BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in San Diego

This was our first time at BJ’s restaurant. We hardly go out so this was a rare treat for us. Our waitress, whose name meant Snow in espanol, so I will call her Snow, displayed a peculiar & sly behavior towards us. When Snow checked my ID, she exclaimed, "Omg, you're last name is Rodriguez & you’re a Leo, no wonder I like you!" & then she glanced at my boyfriend's ID & remarked, "Oh, you're a water sign or something like that." My boyfriend just laughed it off & stated he is a Cancer. Snow followed it up with a dismissive, "Oh yeah, that doesn't matter." Thank God My boyfriend has a talent for diffusing tense situations through humor. I have worked as a waitress numerous times, it is lazy for a waiter to sit down at the diner’s table to take the order, resulting in mistakes & even the omission of our dessert at the end of the evening but we were so ready to leave by then. Despite all of this, the food was prepared, although certain elements were not executed correctly. My man received a loaded baked potato instead of the white cheddar mashed potatoes he had ordered with his burger. The kitchen simply scraped the contents of the fully loaded baked potato into a little bowl, sprinkled some bagged shredded cheese on top, & neglected to make the white cheddar mashed potatoes for him AT ALL! It was truly baffling! Idk if the kitchen was intentionally slacking off or if it was Snow. Next time, I will choose to sit at the bar! The drinks were delicious, we had the BJ's Blends Berry Blast & the Red Apple with Jeremiah Red made me fall in love. Initially, I had wanted the Black Velvet, but I changed my mind. Instead of directly informing Snow after the drinks arrived, I made the replacement through another staff member, I didn't want to give her a chance to insult my man again. However, Snow approached us & claimed that the bartender had not heard the order change properly, resulting in a delay in the drink’s delivery. Before addressing the issue, she remarked to my boyfriend, suggesting that he should have allowed me to order my food & this would've never happened. I promptly defended my boyfriend, stating that I had asked him to order for me but failed to provide clear instructions. It was weird for me to justify or defend his actions to this woman, as he had done exactly what I had asked, & it's none of her damn business! Snow's behavior was unprofessional, openly judging my boyfriend while neglecting her responsibilities. I cannot comprehend her motives or grievances, but I would never treat a customer in such a manner. Her consistent attempts to make him “look bad” were perplexing & unsettling. This behavior didn't stop us from enjoying our meal. Snow seemed fixated on my satisfaction, as everything I received was accurate & well-prepared.

This situation made me feel more protective of my boyfriend, as it appeared that Snow had some sort of vendetta against him. I will return for BJ's Blends, Jeremiah Red & the complimentary pizookie that I am owed for my membership! Disclaimer: As an Afro-Latina, I identify with the culture. I am deeply frustrated with the presence of racist individuals within the Latino community, who seem to permeate every workplace & aspect of life. It is disheartening to witness the acceptance of Latino racism while white racism is condemned. If we acknowledge the significance of combating white racism, it is perplexing that Latino racism is often overlooked & deemed acceptable. The existence of anti-blackness within the Latino community often goes unnoticed by both black & white individuals. It is important to acknowledge the truth: racism exists among people of all races, including those with brown skin. Racism is never acceptable, regardless of the...

Edited 7/18/2024:

Taking off stars. 5 to 2 1/2 (rounded up to 3).

Thoroughly disappointed with our meal today. Requested an item they've been able to customize in the past only to be told by the server she didn't think they could make it allergy safe. I had asked for and talked eith the manager earlier, who said she'd come to our table. She didn't. When I asked, the server said she could take care of us.

The server said the best thing for me to get was a different menu item (which I didn't even want) and she said it would taste good. Nope. Grilled chicken sandwich on gluten free bun: rubbery chicken, GF bun was tough in places, and crunchy in others, overall, I'd give it negative stars if I could. And, yes, I did finish it, but that's only because I hadn't had breakfast or lunch, and I wasn't sure if there would be time for dinner much later.

The side caprese salad I ordered, conversely, was great.

Our server appeared overly busy and distracted, although the restaurant was relatively empty and we went between lunch and dinner hours. We tried flagging her down or calling to her as she walked past, for things like water refills or extra pickles (to try to make the awful sandwich taste better; had to give up on asking for those because we didn't see her for awhile). She either didn't see us, didn't hear us, or was just distracted.

...

7/13/2018

We received top notch service at our first ever visit to BJ's.

We were promptly greeted as we entered the restaurant during the lunch hour. We were encouraged to sign up for the rewards program as we were taken to our seats. (Bonus--we immediately earned a free pizookie! We tried the salted caramel. Yum!)

The waitress was patient with my indecisive child, she took my allergy concerns to the kitchen and had them research carefully which I could have of the several dishes I was interested in. I settled on a dish with vegetables, rice, quinoa, and shrimp. We substituted grilled for blackened shrimp to accommodate for my allergy. The dish was amazing! Unlike other restaurants, BJ's did not skimp on the shrimp. (You can see just how much in my picture attached to this review.) I was so surprised by the amount included. And it wasn't just the amount--the taste and temperature were just right!

I also ordered a seasonal starter salad, the watermelon feta salad. It arrived without mint which was listed as an ingredient (and common in watermelon salads), but that was promptly corrected when I brought it to the server's attention.

My son enjoyed the children's cheese pan pizza. He said it was one of his favorite pizzas ever and gave it 2 thumbs up. 👍👍He also enjoyed the children's sundae and said the Ghirardelli vanilla ice cream was the richest vanilla ice cream he'd ever had before.

Checking out was easy and we were not rushed through our meal. Bathrooms were clean and well stocked.

We will definitely...

I very rarely write negative reviews, but the service I received at BJ's Restaurant in Mission Valley was so terrible that I wanted to warn anyone who might be planning an event there. To celebrate my birthday, we made a 7 pm OUTSIDE reservation for 9 people. Because one of my family members (who was not dining with us) is at high risk for developing complications if she contacts COVID-19, I specifically made the reservation for an OUTSIDE table. When we arrived, they attempted to seat us indoors at a table for 8 when we had a party of 9. I informed the host/waiter that I had made a reservation for an outside table and that we needed an extra seat for the ninth person. I was immediately met with attitude. She argued with me that she gave us enough seats until I actually counted them for her. After waiting for around 20 minutes, a different person came up to us and rudely asked if we were going to only be ordering desserts or if we were having full meals. After informing them that we were having full meals, they continued to make us wait and then sat a 13-person party with a 7:30 pm reservation at an OUTSIDE table I thought they were preparing for us, since we had already been waiting almost a half-an-hour at that point. When I asked why we had not been seated at that available table, I was told that the other party had 13 people and we only had 9. The server then asked if we wanted to be seated at a few separate tables. We reminded her that it was a birthday party and that we had a 7 pm reservation for an outside table, so "no," we didn't. The server then stated that we would just have to wait for a table to finish up their meal so they could put some tables together for us. One of my friends went and looked outside and saw that there were three empty tables next to each other that could be put together, however, the manager refused to do so for some reason. In fact, the manager refused to do anything to accommodate us at all, not in terms of seating or by offering us a complimentary drink or appetizer while we waited. After waiting over an hour for our 7 pm reservation, we decided to leave and go to a different restaurant. At 8:30 we called Urban Plates to see if they could accommodate us, even though they were closing at 9. They could, so we left BJ’s in our 5 separate cars to drive to another restaurant for a now short party. BJ’s completely ruined my birthday party, and I will never again eat there, much less plan a special...