jak's grill

worst service ever. i've dined at jak's uncountable times and recently decided to try their happy hour - unfortunately after an incredibly rude encounter with their manager kirk i will never go back.

my dad (who introduced me to jak's over 15 years ago) and i enjoyed our first drink with the filet tidbits and onion rings - and with our second drink i got a side salad. when we were on our third we asked for the check and a box for the salad as i filled up on the other apps. the waitress told me that i could not take my salad as it's "dine-in only" at happy hour. when i asked her for an exception - it was my first time at their happy hour and i didn't know their policy - she said she would ask the manager. the manager told her no so i asked to speak with to him. kirk came over and i explained that i now saw on the fine print of the menu that you cannot take items "to-go" but that was not my original intention and i simply wanted to take my leftovers. i told kirk that it was not like we came and ordered one drink and a bunch offoodto-go - we had paid for 3 drinks and 3 appetizers.

kirk: "wow i'm concerned you've had 3 drinks? we've only been open an hour".
my dad: "actually it's been 1 hr 15 minutes and we've consumed 2 drinks - we haven't even touched our third."
kirk: "wow - that's a lot to consume - i'm concerned... maybe you should eat your salad... i'm concerned about you driving."

key points:
- if kirk is concerned about the amount we've consumed at jak's happy hour he should consult his waitress and bartender. we were not hailing her down for drinks and she was the one that asked us each time if we were ready for another.
- if kirk is concerned about our alcohol consumption he may want to recommend we soak it up with bread not a green leafy salad.
- if kirk is concerned about us driving under the influence he should call us a cab. he didn't - he allowed us to finish our third drink and leave.

i was and continue to be completely appalled by the way we were treated by kirk. jak's considers themselves a first-class restaurant and this is truly the rudest service i've ever had. i called the next day to share my experience with management. when the host answered i asked who the shift manager was last night and he told me it was kirk. when i asked to speak to the restaurant manager he told me that kirk was actually working today and i could talk to him - i said i didn't want to speak to kirk as he was the one that provided a poor experience. the host then put me on hold and when he came back he told me that kirk actually is the restaurant manager (which i have since learned he's not). kirk then started talking in the background saying he knew who i was and he would talk to me and that the owners were there last night and knew about the salad. i explained to the host that while i was initially frustrated by the salad situation the purpose of my call was in regards to the awful experience kirk provided. i have called the restaurant three times and left two messages for the gm and have never heard back.

the bottom line is kirk was incredibly rude and offensive and the upper management has endorsed his behavior by not responding to me. needless to say they have lost a loyal customer in me and many of my friends, family and colleagues. if you're looking for a great steakhouse with an amazing happy hour you should check out daniel's, ruth's chris, john howie or the met.

my wife and i had eaten at jak's on one prior occasion, and despite the poor service then, we decided to give it one more chance because thefoodwasn't bad. however, we just ate there again, and the service was so bad, it took everything i had not to embarrass my wife by reciprocating the waitress's attitude. my suggestion would be to avoid jak's unless you can ignore long waits, poor attitudes, and no one checking up on your table.

horrified!!. went to jak's in issaquah for a dinner meeting because i heard thefoodwas increditble! was not informed of the no seat until all the people in the party have arrived policy until it was too late. however the extremely rude and disrespsectful hostess had zero problem letting us know about their "policies". this just started what would be follwed by without a doubt the worst service i have ever experienced in my 36 years of being alive. i can honestly say that i have never written a review in my life but after my experience at this joke of an establishment has left me no choice but to tell my story and hopefully i can save the next sucker from coming in and contributing to a company that truly has no clue how to deliver proper customer service! i think because the restaraunt is located in a small town there is a sense of arrogance that comes along with the idea that you are the best thing in town (obviously far from reality). after oredering appetizer myself and the party of 8 business men and women gave the menus back to our server and we were asked "so your all just ordering appetizers?" again as rude of a comment as i have ever heard at a place with the prices and expectations of this place.. we explained to her "no we are orderingfoodbut we have decided what we would like to have". still kicking myself for not leaving right that very minute. the food, once it finally arrived was undercooked (no i did not get asked to cut into my 60 dollar piece of meat to make sure it was cooked to my specifications) but i did not send it back as the time it took to arrive was simply ridiculous. after eating our meal and being neglected by even sizzler standards we made our final mistake!! we ordered desert which would end up taking another 45 minutes to arrive!! the simple truth is i am a very busy guy not just at work but at home and the reason i am writing this review is to hopefully save the next group of people interested in dining at this place to truly think again. i do not get time to myself often and i can truly say that dining at this place did nothing but ruin my mood!! i wish i could take the $900 dollars i foolishly donated to a company i have no desire to return to. i pray that the terrible service comes back on this place ten fold as their attitude and demeanor just simply do not cut it. hopefully people start realizing that despite what jak"s thinks there are tons of really good steakhouses out there with similar prices that would treat a party such as mine like gold and in our economy hopefully jak's can learn what true customer service really means.. as big a thumbs down as can be possible!!!

after a nine year absence (we moved away) we gladly returned to jak's for a fathers day dinner! it was amazing to find that the hospitality,foodand service were still outstanding!!! we left. steaks and fish were perfectly cooked, vegetables crisp and vibrant, and potato pancakes like my pennsylvania-dutch grandmother used to make! thank you jak's for an outstanding dinner!

good but not great. we enjoyed ourfoodfor the most part but it wasn't as tasty as i expected or the price indicated. it is good enough though that i'm sure we can find a set of dishes that will please each time.

mixed review...... the place is too small... difficult to get into.... one must show up at 400pm to 430pm in order to possibly be seated.... it is overpriced in my opinion..... however.... thefoodis good and the garlic mashed potatoes are heavenly!!!!

favorite issaquah place!. one of my favorite steak houses period. always goodfood- they do need to start taking reservations though! we have shown up only to find a 2 hour wait many times.

if u have kids forget about it!. the service is so slow!. we had to wait forever,but not only our table because everybody around had to wait too. if u have kids forget about it.
thefoodis good but nothing special, so it is no worth it to wait for so long.

best steak house. forget daniel's broiler, the met or ruth chris' if you just want goodfoodthis is the place. we have never been disappointed at jak's grill in issaquah. we've noticed their prices inching up a bit which is unfortunate but it does not take away from the quality of their food.

everything is wonderful from the bread to the salad to the steaks which are cooked perfectly and the sauces are a wonderful enhancement. we will be back to jak's grill.

i've never eaten at this restaurant because every time we've tried to go there, probably 5 separate times, at different times of day and on both weekends and weeknights, they tell us it's a 45 minute-1 hour wait. i find this extremely irritating since they don't take reservations! i've heard thefoodis good, but unless they change their policy on reservations, i'll never know since i'm not about to wait an hour to eat there! every time we've attempted jak's, we end up down the block at stan's bbq where we've never waited more than 2 minutes to be seated. it's a shame, cause i'd love to try jak's...

it may be cliché.... 5 stars -

this is one of the best steakhouses i have ever been to. i have been here about a half dozen times now when i come for business in the area.

service is very good to great. thefoodis excellent to superb. i think the atmosphere is kind of kitschy too for a steakhouse. the 40 oz. porterhouse steak i had on my last trip was insanely good. i nearly ate the whole thing.

it is definitely pricey, but i cannot recommend this place enough. my only caveat, is they don't take reservations. so prepare to wait. but it's worth it.

competent but very noisy. really just too noisy a place to enjoy dinner. to my mind, a great steakhouse is ambience as well as food. this place offered a pretty decent menu, and good food. service was a bit better than average but something about the acoustics or how they've arranged the tables makes it far too loud for a pleasant dinner.

don't take a date there or anyone with whom you wish to hold a conversation. that said, thefoodwas decent - but you'll be better served by going to one of the "big-name" steakhouses where you can hear yourself think.

oh yes.. i should mention that this review is for the issaquah location. i would try one of the other locations before giving up on jak's entirely.