Critic's Review
BJs has been sending me offers for 3 years, and while I occasionally think about checking the place out, the distance (and having to deal with Pines Blvd) always wins out in discouraging me. A $10 hamburger isn't all that exciting. But the Thursday deal was too good to pass up, so I hit 595 and trekked out West.
The place is very strange, as it faces the road and is camouflaged by trees. There's one small parking lot on the east side, and a huge lot on the west. I parked on the west side in a largely empty parking lot and headed in.
They have a large outside space with nobody using it, as is typical in the Summer in South Florida.
They have 2 doors, one just for takeout. The actual entrance isn't marked at all.
You walk in to a big open room. A very handsome space. There's no hostess at the stand at 2:15, so I stood there and waited.
Had a chance while waiting to take a picture of the bar. A nice bar that could use a better TV layout.
Finally a server dude noticed me leaning on the hostess stand and came over "Would you like to sit at the bar?", he asked. Would I be waiting at the hostess stand if I wanted to sit at the bar, Mr Bubblehead?
They have the mini booths, which seat 2 but really aren't big enough for 1. More on this later.
A server came by and took my beverage order; the menu they have here is ridiculous; think Cheesecake Factory, except I couldn't find the sides. I'd decided that I was having the Thursday special; a full rack of ribs for $18.95 with a salad, 2 sides and dessert. But I couldn't find the sides.
When she dropped off the tea she helped me find the sides, which are scrunched in a small space in the middle of the catalog. I ordered the broccoli cheese soup and the asparagus, and then she told me I had one more. The "salad" can also be a soup, so I ordered a wedge salad as well. Seemed like a lot of food for $18.95. Note that you can also get a 1/2 rack for $13.95, but that doesn't seem like such a great deal.
While waiting I fiddled with the wifi; no password and impressive bandwidth.
They play pretty good music with The Cure, "Wild", "Brazil" and "No 28" detected. TV management could use some work however.
The soup and salad came out in just 6 minutes.
Broccoli cheese soup always sounds like a good idea, but it rarely is. This is one of those occasions when it was just a bad idea.
What a mess. Gloopy gloop soup. A couple of spoonfuls and I decided it wasn't a healthy choice. The salad looked pretty impressive; the fake restaurants on Las Olas charge $12 for this.
Upon closer inspection it became clear that the salad was a trick; it wasn't a solid wedge. Kind of puffed up; still a pretty good "side". Serving this on a flat plate is a mistake however, unless you like blue cheese all over your table.
The ribs came out 7 minutes later, which is ridiculous as I'd just started the salad.
To get an idea of the volume of food (and how this small table is problematic for comfortable dining):
I decided to park the soup and dig into the salad while trying to cut the ribs. The ribs came with a sharper knife but no extra napkins, which proved to be challenging. The ribs were well cooked but didn't have a lot of flavor on their own; no real smoke taste. These were oven ribs.
The big issue was that I didn't like the BBQ sauce provided.So without any napkins and my thinking that these ribs would be better when I re-heated them with some better sauce, I figured I'd take more than half of them home as I finished the salad.
The asparagus was served dry and burned; grilled asparagus is always a bad idea, particularly when they're as skinny as these. I asked for some butter but you can't taste overcooked asparagus this small.
I also had to save room for the mini pazookie that is included in this deal. Now that I was done eating and had an empty glass, my server was no-where to be found. I also had to be home by 4p to close out my positions, so when she showed up at 2:50, I told her I was taking home the ribs, to bring me the pazookie and also the check while I went to the bathroom.
When I got back there was an empty glass and the ribs on the table. Waiting, waiting; Finally she appeared to serve another table; as she approached mine she seemed to remember that I needed takeout gear.
She put down the tab and the takeout stuff; BJs is a self packing takeout venue. Still no pazookie.
It was another 7 minutes before the Pazookie came out. This should not happen; she should have taken my pazookie order before I was done eating. You can't wait 15 minutes for dessert at lunch time.
I almost considered leaving but I'm glad I didn't. The pazookie; a warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, is easily the best thing I had. It's REALLY good. No need to get the big one. The mini is just enough to end the meal properly.
Interestingly, she didn't charge me for the tea. So I didn't dock her tip on not getting me a refill for my iced tea. It doesn't say on the special that a drink is included.
Conclusion
If BJs had opened in the Lobster Bar space, I'd be there every day. It's a big handsome bar with lots of TVs and enough stuff on the big menu to find something to nibble on. Think Big City Tavern without the overpriced food and bad ownership and management. Most of the food reminds me of Ruby Tuesday, but you certainly can't complain about the portions or the value.
Service was clunky and this isn't the place to come if you're in a hurry. While checkout was fast with a well executed tableside system; it was ruined by poor management of my dessert order.