BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Mentor

If I could give 0 starts I would. And I'll start by saying none of this was our server's fault but 1000% on management and the kitchen. Our family visited the restaurant on 6/2/24 for a H.S. graduation dinner with a party of 13 people and our experience was absolutely horrible. We were sat around 6:45 or so and we were stuck there for over 3 hours. We had no silverware at the table for the first hour we were there even after asking several times and having to sit there with appetizers and salads and no way to eat them. One of our drinks sat at the bar for 20 minutes without anyone running it to our table so we went and got it ourselves. We waited an hour for our food and when it came out every single entree was room temperature or cold. We were not about to ask for new meals considering would've had to wait probably just as long for new ones and had already been waiting far too long already. Our waitress was trying to handle 2+ large parties at the same time at different ends of the restaurant which is poor management considering she was barely able to attend to us at all. We got checked once during dinner. After dinner, and waiting almost another 20-30 minutes we flagged her down to ask where our desserts were and they were still not ready so we just asked her to pack them up to go at that point because we had been there so long. We asked for a manager and the kitchen manager came out to apologize and offered a discount which we appreciated until we saw our checks. $26 off of a $443 check and $6 off of a $125 check. That is laughable and insulting considering we spent practically $600 at your establishment for cold food and horrible service. The restaurant should be embarrassed. We were not the only party complaining that night either, as we witnessed another table talking to another manager at the same time. It's really disappointing that they cared so little about trying to make things right. We did let our waitress know that we were not blaming her because frankly management had her running ragged all over the restaurant. We were as polite as possible but the experience was so horrible we'll be writing our reviews of the restaurant online as well. Really disappointing and...

This place has its ups and downs. We didn't have to wait to get in on a Saturday night, so it had plenty of seating, but I understand why I didn't have to wait now. I will start with the best of it. Our servers name was Diane. She was short, middle-aged, and amazing. She was very helpful with both what to order food wise, as well as drink wise. Extremely polite, and knew her stuff. She was hustling every time I saw her. She was the saving grace of dinner and needs a raise! On to the drinks! They have signature beer. As expected of a brew house! Sadly, 3 of the types I wanted were out. How is a tap house out of 3 of their signature beers?!? Out of blonde, red, and stout. That is unheard of for a place with brew in its name! On top of that, out of its new brisket! I was looking forward to brisket nachos. My fiance had the strawberry lemonade with titosand the Sangria. She said the Sangria was good, the lemonade sucked though. The food was ok. We had deep dish nachos to start. I wanted the brisket nachos, but they were out of brisket. They weren't bad, but not great either. Just ok. We got one of the mini deep dish pizzas to share, and it's not a real deep dish. Its fluffy thick crust. It's the let down that most pizza places like dominos and pizza hut do. All hype and crust, no delivery on the expectations. Tasted frozen to boot. The burger was flavorless and had the texture of frozen. I ordered rare and got well, which that all you get with frozen pattys. I got the guacamole bacon burger. The guacamole was good, as was the fries. My fiance got the French dip. The sandwich was good, but the au jus was flavorless, just colored water. The fries that co e with burger and sandwiches were plentiful and tasty, though. The desert was amazing! Is was a trio of Pazookies! We had Carmel, strawberry, and blah. All 3 were amazing! Also, the only thing I recommend. All in all, I give it a 2, and I don't recommend it, but I gave it an extra star for service. We will most likely never return. 122 for dinner, leaving very unsatisfied. Most of the meal felt like cheap frozen filler from sicsco(a cheap...

So here is the issue. I have been here three times: once when they opened, once a couple months after they opened, and again a couple of days ago. If I was making this review after the second time visits, it would be one star.

The first two visits had the same issues: long wait for a table, very slow service, and the pizzas we got each time were sad excuses for pizza. All bread and no toppings.

Yet, for some reason, I decided to give this place a third chance. My mindset going in was to get something that wasn't the pizza and to try some of their beers. I also specifically went during a time when it would not be super busy.

The service was quicker this time, though it did take a bit before my appetizer came out. Also, the lady behind the bar ended up in a verbal argument with one of the other employees that briefly spilled out from the kitchen into the restaurant floor. It happens, but it was surprising.

I ended up getting a wheat beer (Harvest Hefeweizen), a fruity cider sample (Berry Burst Cider), potato skins, and fish and chips. I love Blue Moon so I tried their wheat beer, but it was kind of whatever. It did not have a lot of flavor and I could not tell it was even a wheat beer. The cider I sampled was much better. It smelled great, had a nice fruity flavor, and was very smooth.

The potato skins were not crispy, but they were not dry either. They had a fine amount of toppings on them and the sauces that came with the skins were enjoyable. The fish was great. Crispy on the outside, soft and juicy fish on the inside. The fish was so tender that all I needed was a fork to break it into pieces. The fries were crispy and tasted alright, but they were nowhere near warm.

If I had only the most recent experience, I would have rated this place 4 stars. However, because of the previous experiences, I have to...