Jerry's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Wamac

Everyone sings praises of this place around here and I feel like I'm going against the grain. Some of their food is good. Quite good. Other stuff is mediocre. I understand how hard it is to keep staff consistent, I've been boh food service extensively. When I check out a restaurant and give my opinion of it, I have some specific things I look for.

1 - how clean the bathroom is. The bathroom here was not great. The floor and porcelain fixtures weren't gross. However, the decor (especially the crystal light fixture) had a layer of dust thick enough it made me cautious.

2 - how the staff acts amongst each other and with "regulars". A+ here. The staff I witnessed seemed pretty content and very friendly. No hint of being upset with their jobs or the way they're treated.

3 - Boneless pork. An easy way to judge a restaurant cook's skill is to see how they cook boneless pork chops. Usually these are cut from the super lean loin or tenderloin. Incredibly easy to dry out. Old info says cook pork to 160°F but if you do that with lean pork, you get dry, chewy leather. Newest standard is 145°F. It gets trickier to cook when it's wrapped in bacon. The pieces I received were 2 butterflied loin pieces, so good amount for the price. Sadly they were overcooked. Dry and chewy but had good flavor.

The salad portion is humongous. Somehow even though it's chopped food service iceberg lettuce with a random amount of shaved carrots, thinly sliced radish, cucumber, shredded cheese, tomatoes, and boiled egg, once it's mixed with their house dressing (an eggy, creamy, zesty gloop), it is somehow magnificent.

The soup was ok. Felt and tasted like jazzed up food service premade, but didn't disappoint.

I regret choosing the "Cajun fries." They consisted of 1/4" ish thick round slices of skin-on potato cooked tender (no crisp to them) and covered with what tasted like Tony Chacheres (forgive my spelling, I can't double check it right now and have not a lick of Cajun or French in me). They weren't terrible, just not at all like expected.

Their homemade cheesecake is the star of the show. So many different varieties and well done. Don't leave...

Always heard wonderful things about this place. Went with just three friends. Nice clean and friendly staff. Soup was a let down had so much corn starch my spoon stood straight up in the cup. Salad was in big clear bowl. Plan iceberg :( One person ordered steak and other pork chops. Theirs were all way over cooked. Making it all dry. It looked extremely pretty with great grill lines but quality was zapped due to the over cooking. There wasn't a crowd when we went and the bathrooms are beautiful. Table cloth colors were the only thing out dated. Would rather just have the table pure and simple than all that fuss. I ordered codd fish and fries. Got Cold fish mcnuggets and Luke warm fried potatoes. Potatoes were so oily and old. Couldn't even stab my fork into them. The fish nuggets were just gross. I don't normally give such long reviews but I was extremely disappointed. I'm giving it 3 with the hope they were having a bad cook night and the staff were excellent. When we left almost every staff member said thank you, please come again and have a great night. That was...

The service was great, as was the food. My husband had the fried mushrooms, and they were very good. Large portion, even for his big appetite. He also had a great big cheese burger, and he did well to eat it all. He said it was so good that he refused to leave any on his plate. I had the fried breaded pork tenderloin, and it was also very good. It was very flavorful without being too salty. Super crunchy breading, just like I like, too. I added an order of steak fries and a sweet tea. Great meal. The waitress suggested the cheesecake, but I was too full from such large portions. I'll try it next time, or maybe even get it to go. This place is a bit on the pricey side, but well worthwhile. I can see why this is such a popular place to eat. Plan on going back as soon as it fits...