J. Alexander’s

This is actually a solid 3 ½ star review. Surprisingly, I can’t really decide why I’m not more bowled over.
This was described to me as a menu that was ‘Houston’s-like’ [with all due respect Mr. Alexander…] and I saw some resemblance in some of the dishes but as a fan of said fraternal twin, I didn’t see it, really. I digress…
I do love the look of the outdoor space and the roaring fire, especially on this unusually chilly day.
Inside, not so much, a little stifled yawnish… The service, spot on. We were able sit and chatter over our tea and our server kept returning to check on an order but not in a nasty way. I had Salmon Caesar, which I thought was really good — fresh romaine, perfectly grilled salmon with some croutons and a nice kicky/sporty/garlicky-[insert your own caesarified adjective here meaning good and flavorful] dressing on the side, per my request. I wiped it out and mopped it up with the just okay focaccia.
I totally enjoyed the food and the fact we weren’t rushed through any of it. Cost is comparable to Houstons, maybe a little less. So, yes, it was good, it wasn’t wow and I’d go back for a lunch but yeah, that ambiance needs some help.

The previous reviews about feeling like they were pushing you out of the place are accurate. Split a salad with my friend and the french dip came before we were halfway done with the salad. Not cool. Also french dip was not hot. I tried it right when it got there to check. Nothing to write home about. I much prefer Chelsie’s Kitchens food, service, patio etc. Probably won’t go back.

2.5 Stars.
I’ve been to J. Alexanders on two separate occasions, and each time, I was not impressed.
Their menu is significantly overpriced, and their quality to price ratio is pretty bad. I ordered the Ahi Tuna for dinner and the chips and guacamole as an appetizer.
The Ahi Tuna was just ok. It was coated in a sauce that was edible, but not pleasant, and didn’t really compliment the flavor of the fish.
The guacamole was pretty bad, to be honest. For around seven or eight dollars, you would excpect to get more than a tennis ball sized portion of guacamole, but no. And not to mention, it was not made from good avocados. They were cut way before they were ripened and were a very hard consistency with little flavor (despite being mashed into avocado). It was also JUST avocado. No added onion or jalapeño. Just avocado.
this is a typical place for Scottsdale locals to go. It’s made for snotty, «upscale» people, who think that presentation and price of food matters more than the quality.
I probably won’t be returning to J. Alexanders anytime soon.

Please open up in NJ!!! I was in from out of town and wanted a casual dinner. Great menu, terrific, polite wait staff, nice ambiance. The hostess team was lovely, out server was knowledgable and efficient. This is what a casual dinner should look like. Good luck and keep doing what you are doing!

Ignore the 3.5 stars rating, this place deserves more.
Here’s why I think this place got 3.5 stars. Their menu caters to too many groups of people. I would consider the atmosphere and décor to be on the higher end, but if you look at the menu, they have burgers for 12 bucks and a filet mignon steak for 30. While the the old farts around me are trying to enjoy their steak dinner and have a classy conversation, you have me, the jack a-​, ordering the burger, talking about Linsanity and eating with my hands.
They made me uncomfortable and I’m sure I didn’t make their dining experience any more pleasant. But you know what? J. Alexander’s make tasty food. I went with the Turkey burger with all the fixin’. My classier counterpart– of-​a-​wife ordered the filet mignon. My turkey burger was well made; juicy and full of flavor. It was topped in fresh baby arugula, tomatoes and wrapped in a fresh baked bun. It also came with a mountain of made to order French fries. Wifey’s steak was well made. Her hunk of meat was tagged on all sides with grill marks and looked very presentable. The steak was tender and well seasoned. It also came with a loaded baked potato, which went nicely with the steak. My only complaint is that the potato was twice the size of the steak. I think it should be the other way around.
Overall, I would recommend this joint as a second or third date. It looks nice, good is good, and the prices aren’t too steep.
A little about my credentials:
I first got into cooking & food when I was in college. After being rejected by numerous girls and getting zero action, I decided it was time for a change. I needed a new makeover to boost my geeky image. I applied for a cooking position at a Mediterranean-​Italian Restaurant near my home and learned to cook all sorts of pastas and dishes. I never became a professional chef, but 9 years later and 55 lbs heavier, I continue to enjoy & love food.

Whoaaa; just popped in to relax with my hubby and enjoyed Thai BBQ salmon and really good Orzo /​fruit combo/​/​terrific food.
After they took away the Croissants they don’t even automatically serve a
bread with the meal. Great service; we asked «««wheres the bread «««and it was a drawn out explanation ending with «but if you really want some I can find something! I mean those prices and no fancy little bread.
As we left we were asked how we liked our meal at the door going out. We said food great, service great but again wondered where the bread was to someone standing near the female door greeter.
If this person was the manager and he said he was, the explanation was wierd. Awwwwwwww just come out and say that our $ 40 plus lunch did not deserve a bit of fancy bread? Hey buddy we are the customers, stand up, and look at us, shake our hand say «Thank You» for eating here!!!
Common sense business is not common in many places!!!

Trys to be high class but does not deliver
First off the fried artichoke hearts were pointless. Flavorless, mostly uneatable husk and overpriced. The steak was average but it did not make up for the flat cole slaw. The chicken salad was good but everything seemed pricey for the quality. Most of all the location tried to be high class but it stopped short and the service and menus, table settings, ect were more like a diner.
We do not think we will be returning.

Really, really like J Alexander’s. I was introduced to J’s by a good friend that worked there quite a while back, and it became one of my go to dinner spots after that.
Like others, I’d probably compare J’s to Houston’s, but I love that J’s features a more diverse menu. You’ve got way more options, and pretty much all of the options are good. They switch the menu up pretty often, which can be good and bad (RIP Steak and Fries — Best $ 19 steak I’ve ever had), but they also bring back some favorites as well (Helloooo, Jack’s Crispy Chicken Platter). The classics are all good — They have really good salads, their burgers are great and the entrees I’ve had were also really good.
The ambiance is nice inside and the service has always been good, whether in the dining room or at the bar. I like the look of this place a lot, from the wine area to the bar to the really cool bathrooms. As a general rule, Scottsdale has really nice bathrooms…
I’m giving 4 stars because the prices have gone up in the last few months, they’ve stopped offering their pimento cheese dip at the bar (which was amazing), and they no longer offer the crescent rolls with dinner anymore. It’s little stuff, you know? Regardless, I’ll still come to J’s often because it always seems to hit the spot.

Friendly staff, great food and a bar with a wonderful ambiance and outdoor seating.
I’m a regular at J Alexander’s in Northbrook, so I typically come here more often for drinks than food and to say hello to the occasional Chicago area transplant that sometimes find themselves working here. One item I typically order here as it’s often AWOL on Chicago area menus are the Huevos Rolls.
They also make a pretty good Prime Rib here. And while the Carrot Cake is second to none, the Key Lime pie is not to be overlooked — best of its kind as well.

J Alexander’s has an upscale feel to it, similar to Houstin’s but not as «posh» as the Capital Grille. It’s New American cuisine all the way.
Five stars for décor and service. There’s a glitzy wine cellar and a full bar. The food is what you’d expect out of a place like this. It’s good, but it wasn’t the best meal I’d ever had. I felt that my dish wasn’t made specifically for my order – they cranked them out so fast that I had the impression that the kitchen was more of an assembly line. On the plus side, we were starving and having food within two minutes was definitely pleasing.
The grilled chicken salad was tasty, but it was overwhelmed with tortilla strips. The spaghetti squash side could’ve used more marinara sauce, but it was a pleaser. Then again, who spaghetti squash is pretty hard to screw up.
There seemed to be a lack of communication between servers. Everyone’s job included delivering and whisking dishes away, sometimes before we had fully finished the plate. At one point, a Thai chicken salad was placed in front of me. After telling the waitress that I definitely did not order this salad, it was taken away to another table. Hmmmm…
It could’ve been a more «personalized» experience; I was expecting to be blown away by this place. Meh, I could come back.

We enjoy visiting J. Alexander’s and stop in occasionally.
It had been more than 3 months since our last visit and we found their dinner menu had changed. Among the changes — added pizza and tacos, removed club sandwich, chicken pasta soup is now available on a rotating basis.
Even though it wasn’t on the menu, our waiter Mike was knowledgeable and accomodating. He said they were happy to make a club sandwich for my husband. I usually order Alex salad and chicken pasta soup but since the soup was not on the line-​up that night, I opted to try a French dip. The meat was really good and so tender, unfortunately not so thrilled about the heavy sourdough bread which the meat spilled from or the lukewarm au jus. I’m picky about my French dips, just won’t order this again but there are so many other great things to choose. I chose spinach in place of fries — a giant portion of spinach fortified me like Popeye. The club sandwich was perfect as always, fries were ordered extra crispy but did not come out that way. Mike was happy to deliver another order of fries cooked crispy and we were smiling again.
Another reason to smile — Monday nights with your order of 2 entrees, they are currently offering 1 free bottle of select wine for 1 cent (they even give you the penny). Well that was a very nice treat. Thank you, we enjoyed our wine with our meal very much.
No room for dessert but if you go, you MUST try the carrot cake — warm and dripping with cream cheese icing. Soooo good.

Visiting Scottsdale for the first time and were taken here to dinner by cousins. Found the atmosphere impressive — trendy, yet casual. I had a fabulous dinner salad with chicken, whose name escapes me (their website doesn’t list the menu and is useless, so no help there).
The service was top-​notch, though the waiter was really pushing the carrot cake. I would’ve loved to try it, but I wasn’t paying and our hosts weren’t offering.
All in all, it was a terrific experience. If I lived in Scottsdale, I’d be a regular. Now how about opening one in Vegas?

There are few things in life that mean more to me than an offer of a cold bottle of water before heading out into 120 degree heat after a delicious meal. And I got two as I exited J. Alexander’s. Love.
But to start at the beginning. Destination family wedding, post-​festivities. Looking for a non-​existent El Torito brought us to J. Alexander’s, which had the benefits of 1) being open when we were all ravenous and hot and 2) having misters cooling the oppressively hot Scottsdale air near the front door, rather like a Siren’s call to weary travelers. Parking, btw, is conveniently in front of the restaurant, overflow gets either underground parking lot or the parking lot of your friendly neighborhood Walgreen’s (which is where once upon a recession-​free time, there was an El Torito)
We were offered indoor or outdoor seating (central air trumps misters) and given rather large menus. Everything we ordered from the fish/​steak tacos to the prime rib and Alex’s salad (deelish!) was fabulous. Service was excellent, thanks Lea for putting up with all our requests for water.
But really, this review is about the carrot cake.
It’s hard to make carrot cake sound exciting and worth the trek out to Scottsdale to all my Los Angelenos, but really, this cake was a revelation and a revolution to how I think of carrot cake. Imagine a cake so warm and moist that hints at and then EXPLODES with flavor, with icing that enhances that party of taste rather than reminds you of the 10 lbs you’ll save yourself if you scrape it off. DO NOT SCRAPE OFF THIS ICING, it’s sacrilege. Stand outside for 10 minutes, those extra pounds will disappear, guaranteed. They make this cake (and all their desserts) fresh daily, none of that frozen nonsense, and you CAN taste the difference.
I’d go back to Scottsdale for this cake. A+, 5 stars, TRY this restaraurant, but it’s a MUST to have this carrot cake.

Met a colleague for lunch here the other day. Decided to order the Club Sandwich w/​Fries, $ 11. He warned me that they don’t mess around with their portion size… he was right. This Sandwich was huge! In addition to that, it comes with a large pile of skinny Fries. The Club Sandwich was very good… and the Fries were outstanding. I could eat a large plate of those Fries.
The service was great as well. Overall, a pleasant «working» lunch experience.
Return Factor — 90%

J. Alexander’s was a nice surprise in the Scottsdale area. Not too expensive but classy atmosphere and great food. It was a bit crowded and fairly loud but the staff was wonderful and the food was beautifully prepared.
I would definitely take my wife here on a date.

In the land overloaded with restaurants, sometimes it takes some time to finally make it to one that’s been right under your noise the whole time. For me, this is J Alexanders. I probably visit the Borgata area several times a week; whether it’s to grocery shop, get a manicure or have a meal. Yet, I never made it to J Alexanders. I always wanted to try it out, just never got the chance — until tonight that is.
It’s the midst of spring training season which means every restaurant, including the less than par ones, are packed to the brim with an hour wait. Luckily for us, tonight we got there just before the tourist crowd and got seated right away in a prime table on the patio.
Upon first glance at the menu, I saw that it stocked full of cuisine options — everything from steak to sandwiches to plenty of seafood choices. We started with the Spanish spinach dip and some local brew from Four Peaks. For my entrée, I decided to go with the chicken sandwich and couscous on the side. The chicken sandwich tasted exactly like the Biltmore chicken sandwich from Houston’s. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since I like the sandwich, but it was interesting to taste such a strong resemblance. The couscous was really delicious and they did an excellent job of blending the spices and dressing up what could have been a boring side.
All in all, this is a decent recent and a solid choice for a restaurant meal at a decent meal price.

I’m really surprised at how blown away I was by J. Alexanders. It’s a chain that’s very similar to Houston’s, but there’s something that feels unique about it.
I went with a decent sized group on Christmas Eve (eight people). My girlfriend and I were the first to arrive, and the hostess told us that the table was ready, and we could sit if we wanted to. It seems like it’s getting more rear for restaurants to do that, they usually force you to wait at the bar. We still chose to have a drink at the bar, but I still appreciate being given the option.
There were some negatives with the table. They didn’t have a great way to seat eight people. It wasn’t uncomfortable sitting at a table meant for six with a seat at the head and foot of the table, but it was strange that there were two or three empty tables right behind us. The reason they couldn’t move the tables was obvious. It’s too dark in the restaurant, and we wouldn’t have been able to see anything if they moved the table around. Management was really nice and apologized about it, but they probably should brighten the place up a little bit.
We all split a spinach queso dip. The dip itself was awesome, but the chips are mediocre. Tasted like they were out of a cheap bag. The cool part was they gave us more chips without asking so we could finish off the dip. I had the ahi tuna, which was fantastic. there’s a light sauce under the fish, which I wish there was more of on the plate. My girlfriend had the chicken milanese. It’s fried with bread crumbs (something I’m usually not all that into), but still was good. If it wasn’t for the fact that I could barely finish my plate, I would’ve finished her’s. I don’t recall the rest the table’s meals, but there didn’t seem to be many complaints. One person thought her beef was a little too salty, but not enough to complain. We finished up with a piece of chocolate cake It’s served with a scoop of ice cream. Really rich and really good!

Came here for a business lunch on Friday. We were promptly greeted by the hostess as soon as we stepped in and we opted for outdoor dining since it was such a warm day!
Under the huge (ahem BIG ASS fan), our waitress immediately came by and took our drink orders. I scanned the menu and they had many dishes that jumped out at me — burgers, steaks, chicken and salads… i opted for the salad with fried chicken pieces, pecans, ranch dressing and some other ingredients i cant remember… My other fellow diners got the fish tacos, a burger and the same salad I had ordered.
Our food came out relatively fast — I really thought my salad was delicious! I didn’t care for the croutons (could never figure out what bread they used) but ate everything else on my plate!
Our waitress, which was also the bartender, was great! We never had any empty glasses on our table. She even called us car service when our meal was finished so we could jet to the airport.
Lovely, restaurant !

second stop in my b-​day celebration. I ordered champagne and Mr H went with a pinot noir and it was a generous pour. The ambiance is casual and dark. we ended up in great booth and we were able to hold a conversation. (not too noisy). we split a burger and fries, we requested it medium well and came out cooked to perfection & yummy.
our server was attentive and she made sure I had a candle on my rich and scrumptious chocolate cake with ice cream. we ordered some coffee with the cake and it was surprisingly strong and fresh. it was served in a big coffee cup.
fyi. valet is 5 dollars here, if you want that added convenience.

Sorry Natalie —
Although I did enjoy the top secret pimiento cheese spread, and of course the company, I thought that my overall experience was only mediocre for the price… I’d been to J. Alexander’s before — I think to one of their Michigan locations. It didn’t make a huge impression then, and it didn’t this time either. I think Houston’s food, service, and atmosphere actually blow this place away.
Our server was Justin and he did an ok job. I went with the cobb salad and ordered a side of their butternut squash for the table to share. Salad was decent and squash was tasty. Maybe the way to go is to sit at the bar (or so Natalie says). I don’t see returning anytime soon, but I would if someone twisted my arm. Although the food was decent, I’d rather spend my time and money elsewhere! Just meh, mediocre, average, etc…