Jerry Bob's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Oro Valley

UPDATE: October 4, 2024: Ever since THIS Jerry Bob’s franchise (La Canada @ Lambert) changed to electronic order pads, electronic cash register (which gives you tip suggestions), the service and the food has suffered.

Neither are terrible — or even bad, mind you. The servers are polite. But, in the ‘old days’ the servers were warm and friendly, and the hostess, especially - who had been there for years, did all she could to make you welcome. And, it seemed like the kitchen paid more attention to the food — specifically that the food be HOT when it is served. Now, for the last two or three times we’ve been there for breakfast, half of the food is hot (usually the eggs), and sometimes the hashbrowns (if we ask them to be extra crispy), but, as on the 4th, the bacon was cold. Not refrigerator cold, but like it has been cooked at 4:00 a.m. for the 7:00 a.m. opening.

And, their soft-drink prices are still obscenely high. Moreover, unlike in the past, when the servers were eager to give you a “to go cup” … I took this was part of the owner’s commitment to providing an abundant exchange for the (increasing) prices — now, you have to specifically ask for one.

As I’ve said before … about a year ago when I updated this review … I would really like to really like Jerry Bob's. But, the problem is that it is too inconsistent, and even when it is "on", the food is unexceptional.

For example, the other day, we went for a send-off breakfast with a friend, and we ordered two special pancake plates, and I ordered the special waffle plate, with bacon and one egg. It took a long time, and when we got it everything, literally, was cold. Well, the one egg was sort of luke warm. It did not taste bad, but the waffle was so cold that the butter they gave me never melted.

However, my wife wanted to go there two days later, as she likes the hamburgers, and, voila'!!! The hamburgers were great.

This has happened repeatedly, off and on. One day it is pretty good, one day it is not worth eating.

I wish I could give a...

My family and I had eaten at the Jerry Bob's on Thornydale within the last couple months and really enjoy their food. We were first time customers to Jerry Bob's of any location. We were in the neighborhood and tried this specific Jerry Bob's on La Canada. Our waitress seemed nice enough and when our food was ready she was forgetting certain things such as, jelly for our toast, an extra plate that we had requested etc. Plus the sausage she gave my little boy was petrified because it was seriously overcooked. It was kind of hard to eat our meal without these things and it was getting cold. I looked up and noticed that she was telling her life story to this customer in the booth ahead of us. I asked to speak to the manager because she still hadn't given us the things that we had asked for (so we could finally eat our meal) and found out that she was the manager. We had to ask another waitress for the things that were supposed to be given to us that our waitress seemed to forget about. We were annoyed because our food was getting cold and we didn't get the assistance that we deserved. We never did see our waitress for the rest of our visit there. She never did come back to our table to see if we were ok, whether we needed anything else (like other waitresses would), or even an apology for her forgetting that we existed. Instead our waitress along with a young girl that works there, were folding silverware and napkins while giving us dirty looks. Apparently the waitress told her that we are not very happy with her because she left us hanging when we're just trying to eat our food. Our requests were very reasonable and no different than what anybody else would ask for with their meal. The behavior in this restaurant was extremely unprofessional and immature. Needless to say she did not get tipped and we will never be returning. From now on we will go back to Thornydale where there is better customer service and...

Undesirable & Indescribable! Upon entering we asked for a high chair and After seating ourselves, we waited waited more than 5 min to receive one. Although we had 3 staff members walk past us while we sat waiting. When expressing to the "waitress" that nothing on the menu was 1 yr old friendly (at which point our "Reg Jerry Bob's" would have offered for an alternative) no alternatives were offered. Then after clearly choosing a cold item for the baby we had to wait almost 15 min (with a reminder thrown in) for the "Cinnamon Roll" to arrive. When it was set down I almost died @ the 1/2 inch layer of frosting on it (seriously, as if I would feed my 1 yr old that) so as I scrapped it all off I realized it had been heated (which was now to hot for a baby) + we had not asked for it to be heated, for a reason. Then once we FINALLY were served our "food" it was VERY DISAPPOINTING even to look at. My Turkey sandwich (which I did not ask to have toasted) looked charred, and had almost no turkey on + it did not come with any mayo or side of. The other plate that had been ordered was Meatloaf... Holy 4 day old keeping it warm under a heating lamp, sad looking piece of meat. But that's not all... the mashed potatoes were grey in color, dry and looked days old as well. Then the gravy which had been specifically told to us, would come on the food... Of course did Not! It was brought in a side dish. And the veggies that were expected (just simple green beans) arrived with an entire family of tomatoes living in them...ewww!! Our "waitress" asked how everything was, and when I was 100% honest about the indescribable disappointment... she said "Oh I'm sorry" and walked away. No compensation offered, No Mgr to speak with. We can Honestly say... we Will NOT EVER be going back!! We will stick with our Regular, Family Friendly, Delicious, Not Over Priced Jerry Bob's...