Joel's — Restaurant in Sandpoint

We were so excited to try this place today before we headed home from a beautiful weekend in Sandpoint. To say we were disappoonted is an understatement. Our bad for not realizing from looking at the website that is was basically a fast food place. This is NOT the place for you if you are looking for a relaxing breakfast. Besides the atmosphere, which we have to give a partial pass on, both the burritos were cold. The hash browns in the Rebecca(?) were cold/barely cooked and the burrito had ketchup in it (weird) and instead of scrambled eggs which is standard for a breakfast burrito they slipped in a over easy egg which just added to the swirling vortex of conflicting flavors and textures. My friend tried to eat what she could but threw the majority away. I had the chili verde burrito, which was loaded (so far so good) but so much liquid that eating it was a sloppy mess (think a 10-15 napkin mess). I decided to try and eat it with a fork to cut the risk of verde juice dripping all over my front and lap and they gave me a plastic fork, no knife. Not great for cutting through a burrito. Since it was served in foil, no plate or even a plastic basket, the foil wrapper tore wherever I tried to cut to the point I was so frustrated at how messy everything was I just gave up and threw half of it away. I get this presentation if someone is picking up to take home and eat, but as eat in customers (which they knew we were eating in) it was a disaster of epic proportions. Even if eaten with the foil still wrapped around it it would not have stopped all the verde liquid from dripping all over creation. The flavor of the verde was okay but I cannot believe it is made in house. It did not have the savoriness of a scratch made verde. On another note, what happened to the rice and beans? FB and Google show entrees nicely plated up (on real plates!) with rice and beans. We really wanted to love this place but everything was lacking. Hopefully, we just hit them on an off day. If we decide to go back on our next trip we will be sure to ask for plates or a basket and silverware, and request the...

My wife and I have been to Joel's many times in the past 5 years and have always enjoyed great food at what we consider a fair price. At Joel's you walk in and up to the ordering counter. You place your order with an employee and then pay the employee for the ordered food. If you order a drink the employee hands you a empty cup so you can fill it yourself. You then walk away from the counter and wait for your name to be called out so you can pick up your order. Once you have your order in hand you can sit down and enjoy the meal or take it with you. We always eat there. We find a table which doesn't have to many crumbs on it and wipe it off, sit down and eat. Today was only slightly different. When my wife was paying for our order the employee entered what ever she entered into a computer, I assume our order, and then unprompted she spun the screen around so my wife could enter a tip amount. The predetermined tip amounts started at 15% and went to 30%. There was also a "Other" option. So I must ask, why is it proper to ask a customer for a tip prior to receiving any service or even tasting the food? Or is simply taking my order and sliding two paper cups across the counter to us the service I'm tipping? And if that's the case I don't even know if my order was taken correctly or if it will be filled correctly. Makes no sense to me. And who actually gets the tip? The gal taking our order, the cook, the person who calls out our name so we can walk up to the counter and pick up our order or perhaps the young man behind the counter who looked to be texting on his phone? Also wondering why with our computer generated order do we get a basic generic hand written receipt? Also wondering if Joel's is a training camp for young democrats. With this new tipping system the young employees learn to put their hand out and expect to be paid extra for doing very little or nothing. Oh yeah, what if anything is done to your order if you...

I'm adding my 2¢ at the risk of major blowback for this beloved local hotspot for burritos and tacos (and other Mexican favorites).

It's ok. It's just ok. Good, filling, has decent seasoning, but it doesn't live up to the hype for me. I feel like I'm betraying some local lore here by saying that I find it 'mid'. I've been all over the West/southwest USA and this, to me, would maybe make the high 20s in the top 30 taquerias (maybe...being generous there probably too.) But for North Idaho, yes, it's gonna be that big fish in a (very) small pond, so I get that.

Obviously, the big deal is the asada burrito, it's what put Joel's on the map, so you should try that. The Benedict burrito is pretty sloppy and fulfilling if you need a greasy fat bomb kind of breakfast (and we all do sometimes). Rolled tacos are nothing to write home about, actually remind me of frozen ones you can get at Costco. The Abodaba tacos are tasty and full of meat and toppings.

The best thing to me, and not found on the main menu, are the jalapeno poppers that are swimming in a little pool of orangish, sweet viscous liquid (have no idea what it is but it's a perfect sweet juxtaposition to the crispy, spicy jalapeno eggrolls).

Also, the price is right, the service is fast and pleasant, and on a nice day it's fun to throw back some tacos or burritos on their sunny patio. But, if you think you're going to reach Mexican food nirvana here on the corner of a Sandpoint intersection, your expectations may be a bit high.

Its decent, I wouldn't dissuade anyone, but it's not really...