The Jones Bistro

The Jones is now the Roosevelt Ale House
They are under the same ownership, so it will continue to be a great place to go.
This establishment has great food and drinks. The burgers and pizza are my personal favorites. The staff is very friendly.
Someone applying 1 star to this restaurant has issues not solved in a culinary setting.

WOW! I really thought it was a big inside joke when I talked to my friends about how often things were «not available» for dinner. Once, they were out of bacon for the burger, once they were out of the buns for the burger, once the tomato bisque was substituted for Campbell’s tomato soup. And, since I was visiting from out of town and my friends suggested we go to dinner here I had to ask them, half jokingly, what they might be out of…
…Turns out half of the menu was out of stock. The waiter (who was incredibly friendly) rattled off the list of what’s not available for the evening and it turned out it was half of the menu because their meat provider didn’t bother to show up. So, ended up having the $ 11 bacon burger (if you think that’s a bit much, I’d agree), the last bit of meat available on the menu.
Seriously, where do the folks come from that like this restaurant? I would barely consider myself a foodie and manage to hate this place. Don’t get lured in by the expensive menu and reviews from people who clearly don’t eat good food on a regular basis.

Mediocre service, OK-​ish food.
Nothing too dazzling — this place is strikingly average, so I’m actually pretty surprised to see so many people either ranting or raving about it.
I’ve had a few of their drinks, a few of their dishes, and I recommend the beet salad if you choose to come here.
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Best burger in all of Seattle… hands down!
Tagliata is almost orgasmic… a little pricey but so worth it.
Butternut squash ravioli is amazing… not always on the menu, but when it is… a must order.

I really don’t know exactly why I love this place, but I do. The owners and staff are top notch, and the bar well stocked with great beers and wines. The food can be hit or miss, even with the same dish, which can be kinda sad as their a little over-​priced. Its a great place to have smaller groups (up to 6) for dinner, or meet up with one or two at the bar for happy hour.

We just moved right behind the Jones, so on one of our lazy don’t want to get my ass off the couch to cook nights, we wandered over. I had some good soup (I can’t remember what kind) and the blue grilled cheese sandwich app. They were good, but not the best I’ve had. My boyfriend still raves about his burger though. Our service was fine, but then there really weren’t that many people there when we went. Atmosphere is nice, prices are a little high, but then I think when you consider everything is made in-​house and is pretty fresh, it isn’t bad. I imagine we’ll go back since we are quite literally right next door, but not too soon.

I’m fascinated by the polarity of the reviews, in particular the 5-​star reviews. A little over a year ago, the s/​o & I went hoping to find a delicious local establishment. Instead we were greated with a loud atmosphere and the worst service I’ve experienced outside of Europe. The drinks were pretty good, but the praise ends there. The food was very marginal, and my dish was even a little off-​tasting; normally, I would have mentioned this to the wait staff, but aside from taking our order 30 minutes after being seated, we only saw them again when they dropped off our food. We had to find them quite a while later for the check, and by then I had no interest in discussing the «meal».
Perhaps the place just suffers from inconsistant wait and kitchen staff but my experience was sufficiently negative that I won’t be returning, and can’t in good conscience give it more than 1 star.

I *wanted* to recommend The Jones. Heck, I *have* recommended The Jones. But it will be a while before I give it another shot after what I experienced tonight. For the first time in my life, I walked out on a restaurant after ordering. Not on a whim, after waiting 40 minutes without getting my entrée.
In the meantime, the bartender was nice and the drinks pleasant. Probably at least seven or eight times the bartender gave me the, «Uh oh, that person is *still* waiting for their food» look, and walked back to the kitchen to check. After about the seventh time he told me, «It’s coming out right now.» I waited another ten minutes before walking out. In the middle of this, the cook came out and surprised a few of his friends at the bar with some surprise dish he’d whipped up for them. You can imagine just how delightful this seemed after I’d been waiting 20 minutes for my pork loin.
The place was not busy and I might chalk the terrible experience up to one bad cook, but as nice as the bartender was and as many times as he went back to check on my food, if you’re a professional service person, you have to demonstrate a little more concern for the quality of the service — not just continually checking, but raising a little hell after the 4^th or 5^th time, issuing an apology, and probably telling me you’d comp the thing after the first 20 minutes.
I’d love to tell you how good the food at The Jones is. Maybe if you can find out for yourself if you have a couple hours.

This place is proof that food prices are going up. We had the grilled bleu cheese sandwich with caramelized onions. The description on the menu alone incited drooling. Not to be a persnickety cheapskate, but damn, that was just a teensy sandwich, and our waitress said there’d be enough for two to share, as long as we weren’t famished. I disagree.
I also ordered a mojito, and I didn’t have any fresh mint in my drink. Peoples, fresh mint and fresh juice are what makes a mojito great. It also indicates that I am not drinking some crappy mix.
This place is overpriced for the service and portion sizes.

This place used to call Joe’s Now it’s Jones then it’ll be Johnson’s someday soon?
I used to go to their happy hour often. At least once a week. One day I took my parents there for dinner. It took them forever for food to come. Our waitress was too busy chatting with her friends at the different table and we couldn’t even catch her. When I finally got to talk to her and ask about our food, she said «We make everything from scratch, so it’ll take a while.» Okay. They don’t prep food? We ordered pasta dish so maybe cook was busy rolling pasta?
That was the last time I went there. I don’t mind waiting for food (not too long) if service is good, but I was upset how this waitress was busy chatting with her friends and didn’t even fill our water glasses. I think food was okay.

We love this place! As our favorite neighborhood bistro and bar, the Jones never disappoints. They offer several rotating, seasonal menu items which are always fabulous. On the current menu, try the lobster gazpacho — yum! And while I don’t appear to be the first one to comment on the burger, it’s worth mentioning again — one of the best I’ve had.
But it’s not only the food that makes this a great place to go for dinner, or a drink or two after work, the great service and comfy atmosphere are perfect. Whether you’re looking to have a nice meal at a table in the dining area, or watch the evening’s sporting event at the bar, check this place out. If you’re like us, you’ll add the Jones to your list of favorites after the first visit.

With zero street appeal, almost no signs declaring their location, and take-​out giant Snappy Dragon as a neighbor, The Jones doesn’t exactly entice you to come on in and have a meal.
Once inside you understand why this locale flies under the radar, no one wants to let the secret out! The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, plenty of people mulling around, but NO wait time — always a perk. The Jones kind of feels like a neighborhood hangout although I don’t really know peeps in Maple Leaf — so they could be randoms from the Eastside for all I know.
Now for the good stuff — for the grilled cheese lover (and lets face it, who isn’t?) — the grilled blue cheese and carmelized onion sandwich is heaven on a plate. This seemingly casual place serves up some pretty fancy, scrumptious food, for prices that settle in a happy medium between «cheap» and «pricy.» Definitely worth a try.

BEST BURGER EVER!
A friend took me here for dinner after a few rather frustrating days of work. We arrived shortly after 5 so there were very few people in there. We were seated quickly and after waiting only a few minutes, someone came to take our drink order.
Wine for her, beer for me.
We both ordered their burger and after some discussion with the waiter I ordered the burger medium (I’m scared of pink meat). He assured me I wouldn’t be disappointed.
He didn’t let me down… the carmalized onions were amazing, and the meat was so tender.
I will definitely be back here for another meal.

I didn’t read the reviews or the directions. Friday night, blind date waiting, I headed down Roosevelt and just hoped that The Jones would at least serve me a decent drink.
Location check. Date check. Drink Check. Food. Wow.
I didn’t see that coming. In fact once my tagliata arrived I hardly said a word I was so busy savoring my meal. Turns out my date was my friend’s co-worker’s not of the closet cousin. Yeeaahh. Didn’t see that coming either.
Still one of the best dates I’ve gone on and I thank him to this day for introducing me to the The Jones.
Perfect date spot or when you want to treat yourself (other person optional) to a good meal without your bank balance hating you in the morning.

I’m Jones-​en …The JONES
We are Very luck to live just around the corner from one of THE best restaurants in the city of Seattle. I have a few other favs too but for the size convenience price and quality of the food. Hands down, here is what your looking for!
Every time we are there we are rolling our eyes back in our heads with the joy of the flavor of the food.
The variety is always good, the happy hour menu has plenty of options to love such as my personal fav. the Grilled blu cheese and caramelized onion sandwich. Complimented with a dab of mustard. FABulous !
The staff is friendly and the owners come to say hi at times when they are free. Its a local hidden gem. I know they just got a grand review in the Seattle Mag of the best 200. They deserve it! I just hope that I don’t have to start making a rezie!
~ N

Another neighborhood pub/​restaurant combo, another minefield of a menu. I’ve been happy with the totally amazing hand-​formed bacon cheeseburger, salads are fine (if boring), and the french onion soup is decent as well. My man enjoyed the halibut that seems to have fallen off the menu and the chicken strips appetizer. Other than those items, we’ve been disappointed. A strident warning against the gloppy paella – at first, we thought that we were doing ourselves a disservice by expecting something similar to the paella we had in Spain – but no! It was just gross. Paella should never be served in a puddle of congealed goo.
Thumbs up on the atmosphere, it’s cozy enough and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Service is always friendly but sometimes spotty – Saturday night had our waitress attending far more tables than one person should ever be assigned, and our water glasses/​other drinks were constantly awaiting refills. Still, she kept a friendly demeanor and the other staff helped out when necessary.
Also, I give the Jones folks a high five for their efforts – producing almost everything in-​house using local ingredients is labor-​intensive and expensive. Even if they miss the mark sometimes, I’m willing to keep going back. Keep your expectations reasonable, stick to pub basics and you’ll have a good time.

This is a delicious and less-​expensive alternative to those of us who would love to have dinner at El Gaucho or the Met, but don’t have the funds or just don’t want to change out of jeans and a t-​shirt.
The Jones has a diverse menu (seafood, pasta, red meat, salads, sandwiches, and gourmet pizza) with a wine selection to match. The servers are knowledgable and friendly, the atmosphere is comfortable, and I’m never worried about the chef having an ‘off night’!
The greatest thing about this place is the price range. I’ve had everything from the chicken strips ($ 5) to the pizza Bianca ($ 12) to a steak ($ 25) and have not once been disapointed with the quality and seasoning of the food. I mean, come on: chicken strips are chicken strips, right? Wrong! Try them here, and make sure to dip them in the aioli sauce. Delicious.
Summer’s coming, so head over to the Jones, request a patio table, and ask about the wine — by the glass or the bottle. Start with mussles or a blue cheese sandwich, enjoy their full dinner menu or something from of the ‘casual fare’ selections, then relax and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed!

Keep your expectation at a moderate level and no one will get hurt.
This is a nice, solid, mid-​level neighborhood joint. Don’t believe the hype and don’t hype the belief (what does that even mean?)
They have a good HH with a great gin and tonic for about $ 2. Food is okay, but the drinks are good.

Jones Bistro was divine on our first visit. I NEVER order chicken in restaurants — I mean, how prosaic can you get? But this time, I sprang for the chicken because of the delicious sides of squash purée and chard. Wow, this dish is heavenly! Also had a delicious gin drink. I LOVE gin (in appropriate moderation, of course.)
Second visit we tried the pizzas. Very tasty.
Third visit was happy hour where their bar menu is discounted. We had tasty chicken strips with a yummy ranch dip. Also a quesadilla. Really enough food for a (light) meal.
BUT, fourth visit we took guests. Wouldn’t you know it, Jones was off its game that night. A very long, inappropriately long, wait. My chicken sandwich was edible, but the bread wasn’t toasted, and where was the advertised cheese? There was scant hint of any condiment for flavor. The gin was still good, though… And the service is exceptionally friendly and professional.
Consistency, consistency.
Wonder what our fifth visit will be like?

With so many bars in Seattle, it’s hard to imagine being able to visit them all — but still, one has to try. And when your drinking companion has managed to find a bar that hasn’t been Unilocaled, well, so much the better. That’s how Terrell M. and I ended up at Jones the other night, although we both agreed that we probably wouldn’t go back.
The place looks nice enough inside, if a little haphazard in its use of space — the bar and restaurant feel awkwardly thrown together. The interior is painted red and dimly lit, with tasteful but sort of generic furniture. The bar area, Terrell noted, looks like one of those temporary college-​bar dance floors where they shove the furniture against the walls for karaōke night. The booths are large and comfy, although they have high wooden backboards that look stylish but don’t make for good leaning.
Their happy hour goes from 4 to 6, so we missed it, but a quick look at the menu revealed that it’s more like «crappy hour,» with only some wimpy $ 1 discounts off a small selection of appetizers. We decided to try the Signature Drinks because they sounded so fancy, although the prices ($ 7 – 8) were kind of off-​putting. I got the Dixie Cup, which was basically what I’d call a creamsicletini (but pretty boozy-​tasting despite the orange & vanilla flavor), and a bowl of the tomato bisque. The soup bowl was bigger than I expected and came with a couple of toasted cheesy bruschetta-​type things (the waitress warned me away from the grilled blue cheese sandwich by demonstrating, with her hands, that it was about the size of a post-​it note for $ 6) — the bisque itself wasn’t outstanding or even very creamy, but on a cold and rainy evening, it hit the spot anyway.
The atmosphere is fine, with ambient electronica playing at low enough volumes that you can still talk, and our waitress was very attentive and helpful. But there’s nothing really noteworthy about the specialty drinks or the food, other than the way-​too-​high prices. We don’t have a ton of bars in the Northgate area, so this might be an acceptable choice just by default, but don’t go out of your way to try this place if you’re not in the neighborhood to begin with.