Jack's City Grill (Johnson City, Kingsport: how much, live in, move)

[onedragonwarrior]

Originally Posted by panther90

Onedragonwarrior: no offense, but you sound like the kind that waiters go out of their way to avoid. Did you ask for some ketchup to "bring out the fine taste of your sirloin"? I have been to Jack's about once a week, generally sit at bar or bar section, and have always been happy. Of course I was understanding when they were busy and I tip well so your experience may vary.

first of all this was durning race week-end, i am a local and NO i am not a hard person to please, this is the first time in about 10 years i was pissed after leaving a resturant, and yes i left a tip, it was a penny lol to show i was not happy with the service. my usal tip % is at 20% so yes i do tip well, it takes alot for me to say something, i hate confertation, but i did call and talk to a manager after i calmed down, and was not even a sorry so-- i will never go back, i wasn't looking for a free meal and have never accepted one from anywere, btw i never eat at a wendys anymore after a employee spilled pepsi all over my white shirt years ago after a kid ran into them and all he said to me was while laughing was glad that was a old shirt, i set my food on the counter and just walked out passing a manager that didn't say anything and havent been to a wendys after that, all it takes is a i am sorry, we will do better next time

[JFH]

Let me begin by saying that one of my favorite places to eat is Cootie Brown's. I have dined there many times and have never received bad food or bad service. Therefore, I looked forward to trying Jack's City Grill because it is operated by the same parent company. My visit to Jack's today was actually two trips in one; my first and last. The service was frantic and multiple servers continually interrupted our meal. The food was average at best. Most irritating was a fried chicken dinner consisting of a single overcooked chicken breast, a small serving of black beans and rice, and a dinner roll. For this feast I was charged 10.95 plus tax. The remainder of my order was two hamburgers, a chicken salad sandwich, nacho appetizer, and three soft drinks. My total bill was almost $67.00. Yes, I saw the prices of the food before I ordered, but I expected the quality to be commensurate with the price. I could have gotten better food at Hardee's and saved almost fifty dollars. Next time I will.

[NorthernLights]

Went to Jack's four or five weeks ago. It was okay. Probably won't return. Cooties is better. I was at Cootie's during race week and Lisa's steak, which she ordered rare came out beyond well done, hockey puck, shoe leather. She does not b--ch at a restaurant nor do I usually. We did mention it to the waitress when she returned to inquire about our food and she immediately disappeared and returned with a rare steak....a cold one...by now we hated to say anything but when the manager himself came by our table and asked us if things were to our liking we had to mention that while this steak was in fact rare,...it was also uncooked. He inspected it and concurred. I understand that cooking a steak means different things to different people but...it really was cold, steak tartar, not even room temp. He whisked it away and returned it perfectly cooked, rare. Again, it was race week and Cooties was packed but they did their level best to make sure we were happy. We left them a very nice tip in spite of the back and forth because of their attention to our food quality, especially at such a peak volume. I commend them!
Jack's food on the other hand was...unmemorable. Literally. Can't even tell you what I had. Some kind of sandwich and fries I think. Cool, funky decor...in the Cootie's genre...but why have two Cooties five blocks from each other with one not as good as the other? I was expecting something a little more different. They have a decent beer selection but not half of what Cooties has and...again...why bother rehashing an already decent eatery just down the road. In my opinion it was just Cootie's 'revisited' and not as good as the original article.
In an attempt to offer a positive suggestion I would like to see them 'morph' into something JC doesn't already have such as a Tapas restaurant or French Bistro style cuisine. Why not? the place seems pretty cool otherwise so maybe try and present something different than what is already available at their other good location right down the street.

[jabogitlu]

Cootie's is about good food. Jack's is about atmosphere. On the weekends it's a good hop for Cowboy goers. And it's a good place for friends to meet, have a light meal then head out to the club.

Anything more than that, and I fear one might be in for disappointment. Not that it's bad, it's just not designed, IMO, to be an "excellent food" restaurant.

[DiderotsGhost]

I'm going to be down in JC next week. From the reviews, sounds like I should keep away from Jack's. I do look forward to Cootie Brown's, Firehouse, and Crazy Tomato when I'm down there, though

(Not to mention Pal's and/or Poor Richard's tea!)

I will say that even though it was a chain, I was actually kinda saddened that LoneStar went out of business. This was probably one of the best kept secrets ever, but they had some really good burgers! Of course, no one probably realized that because they wouldn't put them on their dinner menus. I'm going to assume the reasoning for this was that they wanted you to order the more expensive steaks rather than the cheaper burgers. But damn --- those burgers were good!

[jabogitlu]

I wouldn't say stay away from it. Depends on your scene. At night it can be super fun. And the food really isn't bad.

[kdcoleman]

They didnt bring out the sandwich after waiting a long time, offered to fix new one even though they knew it was messed up in the first place , But were told it will take awhile . Fries were cold. Seems to be understaffed. Food was ok- not great not bad but expensive. Not mad- but prob. wont go back.

[rccrain]

Man, it's not sounding good for Jack's.

[DiderotsGhost]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

I wouldn't say stay away from it. Depends on your scene. At night it can be super fun. And the food really isn't bad.

"Expensive" is not my scene

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by rccrain

Man, it's not sounding good for Jack's.

Yet the parking lot is packed, especially on weekends?!