Original Joe’s San Jose

18 Oz. $ 40 New York cut with loads of fat, served with a water soggy ravioli in a flavorless excuse for marinara. All male waiters and an appearance of an all boys club. Oh and a 15 mins until we were approach after being seated. Sucked! Would not recommend.

Worse place ever at least dogs have left overs they will be happy. Came here to see what the hype was should have listen to the Unilocal reviews. Wasted $ 45 on a steak that was so tough you could barely cut threw. My other friends order and hated their meals to. I would never come her over priced food it’s like a café but with way to high of price.

great prices, great staff, OMG good food, great. everything is fresh. will come again when ever in town.

I’ve been here twice with family and friends. It was obvious that unless you are a regular, you were put on HOLD.

Being a San jose native this was ALWAYS a go to restaurant for me. I moved to AZ in ’07. Each trip back this was a MUST stop for us. However this has now changed. We came in for a Hockey came against Nashville. The game was a 5:00 start so we were going to eat there after.
When we got there the waiter told us they were expecting a «rush» after the game. We tried ordering the prime rib and they were out. We tried ordering the Lamb and they were out. We tried ordering the new york and they were out. Expecting a rush and being out of so many items… hmmm.
As we were getting a bit disappointed with each «no» we were getting, our waiter began to roll his eyes. Really… as if we were the problem??? The food is always good once you get past these issues. This was the ONLY reason we stayed after being treated the way we were. I even asked the waiter at one point if we were «bothering» him
My wife went into the restroom only to find garbage all over the floor. After hearing this I checked the mens bathroom and found it to be in the same. condition… The carpet through out the restaurant was covered with crumbs and food. almost amazing to witness as OJ’s always had such hi standards for food and cleanliness. very disappointing.
We just traveled back for the Finals against the Penguins. We stayed at the sheraton and our room faced OJ’s…we saw it each night when we went to bed and each morning as we woke up but never even thought about going to eat there… Obviously there has been some sort of management change over the past few years… sad.
I did share a couple of photos on Trip advisor to the poor condition… if it was slammed it would be one thing… we walked right in and got a table. no excuses, just lazy staff

Upset after calling for service…
I called as a group of friends is planning on having a celebration there tonight. I called their main line, and this lady answered (who was nice), and I asked her if they did reservations, she said no (no problem with that). Then I asked her if all the pasta there had egg and if they offered substitutions. She said that all of their pastas have egg in them. I then inquired about their salad and she transferred me over to someone else.
This other person (a man) answered, and I had a couple of questions about their salad. Literally as soon as I asked the first question, he says «I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have a lot of customers and I don’t have time to answer your questions. The menu is online so you should check there.»
Well ok. Thanks for absolutely no information besides what I already knew… that the menu was online. ALSO, not everything in the menu has nutritional information nor allergy facts.
I’m still eating there tonight (not my choice) and will be ordering a salad. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll update this post as soon as I finish eating there.

First things first. This is basically a diner. A diner in structure and a diner in menu offerings. But it is a diner on another playing field. It is more upscale in that the cooks are incredibly solid and consistent. The price tags slightly daunting.
The servers are a bit more seasoned. So seasoned some of the servers wear coats, hella old school. So old school as a matter of fact, that I kept expecting to run into Sammy Davis Jr. or Dean Martin. So old school, that from the inside, I kept imagining that I was in a swank diner in Palm Springs. So old school I ordered a Manhattan as an appetizer. Yeah buddy!
Menu is huge. It has breakfast. It has sandwiches and burgers. Dinners sport pastas and steaks. Nothing is under $ 12, while dinners will be over $ 20. Many things have that American Italian twist. Heavy and cumbersome to some, while warm and comforting to others. Since I kinda grew up with this type of cuisine, I fall into the latter category.
Veal Scallopini Sec with Mushrooms ($ 32). Quite solidly executed. Perfectly pan sauted cuts of veal. Tangy light gravy. Whole tiny button mushrooms. Wished I were wearing a polyester suit while eating this.
Roasted Leg of Lamb was okay ($ 26). Quite flavorful, simply seasoned and layed atop a rich salty jus. My only knock was that it came pretty well done. But with all the jus, it never came off as dry. And really good with a pasta in red sauce as a side. I actually remember eating this dish at an old girlfriend’s American Italian family Easter dinner. Brought me way back.
The food here is not cutting edge or trendy. Actually this is a very hipster free zone, which I find refreshing btw. In my eyes, instead of seeing this as food that has past it’s relevance, I see it as timeless food. To that my friends, I’ll raise my cocktail glass. And in the lovable words of my favorite rat packer, «Now That’s Amore».

I love this place they have been in SJ for years. So glad I went here that night everything was excellent. The servic the location the food.
I ordered one of the soups that has been a fixture of this excellent eating place for years and I am sure it will be for years to come.
When I find my way to SJ I WILL HAVE TO STOP BY HERE FOR SURE.

I’ve been going here for 40 yrs. Mainly a trip down nostalgic lane for me as I used to come here with my family when I was young. Just Okay burgers, mediocre fries, veggies so-​so, etc.
My prime rib this time was tough (grade B-​). Wait staff are superb as well as the funky old school charm of the place. Worth a visit or two, but not much more

I’ve been here many times but to be honest late night the food taste better after a Sharks game or a few drinks.
If this were a true Italian restaurant I would be served non processed cheese and meat. Not Italian.
Pasta/can’t mess it up almost like home
Tuna sandwich on rye is the best but not Italian
However, I love the atmosphere «we are Italian and Mob».
Save your money and go to Grand View on Mount Hamilton for real food, real people and real Italian!

Came for a work dinner. This seems like a pretty famous SJ institution but I had never heard of it before. It’s located right in downtown. I found public parking across the street in a lot (pricey). I think they had a reservation because there were like 25 of us. Haha. But we all had to sit at separate smaller tables. Service was pretty good, on par for a «fancy» place. I would describe the ambiance as old fashioned but still nice. For food, I ordered the lamb chops. There are two sizes and I got the smaller plate with two chops. It also came with a side and I got the ravioli. It was a huge portion and I saved one of my chops for lunch the next day. Lamb was tasty and cooked well. Ravioli was like comfort food to me — hit the spot. Again fancy place with prices to match. Luckily, it was paid for by work. I’ve also heard they make a good (and affordable) burger also. Will be back hopefully to try other menu items.

I only come to san jose about once a year for a hair convention. We were recommended this place since Arcadia in the Marriot was closed. I Was thrilled it was so close to the convention center. We walked in & got seated immediately. Our waiter took about 10 minutes for him to come over and he just asked if we were ready to order, not our drink orders or how we were doing… We ordered two bunless burgers, bruchetta, and a turkey sandwitch.
My burger didnt have the onions or bacon on it… The Bacon came out on the side about 5 minutes late. Cheese was added to the other meals when they specifically said no cheese. Also one of the burgers didnt even get her side. Food was greasy, bland, and over priced!!! Now im left with less cash and heart burn. Crappy service, food was a bust.

My taste buds fell asleep during dinner. The Chicken Parmigiana, an iconic dish for Original Joe’s, was large in portion, but nothing was memorable about it. It tasted like boring chicken with marinara and cheese. Sorry Original Joe’s…we can’t be friends.

We decided to eat here because we recognize the name (we used to go to the one at Westlake Shopping Center, but it closed for renovation. It is open now but we haven’t had the chance to check it out).
My brother pointed out that apparently this «Original Joe’s» is not affiliated with the one in SF. Hum… that should have already sent a warning to me, but we decided to try it anyway.
We decided to come here on our last day after Silicon Valley Comic Con. We already dined in other nearby restaurants and the food was good (but seating slow because of the Convention).
Our wait time was more tolerable this time around (30 minutes versus an hour is much better in my opinion… even with Open Table Reservation).
We were seated and water was served.
Here are a few key notes that annoyed me and made me vote them down — most of it heavily relied on Service. (Yes, the capital ‘S’ is intentional).
— not letting the customers know that the Prime Rib that was ordered comes only in medium rare (can anyone let me know if this is true or not for the establishment?)
— asking what the diner would like to drink not even after a minute of sitting down
— cold, hard bread (the plates were warmer than the bread.
— ignoring the diners after putting the ordered food down
— not checking in on your diners despite checking in on the surrounding dinerd around you (I counted him checking in on the ones across, beside, and horizontal to our table 8 times. I would try to attract his attention to ask for a refill but he would turn his back on us or ignore us)
— not refilling out beverage aside from the first time, but that was only because he put down the food at the time…
— not coming by to ask if we would like to order anything else /​dessert
— having the busser start cleaning our table even though I was still clearly still eating (no seriously, I was still only halfway through the steak)
— needing to have us stand up and look for a random waiter to ask for the check so we can pay. The other waiter was confused, had to ask another waiter, then tell us to return to our table so the actual waiter had to get us our check.
… let it be noted, the host had to tell us we can pay at the front because I am pretty sure it was clear we did not want to deal with our waiter.
I gave it a two star because at least the food was filling and somewhat decent (aside from the bread). Oh, also do not get the Arnold Palmer… it tasted mostly like water and not half lemonade /​half iced tea.
Overall, I would have understood if the place was really busy, but it does not excuse the lack of consideration when I blatantly see the server who should be checking in on usl pay more attention to the guests around us but our table.
It wasn’t like we were rude or anything either. The only thing I can think of is because we weren’t as well dressed as the other patrons who just came from the opera or whatever was showing across the street from the convention?
If you would like better food and service, I would recommend frequenting other nearby establishments than this one like Il Fornaio or Arcadia.

Good and bad, but the service was incredible during our experience.
I was hoping to be able to visit Original Joe’s last year, but after my initial visit i wasn’t able to make it back to San Jose to do my normal Prime Rib binge.
I can’t remember exactly when i visited, but during our visit it was exceptionally busy. We arrived at about 7pm, and weren’t seated until 9pm. This isn’t too unusual, as Original Joe’s is both popular and doesn’t take reservations, so no problem here. We were seated, and pretty much immediately ordered… 2 prime ribs, and two other orders, can’t remember. In any case, all the orders go through, PERFECT CAN NOT WAIIIIIIT!
Alright, so here comes the issue, about 5 minutes after the initial order is put in our server returns, and informs me that they just ran out of Prime Rib (Omg if this were a comic strip my eyes would be fireballs, because honestly i LOVE prime rib, and there are very few places to order it.), but again i totally understand no issue here again, so i ordered a steak to satisfy my taste buds and my dad orders the liver and onions. Finally the issue… about 45 minutes after altering our order, we are still waiting on our food… we are HUNGRY, and activly seeing to gain the attention of our water to figure out what’s taking so long, but somehow our server manages to elude us, and instead manager comes over the table. He initially apologizes for the delay in our meals, assured us that they would be out soon, then looks straight at my dad and says, «For the three of you, your meals are on their way out, but for you sir, can you please do me a favor and see if there is anything else on the menu that you might want tonight»… oh my GOD the look in my dad’s eyes transitioned to pure hatred, and then suddenly they went beyond pure hate into a «Wow today is just not my day» irony /​laughter /​joy stage, and i could honestly feel him give up. Hahahah my dad is a stronger man than I am, and i have to say this encounter sums him up perfectly. 3 hours of waiting for food, to find out that his second order of liver an onions was not available pushed him to tears… of laughter. Well I have to say the manager handled this situation perfectly. And this is where i must admit that the customer service was 5 stars, the manager not only significantly reduced the price of the meal, but he also gave us his card, wrote his personal cell phone number on it, and told us that next time we want to come in to give him a call because not only would he hold a table for us, but he would also reserve us a cut of prime rib.
Unfortunately i was unable to follow up on this generosity, but i can tell that the offer was genuine, and i can also tell that the manager was truly sorry for the events that transpired. I have to say that the night started off with me drafting a 1 star review due to the level of frustration, but the manager was single-​handedly able to turn that around… also the food (when it finally arrived) was very very good.
Overall i would like to return and finally get my prime rib!
Cheers!

One Saturday night had a nice dinner with my daughter and her friend. Our wait for the table was not long at all maybe 10 minutes. We were seated at a nice large table. One thing I noticed about OG’s the waiters are very professional, flamboyant! I was very aware our bill would be $ 100 plus.
I ordered the rib eye steak ! Gigantic !! Tasty ! This bad boy steak took up the whole plate. Well worth the price. This went with a baked potato all the fixing. There was so much on this steak I brought most of it home.
My daughter had the linguini & clams she said it was awesome.
Her friend had the beef shank special. Tender fall off the bone meat in a gravy that just just makes your mouth water looking at it.
Looking at the reviews I would say it’s a hit or miss on the service. But in my opinion OG’s is a must for dinner. This San Jose landmark will be around for many more years.

There are parts of this place that I just LOVE. I love that it has been around for ages, I love how all the waiters are dashing old men, I love the way it looks, I love coming here all together. i probably come here once/​twice a year and I just came here recently with my family after a long weekend of celebrating my engagement, and I had a pretty good time. I had the Scramble, which was perfectly cooked. My fiancé had the same thing and we both loved it. Coffee was wonderful and our waiter was a doll. However, I would say that I do feel they are lacking a little bit– they have this wonderful reputation and I don’t see it being upheld. Not sure what needs to be done to fix it, but I know I’m not alone when I say it!
Wont stop me from coming and enjoying my time though!

Mehhh, Original Joe’s didn’t live up to the hype! After hearing many great things about it, my better half and I came here for a dinner a couple nights before Christmas.
Wait time was almost 40 minutes! So I figured that the food must be good. After a quick lap around Christmas in the Park we were seated. Service here has character! Servers were witty, quick, and didn’t mind cracking jokes. Some people may take it was rude almost lol
We ordered a bottle of wine (house pinot), spaghetti/​ravioli with meatball added on, chicken parm, garlic bread, and ice cream dessert. Although the portions were big… the food itself was on the disappointing side. Spaghetti and raviolis were nothing special. I was hoping for a kick ass marinara sauce but it didn’t deliver. Chicken parm was huge and was the highlight of the meal. The spumoni ice cream was house made and tasty though!
Total came out to $ 90 (before tax/tip)…considering the quality of the meal, it was definitely overpriced.
2.5 rounded down!
Final Tip: Save yourself $ 6 and don’t order the garlic bread. They didn’t give us the free starter bread because we ordered garlic bread!

Old school charm + wide array of offerings + LARGE portions = Original Joe’s San Jose.
My friend E and I both wanted Italian for dinner last night. I suggested OJ’s since it had been on my list of places to try for a while. We arrived at the restaurant at around 7:45pm and the place was pretty packed already. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by the cashier and the host led us to a booth shortly after. As I looked around, everything screamed old school, from the way the servers were dressed to how the menus looked. Our server, Rafael, came by with some complementary bread and introduced himself to us. Since E and I were both hungry, we ordered quickly. She got the linguine with clams and I ordered the fusilli with chicken and broccoli.
Food took about 15 minutes to arrive. The portions were enormous! My fusilli came in a red sauce. The sauce was pretty decent and the fusilli was cooked properly. Chicken/​broccoli and pasta ratio was proportionate. Overall, it was pretty good. I tried a bite of E’s linguine and it was pretty good as well. The white sauce was creamy and the clams were fresh.
The service we received was excellent. Rafael was polite and professional and the rest of the staff was friendly as well. This is a good option in San Jose if you are looking for some good Italian food. Solid four stars in my book!

Original Joe’s is as Old School as they come. When I was in college, we used to come here after getting off work at midnight because they were the only ones who served edible food in Downtown that late.
When I get a hankering for some good old fashioned, belly filling, no frills Italian food, OJ’s is the ONLY place to go. Whether it is Veal Milanese, Eggplant or Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Baked Lasagna or Osso Bucco, there are no disappointing dishes here. The recipes and presentation stay consistently the same year after year, which in this case, is a great thing. OJ’s is as reliable and comforting as a visit to Grandma’s house.
The ambiance is also very reminiscent of an old fashioned steak house with their red leather upholstered booths that looks just as it did when I first started enjoying OJ’s more than 20 years ago. Their servers are still in formal clothes when most have done away with the tradition.
The bar serves a mean martini and not the fluffy chocolate kind either. I love just sitting at the bar and people watch. It’s a throwback to the «boys’ club» of yesteryear. You never know who you might see.