Two J's Grille — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

I REALLY hate having to leave a subpar review for this place. It’s right next to my neighborhood and it would be very convenient to frequent this restaurant. Unfortunately, most people are saying the same types of things and they are all true. I really hope the management and ownership take the advice of the customers. I can’t see myself returning unless changes are made. There are way too many good choices within ten minutes.

The positive is that it’s a nice place inside. Tv’s are situated all over the restaurant and there is plenty of walk space. I do think they could put more tables in, which may be necessary if they plan to carry the NFL Sunday ticket.

Now for the negative’s. I’m going to put them in list form so it’s easier to read.

The prices. Others have said the same thing. I don’t mind paying more than almost everyone else in the city is charging for the same food, IF you give me some exceptional food quality or experience for that price. I got neither.

The food quality... considering the price I got dry, overcooked wings with a weird, rock crystal looking topping. It tasted like air. Barely a hint of its intended Garlic or Parmesan. We also ordered pork belly tacos and they were fine. However, 13 dollars for 3 small flour tortillas filled with lettuce, a few tomato chunks, some cheese, and pork... that’s not going to cut it. The side was maybe ten tortilla chips with salsa that tastes like a generic jar brand. Some of the pork chunks were also 100% fat. Attention to detail is necessary if you value this entree at 13 dollars.

The service Our waitress was nice enough. I don’t know that any of these things were necessarily her fault. We waited 30 minutes for food. 30 minutes is a very long time to sit at a table waiting for food. It was somewhat busy, but there were empty tables. This was an abnormally long time to wait for what we ordered, compared to most every other restaurant in the city. We ordered 3 pork tacos, 5 dry wings, and nachos with chicken. That took 30 minutes.

For our nacho order, we added chicken and subtracted tomato. We received, after the 30 minute wait, nachos with beef and tomatoes. When asked if we wanted it remade, we politely declined. No one wanted to wait for near that amount of time again. Our waitress apologized, however, I would have brought over a manager to apologize and talk to the customer about some of the issues they may be having...considering it’s a new restaurant.

There were also 3 girls standing at the hostess table when we left. None of them said a word to us as we walked out the door. Is that the end of the world? Of course not. But it’s something I paid attention to after that experience. It required no effort to say “have a nice day” or “please come back and see us.” Even if 3 separate people aren’t personable enough to do that, they clearly haven’t been trained to fake it. When you can’t even get the little things right, you’ll never fix the big things.

I really, really hope the owners pay attention to these reviews. I want them to succeed. I can’t see them lowering their prices, which is really what they should do. People’s expectations would be reasonable if they didn’t charge 15 dollars for sandwiches. I hope the service and wait issues work themselves out, but it needs to happen sooner than later. We haven’t personally talked to one person yet who loved their experience. I even overheard 2 other tables having a problem with their orders while I was...

Being a frequent customer and big fan of Johnathan's, we learned from a friend that the same owners had opened up Two J's Grille. After researching on line we saw that the menu contained some of the same items but had considerably more selections which looked appealing. We did notice significant differences in the happy hour offerings (not as good) but felt the expanded menu was worth driving a bit further to give them a try.

Upon arrival we seated ourselves at that the bar. We were actually a bit surprised to see so many seats open at 6 pm on a Friday night. First red flag. The bartenders were nice, greeted us immediately and proceeded to share the happy hour specials. That said we did have to get their attention a few times after that. You should never have to ask a bartender for another drink, js.

Much to our surprise, again we had expectations based on Johnathan's, the liquors included in their happy hour were very cheap options. As an example, their well vodka is Country Club and the only one included in happy hour pricing. For those that don't know, this is one of the cheapest vodkas on the market ($7 retail, $3 or less wholesale). We also usually order Jack and Coke and is generally always a happy hour bourbon option. Not here. Like with the vodka they had an extremely cheap bourbon as their well and happy hour option. Red flag 2. When we did get our drinks they came in considerably larger glasses then other bars and our initial thought was that was cool. However, the first thing that stood out was the Jack and Cokes color. Looked like a big glass of Coke. Well it tasted like it. So we made it a point to watch the next drinks being made and saw that they measure their pours so although your drink looks big you are really getting about 90% mixer. From there on we ordered doubles so it didn't taste like we were only drinking Coke and Tonic. Okay enough about the drinks although I will say beer is always a good option at 2 for 1. The wine selections were minimal and pours looked to be 6 oz for $10-$12.

I wont spend much time on the food as it was good and seemed comparable in quality to Johnathan's. This is the only reason I am giving a two star rating vs. one. If I were to rate separately, drinks/1 star, food/3.5 stars.

Net net is we wont be going back. We spent $116 on food and drinks and did not get any where near the value as you would at Johnathan's which is 15 minutes closer and SO much better all around. And honestly, for another $20 or so we could have gone to The Chop House and had two steak dinners, salads and two glasses each of much better wine and 9 oz pours. Other Murfreesboro sports bar options, and much better ones in my opinion, are Millers, Boulevard and Sam's.

For those that think I may have spent too much time on the drinks, its...

Tonight we went to Two J’s Grille for diner. I have been wanting to go there since they opened and some friends had told me they were pretty good.

When we arrived, party of two we got seated very fast and the place was very busy with plenty of customers. We were approached quickly and after questions I had about the pizza we ordered an appetizer and drinks.

CHIPS & DIP with queso and spinach & artichoke. The drinks arrived quickly and about 10 minutes later the appetizer, it was good with plenty of chips for two but no napkins no silver ware and no one to get attention from due to the fast pace everyone is on.

When our waitress returned to place the entréis order I informed her the need for napkins and forks she was very apologetic and explained the host should have provided these. So now we decide to keep it safe and ordered

CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS and a HOUSE CALZONE

The recommendation from the waitress when asked she said the house calzone was better than the chicken. (Hate to see what the chicken is like)

Again, in about 10 minutes the order arrived (your waitress does not bring your food out) the girl put the plates down and off she went in a jiffy leaving behind the large empty appetizer plate and no ketchup. After moving plates around and going around to see who was finished with theirs I found a bottle that I handed my wife.

The calzone was rather large in fact it was very large, you may think that’s a good thing but it was just bread and cheese I found 4 slices of pepperoni, maybe 5 pieces of Italian sausage and what probably added up to 2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese I pick these out and left the rest.

The sliders were on some sort of doughy artisan bread that was not good, the meat was school hamburger tasting at best, pretty bad.

The about us on their web page says the owners experience from Long Island NY, south Florida, Nashville and now Murfreesboro is elaborate but I measure by what I eat and watch people eat. Tonight most customers were leaving plenty of food on the table as did we. So was it what I ordered? Or is it just not that good?

Maybe the owners need to visit and see how their staff is doing, when I spoke with some staff they were apologetic but agreed that there needs to be some sort of proactive approach to make it better.

You can go and try it, it’s very busy probably better as a Bar & Grille than a restaurant and my perspective is just that, mine. For me, in hind site I would have gotten a better burger at Wendy’s across the street.

We will not...