Mr. J's Original — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

I don't usually leave bad reviews for new restaurants. I think they deserve a chance to work out the kinks. But, sometimes a restaurant needs a bad review to understand how they can improve.

Walked in, placed an order at 12:40. We have an hour for lunch, which ends at 1:30. My friend and I each ordered cheeseburger combos, to go. He ordered his with no lettuce, no tomatoes, no onions. (But, they put lettuce and tomatoes on his burger anyway.)

The guy who took my order didn't hand me my food until 1:30, 50 minutes after ordering. Between 12:40 and 1:30, he didn't acknowledge us once. Didn't apologize for the wait, didn't give us updates on our order, nothing. One of the customers ahead of us literally ran out of the restaurant once they handed him his food because they made him late getting back to work.

When we got back to our office, both our orders were wrong. And, the "spread" they use on the burgers is watery and makes the burger ridiculously messy to eat. The burger patties aren't seasoned.

It's extremely frustrating to wait that long for lunch, without any acknowledgment of our long wait, only to find that our $18 cheeseburger, fries, and a drink combo were both wrong.

Had the guy just acknowledged us and apologized for the wait, I wouldn't even be writing this review. That's the biggest issue. To be clear, they were not overly busy, and there were always tables available, and they don't offer GrubHub or similar services, so they weren't bogged down by takeaway orders.

If you're short-staffed, just tell us. Offer an apology for a 50 minute wait. Be considerate of your patrons when they come in for lunch on a weekday, because many of them have jobs and bosses to worry about.

I wish this place the best of luck, sincerely. I hope this feedback helps.

Reply edit:

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate you taking the time.

You knew the wait time was 45-50 minutes when you took my order. You could have said something then.

You knew the wait time was 45-50 minutes when you walked by our table multiple times. You could have said something then.

You knew I waited 50 minutes for a basic cheeseburger and fries when you called me to the counter and handed me my bag. You could have said something then.

It's not okay that everything I wrote in my review happened, and you didn't think it was important enough to acknowledge or apologize for it anytime within that 50 minutes. Instead, I had to apologize to my boss.

I didn't need you to move mountains after the fact. I just wanted to feel that my time and money as a customer was important to you. You're right, I don't intend to imply that you have a 1 star restaurant at all. My review is more a reflection of my experience.

Like I already said, an apology for the long wait and I wouldn't have left any...

Great new burger joint in town with fantastic owners. We had a variety of things including the burger, pastrami sandwich, onion rings, and fries. The burger was simple, but superb. I agree with a previous review, it doesn’t have to be complicated to be great, so if you’re seeking a fried egg, pimento cheese, panko crusted pork belly burger maybe try elsewhere or perhaps read the menu and see what is actually on the burger prior to ordering because you can plainly see it is a simple burger concept, but it is done very well. My burger patty was not pink or cold as one review described, it was cooked to perfect and maintained its juiciness (I would bet they would have made a new one for the other reviewer if asked vs. taking their complaint to a review). The onion rings were hand battered and delicious (much better than any frozen onion rings you typically find at places). The fries were good and the pastrami sandwich was amazing, very flavorful and on very soft bread. The meat was so tender/fall apart my 1 year old could eat it (and did!). Don’t let any (absurd) bad reviews keep you from trying this place out, especially ones that want to make a big deal out of things not related to the actual quality of the food as it’s been open for less than a week and every place will have kinks to work out (not like everyone figures out things perfectly on day 3 or 4 of a new job). Let’s show a little grace and support a small family owned Nashville business and try to bring a little character (instead of corporations) back to this town! Go...

I received a gift card for here but found out they fry in soybean oil, the least healthy and cheapest, and an oil I have terrible reactions to. Change that and I'll come by and give it five stars.

Edit: Lol the "obvious and despicable" motive is to educate "mom and pop" places that you need to stop pumping garbage into peoples veins and expect me to patronize your establishment. But sure, I'll come try your slop so I can have violent diarrhea for hours a day, for days, because you choose the cheapest option for a fat/oil. So, suck it up, I didn't make that choice for you, "the common industry standard" is agricultural waste, so thats a good standard. "The MOST EXPENSIVE" oils, for 10-20% more you can fry in something thats not harmful to people and doesnt cause violent diarrhea in some, and isn't pseudo-estrogenic to ALL, feel free to google that. If you're feeding people something, maybe you should know about it! Steak and shake can afford to fry in something slightly better, why cant you? Margins that tight? There are businesses local that have HIGHER overhead than you and fry in tallow. Guess they know some super secrets...