Pal Joey’s Restaurant & Bar

We used Pal Joey’s Batavia for our wedding at the Nagel Emporium in September 2015 and we were blown away by the amazing service and accommodations — and the FOOD!!! We still get compliments on the food to this day. John really went the extra mile to make our day special and everything worked out without a hitch. We are very thankful to have used Pal Joey’s at our wedding and highly recommend!!! Thank you John and Pal Joey’s Team!!!
We also ate there a few times leading up to the wedding and each time the food was amazing. We especially loved the outdoor seating area on the river.

Our family loves Pal Joey’s Restaurant & Bar in Batavia. It’s our reliable go-​to place. The service always comes with a smile and is prompt – and the pizza is unbeatable. On top of that, Pal Joey’s is incredibly generous to the Batavia community, donating countless pizzas and other food items to charity events and fundraisers. We are so happy to have them in the community and look forward to our next family pizza night!

They really have amazing pizza! Service is always great, I think being on the river is cool too.
We have had chicken dishes, pasta, sandwiches and appetizers here. All were good, all in all.
I would say our favorite is the deep dish pizza, the crust is amazing.
Outdoor seating in decent weather is really nice, and they have music too.
Give this place a try… We keep coming back!

When a restaurant lays claim to «Award Winning Pizza» maybe it should be your clue to order the pizza. Neighboring tables had pizza that smelled SO good!
I made the unfortunate mistake of not ordering this Award winning pizza and ordered and appetizer of Spinach & Artichoke dip as an appetizer and the Linguini with Spinach and Artichoke (looking back it’s a monotonous order) the Dip was underwhelming and had a funky taste I just could not place, the homemade chips stuck together covered in grease and were not crispy. The Linguini had obvious canned or frozen spinach and canned artichokes. The flavor was awful, honestly is not that hard to blanch fresh spinach, the canned artichoke I will give them a pass on. I had no more than 2 bites of my meal and couldn’t stomach any more.
Again, my biggest regret is not ordering that delicious smelling pizza.

We went to Pal Joeys for a Sunday night dinner. We are have young children and the staff was overly friendly with them. The food came out quick and was hot and fresh. We ordered mozzarella sticks and they were so full of cheese, not the ones that are mostly breading. We also ordered a pizza which was very tasty.
Besides the great food, we had a lovely view of the River and bridge and plenty of space for our busy children. It is very family friendly, but with beautiful views and does not feel like a dumpy quick service type place, even though they are quick. Can’t wait to go back!

Excellent pizza! My family and I get pizza every Friday night all over the Fox Valley area but Pal Joey’s is my favorite. Their regular thin crust looks more like pan pizza but I love it. If you do want regular thin crust you have to ask for extra thin.

The food was great! But at the time we went there was a spider infestation on the outside patio. Had to brush a few off throughout the night. It had my girlfriend freaked out. You would think they would do something to deter them from hanging around.

Wasn’t very impressed with this place. The chicken finger appetizers were disgusting. The pizza was just ok. We decided to sit inside and were seated in the Sunroom at diner time just so the sun can be in our eyes for dinner. When we complained about the chicken fingers we were give a whole $ 2 discount. I won’t be back!

Our party of three went to Pal Joey’s in Batavia on the evening of 9÷25÷15. My wife and her (visiting) relative ordered the Honey Bourbon Grilled Pork Tenderloin dish and the Veal Marsala dish; I ordered the Linguini & Broccoli dish – with added chicken. They had no complaints about what they ordered. However, my dish was rather unsatisfactory. The linguini tasted as if it had been prepared in a pot that had previously prepared a seafood dish. The description for my dish was that it would be «sauteed in olive oil and garlic». If there was a garlic taste present, it was overpowered by the «seafood» taste. The best that I can say about the broccoli in my dish is that it wasn’t overcooked. The added chicken was absolutely tasteless. I’ve had better tasting chicken from a can. I should have chosen the 9″ pizza. I didn’t, because I thought I should be more «elegant» in my choice of dinner.
My wife didn’t like the taste of the water that was served. She asked if bottled water were available & was told that it wasn’t. This echoes what was described in a separate review.
I can add that our waitress (Jacqueline S.) was very pleasant.

Ate in the bar area and had a nice, cozy feel. Tried the carbonara and Joey’s chicken. Both amazing. Be sure and get the pasta fagioli. Super yummy. The main dinning area lacked atmosphere. Outside was charming overlooking the Fox River. It was Saturday night and they had a band.

The only time our waitress smiled was when she saw we actually left a tip. Really slow service and not very helpful. We waited 15 – 20 minutes for our pop & iced tea. When we asked the waitress if she could bring them she rudely said «I will». Our food was okay. It wasn’t the best but I had expected it to be better given the atmosphere. I had the french onion soup & half an order of chopped salad. The chopped salad had pepperoni & green olives in it which I didn’t expect. Overall I was not impressed

We’ve been here a few times, twice for lunch and once for a group gathering at dinnertime. The service is always very good and, during nice weather, they have a great outdoor patio on the Fox River.
Dinner was a burger that wasn’t anything Wow!-worthy, but it was well-​priced, large, and tasty. I’d order it again. My wife had pasta that she said was only average and would probably not choose that dish again.
Lunch, however, has always been their pizza (they also have a pizza and salad buffet from 11−2pm). Their pizza isn’t quite thick crust, but it isn’t thin, either. It’s nice and crispy on the outside, chewy and good on the inside. The sauce is tangy, just the right mix of sweet and acidic. The toppings are average. Overall, it makes for a satisfying pizza.
One of our group also ordered fried mozzarella that was clearly homemade and very good.
I think Pal Joey’s is a 3.5 star kind of place, but I’ll give them 4 for lack of that option.

Not sure how this place can ever get a negative review. I’ve been here several times and never had a bad experience. Good service… great food. great atmosphere!

I’m still not a big fan of their pan pizza but it does look better than it used to, particularly the deeper dish but it’s really just another inch of bread tacked on, meh.
The good news is it is still a gorgeous river accessible property with a better menu than they had 3 years ago. And our luck continued as our threesome got the SAME great server Jaqueline we had 3 years ago. We went with Jaqueline’s recommendation for the way better than average supernachos with chorizo sausage, yes the meatloaf plate, the egg parmesan and the chopped salad. The meatloaf was surprisingly light and a large order with some subtle spices and a little heat plus mashed potatoes and green peas, real road food. The Eggplant parmesan was half a plate of a small order of egg plant parmesan and a larger half with spaghetti and sauce. A little disappointed in the size of the eggplant parmesan order but it was very good, and the pasta sauce at least not overly sweet. The chopped salad was kind of average but as described and refreshing.
VERY reasonably priced for dinner and live music, no extra charge for the beautiful full moon. Seems like there is more of a Latin influence to the food than last time, Jose’s Meatloaf for example, and we liked it. Very reasonably priced wine and drinks. Friendly staff.
Lots of seating choices inside and outside that include many levels and stairs particularly if you are going outside. If you have someone with limited mobility, plan ahead.
This isn’t a Michelin rated restaurant all you other overly picky «expert» Unilocalers, chill out, it’s Batavia, it’s on the river and it’s good. Be there.

Great view here by the river. Outdoor eating is a must. IPA beer was excellent. The turkey club unfortunately was not very good. Processed turkey meat was bad. I would come back but order something different next time.

My girlfriends and I came here after a long bike ride looking for a restaurant with outdoor seating.
We were seated right away had a nice view of the river. I had an amazing crab cake salad and a cold frosted Blue Moon on tap! My friends also enjoyed thir food as well.
Our server was attentive… all in all it was just the casual outdoor dining experience we were looking for!

Pal Joey’s is a very casual and comfortable setting both inside and out overlooking the Fox River.
I have been a staunch supporter of the pizza quality and service. Until recently!!!
The service is good, the pizza is not!
Unfortunately «undercooked» pizza is NOT a good thing. This seems to be a common occurrence lately, serving room temperature pizza!
That’s a bad reflection on kitchen staff professionalism and an embarrassment for management who actually hired these people, not to mention the owners who hired incompetent managers!
Think about it! You’ll never have to worry about scorching the roof of your mouth ever again.

Good pizza when ordered to eat in. What a great view right on the river. It is spectacular!
However was disappointed on the togo. Called in a pizza ahead, they told me 15 – 20 minutes. I show up 22 minutes later and the pizza was still not ready. There was a lot of employees standing around. Sadly when my pizza was ready 5 – 10 minutes later it was not even remotely as well prepared as when I ordered in. I will return, however was disappointed with the Togo.

I really wanted to give them a 3 star review but there was too much wrong to overlook.
The pan pizza was good and was their only saving grace but even that had to be sent back before it was right.
1. Do not order water, bad bad bad! So bad even my six year old commented. Mentioned to server and she said it was tap water, «people get used to their filtered water and thinks ours tastes like crap». TIP — filter you water or offer bottled water.
2. It was a slow Saturday night, staff standing around, lots is bus boys not a lot of servers. The service was SLOW!
3. We ordered a super thin and a pan pizza. The pan pizza was warm, not hot. Despite being straight from the kitchen we were able to actually pick up and hold in our bare hands. Called over our server, showed her how cool it was and she said sorry I’ll have them put it back in the oven. 10 mins later the same pizza made its way back out albeit much hotter this time.
The pan pizza was good and worthy of 4 star review if there was nothing else to consider.
4. On the way out we passed a series of self indulged high school and college aged staff, not one good night, thank you, see you again, nothing. They seemed like they didn’t care for the customers and just wanted to hang out and have fun. Where is the management in this place?
I’ll give it another shot in spring, hopefully it was just an off night.

In general, I liked this place. Situated on the Fox River and easily accessible from the bike path, this was an easy choice for lunch. Weather was nice and we were able to sit outside… pretty awesome.
The food was good — nothing stunning, but good — tried the buffalo wrap, spaghetti carbonara and cheese pizza — all were pretty decent, and given the ambiance it’s definitely someplace we’d come again.
The only real complaint (and why this wasn’t a 4-​star review) is that the place wasn’t that busy but the service was pretty slow. 38 minutes for lunch after a 15-​min wait to order and another 12 mins after we requested the check. Our server was great, very nice, but perhaps a bit overworked. Actually, everyone we encountered here was terrific — very friendly and accommodating.
It wouldn’t be my first choice for a repeat lunch, but would definitely come back. Would love to try some apps and cocktails here one evening when not rushing to get back out onto the trails.
Worth trying.
(Side note: If you happen to be on your bike and are hoping to take home your leftovers… they don’t have plastic bags with handles. Large paper bags all the way. So… things might get interesting here momentarily.)