Not Your Average Joe’s

NYAJ is generally a good experience. The last time we were there both of our entrees were terrible, but they profusely apologized, removed them from the check and made it right. Because of that, I’m going to assume this was a one-​time blip in what has otherwise been a very good experience there.

Clean tasting food… service was good. However the food wasn’t amazing. Their food is definitely very pure in terms of preparation and ingredients. Nothing is processed. I dot mind eating here but it wasn’t anything special nor amazing.

We sought this place out for the Gluten Free menu specifically. The GF bread was AMAZING, however, the waitress brought us an entrée with regular pasta after we both specified we were ordering GF, and she confirmed it herself while taking the order. My boyfriend was smart enough to notice the regular menu listed fettuccine but the GF listed penne. When we asked about it, the waitress denied the dish being on the GF menu when it clearly was. My boyfriend ate around the pasta because we only stick to the diet and are not terribly allergic. After that, she had the audacity to list off allllllll the delicious non-​GF desserts.
The point of this is that someone could have easily had severe health implications if served something with gluten when they CLEARLY ordered GF, and had even asked for the menu and bread when first ordering.
Otherwise, the food was actually really good. But I’m not sure if we’ll go back. Nothing was done to correct that serious mistake except a few awkward apologies.

I expected the food to be AMAZING. Not really, the bread was the best part.
My pomegranate non alcoholic drink was pretty good but I ordered that steak tenderloin and spinach, (medium) it was SO dry and almost burnt so I sent it back and it was still overcooked and my spinach wasn’t cooked at all.
Lastly their nachos were OKAY. Nothing to rave about. Overall the hype that they’ve created is wonderful, just didn’t live up to those high expectations.

We went on Valentine’s Day our waiter was Adrian and he was so great! the crabcake appetizer was nice but my grilled salmon with pesto was AMAZING. He gave me a Valentine chocolate/​caramel pretzel to take home. SUPER thoughtful — made my day!!!

From the bread & oil dip (fresh garlic & Parmesan!) to the Peanut Butter Thing, NYA Joes does not disappoint. Their enchiladas are excellent, as are their salads and seasonal offerings, and there are plenty of options for those with food sensitivities or other special preferences. The service is usually unremarkable, but the food makes it worth it.
Pro Tip: takeout is 15 or 20% off when the home team plays during football season.

Had dinner with family on Sat night. Daughter has several food allergies. Chef, manage and servers were all awesome. Food was delicious and the care given to creating a safe and delicious meal for our daughter was outstanding.

This place is the best restaurant in Lansdowne by far. The go the extra mile for their customers. From the Hostess Madeline to the Manager Leslie. Everyone here is top notch. I just moved into the area and I will become a staple at this establishment. They are definitely not your average Joe type of Restaurant but one that sets itself up a few notches above the competition. The food is exquisite, the service is promt and with a smile. Want to dine with the family this is the place, want to hang with co-worker’s this is the place, want to come out have a bite and a drink by yourself then this is the place. It suits all your needs. I am not an employee of this place just a Impressed patron.

The best gluten free bread basket I’ve ever had! Flavorful, soft and fluffy, and waitstaff knew what they were doing, bringing me my own oil and cheese for dipping.
I had the roast beef sandwich. It was a bit too big and hard to eat, but I loved that I even had that option with gluten free. I had the chipotle mashed sweet potatoes too, and spicy (but good).
The kids menu was great, and an awesome bang for your buck.
Parking was easy, and they have a nice patio.
Great for families, or on a date.
I’ll be back!

The bread and butter/​oil that you start off with is scrumptious. I couldn’t get enough of it! I also ordered a raspberry lemonade that was really good. For my entrée I ordered the grilled Tuscan chicken sandwich but I was not impressed. Some of my friends ordered gluten free bread and stated they enjoyed their vegetarian food. So if you are very health conscious you will probably enjoy. I took stars away for the mediocre entrée I had and because there was a long wait to be greeted & to get a table. When we arrived it was not busy so there was no excuse for the wait. Overall I would say my experience mediocre.

I had heard a lot of nice things about this place, so I had lunch there with 2 co workers. The host was very confused about our reservation, but we eventually got seated. Our server was very nice and did a good job. No complaints there. We all got apps and entrees. The apps were OK. The dumplings were tasty. The calamari decent. The shrimp rolls were ok — but they were terribly presented… all different sizes and almost no shrimp. They were not put together by someone that cared about what they put out, whatsoever.
For entrees, we had mustard chicken, shrimp tacos, and steak frites. The mustard chicken was alright. The shrimp tacos were an embarrassment. It was mostly lettuce with a smattering of beans, salsa, and TWO tiny shrimp on each taco. Not good. Steak frites was also not well cooked, presented or flavorful. The diner also found a hair under the fries. Awesome.
I won’t go back here — ever. Sad that we spent our employee appreciation lunch there. What a waste. I only gave it 2 stars for the dumplings and the server. Otherwise, it’s barely 1.

I was with a group of 5 girls. We are not from the area. We are in Virginia on business. We were not greeted for at least 5 mins. Another guest begin to speak with us and that’s when someone came to greet us. We were seated and brought drinks. We ordered and the food didn’t take too long to come out. The server did not come back to check on us until the end of our meal. The tickets took about 10 mins to come back. The food was average. The menu was limited in my opinion. There was bread bought to us before the meal, with some oil that was really good.

Have been going here for years and we love the restaurant. Favorites are pot stickers, pizza and burgers. Kids love their chicken fingers too. Just tried their to-​go feature for the first time last Friday night. AWESOME! Ordered online, told them what kind of car I was driving, pulled into the assigned spot and within 15-​seconds a very nice lady came outside with all of our food. Great service. I always expect with take out that something will be missing or wrong — not the case, she even packed ketchup, the bread they give you, she packed the oil dipping sauce for the bread, napkins, forks, knives, everything. Good job Joe’s!

They’re perfect for me. I went there for lunch. the steak/​the fish/​mac and cheese were all above my expectation. Only thing that i want is their interior design to be improved. Servers are friendly. Neighborhood is good place for shopping. I definitely recommend this place for my friends.

I’ve been going to Joe’s with a friend on occasion for several years (almost since they opened in this area), and I’ve been seeing that their variety of specials and presentation of mainstay dishes has been improving over their already great quality. Had the sirloin tips tonight, and they’ve definitely done these right with the new balsamic glaze and mashed garlic potatoes. I’ve also had one of their current specials recently — the pork shank — and that was not only huge, but perfectly cooked and prepared. The meat just fell off the bone.
I also want to take a moment and compliment our server tonight, Luiz. It’s the first time we’ve had him as a server, and he was great. Very friendly and engaging with all of the guests at his tables, and he kept our drinks refreshed throughout the meal. It’s always impressive when I see someone who is enjoying their work, especially in a service position, and Luiz definitely shone through tonight. Hope to have him again as a server in the near future.

I would give 5 starts but I only had one thing off the menu. The pizzas are amazing! Also, the bartender asked if I had any allergies or special dietary needs… i appreciated that.
Atmosphere is casual with plenty of seating for groups.

This place is the perfect 3 – 3.5 star restaurant. Nothing ever blows me away, but nothing is ever «bad» or below average.
The bread is great.
The service is good and fast.
Tonight I had the lobster roll, which was a special. It was good. Not the best I have ever had, but good.
One day I will find something I truly love here. Unfortunately I haven’t found it yet.

We stopped in for lunch today, later in the afternoon so not too crowded and we were seated immediately. Ashlynn, our server, brought a basket of hot bread and a plate of some delightful oil, cheese, and herbs — delicious. Our drinks were served right away and refilled promptly. I had the Backyard Burger with cheddar and fries. It was prepared perfectly, chargrilled, with a soft bun and lots of cheese for $ 10.50. The fries were nicely crisp. My spouse had the wings which were on special for $ 0.50 each — he had 10 and enjoyed them, tossed in mild buffalo sauce. The atmosphere is light and open, with lots of windows.
Not a beer day so can’t comment, but NYAJs is a full service bar and the drink menu was beefy. Great service, delicious food (next time I’ll venture into something more adventurous than a burger) — hence 5 stars. One other thing, I felt the desire to provide a great dining experience is a strong part of the culture at NYAJs — they ask you to take a service survey at the end and I’ve noticed a manager’s response on a number of Unilocal reviews. It works!

Had lunch here today. My son ordered a house side salad. Half way through eating it he noticed this brown sauce on the bottom of the plate and what looked like lips stick on the side of the plate. I was not happy!
The only positive is the manager comped the entire meal not just his order.

My first few visits to NYAJ’s were … well, average. The prices. The quality. The service. However, this weekend’s trip was such a cluster, I can’t help but update my review.
We arrived at 12:45 on Saturday to a restaurant that couldn’t have been more than half full, and most of those tables already had food. My husband, toddler, and I were seated, given menus, and immediately asked if we were ready to order. Um, no? Bread arrived and we were surprised by how stale it was compared to previous visits. We ordered fairly quickly — a grilled cheese for the toddler, a sandwich and fries for myself, and a soup/​salad combo for the husband.
Look. I know dining out with a toddler is always a crap shoot, but I also travel prepared. However, when our food still hadn’t arrived at 1:35, all of us were hangry and pissed off. Our glasses were empty and our waiter was no where to be seen. When he finally allowed himself to be flagged down, he made a vague comment about our food being out ‘soon.’ Ten minutes later, I did him a kindness by allowing my husband to be the one to tell him we wanted our order now and to go. (Trust me, you wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry — and have been waiting for food at this type of establishment for more than 45mn during a lull in business.)
We didn’t get out of there with our food (to go) until 2pm. There were exactly zero apologies or explanations, and not a comp to be seen as a manager handed us our tab without making eye contact. Now, to be fair, as we sat there trying to keep a hungry, sleepy toddler from a meltdown, we were asked TO WAIT LONGER as the waiter grabbed us some 5 $ off coupons for our next visit. (Stay tuned for hell freezing over, sir.) Seriously? You make me wait 45mn for a grilled cheese in an empty restaurant, charge me full price for it, and then expect me to wait longer for a stupid coupon for an imaginary future visit.
We got to the car and I handed our toddler half of her sandwich to eat on the way home. It was stone cold and the «cheese» (Kraft singles) in that sandwich had never reached a heat that allowed it to melt. Her side (green beans) was also 100% wrong (root vegetables?). When my husband opened his salad, it was a handful of iceberg lettuce drowning in low grade Caesar dressing; there wasn’t even a single croûton. His soup was over salted and greasy. My sandwich was, of course, cold, but — you’ll have to excuse me — about average for a 9 $ sandwich.
The food was uninspired. Some of it was just flipping lazy as all get out. There is no reasonable explanation in the world as to why they couldn’t have at least gotten us the grilled cheese inside half an hour. They had clearly not started half our order when we requested it to go. The prices were not competitive. All of this could have been mitigated by an apology, an explanation, some sort of adjustment to our bill. Nothing like that happened.
TL;DR — anyone want a 5 $ off coupon to a crappy restaurant that takes an hour to make a grilled cheese?
Updated: GM writes «It definitely does not look like Joe’s is the place for you and based off many of your other reviews you have a specific set of expectations.» Yup. My craaazy expectations include value for money, food within a reasonable amount of time, clear communication, and food that tastes decent. Maybe even an apology when you screw up. But hey, I’m always up for a complementary side of passive aggressive brush off! The implication that I’m a whiner? Not appreciated. Joe can check out my ratings distribution; it’s almost a perfect bell curve.