Windjammers

Awesome place! Great drinks, food & appetizers. The staff are friendly and very helpful. We’ll be back!

An unplanned stop but found some great customer service and the drinks were awesome. Food is what you would expect from a bar… Somewhat greasy but tasty. The page says the close at 2pm; not true. Open very late.

We just had some appetizers– mozzarella sticks and chips and salsa.
The mozzarella sticks tasted strange and the chips & salsa were both just store bought.
The service here is really slow but when it happens its friendly.
The karaōke is ok. I feel like the KJ is a little too picky on what she chooses for you to sing and definitely doesn’t seem to go in a normal rotation? I could be wrong– it’s just not my favorite for karaōke.

the owners of this establishment on seven other bars in Salem, they all serve the same food, nothing special but a nice clean place where I can get a good sandwich, or burger.
my only little disconnect for this place and the other restaurants is that they should do a little bit more scratch cooking and make the hamburgers fresh not out of a box.

The bar tenders here are a breed of their own, the space is dingy and dark. The karaōke is a cluster of strange people watching. It is the sort of place you feel like showering after leaving. Have never tried the food and based on the cleanliness of the establishment I do not think I want to.

Worst customer service I’ve ever had at a bar. The girls there are so rude. And obviously I don’t expect amazing service at a tavern but this was awful. I rounded up my tab from $ 6.95 to $ 7 and I was just going to give her cash for a tip. She took the card slip before I got my cash out and I heard her say «you can keep your f@cking nickel». So rude and shocking. Don’t remember the girl’s name.

I am afraid standards have slipped at Windjammers Restaurant & Neighborhood Bar.
Pizza has been taken off the menu. Our server, Jennifer (a real sweetheart), was insistent that pizza has been off the menu for more than 19-​months. Too bad, the pizza was something Windjammers did right.
I’ve stopped ordering the Beef Stroganoff because the last two times I had it, the dish was a disaster — gluey pasta and tough chewy beef. Very disappointing.
Tonight, four of us met for dinner at Windjammers. Two of us had the Thursday Night Special: Pork Ribs, Fries, Coleslaw and Garlic Bread /​$ 7.95. It was just OK, both of us agreed we wouldn’t order the ribs again. One of us ordered the Pork Sliders, Tater Tots and Coleslaw /​$ 6.95. The cook forgot the Coleslaw, (no big loss), but she said the Sliders and the Tater Tots (a substitution) were good. The last person ordered the Fish and Chips, Fries and Coleslaw /​$ 10.95. He said the Fries were the worst he had ever had. They were cold, and he left most of them on the plate. All in all, disappointing.
Two Star Food and Four Star Service (Thank You, Jennifer!)

I ordered the sliders, and it’s been 25 minutes, and no order yet. It’s not busy, either. Hopefully it’ll taste good after all of this time! :-(

I work in the same plaza and called over in desperation of food. I ordered the basic cheese burger and it is probably the best burger I’ve ever had. The woman working was friendly and helpful. Even gave me a menu to take back to my work. Definitely will become a regular customer!

We’ve visited Windjammers on several other occasions, usually Friday nights, and found both the service and food to be above average. Tonight, however, was a very different experience. Apparently short staffed because scheduled staff had «not shown up,» we were treated to a pretty uncomfortable dining experience: unhappy, complaining staff, inexperienced replacement staff, orders either never placed or ignored once prepared, rather bizarre table bussing techniques… the type of experience that makes customers want to end the meal and run for the exits… which we would have done had it not taken so long to get our tab and have payment processed. Unfortunately we won’t be back.

My husband and I went in for lunch on a Sunday, so it was very quiet and only had a few other customers. (It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, no stuffiness) But we weren’t looking for a wild Sunday lunch. We had heard from friends that they had good food, so we checked them out. I had the best Cesar Wrap ever and onion rings that were great as well. My husband had a patty melt and onion rings that he loved. It’s rare now a days to eat a lunch from a place and actually feel like you had GOOD food for the money– and this is what we got. Service was great, and food was awesome. We’ll be back someday for another lunch!

Thursday karaōke spot for my group. The place is always fun, with a good crowd and great staff. I’ve had the same waitress every time I have been here, she is quick and always remembers what I am drinking. Normally don’t order food, but last night got the French fries. I know it seems odd to get excited about French fries but they truly were amazing, and crunchy. Also the only bar in Salem that serves Two Towns Cider.

A big group of friends and I were looking for a new Friday night Karaōke spot. I called a few different places to see who actually had Karaōke on Fridays, and Windjammers quickly became our destination of choice for the evening.
Overall, I was pleased with everything, from the awesome burgers and beer battered fries, to the very well organized Karaōke books by artist and by title. There were a couple little hiccups in the beginning, when we first arrived: Like how both of the waitresses thought the other was helping our table of 7, so neither had actually come over to help us. This was fixed with much apologizing and embarrassment on their part.
The sound system was decent, the TVs were nicely placed with one in front and one in back so you had your choice of where to stand while belting out tunes. Our KJ hostess was funny and kept the songs rolling right along with very little wait. And while neither I nor my boyfriend elected to sing this night, our other friends had a great time with their songs.
By 10pm or so, the place had filled up nicely. Some of the performances were truly spectacular, like the chubby white dude in Office Space attire who got up there and absolutely killed it to Kris Kross’s Jump. This was probably the most unexpected, yet delightful surprise of the evening.
One major downfall of the night was when I went to settle my tab and saw that the total was only $ 4 and knew this was wrong. Trying to do the honorable thing, I told the waitress that this shouldn’t be right, as I had purchased a pitcher as well and pointed over to our table. She said «OOooh, you’re over there. One sec and I’ll fix this!» Well, fix it she did. Two minutes later I had paid $ 34 and was trying to figure out why this was also wrong as I was walking out to our car (maybe I shouldn’t have drank half the pitcher). This is when my boyfriend mentioned that he had already paid for the burgers and his energy drinks when he first ordered them at the counter (before the waitresses had figured out who was helping our table). Somehow the one who took his cash did not tell the other that the burgers had already been paid for and they double charged us.
I don’t know if this is enough to make me not return, but from now on I will most definitely be watching exactly who is helping us and who’s settling the tab.

I have been in here many times. Their burgers rank as one of the best in Salem. Their ribeye steak specials on Fridays are the best deal in town. The atmosphere is good and the staff has always been friendly.

Windjammer is a divey karaōke joint. Not much more needs to be said, so I’ll relate a story instead. Last time I was in there I was standing in line for the men’s room when some guy came staggering out and basically ran out the front door. When the next guy in line went in, he discovered that run-​out guy had thrown up EVERYWHERE. Someone went and got the bar back, a cute young girl, to clean it up, and she came back with a mop and a bucket. Thing is she was so grossed out by the reek and the mess that she started dry heaving as soon as she went in there to start cleaning. Long story short, I ended up cleaning the bathroom for her, and she comp’d me a few beers.
Anyway, it’s a bar with karaōke and a little heated outdoor area with tables and stuff.

DEAR Unilocal: So my reviews keep getting flagged when they are neither FAKE, rude or Malicious? I have read much ruder or seemingly fake reviews and they are still on the main page, I am very frustrated!
UPDATE — Sunday January 3, 2016: I have been here many times over the last 4yrs, and honestly, the biggest problem I have with this place is the size of the building (it is tiny) and the crowd it attracts. You get a lot of rude obnoxious drunk idiots, and ulike Jammes on 12^th Street which gets a similar crowd, this place does not have really stiff drinks. The bartenders are also hit or miss when it comes to service, most of the good staff has left. :(
Karaōke is also not what it used to be, it is run by the same company, but the KJ who runs it seems to play favorites a lot and will «accidentally miss you» if she doesn’t like you. While this has never happened to me, I have talked to quite a few people where it has happened.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I grew up very close to where Windjammers now is, that spot its in now has been many different businesses, so when it changed from an Indian Restaurant to a bar I didn’t pay much attention, I should have.
One of my friends a bit over a month ago was going there all of time, but he got tired of going there and wanted to go somewhere new, well, we went to the South Liberty Bar and Grill and boy oh boy were we all sorry we did!!! That place had the worst service, rude staff and management, ect, the drinks were fine, but the karaōke sucked and was intermixed with terrible top 40 music for dancing every few karaōke songs, and the person running the karaōke was rude.
Needless to say, since then the only place my friend went to since then for karaōke was Windjammers. I finally got to go there for the first time last week with a different friend and it was definitely on the top of my list for bars, still a little on the trying to be trendy side, and while I can’t vouch for the food, the staff was friendly and attentive, all of them. I went on a Friday night and while it was packed someone came to my table several times to check in on us, I was impressed, as I have been to many less busy bars where they had people waiting tables and they never even came by our table to ask us if we needed anything.
The karaōke was nice as the lady who was KJing that night tried very hard to get everyone in in an expedient way, alternating between new singers and the ones who already sang, while on a busy night this can take a while, at least I got to sing my songs unlike at some other bars where I waited for a couple hours and nothing despite my putting in songs long before other people who then got up to sing.
I cannot vouch for the food yet, but the only drink I had was a virgin margarita because I was driving, and it was just fine, I mean its essentially ice and margarita mix, lol, so you get what you pay for, and it was reasonable at $ 3.
The only quibble (which is a very minor one) was that I couldn’t get the margarita blended, which is fine, as I don’t like them blended; so I could not get it blended because their blender broke, AND then she came back after telling us we could have salt on the rims, she then told tell us they spilled the salt on the floor so they couldn’t give us salt either. lol But she was very friendly and had a good sense of humor so it was no big d.
Over all, in terms of karaōke and service, it is definitely one of better ones in the Salem area, and I have been to quite a few in the Salem. So if you like singing, I highly recommend it. :D
God Bless ~Amy