Average Joe's Pub & Grill

Average Joe's is an average time. If you are a middle-aged father who has to escape in the evening once the kids are in bed, I'd wager this is the place for you. If you enjoy being served your order by young and vapid waitstaff, likely hired for the tightness of their skin, then definitely, this is the place for you!

Our server had trouble remembering the specials and regurgitating any facts beyond the "$1.50 yuengling." Gee thanks, the beer cooler in the Kroger down the street could have told me that too.

Average Joe's is not a bad place, it's just not a good place either. You'll be nourished and quenched here- in the most average sort of way. But hey, after all, mediocrity is their claim to fame!

On Tuesday evening, April 9th, my wife Amanda and I visited Average Joe's Pub and Grill (1126 W. Henderson Road, Columbus, OH 43220) for average-joesdinner.  We pass by a couple of their locations on a regular basis and kept mentioning we would like to try it sometime.  Upon arriving at this particular location I would have to rename it "Below Average Joe's Pub & Grill."

As soon as we walked through the door I knew this was not the place for us to enjoy dinner.  See, for those who don't know, I am presently in a wheelchair following a below the knee amputation of my left leg last August and while eventually I will have a prosthetic leg which will allow me to walk; my life, at this time, includes a lot of time spent in a wheelchair.

The first thing we noticed when we walked through the doors was that all of the tables were the tall, bar/pub style tables, with the tall chair and nothing that an individual in a wheelchair could pull up to.  I immediately felt out of place and turned to leave.  The hostess, seeing we were about to leave, pulled a small, regular sized table out from a wall for us to sit at, and not having any chairs to match, she had to grab one of the patio chairs for my wife to sit on.  So, yes, technically they accommodated myself and my wife, however if we would have had family or friends with us, Average Joe's would have been unable to reasonably, comfortably accommodate us. In fact, had there been another individual in a wheelchair preset at the time of our visit Average Joe's would not have been able to accommodate us.

Our table was placed near the door and we were made to feel as though we were on display for all to see.  It's a shame that Average Joe's Pub & Grill has not considered the issue of handicapped accommodations because such consideration and accommodations are very good for business but as a member of central Ohio's disabled community, I would never attempt to go back to Average Joe's because my experience was completely insulting as Average Joe's Pub & Grill clearly demonstrated that they could care less about me or any other disabled American. Average Joe's should highly reward the hostess for her quick thinking to at least make an attempt to accommodate us.

The "kicker" is that they have an exit door marked as handicap accessible but no handicap accessible seating.  Do I feel like my wife and I wasted the $40 we spent there?  Yes, absolutely.  A restaurant could have the most amazing food in the world but if they are not fully accessible to the ENTIRE public, then they are a waste of time and money.

As far as the food goes... We both had diet Pepsi to drink which was completely flat. I had the "jumbo" wings and I put the word jumbo in parentheses because the wings are anything but.  As a former chef, when I hear "jumbo wings" I think I am getting the entire wing and not just drumettes.  I also got the Big Joe Burger on a pretzel bun which I do not recommend at all. The burger itself was bland and dry and the pretzel bun must have contained every ounce of salt that Morton's has ever mined.  The fries which came with the burger were bland and unsalted. Amanda had their nacho's and a salad and described her meal as "okay, but nothing to write home about."  The one saving grace of our entire meal was the Citrus Chipotle BBQ sauce that I got on my wings, it was absolutely delicious.

The service was good.  Our waitress was cute and very friendly.

If you love dudes and beer, this is your spot. Seriously, ladies, go there if you are on the prowl.