Fat Jacks Bar and Grill

Loved the food, owner passed away, it’s closed for good now. Hopefully someone reopens with the same quality of food soon! So few places have decent burgers these days.

So sad but Jack passed away and it seems they have closed. The Fat Jack burger was awesome, drinks had a great pour and loved the bartenders… bye bye :(

Worse bar I have ever been. Took over a hour to order and get my food. When it came time to pay my bill I had to stop the manager after 45 minutes of waiting.

Dusty dirty nasty poor service and the food is simply beyond gross. Guess that is why this place is for sale. R. U. D. E bar tender. R. U. D. E. Waitress and this place has only one way of doing things. Very slow.
Nothing about the burger and the steak we ordered was fresh. Burger was reheated. Steak was old and chewy. Gross as it gets. I believe this is the worst place in the HD.
Table we sat at was covered in dust. We asked if they could clean it and we got dirty looks and angry attitudes. This place is in need of serious repairs and upgrading. They are definitely running this place on a shoestring.
Never ever will be back. Driving by this place will turn my stomach.

This place is awful. Food disgusting service was terrible took over an hour to get food which was cold and sent back. Manager is rude as well.

I chose to visit Fat Jack’s while visiting Apple Valley for the primary reason that the owner is a patriotic American, willing to sacrifice everything for his country, including his life. While not having the ability to serve in the military, at this time in American history I have come to the conclusion that all Americans should swear an Oath to the US Constitution if we are to keep this Republic.
I came at 5:00 PM on a Thursday and the service was fantastic and courteous. The waitress was unfamiliar with the negative Unilocal reviews, but said she will read them when she gets off. My bacon bbq burger was outstanding, much better than a chain franchise could make. I also had a happy hour Coors Light in a glass bottle and one of the four mules, a Western drink, consisting of whiskey and ginger beer. This contained ice, and next time I will order no ice. The mule is much stronger than the Midwestern Highball, but otherwise will be familiar to railroad workers and many Americans.
So why all the reviews ranging from one to five stars? This is because visitors do not realize that Fat Jack’s is a High Desert version of an Irish pub and a traditional American tavern. The entrance is hard to see from your car and has no information on the door like a tavern. The décor exterior and interior are not typical of a «family restaurant,» yet many happy children are in the restaurant eating while their parents are enjoying a beer. Government Prohibition drove families from American taverns causing an increase in the divorce rate. In addition, you will not see a rating on the door from the corrupt, racist and unAmerican San Bernardino Dept. of Public Health division of restaurant inspections. You may recall that the SBC DPH recently lost 14 employees due to their branding of Christians as threats for workplace violence rather than believers in radical Islamic Jihad.
As for the bar criticisms, this is a pub, not a bar. For expertise in mixed drinks as well as to experience an American cowboy and biker bar, go down the road to the adults-​only Cadillac Ranch.

Yikes! This place is pretty gnarly. The owner seems to treat his employees like crap last time I went he was sitting at the bar demanding a Diet Pepsi and slopping his food around with his mouth wide open. Will not be back. Quality of food has went down as well!

Would have gave only 3 stars, but because of Bartender nick and the great drink specials I gave it 4
Fat jacks is in a very strange building and looks like a housing/​small business complex at first. I wasn’t sure where the entrance was at first when I pulled into the parking lot. Maybe better signs are a queue here.
The place was dark and almost rustic. There are exposed pipes and a few fixtures on the walls that make the appearance a bit undesirable near the stage.
We got patron shots and blue moon.
4 $ and 5 $ blue moon that night (8 for a tall)
Service was a bit slow at first because there seemed to only be one bartender really working and there were about 15 – 20 patrons in there.
Ran into a bartender that used to be my neighbor ages ago, he was obviously a great help and served us well!
I’d come back. Just make sure the dishes are washed and dried properly. Had a few cups and shot glasses that were wet and dirty even before anything was poured in.

Every time we come here the bartenders have no idea how to make a simple drink. I ordered a Long Island iced tea tonight. And there no tea. It’s all sweet and sour. Can’t even taste the liquor. I came in asking for jim beam honey and she brought back Andre champagne. I repeated my request and she said this is the closest thing we have. Serious?

Brandy is the best and sweetest bartender around! She brings me my drink before I even order it! We’ve had the dinner salads, the Better Bacon BBQ Burger, The Fat Jack, Sidewinder Fries, Onion Rings, and Pulled Pork Fries. ALL of them are perfect. No complaints. Their Captain Morgan’s BBQ sauce is a must try; it’s sticky and sweet and unique with just the right amount of tangy spice. The atmosphere is very nice, like a good ol’ bar. It’s like Cheers! Everyone there is kind and friendly. The place is clean and has stuff like pool and shuffle board. It’s just great. Live music at night, and sports on all day… yeah, it’s a favorite for sure.

We were forced to go here due to the game plan with a group of friends. They assured us we wouldn’t be disappointed but I looked at the reviews on Unilocal I was betting that we would walk in then walk out, I was already searching for a plan B.
Would have been a BIG MISTAKE!
I see many future visits here. I didn’t think the band was good but they weren’t bad either & I enjoyed the music they were playing. It was 8 when we got there.
Great service, super friendly. Food was awesome & plenty of options for a bar setting. Lots of room, pool table, televisions, and kids were everywhere so it’s super local family friendly. Staff was nice greeting us when we went in & farewelling us when we left. Big place … Great dive vibe but clean.
YES! Happy couple! Will switch it up & not have to go to Thorny’s every time

My last visit to fat jacks was mediocre at best. My girlfriend ordered an ipa from their draft list well unfortunately it was not in stock. She than ordered another beer and that beer was also not in stock. Finally she ordered a Sierra Nevada in a bottle and guess what they no longer carried that beer, even though it was on display. Water it is!
She than wanted a veggie burger, surprise! Not in stock. Fortunately they did have a veggie wrap, but she wasn’t too impressed.
This visit was a few months ago but we won’t be visiting anytime soon. I also absolutely despise writing negative reviews but it was necessary for this establishment.

Had my wedding reception here, they made great food, kept the party going with a DJ and let us choose signature drink specials. I’ve heard great reviews from our guests, my only complaint is that my guest said the bar tenders weren’t very friendly and a lot of my guests were over charged for drinks, guess they had to make their money.
Either way I’d do it all over again, great memories.

Okay My Unilocal family am I dreaming or did I just find the place that my father told me about where people meet and eat… and omg God the eats here is off the charts… Fresh fresh and amazing the food is to die for .this place is a hidden gem and true food and bar eatery. …I am hooked for life. .just had the best rib eye ever med rare as always… the prime rib to die for and my God the Wings seem to be sent from heavens…

Another place with GREAT FOOD– killed by HORRIBLE SERVICE
Came here on a Sunday evening at 7:00 for dinner with a party of 6. There were two other tables of guests with 2 people at each table. One server. Half of the restaurant was blocked off and shuttered. (this doesn’t look good).
My husband and I were the DD’s, we ordered first — both water to drink, fried pickles for appetizer, a burger and a pulled pork fries for dinner. The rest of our party then ordered.
The others in our party received (most) of their dinner orders in a reasonable amount of time. Missing their appetizer of pickles, however. Hubby and I waited for our appetizers and our dinner for nearly an hour. Server came by once and said it would be a while longer and offered us a cocktail on the house (we were drinking water). Still no appetizer. Our meals came out after the rest of our table was completely finished eating and an hour had passed. Our appetizer came out after we were done eating our meal, along with the other order of missing pickles. Our water glasses were empty. Server could have cared less and did not attempt to make it right, comp any part of our meal, inform a manager, or apologize. If there IS a manager, he/​she and the kitchen manager should be fired and the servers sent to training or fired if they can’t or won’t serve efficiently and with a smile.
The shame in all of this is that the food at Fat Jacks is really delicious and you get a lot for your money. My husband’s burger was superb, and my fries were delicious. but hard to enjoy when you are so irritated from being ignored and made to wait for an obscene amount of time. I like good food, but it’s not that good to endure such crappy service and wait times when there is NO reason for it.
On the bright side, we were entertained by a not-​so-​sexy show while we waited. The Karaōke DJ was spinning tunes for a elderly lady who was in her own little private world, dancing very provocatively for herself in front of the mirror on stage. Poor guy — what a tip killer. GROSS!

I’ve gone only on Tuesday nights when they have an open mic. This is apparently their «busy» night because of this event; but the staff is both lacking numbers and experience. Not one, not two, but nearly all of their wait staff and bartenders are inattentive, indirectly rude, overwhelmed and stressed, forgetful and unaware of basic restaurant etiquette. Seems that they hire based on looks, not on experience. Sure, I like looking at some hot ladies, but not if they’re terrible servers! I’d rather look at a 350 pound, bald sweaty gorilla man that is attentive, humorous and on top of our order!
The food is at best mediocre and the prices are a bit too high in my opinion. The regular fries are good, but when you make them «jacked up» it looks like puke. Come on, we can get bad bar food anywhere; I’m tired of places slapping sauce on some fries or burger and giving it some clever name. The wings are on special on Tuesdays (50 cents/​wing), and I have to say the flavor is decent, but they are not easy to eat, not even close to falling off the bone, making it messy as heck! $ 10 for a cold turkey wrap is outrageously overpriced (I’ve seen prices better for tourists in Alaska), $ 5 for a «decent» beer and $ 2.25 for a soda (for the designated driver?!) — I mean come on, these are ugly prices. I would buy more if their prices were lower. Simple math would show that they’d even earn MORE if the lower their prices 15 to 20% because people would buy TWO items instead of one.
If not for the special event, I would not recommend this place. I know they’re fairly new, but that doesn’t mean «learn as you go.» You won’t make money if you don’t attend to your customers; ask them if they’re enjoying everything; keep their water and soda filled; remember to bring them everything (extra this, a refill of that, some napkins and flatware — it’s routine restaurant work!!). AND SMILE, PLEASE!
I do like the atmosphere aside from the service. There’s a room with pool tables and a jukebox, there’s a more central room with high tables and other games, a stage room and the bar room. They’ve got a great building and interesting special events; but they won’t go anywhere with terrible service, poor quality food and high prices.
UPDATE 10 MARCH
Service was better tonight. I got a bleu cheese bacon burger, which was pretty tasty. They reorganized the dining area adding some booths. The flow is much better. The service was a bit better, but still not up to par. Our server was sarcastic and made faces as us as we sat down. Maybe they knew I left the reference. Because of that, I’m leaving my review at 2 stars. Also, when I asked for change (very obviously for a tip, and whoa, did I see the server smile a tiny bit there!), please assume they’ll leave the normal 12−15% tip. A server should never assume a customer will leave more than that. The only options the server gave were 25% or 10%, nothing in between. So, I left 10% since she decided to gamble.
The woman who seems to be the manager is nice. I suppose the owner (who was there that night) could have used the time to mingle with the customers, to double and triple check his employees work habits and abilities, to ask his customers if their experience is going well and all that. But he didn’t.
The reason for the detailed reference is because I like this place. The High Desert needs a restaurant bar like this (with the different rooms, locally owned, a stage, etc) — this place has so much potential to be a great part of the high desert. Keep with special events, up the quality of service and you’ll have an awesome place.

Not a good start when you wait 10 minutes to be seated, only to find out after multiple employees walked by, one finally stopped and told me I could «sit anywhere». Mind you, the place was pretty dead for a Saturday evening! I ordered a beer and apps. The beer took another 10 minutes (could have just walked up to bar and ordered it separately), my wings were mediocre and service was just eh.
I was expecting a live band on a Saturday night, only to be entertained by the same «pop-​country» songs over and over on a juke box that was much too loud. Not what I was at all expecting.

Drink was fine… Food okay– ordered the Pulled Pork Fries. Service was beyond horrible– slow and rude.
Yes, we were a large group; however 45 minutes waiting for fries, watching friends get the wrong orders (as did we), seeing others not get their orders at all, and having the waitress be rude and argumentative over and over again with different people in our group was TOO much!
The waitress was unprofessional and clearly wasn’t too concerned about tips– she received only 57 cents from me– wonder if she’ll get the message? And is it too much to ask for an itemized bill before just asking for me to hand over my credit card?
I’ve seen a number of businesses come and go at that location– guess they’ll be next if they don’t make some major improvements!

We took out of town relatives here a few days ago. It was my third time here and I was slightly disappointed. I was hoping to impress my nephew with great beer and food. It didn’t happen. This is the second time they didn’t have the beer my husband wanted. It was on the menu but we were told they didn’t have it. My husband loves the wings because they aren’t fried but he said this time they tasted like they were reheated. Sad… I had the cream cheese Jalapeño stuffed burger, it was OK. Beef was good but nothing special.
I kind of liked the no kid rule they used to have but I do understand they needed to open it up for families.
We will go back and give Fat Jacks another chance, no hard feelings. Plus it’s like 2 minutes from home! I do believe it will be better next time. *fingers crossed.

Excellent food. Excellent beer. Excellent service.. support this business.
The wings were perfect and delicious. Rib eye philly cheesesteak was juicy and had the best flavor. Will be going back A LOT…