Handlebar-J

I am so disappointed… I’ve been going to HBJ for nearly 40 years. Great place! However, things are changing drastically. 8 people for dinner, 5 fish specials. Someone asked for an extra tartar sauce. What a mistake! Extra charge for extra tartar sauce? Now they want $ 25 a head… even if you have dinner. And a max of 2 hours per table. Is greed setting in at HBJ? Maybe things will change when the snowbirds leave and we show up in the summer when few do? It’s changed from a great country bar to a «live music venue». And up go the prices, down goes the fun.

Great fish tacos!
A lot of people go to Handlebar J’s for their live entertainment and dancing, but we go for their fish tacos. Not a huge portion, but they sure are tasty. Get their in time for happy hour and they taste even better.

This is a cool place, with a fabulous house band. The food was good, but the pricing left us cold. Last week we split a full rack of ribs, and the server brought us beans and cole slaw instead of potatoes and corn because we’re low carb dieters. We were charged the menu prices and were happy.
Last night we returned and did the same, plus the $ 3.95 house salad that comes with an entrée. We were charged $ 5.95 for the house salad, because the server decided we wanted a larger salad, and $ 1.50×2 for changing the sides because the chef said no subs were allowed. We won’t be back.

Calling this a dance hall is a real stretch. I would give it one half of a star.
Calling this a good home style restaurant would be spot on! Five stars
We chose this place purely for dancing and boy were we disappointed. ²⁄₃ of the dance floor was covered in tables. Hello manager — remove tables once the band starts. Also the floor was a small triangle with a pole blocking one side. Extremely crowded floor with no dance etiquette made for a disappointing experience. More than disappointing but I can’t think of a good word now.
However — if you want comfort food and excellent music choose this place. I had the fried chicken with real mashed potatoes and man was it moist and tasty. My husband had a full rack of ribs and they quickly disappeared. He enjoyed the sauce which was different, with a slight amount of heat and very tender. The restaurant also had the fish fry and I could see that it was a popular order. Portions were large and plates were taken away cleaned (empty). Service was good too and it felt like a family run place. I would suggest they invest in a margarita machine because what they called a margarita was embarrassing, so do skip that order.
I would like to stress that the band was excellent and a real treat. If I wanted to listen to music and have a good meal I would’ve been extremely satisfied — but our agenda was dancing and it fell short.

Really great place with live music most nights. Food is surprisingly good.
Nice outdoor patio to get some quiet time when needed.
Authentic place here. No pretensions or trying to be something it is not.

I was visiting from out of town and wanted to go to the Toby Keith bar and grill but ended up at Handle bar J’s, boy was that a mistake. We went in and found a table for four and ordered our drinks hadn’t even finished the first drink and here comes our dumpy little waitress, shes says order up or loose your table, now mind you we have been there all of maybe a half hour, I was like really your going to force me to drink, she said read the sign your at a premium table order up or get out. We asked to talk to the manager who happened to be the owner and she was the same way. As a business owner myself and having worked in the hospitality industry for years I can tell you customer service can make or break a business. My recommendation would be to skip Handle bar j’s the were beyond rude.

My sister and I were in from out of town and came to Handlebar J at the recommendation of a friend. We enjoyed the atmosphere and great music. It’s great to see a family business successfully giving the community a place to enjoy great company, great music and a great place to dance.

Super fun! Live music there last night! Had a blast and I don’t even like country music! Great wings too… best I’ve had since moving here to AZ!

The band was good. Only wished I knew how to dance to country! Service was good! we will be back! After a few more dance classes

3.5
I am a fan of the place, the food the music but man there server was a slug.
We had called for a table while we were driving over. We arrived and there was only 4 chairs for 6 of us. Someone asked if we were the call in (which took 5 min and 2 separate people to confirm we could call in) and I said yes. She walked away. Someone else came over to confirm, I said yes… she walked away. I took it upon myself to find seat for the rest of us.
The drink orders were next, we each ordered but she forgot to bring a water. The food was ordered and we asked for the missing and a refill of an empty water. We got the new one but no refill.
Food was ordered as well as some refills, we got half the refills and no water. I swear every time she came by we needed a drink (only because she forgot the previous time)
The food was good. I had fish, I was hoping for better flavor. It was just good. The salad was good, nothing special. The chicken sandwich and bbq chicken were both good. The apple chimi dessert looked awesome and huge.
The price was ok, the music was good.
The service… oh the service…

My boyfriend and I were craving ribs late one night and we came across Handlebar-​J. We got take-​out and the food was AWESOME!!! We got the ribs and it was top notch. We will definitely be returning.

I think Timmy is handsdown the best coolest Manager. He is in control in th e best way. I love it when he’s there best service, knows what you want and also is funny and entertaining..

Great food, awesome atmosphere and good service. Live music both on the patio during dinner and then in the bar for dancing at night! Both bands were great too!

My husband and I went in after reading about their live band on week nights. We were really excited to practice some of our dancing we’d been learning. Dance lessons were taking place when we got there so we had a few drinks and waited for the music to start. When it came time to hit the dance floor we were surprised that we were the only ones swinging, everyone was two stepping. That is perfectly fine I just wish it were mentioned somewhere that it is a traditional dance floor so we weren’t glared off the floor. :/​the band was great, though!

This authentic honky tonk in Scottsdale called HANDLEBAR J was awesome!
They had a legit band playing on a Friday night, and I’m not even a huge country music fan. But what made this place was their delicious food. We started with their jalapeño poppers, and they were as good as it gets! I then had the ribs and chicken combo and those were fantastic! The ribs fell off the bone, and the chicken was soft and flavorful. I also had two big potato spears and corn on the cobb. I also had a couple Ranger IPAs, two Cadillac margs, and four shots of Fireball. So all in all it was a good night.
I’ll be back! 4.5 stars!

Only been here once, looking for some country dancin’. Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, not crowded, good music, and decent drinks. Drinks were more expensive than we are used to, but we didn’t pay a cover, so I guess that’s breaking even. We didn’t order food. My rating is simply for atmosphere, friendly staff, and good music. Since it wasn’t crowded, we had room to 2-​step and West Coast Swing. We’ll be back. (I would guess that a crowded night would have been much less fun for us.)
And we didn’t order water.

We were brought here by a friend. Seems to be a very local hang-​out with a friendly crowd. Everyone is here to have a good time. The band was on the money as they had everyone on the floor most of the night. The food looked and smelled good as well. I will have to try it out on the next visit. My impression was left by Enver the bartender. He asked your name once and you were his friend for the rest of the night. He remembered not only your name, but your whole drink order. Aces to this guy.

A friend who lives in the area invited us out for drinks. This is country all the way. The outdoor patio is pretty large the bar is decent size. They had the place decorated cowboy. Hats and boots all over. They had a band playing and they were pretty good, from old country to current it was working as the dance floor was full. The crowd here is older and interesting but people watching is fun. Not much line dancing going on, its all about the 2 step here. Decent place good time and beer. Food looked good but did not try any. Worth the stop.

Great country bar! I went on a Wednesday evening and arrived to see the ending of dance lessons. The house band was phenomenal! I danced like there was no tomorrow! I couldn’t move the next morning!!! The place get crowded fairly quickly… old and young alike. Everyone was jolly! Outdoor seating is available and it’s very spacious! I did not eat on this visit, but I did get a $ 4.30 bottle of Handlebar J’s water. :-) I will return again when I can eat and drink!

Friends of ours invited us to join them for dinner and a night out dancing. We have never been to Handlebar-​J, but heard it was a Scottsdale institution, so we were excited to give it a try.
For dinner, we ordered:
Steak and Enchiladas, $ 12.75
Sliders, $ 8.95
Coors
I had the Steak & Enchiladas and they were very good. It exceeded my expectations. Even though it wasn’t a premium cut of Beef, it was cooked perfectly and had good flavor. The Enchiladas were out of this world… wow! All I can say is wow!
The Better Half had the Sliders and she was very happy with them. The portion comes with 2 Sliders, which is perfect for her.
After dinner, the music started to play. We then got our groove on and danced to country & classic rock songs. The bar also filled up and there was a nice crowd there. We all had a blast and worked off the calories we ate.
We heard they have country dance lessons on Wednesdays, so we’ll be back.
Return Factor — 90%