days later I got a burger from them with onion rings....

J&E has been a longstanding tradition in my family since I was a kid. Many memories eating here every summer.

I was very excited when I heard it was being bought to stay open year around. I took my family expecting another great experience but was sorely disappointed. On a seemingly slow business day with not very many customers in the lot and 3 girls taking orders, we waited almost 10 minutes for someone to ask us for our order.

Almost 45 minutes later we received our food, cold with stale/hard buns, and 2 orders incorrect.

I know they are still probably working out the kinks with the new ownership so I am hoping if we go back the experience will be better.

I am also hoping the new owners take their reviews seriously and work on training their staff in customer service, improving their processes with taking orders, food prep and delivering orders quicker, and also reevaluating their food quality to ensure it’s hot and fresh when given to their customers.

If I decide to come back I look forward to a much better experience and will gladly change my review...

I hate to leave a negative review because we used to love this place. We checked it out for dinner but had a horrible experience. It took a very long time to get the food, none of our chili dogs had cheese which we all specifically asked for. After waiting 40 min the food was cold, buns were hard, and the onion rings were over cooked. The server was unfriendly and even argued with another customer in the parking lot who was checking on his order, then proceeded to slam the door a few times as she went in and out of the building. We never saw a menu, and we had to pay up front meaning we couldn’t just leave as the wait got longer and longer. I was very close to asking for a refund and leaving but honestly, the attitude of our server left me feeling like it wouldn’t be worth it. I never leave reviews but this was bad. Posting in hopes they can improve some of these things but I doubt we will be going again until some of these kinks...