Fine Dining - BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse: Amazing Wings, Polarizing Pizza, and a Bunch of Pizookies

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

🍕🍪 BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse Review: Extreme Pizza, Elite Wings, and Too Much Chocolate 🍪🍕 We're back with Part 2 of BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, and this time PJ McCormick (@peejmccormick) and I actually sit down to eat. The service feels a little detached, the vibes are exactly what you'd expect from a brewery, and PJ remains baffled that this place ever started as a pizza joint. 🍕 Pepperoni Extreme Pizza Surprisingly Lives Up to the "Extreme" (What is this, 2002??) 🍪 A Trio of Pizookies: Salted Caramel, Strawberry Shortcake, and WAY Too Much Chocolate 🍤 New Orleans Jambalaya Didn't Matter At ALL 🥨 Big Twist Pretzel Hanged for Pickpocketing 🍗 BJ's Original Wings Steal the Whole Meal 🎙️ PJ Shares His Best and Worst Restaurant Experiences 🚫 Domino's Earns PJ's 0 out of 10 (and I Protest) 🏆 A 10.00 Goes to Vegan Italian Pasta 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Is BJ's as good as we scored it? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, extended Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/channel/UCLbraNhL6KhDPkdSWt2yiuw 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: PJ McCormick | IG: @peejmccormick Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van Patreon Subscribers: David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, & Travis Langley Free Patreon Followers: Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Michelle Elmer, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, Aaron Hubbard, Steff, Robert McLaughlin, & Jewell Hermann 👉 NEXT WEEK: I head to Papa Murphy's Take 'n Bake Pizza with stand-up comedian Peter Murphy. Yes, we drove 4 hours just to pick up a pizza that we had to cook at home...

Does BJ's restaurant and brewhouse offer a better dining experience than chilies? The Pizuki Trio opened my mind to a world of new dessert possibilities, but the triple chocolate Pizuki was the only thing I've ever eaten that I'd called two-chalklety. The warm pretzels and pup cheese gave me optimism for the dining experience ahead. But it's a shame it was presented like it had lost its will to live. The deep-dished pepperoni pizza was so meaty, my doctor called me in the middle to ask if I was okay, but you have to valet your car,

and do I look like I have $6? I'm 37 years old, but I still can't help but giggle at the name of one of the more popular brewery chains in America. Does BJ's restaurant and brewhouse suck, or does it blow us away with how good it is? Is the Pizuki as good as everyone says it is? We'll answer all that and more.

Stay tuned. This is the fine dining podcast. Your table is ready, take your seat, the flavor of the day is mediocrity to try. Hello and welcome back to fine dining, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I am your host, Michael Ornellis, and this is the only podcast that had the balls to declare Chili's the most mediocre restaurant in America, and in doing so, created the Chili's test to determine if other establishments are good or not good by comparison. By the end of this very episode, we will answer the question everyone wanted to know when

D.B. Cooper jumped out of that plane. Is the experience of dining at BJ's restaurant and brewhouse better than that of Chili's? Today, we're going to tell you everything that was good, not good, and just there about our meal at BJ's before answering that very question at the end of the episode. And joining me today to discuss BJ's is an actor and improviser who performs at the Uprice Citizens Brigade Theater with his team Lohan, a former professional romew. wrestler who produces the Midnight Rumble at UCB. And if the Statue of Liberty was made today, she'd be holding him instead of a torch.

It's PJ McCormick. Thank you very much. I dated a girl that looked like the Statue of Liberty. I don't need any more information. She was green. Always wore a crown for some reason, just really pointy. Okay, get over yourself. And overlooked New York.

A lot of robes. So, yeah, this is great. What a fun experience. What a great experience trying out BJs, but an even better experience hanging out with you. We had great conversations. I really appreciate it. Yeah, we dove deep into wrestling. We dove deep into comedy, which are two of my biggest passions.

And what literally combined for the Midnight Rumble show. So I know you're on board with that. Yeah, definitely. It's cool. Like right now I feel like I'm in a full circle moment. of my life. And it's great that like I started out in wrestling and then I got into like improv later in life and now it kind of feels like they've joined together. And a lot of fun opportunities are going to be coming from that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to see where it goes. We got to talk about

our full experience and I want to start focusing on the positive. So we're going to jump in and talk about everything that was good about our meal at BJ's. Like it should be Fist up that spank a lickin Or stick in the land And this is good I knew that you could Yeah, from like a decor

standpoint I mean this place Just definitely was a brewery In terms of like brick walls It seems like there's a lot of duct work in the ceiling Which just feels brewery-esque

Yeah, yeah Lots of like big Like metal tubes everywhere Also like when you come in Like they have that classic, I don't know what it's called, but like that big chamber where you make craft beer and have the BJ's logo on it. Oh, like the VAT looking thing. Yeah. And I can't, I looked a little closer at it.

I'm like, this isn't like actually being used. Right. No, it's a prop. But it's like the thing Walter White made meth in during the, uh, you watch Breaking Bad? Yeah, yeah, yeah. During the when they did the like, I don't remember there being an RV out front. No, no, no. When they did the fumigations.

Yeah. And then they brought all that machinery in. It always looks like what I see in breweries. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the decor was nice. It was like a nice big open space, which like, I don't know.

I feel like you don't get a lot of that usually. I think if you are going to get it, Burbank is the perfect place. It's just like a wider landscape. You're able to put a big restaurant like that there. Yeah. And then like in terms of like, you know, if you came to watch TV, Like there's screens everywhere. Boy, will you see them? Yeah, I was getting so distracted by like a tennis match that was happening. Which you didn't even care about, but the novelty of being able to watch it, you're like, well, I guess I'm watching. I guess so. Yeah, I mean, I was just tuning you out while you were talking about improv. Just watching this tennis match. He'll stop eventually. You're like, hey, I don't mean to like pick your brain about improv right now. You probably don't want to talk about it. And I just turned my head and just started watching the tennis match. Like the white noise in your head. was so loud, I could hear it.

Yeah, you're like, can he turn it down? No, I love talking about improv. But right now we're talking about the decorum of BJs. And like, not bad. Like, I liked it. It was cool. I like the brick. It is a stylistically very Chicago thing.

And for it to be a Southern California restaurant that is evoking Chicago, I think it was the right choice. I love a brick wall. I have one. And I moved into an apartment with a brick wall and like I've fallen and in love with it. So when I see that now, I'm, I, yeah, I've got a soft spot for it. Well, especially because like, I don't know, I'm so used to, I guess I won't say I'm used to, but I'm starting to notice you go to like an Airbnb nowadays. And it feels like, oh, this house was bought just to be an Airbnb. And all the materials are the cheapest things possible.

So to go anywhere where the construction is at the very least interesting or. a material that doesn't just feel like they only did it to be cheap or to cut corners or save cost, I appreciate. I like. And it stands out. And like the visual of brick is like, it's cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Interesting. Yeah. I didn't notice any cameras and BJs. But I guess I don't notice them when I'm in an Airbnb as well. So I just, I can't go to an Airbnb because like I'm just, I just assume that they're recording everything happening in there. Do you really? Yeah, I don't.

I don't go to Airbnb's because of that. I will go to a hotel and I will look for cameras because I've seen so many like terrifying news reports of like Airbnb's having like a little camera in one of those like a like a charger. You know, like a wall charger and it's got a little tiny prick hole in it that's watching you. Are you that terrified of someone seeing your penis? I'm paranoid. Yeah, I'm very paranoid. I'm extremely paranoid.

person. If I found a camera in my hotel room, I don't think I would do anything different in my behavior. I would just be like, I guess they're seeing this. I don't know why they would want to. They turn it off. We got the wrong guy. Kind of like your white noise. He's talking about improv. No matter where I go, people are trying to tune me out. Yeah, let's see what I have. I liked the music choices. It was for the most part, classic rock. I heard some queen. I heard some. I think Led Zeppelin. 311. I actually shazammed the song that was playing.

Yeah. Yeah. And it was a 311 song. And I don't know anything about 311, but I was like, I remember this from when I was young. Yeah. And I added it to my playlist. I don't know if you noticed me doing that. I didn't.

So yeah, good, good music. Okay. Very nostalgic. Yeah. Brings me back to Sugarland, Texas. Growing up next to a BJ's and going on my first date there. Nothing changed. Nothing changed.

No. From that moment to 38 years old, nothing changed. I think it was like pretty much all like early 2000s music that I was hearing. I heard stuff from like 70s and 80s. I heard like what I would call classic rock. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

I heard like more more modern. Yeah. But there was a mix. There was a mix. It was good. But like none of it was bad. Yeah, yeah. Strong selection.

And it felt appropriate for the for the space. Yes. Yeah. Totally. Everything else I have in good are just literally the food items. Like the decor was and the atmosphere were fine enough to be in the good, but like didn't blow me away. We got a booth by the window. It wasn't too crowded because we got there around like 1145, something like that.

So there wasn't like a big rush. I think once we left, I noticed there were a lot more people there, like some families too. But like it felt like a nice quiet little lunch that we had. And I mentioned it to you. Like it feels like the tone. of the service will change as soon as you pull out that notebook. Yeah. And then once you started taking photos and videos of everything, I was like, oh, they're probably

going to like, they're probably going to be nicer to us. But nothing changed. I was going to say, you would think so. Yeah, no, nothing changed. And we'll get into it. Yeah. I will say you noticed out the booth. And this, I'm not putting this in good, not good or just there.

But just a thing you noticed was the, like, like flame warmer. Yeah. There was a flame warmer outside. I guess the family that was using it left, but they just kept it running. But I, uh, as, as you were still parking was noticing that family, they had a dog with them. So I think that's why they were on the patio and they were just trying to enjoy their meal. And this older man just lit a cigarette and was leaning over the rail just like at them and just like yelling.

Not like angry yelling. Just like I'm trying to talk to. you and you can't ignore me yelling. Yeah, what are you doing there? And like his cigarette smoke was like just, you know, lingering over. We're trying to enjoy the smoke from the fire that we requested. But it took some people just don't have awareness. No, like the radius of impact they're having.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the valet and he's got nothing to do because everyone's doing street parking. He wants to smoke in your car, but he can't. Yeah, and he's griping about it. Yeah. I didn't hear what he was saying, but it would be magnificent if he was like, do y'all have a car to park? Well, I'll be here next time. Be around. Okay, so the first thing we got was the big twist pretzel with BJ's beer cheese and Dijon mustard.

And you didn't have the beer cheese. I did not have the cheese. But they brought out this pretzel and it's very large. I've only had a pretzel served like this before at Disneyland in like the Avengers Academy area. They have like an Ant Man themed kitchen where it's like they serve tiny stuff and huge stuff. And they served the pretzel in this dangly kind of way. Yeah, because I believe from what I asked the server what happened. And he said that this pretzel was caught pickpocketing in the 1800s.

And that's why it was served hanging from the gallows. mentioned. Yeah, it's just like dangling like a body, like a dead man. The presentation was pretty weird to me. Like I don't see I don't understand the point of having it dangling from a hook like it was. It's like what is it going to get soggy if it's like on a piece of wax paper laying down flat? I don't get it. It's also so much more cumbersome to bring it out to us

because you're holding a tray with a top weighted like tall element on it. So now like the balance is all off. I wonder how many pretzels they lose in a year of like they just take a tumble during the transport process. Yeah. Yeah. It's it almost looks like the like a successful ring toss the way it was brought out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you got a big plush bear. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I tell you what we didn't get right away was the pub cheese. They brought that in later. And like the guy who brought it out like kind of was kind of snubbed. nipped at his co-worker about it.

Oh. I told you to get the pup cheese. And then he almost like when he brought it out, he was almost kind of talking us out of getting the cheese with it. He was like, he was almost like, you don't need that cheese, right? And you're like, well, I'm not going to eat it. And I was like, I'd like the cheese, please. And then he and I both went, oh, man.

Yeah. A couple of vegans like trying to talk me out of it. I'm like, what's your dog in this fight? Yeah, one more trip. Yeah. But I'm glad he did because I like the cheese. I thought it was great. And I'm not even a big cheese guy.

Yeah. And we've talked about this. I know you don't like cheese unless it's like a pizza. Mm-hmm. But for me, there was like the mustard with it, which was good. I really liked it. The Dajon, yeah. I like the cheese more, though, for some reason.

I don't know why. Maybe it's because it was hot. I think it's like a nice, warm, comforting, you know, no cheese, that I could dip this nice, moist, warm pretzel. Honestly, that was like the best part of it for me. Yeah.

Yeah, I'd say like, if you had to score out of 10, let's do 9.1 out of 10. Okay. I went 7 out of 10 for the pretzel. I thought it was very nice and soft. The salt was like evenly disposed. Sometimes you get like a bite and it's like,

oh, this is where all the salt is. Yeah. I thought that the salt was very well spread out. But yeah, and the salt was, it wasn't too big. Yeah. It wasn't like giant kernels of salt. It was just like the right size to me. Yeah.

The main detracting point for this to me was that it kept getting oilier. And I would assume that at the start is when you're at the oiliest. But I think like the butter on it or whatever it is kind of just like soaked in and put it at capacity. And it was just kind of like spongy with butter by the end. Interesting. Like I had some late game bites and I felt that they were just. very oily that the first warm bites weren't interesting so it you it may have like seeped in a little bit more um rather than like a nice coating yeah of it interesting i didn't i didn't

notice that but you know late game like i think i i stopped eating it because you know the cheese is going to get hard now right we had already tried these three other things yeah um so i didn't go into the late game bites i have the deep dish pepperoni in the good i don't think you do so you know I mentioned I love like in the apoliton pizza yeah I love you know like you throw it in for like three minutes it comes out perfect I love like a strong tangy marinera sauce I love like a margarita

so it's just a stylistic preference I'm not really into like a you know you want to talk about oil like I mean those little cups of pepperoni are just like cups of oil right I love a meat oil a butter oil is a little different for me. Interesting. Yeah. I think I'm the opposite. And then, yeah, like, like the big, thick crust, it's a little too doughy for me. I love the crisp of a Neapolitan. So I think it's just like a personal preference thing. I'm not really that into it. Again, I'm shocked, shocked and appalled that they are a pizza first restaurant, or at least that their

origin started in pizza because like that taste that was like a pizza I could have like heated up in the oven I just I don't agree based on the quality I do agree based on like the way it looked looked like one of those like totino's boxed pizzas and to be fair we got a personal pizza that we yeah we got a smaller one just because like I was like we're getting so much food yeah we only need a taste of this we don't need so I'll give them a pass on that presentation because we did get a smaller one but I just yeah it's not the kind of pizza I would go for personally. Yeah. I loved the pepperoni ratio of it. I thought it was very meaty. They were generous with the amount of pepperoni. And that's usually what I'm looking for. This was called the

deep dish pepperoni extreme. And I felt like they lived up to the extreme promise of pepperoni. I agree. Like it felt like it was like doing an ollie. Like it was that level of X games extreme to me. I think BJ's thrives on delivering on on the excessive expectations. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. And that's going to come up later. In dessert for sure. Yeah.

But what I also liked about this is when I think deep dish pizza, one of the things that often turns me off about it is how cheese forward it tends to be. And I don't think this was like crazy cheesy. And the dough was nice and soft. It wasn't like, I love brown. bread and breadie is often a good thing, but I don't want bready in my pizza crust. I don't want it to feel like white bread or like there's a very certain type of softness that I like in a pizza crust and this was the right kind of softness. So is it like a little like crispier on the bottom and then like softer in the middle? Is that what you like? Yeah, a little golden brown underneath. And like the edges give you that crisp and then like you you taste like I like a yeasty flavor with bread. things. And this felt like it had that as well. So it was just, it was full of a bunch of flavors, I thought. I think, yeah, it definitely fits that profile. Yeah. I do have preferences and like

the types of pizza I like. And deep dish is not my preference. But when the expectation is a deep dish pizza, I can totally put aside my like, oh, I'd rather have this type of pizza. And I'll be like, I'm just going to enjoy this for what it is. And given that expectation, it met it and surpassed it for me. I'm not opposed to deep dish pizza. I think I love a tangy marinara, and this was a pizza sauce. And I'm not as into like a tomatoy pizza sauce as opposed to like a tangy sauce. Yeah.

I like a little bit of like acidic bite to it. But that just may not be what this pizza is. And that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. The sauce also didn't feel like the star of this to me. The sauce felt like it was there by necessity, but the pepperoni was the thing. And then the crust was the secondary thing. It was pepperoni forward. So like the marinara would have been like the third thing I noticed. And there are pizzas where it's like, oh, the marinera is the thing that I like most. Yeah. So it's just based on this performance, if your preference is what it is, then this isn't going to perform as high for you, I don't think. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. But I went eight out of ten. also going eight out of ten i did uh i had b j's original wings as they call them these wings

really impressed me i liked it a lot uh and i think i had low expectations because so often you get the wings at places and you're just like all right they're fine this was really great in so many ways and uh the thing i liked most about it it wasn't too wet I don't like a sauce that just like gets everywhere. Yeah, especially as someone with like a big beard. I end up with a lot of sauce on my face and I'm just like there's no way around this. This felt like it had, I would dare to say, the perfect amount of sauce. Yeah.

Because nothing was dry. Everything was sauced. Everything had flavor. The sauce was a Tatanka Stout buffalo sauce. I don't know what that is. I assume Tatanka Stout is a beer or something. I don't know. beer-infused buffalo sauce.

I could be wrong. But when I hear stout, I assume alcohol, right? Right. And I traditionally don't love buffalo sauce. I traditionally don't love ranch. This was a buffalo sauce with a ranch drizzle, and it crushed it for me. Yep. And it also wasn't over-ranched.

So, like, there were just so many ways that this wasn't wet, which I love because I'm mildly on the spectrum and texturally. I don't love, like, getting my hands, like, dirty or wet. Mm-hmm. BJs did what Vince McMahon could not do. They got to Tonka over. I thought this sauce was great. Any 1993 WWF fans in the house?

Yeah, I really liked it too. I noticed it like when it came in. I was like, oh, it's just like a drizzle. It was like a drizzle of like the buffalo and then like this kind of like lighter like pale. The ranch. Yeah. Oh, that's what that was. Yeah.

And what was great about it just being drizzled on, like it kept its crispiness. Yeah. Which was really good. Like every bite I took, had like a little crisp, you know, bite to it. And I'm just so used to like soggy buffalo sauce. There's no crisp to it. And so it was like surprising for me, you know. And I thought like the meat felt like good quality too.

Good. Yeah. Which is also kind of a crapshoot when you come to a chain restaurant is like what What's the wing meat going to be like? It was really soft. It wasn't overcooked. Like sometimes like it's like, you know, it's tough dry and tough. Yeah, this was not like that at all.

Like every bite was spectacular. I hit the sweet spot. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. So I also went eight out of ten on those. And I could be coerced into a nine, I think. They were really that good.

Yeah. I do like 8.7. And I don't think I gave a score to the pizza. I'm going to go 4.1. 4.1. Wow. All right. Pretty high.

What else do you have in the good? Anything in particular? I really liked our server's cross-earing. It's like the first thing I noticed as soon as I sat down. You usually see it as a necklace. You don't see an earring. And also just like a stuff. Unless you're like George Michael.

Right. But even George Michael was hanging. It was a hanging cross. This was a cross-stuck. Yeah. Which is very, you know, it pays homage to when Jesus was studded onto the cross. So I thought that was very respectful. Yeah.

A nice throwback to Jesus himself. He just had palm piercings. That's all they were. What was the other thing that we had? The dessert trio. The dessert trio. I mean, I'm just not much of an Alamode guy. Did it pull it out?

of the good category for you because of it. The salted caramel I liked. I liked the salted caramel. Again, it was exactly what it was advertised as. It was a nice sweet and savory kind of treat. It had the sweetness of the caramel. I love caramel. And then the salt like really just scented over the edge for me.

It was really good. And, you know, it may be because it was like the first bite I took. But like the ice cream was still like frozen. Yeah. And I think as we went down the line because we got. We got three. Yeah. We got three like little personal mini ones.

And so as we went down, it became foamy by the end. Well, so, uh, the foamy thing that I noticed was the strawberry shortcake one had whipped cream. And it was just not very whipped. Yeah. It was, uh, it was like an already. You know when you're like doing like shaving cream and it just kind of like, it doesn't come out and like the, but like just kind of like squirts out. Yeah. This is, it was the same thing.

I mean, I think that's just a feature of aerosol cans. Yeah, it like fell out. Yeah. So, yeah, I think we're at the end of the can when it came to that. Yeah. But yeah, salted caramel, I really liked that. That was good. For that one, I thought that one of the things that really stuck out was like the

crisping on the edge of the, like, the actual breading, the cookie part in the pan. Mm-hmm. Because I got a piece where I kind of put my spoon in the middle and pulled toward the edge. So I got an edge piece. And I thought it was so good. I could kind of just taste like where it went from soft to crispy. And it was just such a satisfying feeling. So from a sensory standpoint, it was great.

It had like these mini chocolate chips on it. Yep. That honestly, more for texture than anything. Yeah, they didn't really do a lot to the taste. But the texture was delightful. And it had just the right amount of caramel because it did. I think caramel in general risks getting way too sweet really fast. And this didn't like hit me too hard with like a blast of like, oh, my teeth hurt now.

Yeah. So I went seven and a half out of 10 on the salted caramel one. And the ice cream I thought worked well with it. Yeah. I'm going to for the salted caramel, I'm going to give that a, let's say like a 7.9. I'm just not a big Alamode guy. Yeah. I've said that before.

You know, if we got rid of the ice cream or like we kept them separate. And I was able to, you know, hit one after the other and, like, maybe blend them in my mouth. And make the ratio you want. Yeah. I think that would be better. And that's maybe something I could have requested. But then, you know, I was already interrupting this guy's day. So I didn't want to make it harder.

Yeah. But we've talked about, like, how, like, it's nice having that warmth of the cookie with the cold of the ice cream. When you put them together, it just. It makes it real temp. Yeah. And it's not enjoyable. Yeah. Yeah.

I still have in the good, the strawberry shortcake Pizuki. This is my favorite of the Pizukes. It was reminiscent of, have you ever had Portillo's? Yes. So a lot of people hype up their chocolate cake shake or the chocolate desserts as like the thing you got to get there. I think the hidden sleeper there is their strawberry shortcake is so good. Oh, interesting. And this basically tasted like if that were a Pizuki.

And so just already giving me like a nostalgic thing to reminisce upon for like literally one of my favorite chains where it's Portillo's. Yeah, like it's over eight for me. So it's like I think so highly of that place. So to get a little mental flash of Portillo's, I'm all about it. Yeah. The shortbread texture was spot on. It was like it was soft in the way that like kind of like an angel food cake is expected to be. But it wasn't like mush.

Yeah. which with time and ice cream, it probably became mush. Yeah, it was sludge. But I got there first. And then the combo of ingredients just doesn't miss. The strawberries tasted very fresh.

And then the whip was foamy. The whip was my main complaint for this. But I went eight out of ten. And I think with better whip or even like a real fresh cream, it could have been like nine and a half for me. I'll give it a 5.2 for me. I think, look,

these numbers are arbitrary to me. I don't even know what the fuck I'm saying. I'm just doing it because I have to. This is science. Whatever. No one's going to log this. Anything I say. But yeah, like I did like the shortbread.

It reminded me of the shortbread cookies. I used to eat when I was like a little kid in England. Like I don't remember, but there was like a cookie and I just remember the the packaging for it. It had some kind of like flannel design. That's all I remember. Anyone out there look at a. But I thought that it was a good reminiscent treat for me as well.

Again, not really in Alamode. So the ice cream was fine. Vanilla ice cream isn't going to wow me. But it is what it is. I would rather have a custard. Okay. You ever had like a nice custard? Like a frozen custard?

No, like a hot custard. And maybe this is like an English thing. I don't think I've had hot custard. In England, like... I've had room temp and I've had first custard. So like a we had like this this like yellow powder and you would like mix it with like milk or whatever and you would make a like this like thick custard and you would pour that over like some kind of Christmas dessert, you know. Oh like a like a topping. Like a topping.

Okay. So I grew up. I think that's why I don't like Alamoid because that's not what I grew up with. I grew up with a custard. And so I think I just like maybe I had preferred. the hot on hot yeah myself yeah and I don't mind it when the

custard makes it sluggie because like the custard it's so I could eat the custard alone you know um so yeah I I have a bias against uh alamo because of that now what let's get into um are we going into the bad now because we got to talk about

that triple chocolate uh yeah but I have a jingle I have to play first this is not so good. I'm not quite sure about. It could have done without it. It's stuff that brings down the mood. I hated that it required ballet parking. I mean, I just went across the street and I found a parking spot literally like, you know, 50 feet away. Yeah. I don't know distances. I'm not good with numbers. Yeah. As you can tell. But yeah, like, I think I was just annoyed that I pulled in and I thought, I thought valet was optional. Yeah. And that you could. use it if you wanted to, but there's also this parking structure. Yeah. And I thought that like the outside parking, like the street level parking was where the valets worked. And then you could also go in. And so once I went in, I realized like, no, this whole thing has to be parked by a very professional

parker. Yeah. I was looking to smoke in your car. Yeah. I was irritated immediately. So I did read on Yelp that like if you go to the top level of the garage, you are allowed to self park. But even then, there was a sign that said no self-park before 3 p.m. for BJ's customers. Yeah, it was like the most confusing LA parking sign ever. It's so stupid. Nine out of ten. Okay. I see. Everything's meaningless. Did you have something in Not Good you wanted to bring up other than parking? I mean, Triple Chocolate. Oh, I didn't have that all the way and not good. I had that in Just there, but we can talk about it now. Yeah, it was too much.

Way too much. Okay, that's actually funny. I literally wrote way too much, and I have a jingle for way too much. Yeah, it was just the amount of chocolate that they had was, it was literally the term a hat on a hat. It was like there was nothing to contrast it with. Yeah. Yes. It was just like, it was a chocolate bazooki with chocolate ice cream and chocolate chips on it.

Yeah. Now, this is like very like leopard ate my face, help me. Like we were warned They said it is triple chocolate chunk It told you what it was gonna do Yeah But it would even make a chocolate lover into a hater It was way too much

You ever taken like a spoonful of like Hershey's cocoa powder That's unsweetened It felt like yes I have It's just like holy shit yes Yes there is chocolate in this No this is not enjoyable at all This is hurting me Yeah

I gave it a 5.8. Loved it. Above average. Well, because, like, chocolate's good. Chocolate is good. But I just don't like... I also... I mean, I just keep going back to, like, England.

Like, I grew up with, like, Cadbury's chocolate, and it's, like, a really milky, decadent chocolate. And I feel like the chocolate that is prevalent in America is very bitter. And so, like, that triple-chocket was just, like, triple bitter chocolate. to me. That I agree. But still chocolate's good. Like, I don't even think, I don't think chocolate at its worst could score below like a two for me. Yeah.

Actually, that's not true. I had a really bad chocolate sauce at Olive Garden that I was just like, this is terrible. Yeah. Tasted like, you know, the aftertaste when you blow up a balloon? That's what it tasted like. For sure. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, hey, bad sex, you're still getting laid. The other thing that I have been not good was, I just never like it when, like, a, a, uh, a, uh, a parent is like, they have their kid and they're just like, all right, here's my phone or iPad. Watch whatever you want on full volume. That was happening behind me for a little bit. Yeah, they had like some, I guess they had a tablet that they were playing out loud. Yeah. Yeah.

BJ should do something about that. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Just like engage with your kids. I don't know. Yeah. Like, yeah, this is nothing to do with BJ's. But as a person who's probably never going to be a parent, yeah, do whatever you want.

I don't know. I don't care. I mean, yeah, it's annoying to me, but, like, I can't imagine, like, how annoying it is to have a child. So, like, if I was a parent, I'd make it everyone else's problem. My kid would have an iPhone. My kid would have, like, like, unlimited data. Healy's. Like, loud heelies.

You, like, carve, like, little corners into them so that they always, like, like, catch on stuff. Yeah, whatever you want, like, just don't talk to me. Oh my God. That's that's all I had for the not good valet parking iPad kid and you didn't like the triple chocolate. No. Yeah. I didn't like that. Yeah.

Honestly, you know what? I'm kind of going to put the service and not good. I didn't dislike his demeanor. He was kind. But look, I'm never going to make a scene over like, I'm not even going to complain about it. And I'm always going to tip. 20%. So it's like, whatever, walk all over me. I don't care. Yeah. But that doesn't mean that I like, I was like, I was kind of looking for you for 15 minutes. Yeah. Or, you know, and I just,

you were nowhere to be saying. I just wanted to flag down and be like, hey, could get more water or, you know. For a sparsely attended restaurant during lunch. Yeah. Yeah. Is that how you say that word? How do you say it? Sparsely? Sparse. Oh, okay. Yeah. I just didn't know if it was like a moment of like it just came out your mouth weird or if that's how you pronounce. I assume that I was pronouncing it right this whole time until right now. Sometimes like it again, this is another like like moving from England to America. Sometimes like I just assume a word should sound more American. So sparse sounds more American than sparse.

Sparse sounds very British to me. Sparse. And remember I told you like when we were eating like I had to change my accent because I was getting bullied a lot. So I had to like basically learn like the new like new rules of how to pronounce certain things. So sometimes like I fuck up a lot. Yeah. With like how things are pronounced. I get corrected all the time.

But I'm so like. Does it bother you? It doesn't bother me. But I'm always like, oh, I guess I'm wrong. You know, it just feels like I'm constantly learning. And I feel like at my age, like I should know these things by now. But it's hard. It's hard, you know.

Well, also when you have like a culture shift, it's just like. I know, but like the culture shift was so long ago. Then yeah, you should know. I'm going to bully you now. Oh, God. I probably wouldn't be good at it. Pretty sure you could take me. Yeah, you never know.

All right. We're going to jump into everything that was just there. This is a weird one. I sure what to say about it. All of their decor was beer-centric. They had so many beer signs. And then on the wall behind you, like a big portrait of like one of those tanks that you were talking about. And like a proud looking owner just putting his hand on it like he's giving his daughter away at a wedding or something.

Just like, so proud of you. That's funny. It was a very loving look on this like hops machine or whatever. Is that the guy who gave fourth? thousand dollars that yeah he was like best 14,000 I ever spent um oh and then uh I have the New Orleans Jumbalaya in the just there I thought this was about as average a dish as you can get yeah had a lot thing a lot of things in it had uh you know rice uh andouy chicken sausage uh shrimp yeah just that a lot of things I I wonder if like this is like a sign of my unsophisticated

palate but like it just felt like there was the green pepper was overpowering everything and i couldn't really even i didn't even really notice what there was shrimp right yeah yeah and like little bits of chicken and stuff like it just it was all green pepper to me interesting and i don't know why like i don't i'm not opposed to green pepper i think i eat it because it's healthy but i i think it's not my favorite. I would maybe prefer a red pepper, a red bell pepper, you know, because it's a little bit sweeter. And I mean, a green pepper is basically an unripe pepper, you know, so it has that bitterness. And I don't think I like bitter very much. Yeah, it's not my favorite. Yeah. Actually, one positive, I will say, for this dish, just from a presentational standpoint, it kind of

had like the seasoning, like, dusted up the sides of the bowl, but like in a way that seemed intentional and it yeah and it gave like a like ooh this is going to have a little kick and then it kind of didn't have that much of a kick yeah I think I fucked myself over too because um also I can cuss here right no I've been cussing this whole time um but a show about BJs we should be able to cuss um that's the rule you're allowed you can't talk about it without bringing up sex so like Um, yeah, I think I screwed myself over when, uh, we were talking about Jambalaya and then like New Orleans cuisine. And then I was like, et tufe so good. And I, I think I got et tufei on the mind. And then when I took a bite of the Jambalaya, I was like, oh yeah, this is an eti. This isn't that. This is something else. And I grew up. I used to have Jambalaya. Um, I think I would have it with like a big chunky bits of like, like, sausage like yeah okay what is that called and do we sausage yeah that style yeah yeah like it

kind of comes in like a horseshoe shape you know my mom would make it with that because like my cuisine was always like my mom cooked we never went out to eat ever yeah yeah um she would just like learn things and cooked them at home her way so the way we had jambalai was the the gigantic pieces of sausage and i don't think that was in that there was a little little bit of that sausage. It was a little bit of good. But it was it was cut very thin. Yeah. So like there were there were no like sizable chunks of the sausage. It seemed like they were on a budget of how much they wanted to give us. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's the, the margin cutters. Yeah. They strike again. So yeah, I honestly, I probably go like a perfect five out of ten for that. It was just such a didn't move the needle for me in any direction kind of food. Yeah. 10 out of 10 for me. Why not go 12? You know? I'd say, I'd say, uh, 5.2. 5.2.

Yeah. That's all the elements for me. Is there anything else you want to bring up and talk about about our meal? Um, I thought the service, like if, if I'm going to jump on the, uh, service bandwagon, I'm going to say the service was mediocre. I wouldn't say it's bad, but like I definitely, the only memorable thing I remember about that guy was like his. Earing. Yeah. His, his jewelry that he had on.

But, like, I mean, you don't have to talk to me. And he didn't want to talk to us. I just know nothing about him. I don't know. He didn't make eye contact with any of us. I feel like he was mostly just kind of looking at where he was placing the menu down or putting things down. And then he had like a little snippy, a little argument with his coworker. He's like, why don't you get this thing, you know?

Here's the thing. If he would have talked to us, he would have realized we are such a delight. Yeah. Do you like improv? Yeah, I think he just didn't want to be there, and that's totally fine. I don't want to be half the places I am. This place excluded. I was like, it's a coin flip. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to knock someone for not wanting to be at their service job. Yeah. But, yeah, like, it sucks when, like, it kind of makes you feel like you're bothering.

them by showing up at the workplace. And I did feel that vibe. Yeah. A little bit. There was no hostility towards us. There was just no interest in making sure we were enjoying ourselves. Yeah. Yeah.

And yeah, I don't know. It's, it's okay. We're lucky to be there. I'm lucky to be breathing. So I'm not complaining. Yeah. Five stars. Great.

All right. Well, that's, that's, that's, literally everything. We need to encapsulate BJs and give it a score. But before we can do that, BJ, PJ. Oh, I was, I knew it was going to happen, but I almost got to the end of part two before doing it. PJ, Pige. This is your first time on the podcast.

You haven't been to the over 100 restaurants I've been to. I need you to calibrate the ends of your scale. So we're going to jump into this week's calibration station. Calibration station Comparing this meal to the best to the worst. Calibration station. Chugga, chugga, chugging, chugga, chugga, choo-choo-choo. Cool.

We are going to just talk about your zero out of 10, the worst restaurant experience you've ever had as a customer, and your 10 out of 10. Just so we know what the ends of your experiences are, you can start with whichever one you'd like. You know what? I'm going to say something really fucked up but I'm going to piss a lot of people off.

Ooh, I want to hear it. Dominoes. I love Dominoes. Yep. I don't like Dominoes. I think Papa John's is so much worse. I love Papa John's. And here's why.

I don't, uh, the, this, like, there's so much garlic. It's just like, I'm overpowered by garlic powder. Mm-hmm. At Domino's. And that's why I am going to be brave and say that's my zero out of 10. Tang. All right. And also, like, I can't sit in there and eat, so I have to take it home.

We did. We did. There's one in Burbank that, like, has a table that you can set at while you wait. And we were just like, can we eat it here? And they were like, I guess. That's great. It was like two weeks ago. Yeah.

Okay. 10 out of 10. Yeah. Fah my in Sugar Land, Texas. Because there's a lot of nostalgia and I love foe. Okay. So that's going to be my 10 out of 10. And have you ever eaten there without coughing?

No. Never. Great. Yeah, so my face is not on the wall. Because they have that gimmick, too. Yeah, I stole it. Yeah. So I'm going to say 10 out of 10, fomai, get yourself a spring roll with shrimp and the peanut sauce.

And then fill your belly halfway up before you get into the main course, which is a large combination, fah, with everything in it. Yeah. Okay. Well, somewhere between Fah my, your nostalgic paradise from Sugarland, Texas, and getting blasted in the face with garlic, lies today's meal at BJ's restaurant and brewhouse. We're going to put it to the Chili's Test.

I would say the quality, the decorum and I know you said not to not to include company but the company was so nice

I'm going to put this higher than chilies and I'm going to say 6.74 that's great I love that that puts it above Cheesecake Factory too

because just objectively I felt like today was like yeah it's comparable to Cheesecake Factory but better yeah it's a little bit better

than Cheesecake Factory. But, you know, the great thing is, like, you can go to BJs and not have to experience the gallery. Yeah. I did not really have many complaints about this meal. I wish that the server was maybe a little bit more accessible and the jambalaya didn't impress me. But, like, everything else, I liked the food way more than I came in expecting to. The Pazookis, by and large.

hit for me. The pizza, did you know this was a pizza place originally? Now you do. I actually really enjoyed and I think getting a full deep dish pizza may have done it a better service and it would have been even better potentially. And then the wings I was really into.

Pretzel was good. Decor was good, atmosphere was good, company was great. So it's like, I think I had lower expectations than what this delivered today. By a pretty substantial margin, is it as good as my favorite chain Outback Steakhouse? No, it's not. But I'm going to go just under that 7.41 for me. So when you mix my score with your score, BJ's restaurant and brewhouse is going to go up on the Chotchke of Mediocrity at a 7.0.0. eight. Wow. There you go. Perfect spot for it too. Right. Wow. What this does mean definitively, BJ's restaurant and brewhouse is better than chilies.

Better than chilies. All right. Well, I need to go somewhere next week and we need to figure out where that is. So I'm going to reach into the you must bowl here and draw a restaurant that I'm going to visit next time. AMC. Next week on this podcast, Nicole Kidman and I are going to Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza. Whoa.

Yeah, that's where I'm going. That's crazy. That's going to be really good or really bad. Or really just in the middle. Yeah. One of the three. One of the three. I guess we're just going to have to find out when you go to

Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza. Amazing. PJ, this was so much fun. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming. Oh, God. You're too far away from. like a good handshake.

I gave me like a Nicole. It was just like a dainty, you know. That felt like we're at a cotillion. You have a parasol over your shoulder and you're like, oh my. Would you like to tell people where to follow you on social media and all that? Yeah, if you want to follow me and be part of the 2,200 strong followers, which is kind of impressive for me. That's not bad.

It's not bad for someone who didn't pay for it. What is my? P-E-E-J, Pige McCormick on Instagram. And then I have some other accounts. Lohan Improv, the Midnight Rumble, one big jam, UCB, and my indie team, Baddys. If you want to follow all of them,

they get updated about once every two years. I have room on the Chiron that comes up for one. so we'll see what happens visually here whatever maybe i'll just put a bunch on screen just surround you with it'll just say p j mccormick with a different handle under the name every single time and you can follow the podcast on instagram and ticot at fine dining podcast blue sky fine dining podcast dot b sky dot social but i most want to see you at my discord uh where you can just come and chat with me and yell at me and tell me i'm wrong for stuff uh and we can make bj's jokes for for one more week, we can just titter at how inappropriate it is.

I genuinely, I always laugh. It's never not in my mind when someone says BJ. I can't stop thinking about the choice of it. Yeah. BJ Grunts. BJ Grunts. And I also have a Patreon if you want an exclusive episode every single month, as well as the extended Yelp from Stranger's segments.

Thanks so much for listening. I appreciate and love all of you. That is another one in the books. I'll see you next time. Have a fine day. Well, there's another one in the folks. We judge the service up to the cooks. And while we may have gotten a couple of dirty looks,

though the journey can never stop. Now, from the bottom down to the top, we got other things on lock. And that's good chillies to the triple dip. We got the ribs among the charge. And we will see you next a week and next to week. baby