Joe's American Bar & Grill

In Boston for the weekend & was recommended to check this place out. The staff is great!, Personable and attentive. Food is also good, great portions. I had the chicken broccoli ziti , yum!  The bread was sooooo warm and fresh. Great outdoor seating also !

What on earth happened here?

This Joe's American Bar & Grill in the Pheasant Lane Mall used to be really good.  It was a great spot to have a relaxing, nice lunch, dinner, or cocktails after shopping all day, or just being in the area.  I recently went on a Friday night and it was awful.  Based on other reviews, it seems like they're under new management.

First off, the place was kind of filthy.  It smelled like old fish and a number of tables weren't bussed.  

Second off, the waitstaff could not keep up.  Maybe they were understaffed, though there weren't that many tables.  We waited an extremely long time in between ordering drinks and getting to order our meals, and then over an hour for our meals to come. During that our, our waitress pretty much ignored us, even though she promised us bread that never arrived.  I understand that things sometimes take longer than they ought to, but an apology or acknowledgement would have been nice.  Also bread, because we were starving.  

Lastly, the food was not good.  The food used to be really great, but the steak was ok, and they messed up the baked potato somehow.  It tasted raw and fishy, how does that happen?  

They need to get it together.   It's pretty sad when Red Robin provides a more professional and satisfying dining experience.  They are WAY too expensive to be so unprofessional and disorganized.

This was my third visit, I've always enjoyed it and had great food.  That was not the case today.  We we're seated by a very unwelcoming waitress, after being completely ignored by the manager who saw us waiting for 10 minutes, and our drink orders were placed.  Soda and water was promptly received, but I waited over 15 minutes for my martini (clearly not the waitresses fault, she was waiting on the bartender).   I was very suprised at the price increases since last time we dined here ($9 for a shrimp cocktail with 3 shrimp?  $18 for 2 crab cakes?). I don't  mind paying extra for good food, but it's a chain restaurant!  Food came,  both the margarita pizza and French dip were tasty!   Our waitress was pleasant and efficient, but the staff and manager (?) we're so unprofessional!  Waitstaff complaining about the bussers, and having to clean their own tables, not going to tip out supporting staff etc.   manager was stomping around, huffing and puffing, instead of tending to unhappy patrons, and seemed clearly pissed about something.  I will go bad, because I've had pleasant visits prior.  Hopefully I just caught them on an "off" day....