BJ's Brewhouse
Quick Review:
Family Friendly: 4.5 out of 5 (online ordering and seating, snack plate, large kids menu, crayons and paper, truck viewing on Nicholasville Road, ability to order side items)
Food: 4.5 out of 5
Price: 3 out of 5 (lunch is more affordable)
Location: 3 out of 5
Ever since I saw that they were putting in a BJ's Brewhouse near the mall, I was counting the days until they opened. We used to eat there quite a bit when we lived in Colorado and I have been dreaming of the Oreo Pizookie (Cookies and Cream) ever since. Yes, there are a lot of cookies in warm pans around in restaurants. But, do not be fooled, they are not the Pizookie! Oh, my gosh, are these things good. And, they have a ton of different varieties of the Pizookie. Here is the original chocolate chunk Pizookie:
Yeah, I know...it is that good!
Okay, okay, back to the review. Although this is a brewhouse and they do sell and focus on beer sales, this is a very family friendly restaurant. One of my favorite things they do that I have never seen before is the order ahead dining in feature. Yes, a lot of restaurants you can order ahead for carry out, but I have never seen order ahead dine in. You can go to the restaurant website for your location (the Lexington location here) and then choose dine in and say how many people, what time, and order your food. When you get to the restaurant, you are automatically at the head of the line for tables if there is a wait. And, they put your food order in as soon as your booty hits the booth. Which is truly a godsend when you have kids that hate sitting still. We used this a few nights ago and I ended up accidentally not hitting send for the order on my phone. But, the people there were super nice helping me place the order and getting us the first table. From sitting down to eating took 15 minutes and it was a pretty busy night. I cannot stress how much I love this feature! As an added bonus, if you download the app, you can pay the bill on your phone, which we also did last time. It felt like we were dining and dashing, but I didn't have to wait for someone to bring me the bill and bring back my card. From getting there to leaving, it took us 45 minutes on a very busy weeknight. And, we got dessert, of course.
If you have more time and prefer to peruse the menu there, you can always put in a table request online too so that you don't have to wait at the restaurant for a table. They do have a pretty small waiting area, so this would still be really nice.
The other things I loved about this restaurant were that they bring a kids plate to the table with a yummy garlic knot and fruit bowl for the kids to munch on while waiting for food. Why doesn't everyone do this? And, this wasn't your average honeydew and grape fruit bowl. It had strawberries and blueberries that were all really fresh. Love this! Their kids menu was pretty large and you can mix and match the entree, sides and drinks (including their homemade pop for no extra charge). I feel like most kids could find something they like here. The kids meals were $5.50 to $5.75. The sliders my son got were really good with lettuce, tomato and pickles on the side and yummy thin french fries. Lastly, if you have a small eater, like me, they have side items that you can order instead of a kids meal. For example, they have just a burger patty for $3.75 or a chicken breast for $3.95 or a fish taco for $3.95. This is a great money-saver if your kiddo doesn't need a drink and you can split your side with them.
Although I loved BJ's, if we ate here as much as I would like, we would be slightly broke because it is a bit pricey (entrees $12-$15, burgers $8-$12). But, that may just because I need to order dessert. I would recommend going for lunch since they have a good number of lunch specials that are less than $10. Everything we ordered was fresh, hot and very tasty. Specifically, the burger I ordered was great and far better than some of the other newer burger restaurants.
Lastly, although it is close to the mall, it is a fairly good walk from the actual stores, so not the best place to have kids killing time waiting. There is a ton of parking, but there really isn't too much room around the building for kids to walk around or play. But, since they have reservations, it isn't too big of a deal.
Even though this restaurant wasn't too new to me, I was still really impressed with all of the kid-friendly ways that it improves your dining experience. The dine-in ordering ahead was awesome and I know we will take advantage of that many, many times. Especially when we have guests in and want to go to a nicer restaurant with a big menu. I would absolutely recommend this for families or to couples going out on a date night. Drink up and make sure to order that Pizookie! Or two!
