Mother's Day at BJ's Restaurant & BrewHouse in Huntington Beach, CA

My son and I pulled up in front of BJ's Restaurant & BrewHouse around 1:00 p.m. on Mother's Day. He had invited me out for lunch and we had made the decision to have lunch at BJ's because I had never been there and my son loves their deep dish pizza. My son is a picky eater so I trusted his judgment. The restaurant appeared busy but not over-flowing. We made one pass through the parking lot and found a convenient parking spot close to the door. BJ's is located on Beach Blvd and Edinger St. in a fairly busy strip mall. The restaurant's address is 11060 Beach Blvd, Huntington Beach, California, 92647. I noticed that the facilities hours were posted prominently on the door. Hours are 11am. to 10pm., Sunday through Thursday and 11:00am. to 11:00pm. Friday and Saturday. The bar is open on weekends until 12:00 am.

There were a few people milling about outside so I wasn't quite sure what kind of a wait we would have. The outside patio area was crowded but not overly noisy. My son asked how long we would have to wait as we had no reservations and was told it would only be a minute or so. I prefer sitting in a booth and not at a table so we asked for one. Within two minutes, we were seated by a personable young man who welcomed us, and gave us our menus. He questioned whether we had been to BJ's before and I replied that I hadn't. He welcomed me cheerfully with a smile and told me, "Welcome to the BJ experience, please enjoy yourself."

The restaurant was bright, well-lit and cheery. Everything seemed to be clean and everyone seemed to be having a good time chatting softly and eating their food. There were quite a few families there, probably more so because it was Mother's Day and around lunch time. BJ's has a great menu for young children. The restaurant is definitely family friendly. Our waitress took our drink order, as I glanced at the extensive drink menu. BJ's has cocktails, wines and it's own specially brewed award winning beers. They also have some scheduled beer specialty nights and beer dinners are soon to be planned. You can ask your server about those.

I ordered an ice-tea and my son ordered a soft-drink. Drinks arrived promptly and after studying the fairly extensive menu we placed our order. My son loves BJ's 'Deep Dish Pizza' and orders it plain. I ordered the 'Crispy Potato Skins with Apple-wood Bacon Bits and Cheese." I don't have a large appetite so I was content with my order though everything appeared to be wonderful. My Potato Skins were hot with tons of melted shredded jack and cheddar cheese and tasty bacon bits, surrounding a substantial dish of sour cream topped with green onions for dipping. My son shared a piece of his pizza and it was delicious. I actually found myself wanting more of that drenched in cheese pizza with the thick, crispy crust.

I scrutinized all of the orders taken to other tables, as we waited and everything looked appealing. The food was colorful and in large portions. The menu offers a wide variety of salads, soup and salad combinations along with a good variety of sandwiches and specialty burgers. There are the pizzas which include various toppings such as meatballs, anchovies, jalapeno, blackened chicken or grilled chicken breast. They also have a couple of unique pizzas. One is called "The Great White," that comes topped with Alfredo sauce, garlic, mushrooms and tomatoes. There is also a pizza called "The Sweet Pig." "The Sweet Pig" comes loaded with pineapple, Roma tomatoes and oven roasted ham. BJ's offers a unique "California Pizza" that comes with vegetables of all kinds including sweet corn and artichoke hearts. BJ's offers a good assortment of entrees also. There are several kinds of pasta, including their famous "Baked Lasagna." They serve "Baked Chicken", "Baby Back Pork Rib Dinners", at least two types of "New York Steak" and "Grilled Salmon." There are also some lunch specials available until 4pm. Just task your server if you want to know what is available.

The menu prices are reasonable. The average for an entree is around $12. My son's Pan Pizza was around $8 and for all that we ordered including my dessert it only cost us around $30 including drinks.

Initially when placing our order I had checked out the desert menu. My son had told me to order what I wanted and I was going to take advantage of it. He suggested BJ's famous "Cookie's and Cream Pizooki." This consists of a huge, hot, freshly baked cookie available in several varieties, including oatmeal raisin walnut, chocolate chunk, or peanut butter, topped with two scoops of BJ's own vanilla bean ice cream. I didn't order one, but my son assured me that they were delicious. He also told me that one of the Pizookies was big enough for two to share. I ordered the "Deep Dish Apple Crisp, which also comes with the vanilla ice cream. Because I was stuffed I ordered mine to go. It was cheerfully brought to me packed to go when our bill was brought to the table. Later though when I decided to try my desert I found it much to sweet for my liking. Maybe it was the ice cream but I just didn't care for it. There is also a "Hot Brownie," that comes with the vanilla ice cream if you care for lots of chocolate.

The service was fairly quick allowing my son and I a chance to chat a bit while occasionally glancing at the flat screen TV over the bar. The servers seemed to be happy and attentive toward their guests. My only objection was that when the time came to pay the check we had to wait for fifteen minutes before our bill was brought to us. The server did apologize for our wait and told us that they had a spill that needed to be cleaned up. Our bill finally paid we left our server with our thanks and a nice tip. We received in return a wonderful smile, a wish for a "good day" and my desire to definitely come to "BJ's Restaurant & BrewHouse," another time. You may call for information or to make reservations at (714)842-9242.