Not Your Average Joe’s

The fresh rolls and olive oil/​cheese dipping sauce that you’re served before you’re entrée comes out may be my favorite. Very simple but very good. Try the buffalo chicken pizza! Very good!

Incredibly rude manager at dinner shift.

This is one of my favorite comforts in the neighborhood. It’s the perfect place to stop and have a drink and a meal either by yourself or with others. It’s a bustling environment but comfortable and the staff is efficient and ALWAYS friendly. It’s also one of the few places that I don’t have a concern about if the menu changes up. If it’s been a long day I can call ahead and they will run the food out if I ask which is invaluable. They are consistent in every way and that’s why I continue to go back since they opened.

Always love coming here. Consistently delicious food and professional, attentive service make it my «go to spot»! Keep up the great work!

Just revisited Not Your Average Joe’s of Needham, this time for a dine-​in visit. Martin was extremely friendly, helpful, efficient, and very knowledgable about the menu. He made the experience great and made sure everything went smoothly. I will definitely be making an effort to return in the future (it may be tough since the Westwood location is going to be so new!). Food is always superb, delicious and flavorful ‘backyard burgers’ are my favorite! Bread is also always delicious, and a perfect start to an always perfect lunch or dinner. Another 5 star experience at NYAJ’s in Needham.

I’ve had to wait a signiicant amount of time when I’ve gone directly to the restaurant to order takeout. Today I decided to call before leaving work. I was asked if i minded being put on hold. I said sure. 7 minutes later I was still on hold without even a quick pick up asking me to hold longer. I called back thinking I had been forgotten. When the phone was answered I requested not to be put on hold and was told a lot of people were on hold, waiting in person and that they were short staffed. She was coolly polite but did not take my order. I said I would go elsewhere and write a Unilocal review and they didn’t seem to care. Do yourself a favor and try one of the other great restaurants Needham has to offer. Maybe when business dies down they will finally have adequate staffing. I’m not blaming this on the staff even the woman answering the phone because they are in a tough spot dealing with upset customers because management isn’t doing its job.
Addendum: I heard back from the manager he said they would re-​train staff, notify management and send me gift cards. Below is my response to him.-You need to look at your staffing and your process. If you train your staff using an inefficient process or do not have proper staffing levels nothing will change. I’ve read other reviews this is a long standing issue. Now I know why. The proper message isn’t be relayed up the management chain. I didn’t write the review for free food. I wrote it so that things could improve for both customers and staff.

This location is their most average. No pun intended. The service has been terrible for years here and the food is always overcooked. It’s such a great location but their just can’t figure it out. Their is always a new staff here and it’s super noisy.
Please try to improve this place has potential.

I’ve been to this chain before, however not this specific restaurant. If I could say anything nice about this place I would saw the bread and olive oil that they give. Then leave. First, I had a specialty pizza and it barely had toppings or cheese on it. Second, the service was lack luster and lastly the bathroom toilet paper dispenser was empty but luckily there was a roll on the floor I could use… No excuse it was late afternoon and the restaurant was slow.

I wanted to let you all know that NYAJ reached out to me and gave me a gift card towards another take out order. I ordered it and they got it right.
I order often from there. Will keep you posted.

Overpriced, service was bad and food was burnt and freezer burned.
I ordered the herb-​crusted haddock and it was dry. We ordered fries and they were burnt. My boyfriend had enchiladas and the sauce tasted like it had been in the freezer for a year. Not one of our entrees came out as described in the menu.
Tea which must be laced with gold dust costs 3 dollars.
My meal ultimately was a few pieces of stale bread.
I almost forgot to mention that flies in January live only here and buzz around the dining tables.
Our second attempt at fries came after the meal and were still burnt. We were not even offered a courtesy discount and our total was over a hundred dollars for a miserable meal.
Do not ever come here. Save your money.

Really love this chain and the food they offer. I had not been to this location in ages, but have been to others in the past. I wish I could give more stars, but there were some hiccups in service that rubbed me the wrong way. When we walked in, no one was at the host stand to greet us and the phone was ringing off the hook. No bartender there either to answer the phone/​take over host duties. The phone rang and rang until someone came by, picked it up and told us to hold on a moment. Having this be our first encounter here made me nervous for the rest of our experience. Thankfully we were seated quickly and our server was there to greet us fairly quickly as well. Our food was amazing and my boyfriend said it was one of the best Chop Salads he ever had, as well as my Chicken Enchiladas being seriously yummy. Although when we were done dining and it was clear we were done (one empty plate and my plate pushed to the side waiting for take out packing), it took about 10 – 15 minutes for the server to even come by and see if we were done/​wanted to take anything home. We were kind of getting antsy, I tried to make eye contact with other servers to maybe get some attention but they seemed wrapped up in their own tables. She finally came back, packed my food for me and then we were ready to go. This is a great place that just needs some polishing on service, but the food was more than 3 stars. I will be back again and hope that service is shaped up a bit!

I came in because we got a gift card. I will say, I’ve never been to this chain or location before and knew nothing of their menu.
Came in at 6. was told the wait would be 20 mins. We didn’t get seated for an HOUR. That’s triple the amount of time we were told. I had no idea this place takes reservations, so people were just walking in and being seated. Good for them, but kind of frustrating for us. This place should NOT take reservations, it doesn’t have enough tables for that.
The place is TINY. And people were walking in with parties of 6 or 7. I would never bring my family/​kids here. It’s not the environment for that. I actually didn’t like the inside at all. Not inviting.
The menu was also a let down. No pasta section. However, the bread was great.
Overall, I won’t be returning.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here. Smiley, cheerful waitress, good ambience, great food. Will definitely be returning to NYAJ!

I’ve been stuck in this town for nine days and really struggling to find a decent place to eat. Naturally, I would find the resolution to my problem the day before I leave. Not your average Joe’s has amazing food with complex flavor combinations and a very nice atmosphere. I recommend the smoked Gouda grilled cheese!

Visiting with friends and we popped in for dinner before I had to catch a train. We had three little kids with us and I must say that the servers were friendly, accommodating and attentive. Food came out very quickly which was nice. We ordered some kid dishes, some apps and a couple of sides. The seared tuna app on cucumber was ok, which sadly is not what you want to hear from a mostly raw fish plate. The flavors were decent but one bite of it was enough for me. The summer rolls were completely bland. A summer roll without any seasoning or acid is maybe one of the most boring things in the world. The edamame dumplings were surprisingly good and sat in a nicely seasoned broth. I asked for a spoon to enjoy every bit of the broth along with my side of mashed potatoes. Lol. The sweet chicken wings were coated well and were quite good. The kids Mac and cheese was delicious but the chicken tenders and fries were mediocre. I don’t know how much the kids cared about that. All in all the third star really is for the very good service and the eclectic, imaginative menu that hopefully delivers on other dishes.

This review is based solely on their take out system. Every time my husband and I order something for take out, it’s done incorrectly. The most recent issue we’ve had was just about 20 minutes ago. We just ordered two burgers, cooked medium well, with French fries. We got, however, two southwestern burgers basically still moo-​ing with onion rings. The burger was inedible because of how pink/​red the middle was, and we don’t like onion strings so we basically just had bread for lunch. The receipt on the order has our order typed correctly so how do the cooks mess it up? I don’t understand. Very disappointed though.
UPDATE: The manager has already reached out to me in regards to my concerns with my experience here. Very pleased with how much of a priority the customer experience is to their manager and will now give this place another try.

I used to like this place a lot when it first came to the area. However those days are long gone and the quality is not there anymore. Seems like mass produced meals rather than made to order.
I got the sausage type pasta… didn’t taste too good, but not horrible. Just unfortunately nothing to get excited about.

I have been going here since it opened in the mid nineties it is usually pretty average
But I must say I was very happy with some recent additions to the menu tried the shrimp tacos today which were awesome and our waiter was nice also sometimes I feel like the wait staff isn’t very friendly but todays visit was really good oh and I have to add try the peanut butter thing for dessert its a must!!!

Watertown is my regular Not Your Average Joe’s haunt. But figuring that traffic that a ways during the evening commute would be rather tough, we opted to go this a ways instead for an early weekday dinner.
Turns out, we were wrong. Unexpected traffic turned up between us and the restaurant and so we got there later than expected. But street parking was shortly found, and we were immediately seated at one of their long booths along the right side of the restaurant.
Their bread was, as par for the course, served with the plate of Parmesan cheese sprinkled with red pepper flakes with a fresh pour of olive oil. The cheesey oil as tempting as always, but the onions on our bread unappetizingly and completely blackened.
Service was fine, but the food was rather skimpy for your average Not Your Average Joe’s. Leftovers were always to be had during my visits to the Watertown location. Here, my dad’s haddock (herb-​crusted haddock — pan seared and served with garlic mashed potatoes and herb roasted carrots 17.99) was miniscule beside the decent sized portions of terrific mashed and tasty carrots. (Days later, he reiterated out of the blue that his piece of fish was so thin and small.)
When the cutely presented twin towers of meatloaf (anything but average meatloaf, fresh mozzarella stuffed meatloaf, with sautéed veggies and mashed potatoes with barbeque gravy 15.50) arrived, it seemed rather puny in contrast to past experience. Memory proved correct when I checked out my photo from our March visit to Watertown to see the thicker portions of meat. Mom said the veggies were good though.
The burger eater at the table said the fries were crisp when they arrived. By the end of the meal they were wimpy things though, even the thin little pieces which at times might be the only ones that have any crispness to them.
As for me, my carolina pecan chicken — chicken breasts crusted with pecans, pan seared and brushed with carolina mustard, served with chipotle sweet potato mash and garlicky sautéed spinach 15.50 — looked burnt due to their rather dark complexion, but interestingly enough did not taste so. The chicken were a bit on the dry side, however, my sides were both delicious.
Based on this visit alone, I could not recommend visiting NYAJ’s.

Been here now twice and I really want to love it but it just ends up being average food with not so great selections. This spot sits in Needham Center and is always pretty crowded and it does take reservations which is nice. The staff is friendly and tries to keep up with the amount of customers that stroll in. The menu here is similar to the other locations, just a mess of various entrees and appetizers from pizza to meatloaf to fish. They have a drink menu as well loaded with creative cocktails and beer etc.
I ordered the Steak Frite and had the Thai lettuce wraps and a Cider Sangria. The one issue I see with this place is when it really comes down to it, this is not the greatest food. Steak was touch, Thai lettuce wraps were okay and Sangria left a bad taste in my mouth. Dessert was okay also, fried apple wrapped in dough with sugar and cinnamon. Prices are really cheap here which is good, but I would probably compare this to a Joe’s Grill. Not some place I would run to eat, but I would go for a cheap quick bite. I just cannot say this place is the best.