Jimmy Max — Restaurant in New York

Buyer Beware - Jimmy Max on Watchogue Rd. was a complete disaster for kids pizza making parties. I am a mother of two and have been organizing kids parties for a long time. This by far was the worst experience from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. Owner Jimmy ignored both my husband and I when we tried speaking with him. Party for 15 kids and 18 adults booked a month in advance Jimmy Max only had two kids on staff, one who is not good with kids and the other who smelled like cigarette smoke (badly!) only 10 crayons to go around for the kids to color their table mats; kids were fighting over crayons. tables and chairs were all broken and lop-sided. drinks were sliding down the tables, room set up a logistical nightmare, kids were hitting their heads on the corners of the tables only 4 kids at a time to make their own pizza, only 4 kids sized rolling pins available (that were dirty), kids crying because they couldn't all make their pizza at the same time, dough and cheese was provided. no sauce or toppings. Room was extremely dirty! kids were made to sit on the floor to play pass the dough, very unsanitary - never saw so many moms reach for sanitizer so fast! My husband and I dressed our own food table with plates, napkins and silverware. We also served our own food and had to request serving forks and spoons. Cigarette smelling bus boy was walking with trays of hot pizza over the kids heads as they were playing pass the "dirty dough." Adult food passable - hot sandwich was cold.

Here's the best part - my kids birthday cake was not in the building. They "dropped the ball" on picking it up. I realized what was going on after lunch was over for about 40 minutes and still no birthday cake. Parents were leaving before we got to sing to my daughter. Owner Jimmy left without any sort of apology then sent his daughter to come and speak with us. She had zero class and zero customer service. Do not advertise that you do great kids pizza making parties if you don't! It's even advertised on their...

I was the fortunate winner of a "pasta of the month" club from Jimmy Max at a recent charity event which is what inspired this visit. We decided to go at 430PM to avoid the dinner rush but still had to wait for a table because it was packed.

We had the Pasta Primavera, a chicken parm hero, rice balls, beer and wine.

The pasta Primavera was delicious. I believe the vegetables were from a frozen mix but that didn't matter. It was made with care and the garlic and oil was on point.

The chicken parm was good also. I've been on the hunt for the vest chicken parm in staten island and this wasn't it but again there was care in how it was made. The cutlet was sliced and baked with the sauce and cheese. The sauce seemed like a hearty in house and the cheese was high quality. The sandwich loses points because the Italian bread was store bought and way to light. I appreciate that they didn't bake the bread with the protein because it always leads to the bread being toocrunchy to but it needed a light toasting.

What made this place great is the little things. You can tell different aspects of the meal was thought out. For example, I am a big fan of Flagship craft beer and order it wherever I can. Jimmy Max served me the cleanest beer outside of the brewery I've ever had. You don't realize the impact and importance of cleaning your beer lines until you have a beer in a place like this.

We will be back next month where we will most likely try the pizza which is what everyone says is...

This place is kinda weird. First off, service is spotty, as the people seemed annoyed when we first came in and weren't that attentive. However, to be fair, the Staten Island Yankees were playing on a TV in the other room. We were the only ones in the place, although it was between lunch and dinner. The place was wood paneled and atmosphere was minimal, although the chairs were nice. We got a bar pie and a Jimmy Max special to share. The special was mostly mozzarella with little splotches of tomato and a lot of basil. It was almost the reverse of a normal pie, which would have tomato sauce all over with splotches of cheese. The tomato was decent but there was fair too little of it, the cheese was decent quality, and there was too much basil. The crust was ok, didn't really stand out that much at all. The bar pie wasn't worth the bother, as the crust was even worse, the cheese were unflavorful, and the sauce had a oddly-spiced taste. However, like most bar pies, it was cheap, and they cut it up into very small pieces. One of the guys I was with compared it to Elio's, although I didn't think it was that bad. This place isn't bad for a local spot, but I wouldn't come here otherwise. There are much better places in Staten Island if you're visiting. On a positive note, they have a kids pizza-making station on Mondays...