BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse Review - Orlando, FL - June 24, 2019
Posted by F S on
I'm back at the blog posts after two weeks of a horrible head cold. So time to get busy with the backlog of locations I have on deck. All better now so here we go.
Today's blog post is about BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, this one is located on International Drive just south of Sand Lake Road in Orlando. But we normally frequent the one near the Mall of Millenia when we are in that area. The menus are the same at both locations so I'll be going over this one. A big shout out to our friends for treating us to lunch this day. Super appreciated by both of us. Thank you so much!
This time I don't have photos of the food. We went here will dear friends that were visiting us just for the day from Tampa and I wanted to spend time with them, not run around taking photos of food. So today it's all about the menus.
BJ's is a large restaurant which is why we sometimes take visiting friends there. We've eaten at a BJ's probably 10 times in the last 5 years. They also have an extensive menu with something for everyone's taste and pocketbook.
They have an extensive beer menu which you can see on the back wall in the photo above. Here's a copy of the one they bring to your table.
Bj's menu is extensive to say the least. It's 28 pages long to be exact. I'll do my best to go over them letting you know what we've eaten and how we liked them.
The front cover lets you know that they are wold-famous for their Pizookie Dessert. What's a Pizookie. It's a warm cookie or brownie in a tiny little pizza pan capped off with ice cream. What could be better to be known for? More on those later.
This page of the menu talks about how they take great pride in crafting their food.
The numbering of the pages doesn't start with the first page so I'll number them from the front of the book. Page 3 is some of their special offerings for the time. One of our favorites is the Pizookie Trio. It's three mini pizookies with ice cream, you pick which three from the desserts page which will be at the bottom of this post.
More specials are on page 4.
Page 5 talks about their beers and how you can build your own flight.
Page 6 is the wine list.
Page 7 is cocktails.
Page 8 is the non-alcohol drinks, sodas and teas. By the way they make their own handcrafted Root Beer (my favorite), Vanilla Cream, Orange Cream, Black Cherry, Ginger Beer, and Ice Cream floats. The sodas do have free refills.
Page 9 is appetizers. From this menu Hubby has had the BBQ Tri-tip Sliders, he liked those a lot but thought it was a lot of sliders for an appetizer, there are four on the plate with french fries. And we've shared the Best Beginnings Appetizer Combo before. It was a large platter and could have been shared with four people before a meal easily.
Page 10 is Wings, Ribs and Flatbreads.
From this page I ordered the California Club flatbread. I was unhappy to see that it had a large handful of cilantro on top when it arrived. Now why would a California Club made to mimic a club sandwich have cilantro on it? I broke my usual rule and did ask them to remake this one. The server told me later that it was supposed to be parsley but someone put cilantro on it by mistake. In my perfect world they would list cilantro on the menu whenever they use it in a dish so people like me would know that they shouldn't order that item. They did remake the flatbread but sadly everyone at the table had eaten by the time it came back, which is why I don't usually send food back especially when the one item is all I have. But I just couldn't eat it with all of the cilantro on it. Sorry guys. I hate doing that. Once it was remade without any of the garnish it was a very nice flatbread. The following photo was of the first one they brought to me. If you know anything about the difference between cilantro and parsley, cilantro has rounded leaves and parsley has pointed leaves for those of you that wanted to know how to know from sight. But I actually will taste it before I complain to be sure it's actually cilantro.
Page 11 is Snacks, Small bites, Chips and Dips, and Starter Salads. One of the things they removed from their menu some time ago that was my favorite was their appetizer of meatballs with marinara sauce. They were scrumptious. But sadly they are gone now. There is a meatball item on this menu however the marinara has been changed out to a Mushroom Gravy. I haven't tried them this way.
Page 12 is Slow Roasted Favorites, signature sides and weekend specials. We have had their ribs before and they are always tender and flavorful.
Page 13 is the Tri-tip Entrees and Flame Grilled Steaks.
Page 14 is the Specialty Entrees. From this menu Hubby has had the Jambalaya before. He said it was super spicy and he likes spicy but almost thought it too hot. I'm not sure if it's always that hot or just intensified as the day went on. So it's best to ask the server how spicy the Jambalaya is before ordering.
Page 15 is the Pasta Favorites page, keep in mind you can substitute zucchini noodles for the pasta in any dish for an additional charge. I might have to try their spaghetti and meatballs from this page to see if it's similar to their old meatball appetizer.
Page 16 is Enlightened Entrees which are superfoods, vegetarian, gluten free and low calorie options.
Page 17 is Enlightened Burgers and Tacos. I've had the Pacific Poke Soba Noodles before, and enjoyed it a lot with the exception of the fact they mix their avocado with wasabi and it was too spicy for me. I ate around it though and still enjoyed the meal. I hate to sound like a picky eater, it's not that I'm picky it's the certain foods blow out my taste buds and all I can taste is that ingredient for the rest of the meal. So I try to steer clear of those ingredients in great quantity in my food so that I can enjoy how the meal was intended to be tasted. I'm one of those people that can tell you almost every ingredient in a dish by tasting it. Sometimes by smelling it i can discern a lot of the ingredients. So certain ingredients will overpower the whole dish for me.
Page 18 is the Enlightened Salads. From this page I've had the Asian chopped salad, it's an awesome salad made with Napa cabbage instead of salad greens which gives the dish a lot of body and crunch. I enjoy this one a lot. I would absolutely order the Seared Ahi Salad but it's got cilantro in it so I steer clear of that one.
Page 19 is Garden Fresh Entree Salads.
Page 20 is the Deep Dish Pizza page.
Page 21 is the Tavern-Cut Pizza page and gluten free choices.
Page 22 is the Burgers page. I'm sure hubby has had most of these burgers before.
Page 23 is the Chicken Sandwiches
Page 24 is the Lunch Menu.
Page 25 is the Piadinas menu, Piadinas are an Italian street food of flat bread folded over the ingredients sort of like a taco.
Page 26 is my favorite page. PIZOOKIES!!! I think we've probably had every one of these in one visit or another.
Page 27 is their history.
Page 28 is their beer information.
All in all BJ's is one of our go to restaurants when we just don't know what we want to eat since they seem to have just about everything on their menu. If you are in their area give them a try. You won't be disappointed.
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Blog Posts coming soon
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- Wind and Waves
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- Akershus
- Cheshire Cafe
- Golden Oak Outpost
- Tortuga Tavern
- Sea Dog Brewing Company
- Panda Express
- Big River Grille & Brewery
- Beaches and Cream
- Cooke's of Dublin
- Sprinkle's Cupcakes
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