T.J. Rockwell's American Grill & Tavern — Restaurant in Monroe Township

So I took my family to this establishment based on the review rating (and number of reviews). The reviews were generally favorable to top it off.

We visited on a Tuesday at approximately 6pm and were seated immediately (we did call ahead, albeit, it appeared as though they had plenty of seating). We sat at Tina's table. The first impression was how long it took to get drinks. Why is it, establishments that have multiple hosts/hostesses, never seem to take a drink order (for those that may know)? Efficiency people, get people seated and drink orders in... people normally know what they want, especially when they're out for just a "regular" dinner with family such as the case with us. Instead, we waited 9 minutes (yes I timed it) before we had been approached by Tina for a drink order.

She took our drink order, but because we also knew what we wanted to eat, our meal order as well. Two bowls of lobster bisque and two bowls of crab chowder (both come with Old Bay on top FYI, as I don't recall it being noted in the menu -- some are allergic to the MACE in Old Bay, yes, Mace) to start. The meals ordered was a Full Rack of Ribs meal with fries, a chicken tenders meal with fries, a prime rib sandwich (it's actually more of a hoagie as it has lettuce and tomato, though no onion oddly) with chips (these chips rock more on this later) and then I ordered the chicken Chesapeake with broccoli.

The bowls of soup came out within 4 minutes of the time she put in the order (yes, all times are precise, I do this when I first visit a "new" place), which is perfectly acceptable. I didn't yet get my soup as I wanted to try my kids crab chowder and my wife's lobster bisque first (why not right). I decided on the bisque (as noted above) and I had it within 2 minutes of letting Tina know what I decided on.

To our meals. Everyone's was really good. The Prime Rib sandwich was really good, flavorful throughout and the prime rib tasty. I would probably ask for the lettuce and tomato to be omitted, but it's nice to know they supply both (but where is the onion? I suppose one could ask for them though it just seems natural to include it). The chicken tenders were wonderfully cooked (yes, I know they're just tenders but..), plenty of moisture to the meat and it was cooked in clean grease. The ribs were really good. Just enough pull, but the meat was tender and fell off the bone. The BBQ sauce tasted like a typical Kraft BBQ sauce, nothing glorious and I'm not sure it was cooked with a rub or not. The fries too were delicious, with a nice breading/coating/seasoning to them. The chips by the way... I never tasted anything like them. It's like a sour cream and onion, but, nothing like a sour cream and onion. I wish I could have chips, as I would have been content just eating a bowl of these. Especially given the "bad" coming up:

The Chesapeake Chicken. I wanted to love this thing, especially given the sheer size of the crab cakes that TJ's has. I cut into the chicken, to get an idea of what they Chesapeake Cream tasted like.... but before I did this, I thought I had caught a whiff of... ever have your windows down on a hot summer day driving behind a garbage truck?.. yeah, that smell. But I dismissed it, as someone had just walked by while the server was serving our food. I wish I hadn't.. So I cut a bite of chicken. O...M...G! I had to eject whatever that nonsense was, immediately. The cream had to be spoiled, or something.. I had my wife try just in case my taster was off. NOPE. Just awful. How to describe the taste with as much color as I did the smell that I thought was a person (sorry dude, it was my food after all). Toe jam cream, eaten from a cadavers belly button, with a splash of juice from a garbage truck on a hot summer day. I told Tina, she said she would get the kitchen to try it (never heard back from her, which diminishes trust now btw!) and asked if I wanted anything else. I couldn't, as that whatever it was turned my stomach for the evening.

I may try back... 2.5 stars for what...

I had heard that T.J. Rockwell's was a very classic American food joint that really didn't disappoint. I had heard wrong.

I have to say that service was fantastic. Very courteous, very kind, and gave genuine recommendations on the food they loved. Perhaps I should have listened to them more.

Food: We started off with pickle chips, which were great. I love pickles and I love fried food. These were perfectly hot, good coating, dips were nice. All in all, a great appetizer.

I ordered chili to split with my girlfriend as well. I love chili, worship it for its perfect mix of veggies, meat, flavor, and spice. I have tried so many different varieties of the stuff, just to perfect my own that I make at home. This one was a disappointment. It was sweet and tasted like someone used a jar of salsa as the base. I sent it back for another soup, Crab Chowder, and that was much better.

My girlfriend and I also thought, why not order the BBQ platter for two. It is a lot of food, but we can always take it home and have it for dinner for tomorrow, right? Well, this was maybe the worst BBQ I have had in years, bar none. The chicken tasted like those chicken patties you get out of a freezer bag that have grill marks painted on. The were rubbery and tough and gross. But the ribs. The ribs might have been a new scientific creation because every other set I have eaten at a restaurant seemed to actually want to come off the bone. I felt like a damn lion ripping into a fresh wildebeest. It was like they were fighting me, daring me to pull harder with my teeth. Even a knife could barely separate the ribs from each other. It was horrific. The chicken wings were decent. Fried well, with a lot of sauce. Nothing to complain about, they just didn't wow me, and they certainly could save the ongoing train wreck.

Desert: We both got the 2nd smallest sundae. It's perfect. Not too much. I have no real complaints here.

It was a real bad meal. There were things keeping this from an even lower score, but this really was a disappointing dinner out. I cannot say that I would ever come back to any TJ Rockwells, for any reason outside of a mandatory family or work function. Summarily, it was a...

Third time trying out T.J. Rockwell's and severely disappointed once again.

Where to begin... First, the server arrives at our table and never introduces herself and seems to be in a hurry. Took our drink order, which went fine.

Let's talk about the food order. Now, it always makes me a tad nervous when wait staff is instructed to take orders without writing anything down, and it appears I had something to worry about in this case.

I ordered a Montreal Burger which has mushrooms and cheddar cheese. What I got was some sort of Burger containing nothing but cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce and a tomato. Obviously this was not what I ordered. So why didn't I send it back, you might ask? Good question. The answer is that as soon as the plates were placed on our table, our server disappeared and didn't check back with us for almost 20 minutes. By the 5 minute mark, I felt there was no use trying to flag someone down and ended up eating a burger I didn't order nor really wanted.

As for the burger, I asked for medium-well and I got medium-rare. Burger was tasteless aside from the BBQ sauce on it. Cheddar cheese on the burger wasn't even melted, as if it were just slapped on top of the burger after said burger had cooled down. Fries were lukewarm.

Unfortunately couldn't bring myself to tip based on the fact that the service was terrible. This is the first time I can remember that I left no tip for a server, as I know servers live off tipping. But, when I feel like I as a paying customer was an inconvenience to the server, it makes me furious. Therefore, no tip.

So, this is my third and absolute last time at T.J. Rockwell's. If management happens to see this review, you may want to allow your staff to write down orders, so as not to screw them up, along with informing your staff that having 20 minutes go by without checking on your patrons is not great service...