BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
1001 E. Whitestone Blvd.
Cedar Park, TX 78613
512-379-2180

After I parked in the intricate parking lot, I stepped into the new BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse that recently opened in Cedar Park. BJ’s has always been one of my family’s all-time favorite restaurants since we lived in San Antonio. Founded in 1978 in Santa Ana, California, all BJ’s restaurants share the same decor and structure, with a bar and dining section and can be found in 19 states. It is a brewhouse-style that welcomes everyone, including groups of friends, couples, families or entire office parties, providing a catering service when the customer prefers to celebrate in a different location. As I walked into this new and clean modern brewhouse, opened Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-12 a.m. and Friday-Saturday until 1 a.m., I was immediately welcomed by the lady at the front desk. After a five minute wait, I was taken to a booth. Large, flat-screen TVs located on every wall display sports games and commercials, which are distracting when having lunch with your family or dining with your spouse or partner. The menu was very complete and offers something for every taste, including burgers, sandwiches, salads, pizzas, meats, soups and lunch specials., I ordered avocado egg rolls ($10.95), corn fritters with bacon aioli ($3.95) and mini-bruschetta ($3.95) as appetizers and the parmesan-crusted chicken with mashed potatoes ($15.25) as my meal. After trying many times to get the attention of the very distracted waiters/waitresses that were chatting in small groups in every corner, my meal finally arrived. Since it took twice the amount of time to arrive at my table compared to other BJ’s Restaurants that I’ve been too, I let my teenage-looking waitress know how displeased I was with the service. She apologized saying that the servers still had “blinders” on due to their inexperience. Then again, I was dissatisfied at the small amount of food that appeared on my parmesan-crusted chicken plate, although everything tasted delicious. I recalled BJ’s extremely famous Pizookie and ordered the chocolate chip chunk for $6.50 which was, as always, mouthwatering. I was given the option to pay with cash, credit card and/or phone, using their new app that is being encouraged. Overall, although I was a bit disappointed with this BJ’s, I am sure that in no time it will be at the same level as the other restaurants in the chain.

Rating: ★★★★☆