J. Alexander's Restaurant — Restaurant in Raleigh

TLDR: Simply amazing, come for the elevated American meal and wait staff, stay and come back for the cocktails and desserts.

Oh my goodness gracious, this place is American food elevated to the next level! Their marinated ribeye, Steak Maui is delicious with its sweet sauce and quality beef. I was happy with the recommendation over the filet. I do wish I had taken the slight recommendation to try the NYO Mac and Cheese over the Smashed Potatoes that came along with it, though. My boyfriend had the full rack of ribs, and I have never tasted ribs in the same category as these. They are simply divine. Naturally smokey (not the kind you get in a bottle), sweet but not cloyingly so, and a mixture of spices that take your tongue on an adventure to BBQland where you will discover new flavors millisecond by millisecond along the way. Simply amazing. Keep the slaw and fries with this one, they will not disappoint! The fries are wonderful little warm crispy shoestrings with no lack of seasoning. You will not need to grab the table side salt grinder for them unless you are my three year old who just wants to use it because he can. Yes, yes, we've discussed main dishes, and they're among the best I've had, but honey... We have not talked about the best parts of this place! Our waiter, the cocktail, and THE DESSERTS. First of all, our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and had personal opinions on the dishes as well as what people like in general. He was able to describe them using taste description terms, so we could get a true indicator of what we could expect from the meals. He described himself as pompous, which he could be a little, but it humbled him, and you could see that he was extremely proud of where he worked, what he was serving, and how we felt of the meal. During the main meal, he kept an eye on things enough to refill our beverages before we ran out without saying a word or having to flag anyone down, and he came back at just the right time to talk about the check or dessert. He was a true professional. The drink. I had a Doppelganger. I don't remember all it had in it, but I know it had hand made candied cherries, disarono, and another alcohol that had the word angel in it, and it was heavenly. Their drinks are not your ordinary splash of alcohol with soda things. These are true hand-crafted masterpieces, and ladies and gentlemen, they will knock you on your butt. The doppelganger had me sitting beside myself for certain. The desserts. I can't even describe to you just how much this Carrot Cake has ruined me for other Carrot Cakes. I could tell the pecans were roasted. It had a moisture that I have never seen in any other carrot cake. It's a must. I don't care how much you ate, take it home and have it later if you have to, but this is an experience not to be missed. Next up is the Key Lime Pie. This cool, velvety smooth, tart lime-filled pastry is lined with a sturdy layer of cinnamon-sugar encrusted graham cracker crust, extra graham crags generously sprinkled on the plate, with a dollop of whipped cream. DESSERT IS...

I made a Google account specifically to make this review. My experience was lackluster at best and negligent at worst. The staff were super nice, but a ton of stuff they promised never came to fruition. I ordered the rainbow roll, expecting it to be shrimp, tuna, and avocado. The menu failed to mention that the Rainbow roll was literally just the California roll with the aforementioned ingredients on top. Now, I would usually say this was my fault for not reading the fine print, but nothing in the menu insinuated that the actual roll would be the California roll. This pissed me off, but the severs handled the situation with care and respect. I’d like to stress that none of the wait staff did anything wrong and were actually very helpful. I believe our server’s name was Terry. He was very sweet and helped us out despite the restaurant being busy. The thing that sent me over the edge was the birthday cake. My father’s birthday is today and we got him a special ice cream cake. When we called, the person on the phone said they could put the cake in the freezer. When we got there, I handed the cake to the hosts and told them specifically that it was an ice cream cake and that it needed to be put in the freezer immediately. The two hosts were nice and funny, but they made no actual haste to get the cake in the freezer. We waited a bit to sit down, approximately 3 minutes, and the hosts kept the actively melting cake sitting there. Even when we went to be sat down, the cake was still on their desk. After lunch, We requested to have the cake brought out to the table for my father. Our server obliged and didn’t come back for 10 minutes. Once again, this might have been on the kitchen rather than him. When we got the cake, my worst nightmares came true as I saw the state of the cake. It was buckling under its own weight, clearly melting too much to hold its shape. It was an absolute mess and I can guarantee it was because of the hosts’ lack of urgency for a simple request we gave to them. I assume they either put the cake in the refrigerator rather than the freezer or they neglected to have it put into the freezer until it was too late. We ate the borderline milkshake of an ice cream cake in an even more sour mood than before. The check took forever to get to us and we left feeling extremely disappointed. Over and over again, we were let down both when we were in the restaurant and when we called to make reservations. The food here is very good, I will not deny that. It’s a shame so much went wrong here when everything could have been avoided if a little more care was taken. We will not be...

My family and I have always enjoyed dining at J Alexander, but unfortunately, we had an unpleasant experience with the General Manager, Jacqueline (Jackie) Brown, during our dinner on 5/10/24. After a long, stressful work week, my husband made Mother's Day weekend reservations for dinner. We loved the atmosphere, and the service has always been excellent. Our server was great and kind to us, and she did a great job. On the other hand, when the manager came to our table because my husband was replying to our server, she asked, “How does everything taste?” My husband and I mentioned, “Everything is great! Our drink did taste a little watered down, and the flavor wasn’t the same from our last couple of experiences here, but everything is great.” A few moments later, a lady approached our table; she never introduced herself. She said, “I was told you were unhappy with your drink, and it tasted water down.” She made us feel like she was reprimanding and educating us on how the bartender measured the alcohol and that when they first opened the bottle of liquor, it was the strongest, versus when it was towards the bottom of the bottle, it may not taste as strong. I was unsure why she needed to explain and educate us when we never complained, but I was just being honest when our server asked “how everything tasted.” I told the lady I assumed was the manager that we were not complaining. Still, she stated it was her job to come and speak with us if there were any issues with drinks or food. We spent nearly $200 on our meal but left feeling belittled and disappointed. It was shocking to find out that the not-so-pleasant lady was the restaurant's General Manager of, J Alexander. We had always enjoyed dining here, but after this experience, we are unlikely to return. The staff were excellent, but the General Manager's behavior was unacceptable. We hope she was having a bad day and did not treat her staff the way she made us feel. People may never remember your name, but they will always remember how you...