BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in San Antonio

My reviews are based on a table of 4 on a Sunday afternoon. So it’s typical a lazy day for folks to eat out. There seemed to be a full house and adequate staffing. We’re always patient with restaurants and staff because it’s a long day for everyone!

It’s beautiful inside the seats are very well set where you do not feel the movement the person behind you or their conversation.

Our waitress was well versed in the menu and clearly she takes her job seriously. I put a 4 bec of that and so well groomed. But she brought all our food out forgot the ketchup took her 10 min to get bk to us … and her teammate walking by “ hi can you hand me the ketchup off the table behind me” she did so quickly and kept moving. I love that teamwork vibe. But not having all my stuff on the table at the time I want to eat is a HUGE pet peeve.

We ordered a lot which is normal for us. The first item were appetizers. Shrimp idk the sauce should have been thicker so added some Parmesan and it hit. Calamari was rubbery and I’ve had this at several other restaurants. Bjs was the worse version I felt more like I was eating tongue. Huge texture issue BUT it was fantastic not overly greasy fried…. But lord the texture of the calamari 🤦‍♀️ Our meals: Bjs fave pizza was under cooked and lacked seasoning but fresh ingredients - one bite Wings- no seasoning what so ever half left and we all tried her dish Fish tacos- taco shell should bed. Cooked at least again no flavor idk who made the avocado dip but no ma’am The fries… idk what they were just wrinkled up and not fresh at all and yet seasoned! Go figure.

So we hoped to at least have dessert we tried the whole cookie … now this wasn’t bad at all. In fact idea just come for the dessert and not the food. You can’t go wrong with a warm cookie and ice cream! I mean you literally can’t screw that up blind folded but again this probably came seasoned :)😂😇😂. All the cooked needed to do was press it into the pans and bake. Thank God for small miracles. I strongly suggest pan spray

Well it’s Tuesday and I called Monday they have no idea how I was double charged. So here I am waiting for the “ processing” to stop holding almost 200 extra. Which happens at GAS STATIONS AND HOTELS not restaurants. Whom we spoke with really was helpful and expressed they’d look into it but admitted they had no idea how or why. So just a warning if ur on a budget out of town this will suck and cause distress but if you’re just a single mom that likes her money treated with respect it’s a huge annoyance.

Good for Desserts and luckily I was hungry and new to the area and our first time at BJs I woulda sent all that right bk to the kitchen. The left over food was not our style and no one wanted “ take home”. Idk who was working the kitchen that day but seasoning is key...

It's been a very long time since I've been to a BJ's but man has the quality of food gone down. Meanwhile the price has steadily risen as the portions have clearly shrank. I was really expecting a lot more for the price. The chicken sandwiches used to be massive and amazing but now they're hardly bigger than Chick-fil-A and not at all the same. The mushroom burger was not very impressive and they must stuff it with lettuce to make up for the lack of mushrooms. I get skimping on bacon, but mushrooms? Chili's right next door has a much better one for far less.

I was pretty stunned by the whole experience honestly because I chose the place and talked it up quite a bit based on my experience from years ago, but... unfortunately things have changed entirely. The only thing that hasn't changed are the beers on tap. I didn't recognize anything from the menu and would have thought we were somewhere else if the name weren't so iconic.

It's really too bad because the staff seemed pretty legit. I spoke with a woman manning the host stand for what seemed like 20 minutes while we waited to be seated had a great conversation. It was a little after 4pm so the night crew was just coming on and things were naturally a bit slower. Not even a problem, because we knew the score, and the moment we sat down things picked up like clockwork. Our server was great, the runner was great, everyone we encountered on the floor was great. The manager even came by while making a pass through the dining room but I was too distracted with conversation to really process it in the moment. I should have brought it to their attention, so that's on me, but I'm not sure it's something they have a lot of control over in a corporate chain like this. They are at the mercy of their supplier and I didn't want to sound like I was fishing for a free meal.

We had fun... don't get me wrong. The problem wasn't the staff or the environment; it was the quality of the food and the disappointment that followed.

I really wanted to give this place a stellar review, but based on value alone we probably won't even be back when there are far better options available.

Thanks to the staff...

I wanted to bring to everyone's attention a disappointing experience my husband and I had during a recent visit to this restaurant. We had chosen BJ’s for a date night and looked forward to a nice meal, but unfortunately, we felt compelled to leave before our food even arrived due to how we were treated.

From the start, the service felt one-sided — our server addressed me consistently but made little to no effort to acknowledge my husband, even when he was ordering for himself. For context, I am white and my husband is Hispanic. We noticed this dynamic and found it uncomfortable, but tried to brush it off.

I ordered a drink (the Lucky Ducky) and showed my ID as required. When the drink arrived, it was much larger than I anticipated, and since I’m a lightweight, I offered to share it with my husband. The moment our server saw him take a sip, she asked for his ID — which he didn’t have on him because unfortunately he forgot it at home this night. This has happened occasionally at other restaurants, and in our experience, it’s rarely been an issue.

The server then explained that, because BJ’s is a California-owned company, California law supersedes Texas law — and that this meant we weren’t allowed to share the drink. This explanation seemed confusing and a bit dismissive of Texas alcohol service guidelines, which typically allow for shared drinks in the presence of a legal drinker. What was especially concerning was her response: she physically moved the drink away from him and placed it directly in front of me. It felt patronizing and unnecessary.

We were barely 15 minutes into our visit and felt so uncomfortable with the interaction that we decided to leave. As we were walking out, the server followed us into the parking lot and pulled out her phone — it looked as though she was preparing to take a photo of our vehicle, though she didn’t in the end. She simply waved as we drove off, which added a strange and unsettling end to an already uncomfortable evening.

We left feeling disrespected, confused, and especially because this felt less like a misunderstanding and more like targeted treatment. We hope this message is...