Jakers Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Pocatello

Two-star reviews deserve explanation.

I travel a lot for work, so I find myself eating out alone more than I would like. Ces't la vie. Don't make it worse by being the hostess that says "Just you?" when I ask for a table, followed by the server greeting you and saying "Just one tonight?" (Hint to servers everywhere - don't call your guests "friend". I am not your friend, I am your customer.)

So Jaker's has a pretty broad menu for a bar and grill. It's not the least expensive place out there, but it's got better than decent ambiance. I was seated at a nice booth in the bar, which was a nice plus because they could have asked me to sit at the bar because I was "Just one".

My waiter came by and asked what I'd like to drink about thirty seconds after he'd dropped off the dinner menu and drink menu. I told him I hadn't had a chance to look yet. Then he passed by my table at least four or five times before asking for my order. By then I'd had a chance to look at both menus, so I ordered the meatloaf ($25) and a glass of merlot. The bar menu only had one merlot by the glass, but the waiter said I had a choice of two. Not knowing either name he mentioned, he then said "Do you prefer more tannins, or less?" I went with less. In the end it showed up as house merlot, so I don't know what it was, but it was very good.

I love meatloaf and don't have it often. It sounded interesting as it incorporated Italian sausage, which I thought would add some nice flavor. I was wrong. The most flavor that the meatloaf offered actually came from the gravy. I will give them extra credit for the gravy not being too salty, which is the case more often than it should be. He asked what side I wanted when I ordered, and when I was apparently taking too long finding them on the menu, he reeled off all of the available sides (including mashed potatoes, which already came with the meatloaf). I went with the asparagus.

At first glance, the asparagus looked good, grilled and hot with my first bite. I start at the thick end and work my way to the asparagus tip, as that's the best part. Except in this case. It was rendered inedible. I took a close-up picture to show that the asparagus tips were blackened, dry and crusty. While blackened might be a great way to prepare fish or other entrees, it doesn't work well in this case.

Not being able to finish the meatloaf or the asparagus, I decided to try one of the two small rolls that he brought out with my meal. The roll was good, but the honey butter was way more honey than butter. It ended up being a nice dessert, although I only ate one.

My meal included a salad, and I got the side Caesar, which had a flavorful dressing. But it takes more than a decent salad and a very good house glass of merlot to make a meal. I will return to Pocatello in the future for work, but I won't be...

I was pretty disappointed overall with our experience. I ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese, which I get at several restaurants. It's usually more spendy than other dishes due to the seafood (and the fact that it's lobster, one of the more expensive seafood options). The dish was smaller than the dish for other pasta dishes as well. Unfortunately, I think it was fake lobster. It had the slices through it like fake crab often does and it was chewy. I found the pricing ridiculous for the fact that it was (or at least tasted and felt like) fake lobster. The taste of the sauce and noodles were good though. Our server was...odd. She kept making jokes but without having developed a rapport first. We would ask if we could have this or that (fry sauce, extra plate, etc.) and she'd say "No." Then she would leave and go get it. Again, I believe she was trying to joke around, but it didn't come very naturally with our table. Further, two people at our table got sodas. At lesat one of them didn't get one soda refill during our stay. However, everyone with waters (three people) got ample refills. The time it took to get our checks and then get our cards back was high. We were waiting around for no less than 15 minutes for that, causing other coworkers who had already gotten their checks taken care of to wait for us. We were told that the store accidentally ordered the wrong size of scones so they would take longer to come out. Sure, that's fine! However, when they came out, they were all doughy and uneatable. We tried to eat only the edges, but even...

The fish and chips were good, the salad portion of the salad bar was great - we watched them change out all of the tongs, spoons, and ladles which was really great. I've never witnessed another restaurant changing out their buffet utensils like that before. The service was decent - everyone was very friendly, and the server was attentive except for never offering a drink refill on my husband's empty glass. But lets talk about the soup....Almost every soup in the salad bar was so thick, you could eat it with a fork. Not kidding - I actually did it. Chicken Tortilla soup is usually broth based but it was as thick as country gravy. The special for the month was creamy tomato which appeared to be 1 part tomato, 10 parts cream. Not appetizing. The lobster bisque tasted exactly like lobster in cream. That's it. Literally. There was no other flavor, nothing special about it. (Maybe the seasoning guy had the night off?) I didn't try the potato soup, but of all the offerings, it was the only one that makes sense to be as gelatinously thick as the other soups were. The exception may have been the vegetable soup, but it also looked thicker than I'd expect, however it was the only one without a ladle, so I just didn't bother. I was so put off by the 3 soups I did try, that I didn't bother asking to try the clam chowder or the French onion. Anyway, we've eaten at other Jakers locations but this was my first experience eating their soups....they need to stick to steak. They're really...