JJ's Restaurant

Reviews

• Great romantic venue

  Last Valentines day I struggled to find a table and eventually managed to get a table at what I have to admit was not my first choice, however the evening was truly great.The place is not huge I would guess about 12 tables but the atmosphere was very intimate the service friendly without being over attentive, and the food interestingMainly British dishes with a European twist.I have booked again for this year,although we have become regulars over the past 12 months We are still looking forward to our valentines night.

  Alt19
  Review Date: 03/02/2009 Report review
• An Alternative View

  It is a fact that a particular restaurant is not always right for every customer, however having just read the review of JJ’s Restaurant by Thryth I have to wonder if this is the same restaurant I have been visiting for many years, and indeed my last visit to the restaurant, a fantastic Lancashire Themed night only last Thursday (6/11).I have always found the food to be of a high quality and the service attentive and extremely pleasant, with staff that try to deliver a warm and friendly service. The comments on the décor again leave me to wonder, an extremely old cottage type building, well maintained and decorated with many unusual pieces, the two large frogs always gain comment from friends dining with us. The restaurant, like the staff, is warm and welcoming but not intrusive.On our visits during the week we have always taken advantage of the three courses for the price of two offer, which Thryth must have missed, and of the current menu the Black Pudding and Pancetta potato cake is certainly worth a try, and the fillet steak from the specials board, together with the black pepper sauce, is as good as any I have eaten in supposedly top class restaurants around the country.Whilst I am a specific wine liker, neither I nor my friends who have visited JJ’s have found the wine list inhibitive, indeed some of the wines on the specials board have proved excellent additions and extremely good value.As I said JJ’s may not be to Thryth’s taste, however I have not found, in the last five years, a restaurant within a ten mile radius of Bolton that provides a better more comfortable value for money offering, and judging by Thryth’s other review, he is not an easy man to please.In conclusion, if like me you want to enjoy, good company, good food, friendly and attentive service in a welcoming atmosphere at an affordable price, then JJ’s is one of the few places in and around Bolton to provide that.

  Dkh
  Review Date: 10/11/2008 Report review
• Such a shame

  Arriving at JJ's for the first time I had high expectations, It was my beautiful girlfriends birthday and I had somehow imagined the small white cottage fronted terrace to be hiding a quaint and cosy bistro with top notch food suitable for the occasion. Unfortunately, what I found was a rather overpriced menu of mediocre grub that wasn’t quite sure where in the world it was from. The tawdry décor was a shame and an obvious ode to the owner’s markedly eccentric personality, the off putting strong musty damp smell emanating from the upstairs made me glad that we had been seated in the front. The service was attentive if a little jittery, much of my wine ending up on the cutlery and it was at first rather fun but it soon became a little dull as the “friendly banter” developed undertones of self-deprecating “humour” that hid what we were to discover was a rather unfortunate truth.At first glance, The menu at JJ’s appeared to be comfortably small and straightforward, A set price of �£17.95 for two courses or �£21.95 for three with the addition of daily specials from the board. We both opted for the full three and made our order. I opted for the Goats cheese while my other half went for the Peppered mackerel and tomato salad. No sooner had I noticed the bread and side plate when the starters arrived, The presentation of both was good although a little pretentious for what was actually being served. My goats cheese was melted over what was described on the menu as “piping hot garlic bread” but which was more akin to luke-warm stale baguette, the cheese itself was creamy but lacked the bite that a good goats cheese usually brings. According to the menu, It was served with “Rocket salad” and “plum and apple chutney”, which would I’m sure have gone very well indeed but unless my eyes have recently been replaced with golf balls what it was actually served with was two sprigs of parsley and a mixed pepper salad. The chutney was exceedingly sweet which wasn’t helped by the unusual helping of honey bewilderingly drizzled over everything. The mackerel was acceptable but much like the goats cheese it just simply lacked any real flavour or depth and for some reason just made me think of Asda rather than Fresh local produce. No sooner had we finished our starters when the main course arrived and it appeared that it had already been waiting for us, as they were again luke-warm. I went for the Moroccan style beef with a chilli rice pilaff and the other half chose the Lamb leg stuffed with apricot and mint. My beef was by far one of the worst cooked pieces of meat I have ever had and it was so exceedingly tough that I actually struggled to cut through it, which of course completely ruined the dish. The Moroccan style sauce was palatable but was overwhelmed by cinnamon and the almost bone dry slices of apricot added nothing to dish other than a slightly softer alternative to the beef while the waiters previously mentioned “humour” offered a subtle truth as he joked “you’ll like the sauce, we just pour it right from the jar”. The chilli rice pilaff was again strangely not as stated and contained no detectable chilli but instead a somewhat unpleasant and rather strong taste of dried mint. The whole dish came with a side of Sunday Veg that seemed to be lost in a foreign country and an adornment of two sprigs of parsley, a peculiarity that seemed accompany every dish.The Lamb leg didn’t seem to be stuffed with a great deal of anything and the portion was limited to couple of thin slices which were almost drowning in the pool of rosemary gravy that had already formed a slight skin. Again it underwhelmed and came luke-warm, It was served with a side of Sunday veg which I suppose at least, was a suitable accompaniment and of course the by now obligatory two sprigs of parsley. For the dessert, I went for the Toffee apple and Pecan pie served with vanilla ice cream and my lady decided for a change and went for the winter berry and white chocolate Sunday. My pie was presented well but the “crisp shortcrust pastry” was far from “crisp” and felt very cloy and almost microwaved. The vanilla ice cream was an eerie yellow and unflavoured supermarket affair. The Winter berry Sunday came served in a spectacularly gaudy bright pink glass and the contents followed suit with sprayed “Cream” and deep freeze “ice cream”. The whole meal was washed down with a surprisingly good Californian Woodridge Shiraz priced a �£14.99 although the options for wine were limited and many of them were “off the shelf” affairs which belied their price tag. The whole meal came to around �£60 which had the food been fine, would have been a fair price, however I ended up leaving with a feeling of disappointment and still being rather hungry.

  Thryth
  Review Date: 01/10/2008 Report review