TJ's On The Avenue — Restaurant in Mentor

I hate, hate, hate giving bad reviews. I'd rather not review than give a bad one, but this was frustrating. There is no reason for a kind of landmark place to be this bad.

We'd driven by so many times, and talked about stopping. Today was our anniversary and my wife wanted Italian food, so we were in the area and checked the menu online. Looked good and the parking lot was busy, so we thought it must be good.

Took awhile for our waitress, so we were ready to order. She asked, "Would you like something to drink?" I asked if they had something like Sangria for my wife, then the waitress gave me a strange look and answered, "No. We have red wine." What kind of answer is that from a waitress? No suggestion, on top of a rude tone. So, I brushed it off and ordered. She comes back and says, "Are you ready to order?" and that's pretty much how it went with her. It wasn't just her, it was like the place was staffed by zombies with no ability to suggest or maintain tables.

Now for the food. The salads had a nice variety of items in them, although they were warm and the lettuce was limp, making them barely passable. We ordered a variety of food to get a feel of the place. The fettuccine was so overcooked it was mushy. The cavatelli was watery and served with what I truly believe was just canned tomato sauce - just thin, unseasoned and acidic. My Chicken Parmesan was burned, not browned, it was burned. I'm going to stop there because I don't want anyone thinking I'm exaggerating.

We sat towards the back of the room where there were two older dark-haired waitresses. The shorter one was not unpleasant, the taller one was rude, and not just to us. The only person in the restaurant that cared about the guests was the hostess wearing a brown shirt. The young lady went around maintaining tables and lightly conversing with patrons like it was her restaurant. I'd have her do some training for the rest of the staff.

We still tipped 20% because I've been in this business for far too long. It would have bothered me for weeks, not to give a decent tip, but we will not be back under any circumstance. A restaurant in business for over 30 years and this is the best you can do on a...

RUN. RUN RUN. Absolutely would not recommend this restaurant, I've been several times and each time I can say that the food was ok. The bread is delicious and so is the chicken mushroom Alfredo,the chicken and broccolini lacked flavors the steak was over cooked, the traditional lfredo was bland and the peppers lacked flavor and weresuper hard eveb though they were supposed to be roasted. However the service is disgusting. The server Lori is the nastiest person I've ever dealt with in a food service profession. She was snippy and rude, smacked her lips often and would roll her eyes whenever someone asked for anything. Like news flash this is apart of the job. This isn't my 1st run in with her as a server either. The 1st time she was rude to an adjacent table of an elderly white couple and was yelling at them in the restaurant while rolling her eyes. And all they did was ask a simple question about how long it would be to get their food, which i understand because it took a manager telling her to come take our order after 45 minutes of waiting the first time. Today was supposed to be redemption day and boy oh boy did that not happen. I even made sure to go T opening to ensure that maybe a previous customer didnt just make her mad before i arrived. No luck, still horrible attitude with the lack luster incompetent level of service. This is ABSOLUTELY NOT the kind of establishment to take your family too as long as she is there. Protect your peace and sanity, because the way this horrible lady treats customers is beyond me. I've made complaints and so have others, but let management tell it they don't really get that many complaints for her. Lies. A whole section complained about her before on one of my many visits. Definitely won't be returning it's clear that some people and places don't deserve redemption. Steer clear folks. Take your hard earned money and eat at a place that will treat you well when you dine. $200 to treated poorly. Yeah...

Having moved to Medina county about 17 yrs. ago, we haven't visited TJ's in all that time. We had to meet friends for dinner that still live on the eastside, so we decided to revisit TJ's. Place was fairly busy, but we were able to get seated right away. Décor was comfortable and inviting. Waitress was friendly and attentive. They have a pretty wide selection of Italian favorites on their menu. We all started with Wedding soup. Good, but being a little sensitive to salt, my wife and I thought it was a tad salty, but not bad. Maybe they could have thinned the broth a little more. It was flavorful with plenty of meatballs & Pastina noodles. Prices were great considering the very generous portions. My eggplant parm came on 2 plates. One filled with eggplant and another filled with my very large side of pasta - almost two dinners in one! Loved the eggplant. My wife's favorite meal is Chicken Picatta so she ordered that only to be somewhat disappointed that it didn't compare to another place which makes some of the best we have ever tasted. She said it had too many chopped tomatoes and capers which dominated the flavor profile. She thought that the capers tilted the dish to the salty side. We didn't hate the spaghetti sauce, but didn't love it either. It was rather plain; more tomato-y. We make a very flavorful sauce at home and are spoiled. Our friends both loved their meals. They had the Salmon and Chicken Tosca. They serve wonderful, warm, soft Garlic rolls with your meals. Their coffee was delicious. All-in-all a good experience and great value as we have plenty food to take home for another meal. The food came out very quickly too. I wouldn't hesitate...