Daddy Jones — Restaurant in Somerville

After much anticipation, a lot of hype, and what seemed like a very long delay, Daddy Jones has finally opened its doors to the public a few weeks ago in what previously was Little Vinny's, a family-owned and operated Italian joint. They had a long period of soft opening where Medford-native Maria Menounos named it one of her choice hangouts - something that apparently was supposed to set high expectations for everyone.

Upon walking in, one thing that people will notice is how different this place is. It's a very unique space and a very unique bar. The decor is minimal and yet it looks like it was carefully picked to create an inviting setting - There's two televions near the front, which are slightly dimmed and play sports while the lonely TV in the back is playing the Cosby Show. Apparently that show still had a following - I had no idea. Overall the simplicity of it makes it awesome. There's a few quirky touches to it as well, like a few metallic lockers behind the bar that serve as shelves for the various glassware they use and there's also a coocoo clock against the wall.

It's not all that spacious in there and yet it never feels cramped, even on it's busiest of times. I've been able to snag a spot at the bar and also in the back, on a high top and I can say that my experience at the bar was much more enjoyable and featured much better service.

The concept of the bar is quite original and far from generic as they've strived to re-create some of the classic cocktails like the Grey Hound and the Blue Hawaiian, but often times have been able to do so with a unique twist. Their cocktail list features eight distinctive cocktails and they also are able to create others based on taste and what's in demand. I've had their Grey Hound and found it to be quite tasty and the fiancee enjoyed her drinks as well. One my latest trip there, I had a dirty vodka martini which wasn't nearly as good... however... one thing that they seem to excel at is bar bites. It's a Greek-themed food menu (the owner is Greek) and they have things like stuffed phylo, roasted baby eggplant, olives and even lamb skewers.

I've been able to get two items from their finger food section, the fries ($4) and the fried zucchini ($5) and both were actually really tasty, especially the later which blew us away. The value was terrific and the flavors were great as well. I'm sure that the rest of the menu, while a bit limited, is great as well. They also have a minimal but pretty good beer list (although not nearly as good as Old Magoun's Saloon across the street) but then again, they are more of a cocktail bar than a beer bar so....

Service the first time was very friendly and knowledgable but the second time around our waiter wasn't very attentive, slow and not all that friendly. Guess they're still working the kinks out...

All in all, I was pretty impressed and look forward to returning for a real meal there and for some more drinks. While I'll always be a bit sad at the fact that Little Vinny's is gone, I couldn't think of a better establishment to replace it with. Welcome to the...

Stopped by Daddy Jones, this was my 3rd visit. I really liked this place, it's great menu with creative cocktails. Rarely do I downgrade an establishment or bother to update a review because of one poor service experience alone, but this was simply the worst and most hostile experience I have ever had at a restaurant. It was so bad my friend and I stewed for the next 30 minutes about it... Scratch that, our service was so bad it consumed our conversations for the rest of our night.

We sat at 2 open seats at the center of the bar and were quickly were asked to move to the end/corner of the bar because the arrangement made more sense for therm, yeah no sweat... We ordered our first drinks, no problem. We both finish our first drinks, they sit there empty for about 10 minutes after finishing and I'm forced to break a cardinal bar rule, I get out of my seat and walk down to the other side of the bar to tell the bartender my order while telling her I hate being that guy.

Our next round comes as well as the sweet potato fries covered on cheese and honey. We had the nerve to request forks and napkins and also got an eye roll, then when she came back with them I asked for ketchup, she had to make 2 trips, you would have thought I asked for her first born. The fries were delicious so we were willing to cast all of this off...

Then my friend made the sorry mistake of trying to get in one more drink. Ordered a rum and coke, arguably the quickest and easiest to to push out... And waited a good 10 minutes after placing the order when the 2nd bartender walks by. Bartender #2 walks by the end of the bar and my friend, in the most polite tone, excuses himself and inquires about his drink. Bartender #2 raises her hands and her voice and tells us that she is busy and to wait our turn. Mind you, the restaurant was not at full capacity. I had to interject, I tell her we have had bad service all night, our drink were ordered 10 minutes ago, that there was no need for the tone, and that we now just wanted our check.

She doesn't get our check, tells bartender #1 and makes us wait another 5 minutes before bartender #1 just drops off our check, no eye contact, no apology, no mention of the forgotten rum and coke. Bill was $39, we lay down $40... I can't remember the last time I could justify not leaving a tip. Bartender #2 comes back, asking if we want change to leave a tip, I tell her the poor service combined with the lack of any apology for it is good reason for not leaving one. She then starts basically yelling at us. Bartender #2 continued to tell us out...

Honestly have been looking forward to trying this place. 3 stars because the garden patio is amazing and provides a great vibe for relaxing.

However, the “large Greek salad” was such a food disappointment, I added avocado for $3 extra and received 6 cubes of an avocado.. you can literally buy an entire avocado for $2. Anyways the Greek salad I was figuring would be taverna style with cucumbers, peppers, and onions, with a big piece of feta.. nope $13 for a cucumber “salad”. I was so disappointed and pretty upset I spent $16 on 2 cucumbers and a quarter of an avocado. The gyro we also ordered was cheaper and that has meat in it, and with the meat prices right now that says enough.

Next was the online ordering. We understand making it more convenient for the servers, but we weren’t able to customize any order. We also ordered the gyro and saw other people get it as well, only theirs came with a side salad and fries. We never saw that option.

Another downfall of the online ordering was we never got to see the info on the alcohol, we had to individually Google each draft beer for tasting notes and abv/percentages. Same with the wine, we love Greek wine but would like more info on it rather than “similar to a Sauvignon blanc”

Overall wasn’t a good experience but wasn’t a bad experience, and I don’t know if I would return.

Pictured is the “large Greek salad” it was so small for $13, you can see the bottom of the...