Joe Friday's Diner — Restaurant in Mexia

I have been dining at Joe's for years. I live in Georgetown but will take a huge detour, when I visit family, to go through Mexia just to dine at Joe's. However, though the food was great as always as was my service...todays incident made me rethink how sanitary this place is.

As I'm dining there's a family group with a bunch of loud, screaming, unruly kids behind me. I can ignore this for awhile being a mom and grandmother. But when these little children were given free reign to run around the restaurant and then enter the wait area and wander the kitchen, I draw the line.

Not only is this extremely unsafe, ( when carrying a big tray of hot food you cant see those little tikes) its completely unsanitary! To top it off, the mom waltzes into the kitchen (after eating, feeding kids, holding dirty little hands and no telling what else), and btw i had a beeline view to the bathroom..noone washed hands...goes to the hot food line, dishes herself something into a small to go box and eats it while walking back through the kitchen. UGH!

Now, I've worked food and beverage long enough ( 30 years) to recognize this behavior as an owner or a favorite employee.

Either way, its unacceptable. This tells me their cleanliness protocols are not only lax but substandard is perfectly ok with them.

This isn't your kitchen at home lady, this is a place of business where your customers are counting on your integrity to keep germs out of our food.

Won't be detouring 50 miles ever again!

UPDATE: First of all, most people wouldnt say anything, they just wouldn't ever grace your door again and tell all their friends too.

Second: NOONE used a hand sink to wash hands...they didnt disappear long enough to warrant that being a possibility.

Third: Your arrogance,as an owner, is showing.

You SHOULD care how that incident looked and the message it sends...instead, not only do you condone the behaviors you will do zero to change it.

I have seen children seriously injured in restaurants. They should not be allowed to run rampant. As for the cleanliness, you just convinced me you don't truly understand the protocols.

Enough said....

The owner removed his snarky, arrogant response....my point...

I have eaten here several times and always had great food and service until this evening. I ordered a fried chicken salad, a Reuben sandwich, a sweet tea, and a coke. I ordered takeout and came to the window in the time frame given. Waited 5-7 minutes as staff looked at me and never bothered to ascertain who I was or anything, like I wasn't there. Finally my husband went in and asked if the drive through was open and staff said yes but they were busy. Magically, they could become unbusy for the folks behind us in the drive through line and the one person in the restaurant proper. At nearly $30 for a sandwich, salad, and drinks, I would hope for a little better service. When I got home, there were no utensils, condiments, napkins, or anything. The sandwich was mediocre, and the chicken on the salad was bland. Additionally, the sandwich came with sweet potato fries that were so bland, I couldn't tell if they were what they were purported to be or regular fries and had to throw them out. Long story short, I have had good meals and quality service here before but I will never eat here again. I sincerely hope these deficiencies...

I have not yet eaten here yet because I'm fairly new to the Teague Texas area, but I do however, plan on coming in one day to order a few Reuben sandwiches to go.. in addition to ordering Ruebens, if your the owner of this location or a manager with the authoritiy to hire, I'm looking for a part time job, and the reason why it has to be part time is because I'd hate to lose all my benefits and being fired later on down the road and not have anything come in, I've been collecting rsdi (Retirement, Survival, Disability Insurance) ever since I was 18 years old and now I'm gonna be 33 years old on 09/12/22, so if your a manager looking to hire someone new, I have 5+ years experience in washing dishes and bussing table... At age 14 my first job was washing dishes for a local nursing home, I had straight A's in school so the school did not see a problem endorsing a minor work permit for me, because my grades were very high and graduated in the high honors role in middle school with a 4.0 gpa. I have a plaque somewhere But I do not know where it's at for...