BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

My friends and I frequent this place quite often. We are often in a large group and BJ’s is always accommodating. The food isn’t out of this world but when you want to go somewhere reliable, knowing that the dish you order will be on the better side of good and the price not too step– you go to BJ’s. Their pizza’s are among my favorite. They used to have a mushroom balsamic glaze pizza that was the bees-​knees! Unfortunately it was rotated off of the menu, I hope they bring it back. Also, if you haven’t had a pizookie, you’re missing out on one of the happier things in life haha!
Go to BJ’s you won’t be disappointed!
***disclaimer: while they’re known also for the beers they have on tap, I’m not a drinker so when I say that you won’t be disappointed, I am strictly speaking on food and non-​alcoholic beverages***
…carry on…

My friends and I have a strange and undying love for this place. Perhaps because we’ve been celebrating birthdays, graduations, and literally everything else here since we were in high school :’)
The bar is huge and they have about 1,000 TVs. The food is enjoyable probably because it is literally packed with calories and fat… and my meal is ALWAYS followed by a chocolate chip pizookie, which likely has more calories than the previously mentioned meal. You will leave here in a coma.
The pizookies are my favorite thing here. I absolutely love them. They are perfect in every regard. Normally, I would probably give a restaurant like this 3 stars, but BJ’s in Newark has a special place in my heart.

I don’t often frequent chain restaurants, but made an exception when someone gifted me with a gift card, so we decided to try it out. With that being said, I really enjoyed lunch here with Mr. S.
We both ordered a entrée salad of very different ingredients and both were excellent. I had the Ahi salad that was packed with enough cucumbers and other goodies to satisfy my need to crunch. Mr. S had a Southwest Chicken salad which he devoured in no time. By the time I thought I’d like to sample his, it was gone!
Service was fast and friendly.
A large movie complex nearby is almost ready to open so I’m sure we’ll be back again soon.

For the North bay area, so far this BJ’s Restaurant is the best. Good service, good food that is always consistent, and good atmosphere. No matter which server comes to serve my team (Work team) it has always been a pleasant one. The food I order always come out delicious.
I eat at the BJ’s by my work/​home in Dublin and I have to say it’s like eating at a different restaurant.
If anyone trying BJ’s for the 1^st time, come to this location. :)

The food was pretty good.
The service was fast.
I came here on a Thursday evening during the weekday, it’s usually pretty slow on the weekdays. When I come here I usually get a pizza and share with my friend or girlfriend. Today was no different, I ordered a chicken bacon ranch pizza was pretty good it’s always covered in toppings no complaints here. Ended the meal with a peanut butter smores pazookies. The pazookies are the best!

Lunch was perfect. Ordered a Gourmet 5 meat deep dish pizza. Always yummy.
Ordered Spinach stuffed much rooms for the 1^st time, loved them. I will go back just for those.
Our server was Isabella, I think it was spelled differently though. She was friendly and fast. Very sweet personality.

This experience is mainly for the service and not the food. Food was fine and pretty normal for BJs but the service was pretty bad. I don’t know if it was because the server seemed new or not but it was just not good and I don’t know if i’ll be back at this location in the near future.
Had a table reserved for 8, including 1 baby/​toddler. They had reserved a booth but anyone who has a kid knows how fussy babies can get in crowded spaces so a table would have been better? Just to be able to get out in case of bathroom emergencies.
Anyway, so we all sit down and the server eventually comes to us, we order our drinks. When she returned with the drinks, we gave her our appetizer choices since we were still undecided on entrees but just to start the night since we didn’t want her to have to wait around forever and be confused. PS BJ’s drinks are soooooo sugary. Anyway, we gave her our appetizer choices and asked to have a small pizza made to come out with the appetizers for the toddler since she was getting a little rowdy and hungry.
She comes back a little while later and takes our entrée orders. We had a family member who was vegetarian and asked her about more vegetarian options and she completely blanked. I understand it’s an extensive menu but I would think it wouldn’t be too hard to remember a few vegetarian options since there aren’t that many but hey, maybe she just didn’t know. Instead of asking someone, she didn’t really give us a straight answer and we just haphazardly chose a vegetarian burger since there seemed to be nothing else, at least not that she could remember.
Eventually we got all our appetizers but then… no pizza. The toddler is becoming fussy at this point and just wants her food. We ask our waitress how long it would be for the pizza and she says «oh no! I added it to the entrée order instead of the appetizer order!» Let’s just say the toddler’s parents were not happy. Mind you, there had to have been about 20 minutes between when she took our appetizer order and when she took our entrée orders. So did she not put in the appetizer order right away or??? i don’t even know but yeah, not cool. The baby’s pizza had been cheese with olives and asparagus. When it eventually did come out, it was olives and only the end parts of asparagus. You know, the really hard parts? The ones you would usually throw away because you cannot chew it? Yeah, that’s what was on the pizza meant for a toddler. Needless to say, she didn’t eat them.
Overall, sorely disappointed with this experience. They were nice enough to toss in a free pizookie for my parent’s anniversary but my parents still did not enough the overall experience. I think the should take a little more care when kids are involved because unlike adults, they are not patient. Maybe if there hadn’t been a kid involved, we would have been more patient or accepting of the situation. But not when a baby/​toddler is fussing and obviously hungry. Just my two cents.

(Review is of my experience at the Newark branch only)
In general, BJ’s Restaurant is a decent franchise. People come here for the good food, beers on tap and the casual atmosphere. You can never go wrong with BJ’s, which is why I am generously giving this branch two stars. I have been numerous times to other BJ’s restaurants in east bay, and the Newark location is the branch that has given me the worst dining experience.
On a weekday night (7PM) I came here with my sister who had a birthday reservation. Despite arriving on time, we were seated an hour and a half after our arrival. Mind me this is after several attempts of trying to get someone to assist us.
The service here is awful. The restaurant was severely understaffed and the servers appeared overwhelmed, rude and inattentive the entire time. Our server even forgot two of our orders.
Message to management: Please improve your service.

I come here pretty often with my family and the service varies. We came on Christmas Eve for dinner and it took the server over 10 minutes to take our order and 15 minutes to bring a pitcher of beer/​glasses of water after we ordered. It may have been that there were less servers and they were short staffed that day, but it was almost as if the server forgot about us completely. It was a little frustrating sitting there for over 20 minutes without anything to drink or eat. When our server realized that we had not received anything for a while, she apologized and went to go check on the beer, which took an additional 5 mins to bring out. We ordered the potato skins, mozzarella sticks, a mini BBQ chicken pizza, a medium pepperoni pizza and a mini triple chocolate and regular chocolate chip Pizookie. This place is worth coming to just for a Pizookie. Their pizzas are also bomb.

Good for a chain, the appetizers are surprisingly yummy. Great selection of beers, obviously. The service is great, fast and welcoming.

For what it is, BJ’s is a decent restaurant overall. It is not a NY pizzeria nor is it a gourmet pizza, however it is a nice brewery that happens to serve pizza.
Come here more for the social atmosphere and the many beers on tap vs. coming here to get the greatest pizza ever. It’s good to have the proper expectations when going into a restaurant so that there isn’t a major let down.
We were here this past week for an office party hosted by BJ’s. Food was decent, drinks were good, the time we had was great. If you have room for dessert… order the pizookie. That’s worth it!

*REVIEW IS REGARDING TAKEOUT*
Horrible. Last night, we ordered takeout and I was super disappointed. We called around 11:15 to order and pick it up. We ordered a side salad, penne with butter only, French fries, and the Santa Fe spring rolls. Anytime I’ve dined at BJ’s they have always done penne with butter, no problem. Clearly it was an issue here. They charged us for a Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, even though I was not getting any chicken or any sort of meat. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, when we got home I opened it and there was literally 15 noodles in the whole thing. The salad also looked half full and not what it should have been.

I’ve dined in about 4 times & still haven’t had a satisfying experience.
— This review is for this specific night. November 29^th, I ordered a to-​go at 11pm. This was a hard weekend, my daughters been sick /​fever, sleeping /​eating schedule all messed up. We all felt like we needed a nice dinner in bed. Completely happy when receiving our meal. Felt good to know that even when the cooks & employees got that last Sunday night late late late to go order– they still did a great job with our order.
— Spaghetti & meatball. Chicken club. Fetti & chicken kids meal.
— The girl who helped us at the to go area was very nice too.
Looking forward to dining in another time & trying that experience out again!

I’ve been coming to this BJ’s since it opened and figured it’s about time I write a review. It’s been our go-​to place when we can’t decide what to eat since they have an extensive menu with something for everyone and the food’s pretty consistent. My all time favorite has been the Ahi Tuna Salad… until recently. They not only changed how they serve the salad (ex. diced avocado vs. slices), but they have also changed the quality of the Tuna. It used to be nice and creamy sushi-​grade tuna and now it has a steak-​like texture with a blah flavor. At first I thought they were just overcooking it, but the last time I ordered it (a few weeks ago) it was prepared perfectly, but still had the steak-​like, grainy texture. I used to rave to people that it’s the best tuna salad anywhere and now I’m sad to say that I will not be ordering it again.
As for the service, it’s always been pretty decent and expected for the type of place BJ’s is, with a couple exceptions of course.

BJ’s has been one of my favorite restaurants for years but since the baby was born, this was our first chance to come as there are not many locations near us. Our party consisted of me, my husband and my 2yr old. Although the food was good, it didn’t amaze me like it used to. The Buffalo Wings have sauce on them. If I remember correctly, they used to be dry with the dipping sauces (buffalo & ranch) on the side. We liked it better that way. They just taste like any other Buffalo Wings now.
What really disappointed me was my child’s food. Luckily he liked it though. Why? Because his Mac & Cheese was out of the box! He has that once in a while at home but I make it better! I cook it longer & add cheese for flavor. BJ’s kid meal Mac & Cheese was chewy, clumpy & lacking flavor. I added a pic to the photos section. The BJ’s non caffeinated, no fructose syrup root beer was delicious & a big hit with the kid. The chilled fresh fruit was yummy & sweet. The Kid Meal was reasonably priced at $ 5.75.
The Hubby said his burger was «good». The bun was soft & not too «doughy». The double patties were grilled to his satisfaction. My Zitti tasted a lot better than it looked. It was delicious. Didn’t look like the picture where you can see the pasta poking out of the sauce. When I received it, I saw a little pan halfway filled with crusted cheese. Didn’t see the pasta until I scooped it up with my fork. Extremely flavorful. Although it didn’t look like a lot, I couldn’t finish it bc the oil started getting to me. The oil naturally accumulates at the bottom of the dish and after a while I felt like I was drinking it.
Our server was friendly although she forgot a few important things. She handed us our food without our silverware & napkins. The wait time for the food was great although the wait time to eat the food (bc we didn’t have any silverware) was not as great. We still tipped our waitress generously for her smiles, apologies & effort.
Although we received our meals very quickly, it took our Pizookie dessert almost 4x times that wait. It was nice that our waitress came by twice to apologize & explained that they were backed up in the kitchen. We had trouble staying awake as we were so full and just longed to be home since we had quite a drive. Just as we were about to cancel our dessert, we received it. I normally love Salted Caramel everything but the Pizookie flavor was just too much for me. It was too salty & too sweet at the same time. I’ll remember to not order that next time. I did love my husband’s Peanut Butter Pizookie though!
Overall, we enjoyed our meal. Husband’s meal was free as he was a veteran invited for Veteran’s Day. I am extremely appreciative of BJ’s support of our veterans. I heard about BJ’s special meal through Facebook (many friends were having a meal here too) & since it’s our favorite restaurant, I decided to surprise the Hubby with this treat. Being a Stay At Home Mother & having a hard working, dedicated husband, we all deserved this special treat on this special day. Big thanks to BJ’s!

We had a group of over 10 people and our waiter Ed was pretty damn amazing juggling all of us. We came here on a Friday night for my friends birthday and was told the wait would be about 1 – 1.5 hours and only ended up waiting about 40 mins. After sitting down we brought in a cake and asked if they could help us surprise my best friend. As a team, they pulled it off and it was pretty awesome. Since it was a tiered cake, we gave the bottom half to the employees.
The food was ok, there was some complications with he food not arriving on time and not tasting up to par, but Ed, took care of all that for us! He made sure that everything was ok and if we weren’t happy, he didn’t charge us for it. Some people need to understand that it’s not the waiter, they have no control on the kitchen and how long things take.
Overall it was a good experience compared to other Bj’s (Concord).

Came here to meet and catch up with a girLfriend who happened to be in town. We met up on a Sunday night at 8:30PM and parking was absoLuteLy terribLe. I was not abLe to find an open spot even after circuLating muLtipLe times. If you don’t mind a sLight waLk, there is additionaL parking next to the Firestone tire shop (strictLy for BJ’s customers).
There was a twenty minute wait for our party of two so it was a busy night to say the very Least.
The first thing you notice is the open space, the cLeanLiness, and the amazing bar. The food was good and the customer service was even better. Our server was very attentive but wasn’t overbearing.
I wouLd definiteLy come back if I’m in the area– it’s not convenient driving from San Jose when there are two other BJ Locations in my area.
BUT Kudos to this Location for giving me the best experience I’ve had, Keep up the great work!

Food is very good, service is good, i think most of the things are good and i just want to say about the light, it’s sooooo dark you can’t read the menu if you don’t have the iPhone flashlight with you.
Yes that’s the only thing I want to let BJ restaurant owner know, may be he/​she should go to BJ and try out to read the menu at dinner time.
Thanks
Kim

We were seated pretty fast even though it was a busy night. More than usual. I usually come here after training. I really like the atmosphere & the dim lighting.
When we sat down, it took forever for our server to come. Our hostess didn’t even tell us our server’s name. We waited a good 10minutes for our server to come but we had to ask another server to take our order.
Food was about 10minute wait. I ordered the seared ahi tuna salad. It had too much vinaigrette dressing which made it a bit sour. I ordered this before and it wasn’t as sour.
I also ordered the calamari, but they ran out! Which was sad considering I was pretty excited for it.
I also ordered the beignet with vanilla ice cream, but there was no vanilla ice cream! They offered the chocolate ice cream but we decided to cancel the order. When we did, the manager came over & told us that the vanilla ice cream just arrived & they were going to give it to us complimentary. Which was nice of them. The beignet was warm with a crispy outside & an soft inside! The ice cream was a good portion & I enjoyed the strawberry sauce.
This wasn’t the best experience I had whenever I come here. It was a bit disappointing. But I’ll come back again & see.

I go to this place for games, alcohol, and appetizers. And I love it every time!
When I go, I almost always get good, efficient service.
They have a huge big screen to watch sports in the bar area (seat yourself).
So many of the appetizers are great. I like the ahi poke, mozzarella and tomato salad, fried artichokes, and thai shrimp lettuce wraps.
This time I tried their new pepperoni pizza dip. So good. The Crostinis tasted a bit stale, but they were still worth eating.