Bar J Chili Parlor

Just left and I feel sick. Salsa out of a jar, chili was gross. Service bad. What was all the fuss about? Update: 0 stars, both my husband and I were sick after eating this horrible food. Too bad, we were so excited to have a new restaurant close by. Ugh!

Stop the chili press! Bar J’s serves up some outrageously scrumptious Chili. With just the right combination of flavors and sauce, Bar J’s conjures up a chili feast that is reminiscent of an old time chili roadhouse. It is like you’re stepping back in time when things were unceremoniously done with pride and love. Hell, if my Grandma were still around, she might even have to bow to their chili, and she was chili old school.
Bar J’s atmosphere is casual cool, and I felt right at home the moment I took a seat at the bar. My bartender was friendly and charming, and I quickly got the impression that that was service standard for this chili oasis.
Of course, judging by some Unilocal reviews, Bar J’s does have some detractors, but these reviews seem to center on the possibility of a somewhat long wait. To those reviewers I say, «Hey, good chili draws the crowds, foodie. Lighten the chili up. ;)»
So in a nutshell (or a chili bowl if you prefer), Bar J’s serves up some superb chili. Oh, and don’t forget to try a side of their in house coleslaw, one of the better things that has ever been done to cabbage. Yum!

The fire star ratings you see must be from the owner and friends. We went there on a Saturday at 5:30 pm. The new wait staff seemed to be completely overwhelmed. Service was ok, but slow. The food was just average. My son’s food was burned. FYI, the bar area takes up most of the restaurant and was very loud. Not a place to bring children. We will not go back.

If you don’t like crowds, then don’t go to a small and super popular restaurant. Get over yourself. This place is an institution. It was packed back in the day and it’s packed even more so now after such a long hiatus. It’s as great as it was back in the day, if you have a problem waiting for a table then just go somewhere else, but just stop complaining about it!!! Oh, and for the record, if you give shoppers a better rating than wegmans, you lose all credibility as a reviewer, just saying.

I think that people are influenced by their nostalgia of the old Bar J’s. I’d say this ‘new’ place is mediocre at best. Wait staff made us feel extremely rushed (I’m assuming they have to move tables at this very small place). Then we got food that didn’t taste good, and was VERY overpriced for the taste and quality. I would’ve left my leftovers on the plate, but couldn’t justify that for the price I paid.

use to come here when I was first dating my wife, when they were by ames. the menu and the food are the same except the prices, which I understand have to go up food came up quick and exactly as I remember. glad it was cold outside so I could go cool off after forgetting how spicy the chili is, haha worth a visit.

I’d never been to any of the old Bar-J’s but I wanted to find out if the chili was any good for starters. I was impressed with the décor of the place as soon as I walked in. Very good job. I thought the place was small, and because of that, the booths and tables are somewhat awkwardly arranged.
I ordered chili con queso as an appetizer. It was pretty good and unique in that it had some red sauce swirled through it. The chips were ok, kind of typical, but ok. The table salsa was very good, though.
Next, I had the Texas chili with beans. It was very good, but spicier than I’m used to, but I liked it more and more as I finished it. I’ll try the Cincinnati flavor another time.
The waitress, Melonie, was pleasant, good at her job and followed up frequently.
This place could be three times the size and still be crowded. I think they undershot expectations for how popular they would become.
I’ll be back again to work my way through their impressive menu, that’s for sure.

I wondered what happened to the old Bar-​J, the one off Gordon Blvd. I went to go there to eat one day and it was gone. I had been going to the Bar-​J for years. Now it has finally reopened in Occoquan. For starters the place is very small. When we went there they wanted to know our cell phone number and said you can wait outside (in the cold) and we’ll call you when your table is ready in about 40 minutes. This was at 4:00 pm on a Saturday. We managed to get a chair and sat inside and waited. They finally seated us with another party which we weren’t too happy about but we were tired of waiting. I think they have a total of 11 tables. I saw the old Texas Devil steak on the menu and their so called Texas chili (as close to Texas chili as I have found) and also their beef enchilada and a beef tamale (hard to find tamales) and guacamole and chili con queso. I wanted to try them all but only ordered the Texas chili but ordered it with the cheese, onions and sour cream on the side. They delivered the chili piled high with cheddar cheese which I did not want so I had to send it back. They soon returned with the chili and the cheese on the side like I had originally asked for. One comment about the chili. You can order the chili three ways, dry, medium wet and wet. I ordered it medium wet. It came with what I would term chili sauce with the chili, it was not a pool of grease. The glasses are pretty small so I kept running out of ice tea (particularly with the hot food spice-​wise like the chili) and so it was a constant battle to try and keep myself in ice tea. The drinks are poorly listed on the menu, sodas instead of telling you what kind. Next time I’ll ask for two glasses of tea as a starter. And as usual for the Bar-​J. I ordered the strawberry sopapilla for dessert but told the waitress it must NOT be cooked too hard as often they would cook the dough hard as a rock. And of course after waiting 15 minutes for the dessert it came out cooked hard as a rock. The waitress said that was how they usually cooked it (now she tells me) and I ended up just having it removed from the bill. The place was a mad house and was very noisy. I want to come back but need to figure out if and when they aren’t that crowded. A lot of people standing and a very noisy and rowdy group of people. Now I’m still hungry as I was saving room for the dessert and was not going to eat it rock hard and didn’t want to wait around another 15 minutes and have them screw it up again.
The people who’s table we originally sat at left and three new people were seated with us at the table. They ordered what appeared to be chili con queso but it simply looked like melted cheddar cheese, not particularly appetizing though the people who ordered it were doing a good job of making it vanish.
Oh yes, for starters we did get chips and possibly bottled salsa.
The service was SLOW. My wife got the taco salad and couldn’t eat it all so she got it to go.
The staff was nice even if they were slow.

Went in for lunch, I used to frequent Bar J before it closed some time ago. The salsa was hot and delicious. The chips fresh and the chicken enchiladas were awesome. A great lunch and the place was packed. Go a little bit early to beat the crowds.

Outstanding food and staff. My first time but the folks I came with say it’s as good as they remember. Seating is somewhat limited and the bar was packed. The food was fresh. The drinks cold and the atmosphere was fun.