September had come and gone so that meant Pop’s was next man up to decide our monthly happy hour adventure. Having earned the nickname “King of Chains” for picking widely known restaurants for his selection….Pop’s once again pulled out another one from his proverbial bag of chains. This time it was BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Irvine.
At the time of his selection…..BJ’s had no information on their website about what they offered for Happy Hour. I personally checked but all I could bring up was their standard menus. As a group…we were already familiar with BJ’s having eaten there on a number of occasions for both lunch and dinner…..so we weren’t exactly flying blind when we ventured out on a sunny Monday afternoon from Pop’s house. It really wasn’t much of a risk as we all enjoy their craft beers and I had printed out a $10 off coupon for $35 worth of food.
As it turned out….the coupon wasn’t necessary as they had a happy hour menu on each table in the bar. If memory serves…it featured around five or six items for $5-$6 bucks and some discounts on bottle and craft beers. We all placed our specific beer orders and settled in to debate the selection of appetizers. The discussion was quite civil and Robert’s Rules of Order were not required. We agreed on Root Beer Glazed Ribs, Avocado Egg Rolls and an order of Sliders.
In prompt fashion….the waitress soon delivered our order and the tables attention shifted from our craft beers to the food laid in front of us. We all grabbed a portion from each selection and dug in. I think the overall winner was the Root Bear Glazed Ribs. Pop questioned the unique flavor they had but couldn’t quite put his finger on the unique ingredient he was tasting. When I reminded him they were glazed in Root Beer….his eye’s got wider, he snapped his fingers and exclaimed “that’s it”. The Avocado Egg Rolls included Cream Cheese, Cilantro, Red Onion and Chipotle Peppers and was served with a Tamarind Sauce. They were good but we all agreed that the avocado over powered the other components of the dish. The Sliders were well cooked and were accompanied with ample amounts of lettuce, onions and pickles….and of course…Ketchup.
As we slurped and scarfed the food in front of us….Robert mentioned most of the tables around us all had Deep Dish Pizza’s on them. I glanced at the bar and noticed a customer was enjoying a “Tavern Style” thin crust Pizza. I have a vague recollection of our waitress mentioning that Monday’s daily special was half off deep dish or tavern style pizza (along with $5 Margaritas). We’re usually focused on tasting a variety of appetizers so a large pizza isn’t usually considered. We soon realized this half off pizza deal was a pretty good value. Usually around $25 to $27 depending on the deep dish variety, it’s a hell of a value for $13 (the thin crust is only around $8 on special!). Many couples were eating half and taking the other half home.
Word must have gotten back to management…because now BJ’s has a section on their web site about their Happy Hour deals. Overall …we were very pleased with our visit to BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse. Once again….Pops chain restaurant selection surprised us with good quality and excellent value. It remains to be seen if he can continue his string of luck….he’s quickly running out of available chain restaurants!
Until next time…y’all take care!
