A J’s On The Lake Family Restaurant

The food was fabulous. Everything tasted great. Love their mushroom and spinach omelet. Service on the other hand was not. One member of our party didn’t get their food with the rest of us, no apologies not even acknowledgement of a mistake. Prices were high but portions were plentiful.

Didn’t think a place could ruin a hamburger but they did ! 10 bucks for a poorly cooked and tasteless burger. They said 8oz. I think they lied also ! A ¹⁄₃ burger pattie from Costco is bigger !
Cole slaw below average. Good pickle ! Fries good wife a daughter were happier than me
One had a wrap. Other had grilled cheese both ok. Smithville village has other places to eat I will try before I go back

Went here a couple times. Food is pretty good. Service has never been the best. Not overly friendly but never waited long for anything. Until this weekend. Granted it was very busy in smithville this weekend. But the place was not packed. There were a few empty tables. Our waitress was not friendly. She came over once to see how every thing was. When we were clearly done eating and just sitting there waiting for boxes and the check our waitress looked at us a few times and just walked away. At one point she looked right at me and I waved and she walked away. Waited 15 minutes for her to come over. Finally got up myself and asked whoever was at the front for boxes and the check. Someone who was not our waitress came over and asked if everything was ok. I said yeah can I just pay for this. Got my change, left a very small tip and left.

We waited 22 minutes for our order to be taken, meanwhile the two of us watched as tables of 4 & 6, who came in after us, get service. When the food eventually came, hot dog and a hamburger, the french fries were cold.

Went there on Saturday for the Christmas show. The place had a line out the door. Finally seated it took 15 minutes to get service to order our sodas. At the same time we order our app and a hotdog for my daughter! 25 min later our food showed up! They blamed it on server calling out. Ok that I can understand but how did that effect the food taking 25 min after ordering a hotdog and an app??? When checking out I looked into the kitchen and service area and it was TRASHED!!! Not recommend this place to anyone. If you go the food was ok!

Good food, ok service. Solid lunch menu. Seating is ridiculously cramped. They will put you in the bathroom and serve you there if there is enough room to get a tray in.

Wonderful mozzarella sticks! Tators tots fried to perfection! Great service!!! Small place but wonderful food!

Awesome little place. Quiet diner atmosphere and friendly people. Pork roll with cheese was delicious! Other food looked great and recommend for a good lunch.

AJ’s is solidly a located in a the heart of Smithville, next to the Carousel in the shops. The food is good with breakfast being the best bet. The food is reasonably priced and they have excellent hot chocolate!

Very disappointing after reading the previous reviews. The food was so so and the service was poor. One sandwhich was a plain turkey with lettuce and bacon on white toast… very explicit in our order. The sandwich first came with mayo on it and we sent it back. We reminded the waitress that it was plain… it came back with tomatoes this time… may seem petty to some, but when you have a severe food allergy, you cannot just «take it off». We finally said no thanks. Any average place would have comped the entire dinner, this one barely offered an apology and just took the one sandwhich off the bill. All very surprising after the above reviews… maybe just chalk it up to a bad night for them. We won’t be returning though.

Sat outside on the deck. Waitress was great, but could have refilled my coffee more often. I think that had to do with I was the only one sitting outside and that is an extra trip. Had the breakfast quesadilla which was delicious. Portions are huge so I suggest sharing.

Both my hubby and I experienced the BEST breakfast today. This casual restaurant was a true delight. We were told that they had recently hired new staff, and they were terrific… Now on to the food… We had the Breakfast Sampler which consisted of two eggs, bacon, sausage, fries, French toast and a pancake which was beyond belief. The portions were huge, and the price was most fair… we would of gladly paid twice the amount for this special treat! We plan on going back there before we return home next week to California. Wish they would open a restaurant in Palm Desert!!!

I like this place. It was the only place open early and that was serving lunch. It’s a no frills diner but had a good selection for classic fare, like burgers and sandwiches, to include breakfast being served all day and lunch specials. I loved the sweet potato fries and they have choices galore for sides if you don’t. The service was friendly and our meals service hot and quick. The restaurant and restrooms were clean. No complaints here :)

Was expecting typical diner food but seemed a step below. Tasted like frozen and canned food.

The food here was tasty. I went in with a group of friends and we all sort of shared whatever we had, everything I tried was tasty.
I went during what I would consider an off time (late lunch maybe) and there was only one other table occupied in the whole place. Once they got up it seemed like the employees forgot about us. The service was painfully slow for what I would consider pretty simple food (burger, wrap, breakfast foods). We were there a lot longer than we wanted to be. Luckily we weren’t in a hurry or anything.
I’d eat there again if I wasn’t trying to rush anywhere. I hope they get some better waitstaff though, that would up their rating by a lot.

Not great, overpriced for the quality of food and dirty dining room. Better options try Sheas down the street on rte 9

Avoid this restaurant at all costs!!! There are several others restaurants in Smithville to utilize over this dump. Yesterday (Sunday April 28, 2013) my family and I experienced the most atrocious behavior by a restaurant in all of our lives combined. First bad experience occurred while waiting to be seated and we were ignored for several minutes. The place was half empty, there was no excuse for that. Second bad experience, the service. This aging dragon lady waitress with a very bad attitude waited on us. We were our usual personable selves. Their extensive menu initially appeared most appetizing, until you actually tasted the food that is.
We waited for nearly 25 minutes to be served a child’s menu hot dog and fried selection; a balsamic wrap, and a hamburger. Remember, the place was half empty to only one other customer remaining while we were there. This shady looking short order cook delivers our food, the guy looked like an ex convict. He was nicer than he appeared. But he gave us the incorrect orders. My wife’s meal was missing the side she ordered, and my order was completely incorrect!!! Before we could ask for the correct order the short order cook realizing his error brought out my correct lunch, but still my wife’s side was no where to be found. Nor was our dragon lady waitress. About 15 minutes in to the lunch the waitress with an attitude asks if everything is alright here. We said, well no, my wife’s side was missing. We were pleasant about it, even under this waitress’ negative guise. A few minutes later the waitress’ literally throws the side onto the table towards my wife and says, here an extra side of somethign my wife never ordered nor wanted, and threw that as well. We were all in shock even my six year old daughter!
Our meals were just awful. My food tasted nothing like balsamic chicken, the chicken was undercooked, with zucchini, which was never listed on the menu as being in the wrap, I abhor zucchini! So, rather than cause a scene, I ate the chicken and left the rest of this mess of a meal. My wife’s food was also under cooked. My daughters hotdog was average at best, how can you screw up a child’s menus hotdog? I started snapping out a bit telling my wife I wanted to finish as quickly as possible and get on with our day. This experience was our first at Smithville that day and thankfully the only negative experience of the day. Finally, we finish, we all need the bathroom, my toilet after I flushed it started gushing water out of its sides, great! I am thinking these nut jobs in here are going to think I broke their toilet, which I did not. Then there were no towels to dry my hands after washing them, and I saw the staff using this bathroom! They were probably not washing their hands after using the bathroom!!! GROSS OUT!!! I took off, my wife paid the bill, which was absolutely overpriced. We all felt nauseous soon after the meal!!! AVOID THIS RESTAURANT PEOPLE!!! Bad service, served with a bad attitude, for under cooked and over priced food!!! A V O I D!!!

There really isn’t a lake view unless you sit outside. The food was okay but the service was not good. It is a small restaurant and it took them five minutes to realize that we were standing waiting to be seated. Then it took another ten to bring over menus. Thankfully we had looked while we were waited to be seated so we knew what we wanted. There are old pictures on the wall in one of the rooms but the restaurant is so small that to look at the pictures you have to stand waaaay to close to someone while they are trying to eat their lunch.

Ate here recently when dropping my girls off for a party. Pretty busy little restaurant (not much view of the lake btw). Ordered the omelette du jour (with peppers onions, mushrooms, spinach, bacon and provolone cheese). Took a while to come out of the kitchen. But was worth the wait. Healthy portion and well plated.

We went here for lunch the other day and I have to say that it could have been better. The restaurant is small and echos! Also the service was pretty slow albeit friendly.
The food was okay — I love any place that serves breakfast all day! That said, those who had lunch food weren’t terribly impressed.
In short, if you’re in Smithville, this is an option, but it’s probably not the best one in town.