I've only recently started shopping BJ's, but I've been eating there regularly since 2007. The food is usually very good, although I have had bad items a couple of times. It's' the service that I think they get dinged about most. The service is pretty spotty. I've had some amazing servers - quick, intuitive, totally on the ball - and some servers so bad that it makes me believe they must be new servers who will be fired as quickly as management realizes how incompetent they are, because they could not possibly make a living as a server - surely no one would tip them.
Since starting to shop BJ's, all my reports have been good, until last week. Not only was the server slow, plodding, forgetful, and inattentive, but there was a problem with my appetizer. It was served about 25 minutes after I ordered, a few minutes after my entree. Rather than visiting the table to apologize, the manager told the server to tell me she would comp the appetizer .... but then the appetizer wasn't comped! When the manager made her rounds through the dining room, stopping at every table (she stopped at the tables next to me on all 3 sides), she avoided my table. When I tried to make eye contact, she averted her eyes. When I looked at the check and realized the appetizer was not comped, I asked the server, who said she "didn't remember" saying the appetizer would be comped and would ask the manager. She came back and said she "couldn't find the manager." Clearly the manager did not want to address problems. Our beverages were not refilled so we were drinking out of each other's glasses. When all the glasses were empty for several minutes, I flagged down another server and asked her to please find our server. The other server refilled our beverages for us. The hostess was the highlight of the shop: delightful, personable and professional, and she explained the beverage menu and upsold, even though the server did not.
I worked SO HARD on the report, trying to be objective while still telling the absolute truth. I wroIte about the amazing hostess, not having to wait for a table, and the food, which was delicious. Then I told the story of my visit, careful not to make any judgements about whether the service was "good" or "bad," just describing what happened. My only judgement was, in answer to the question about whether I would return to the restaurant, that I would not return to this location. I left it up to the MSC and BJ's management to read my description of the events and determine whether the server and the manager met their standards. The editor approved the report, with a 10, just as all other reports have been approved, and with exactly the same comments all the positive reports.