BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse Restaurant Review:

This casual something-for-everybody American pub features a seemingly endless menu of suburban favorites and a rotation of regularly highlighted and seasonal handcrafted microbrews that range from light lagers to heavy stouts. Snacks and starters like miniature Italian meatballs, sliders and fried artichokes with lemon aïoli suggest the breadth of the options, everything from Hawaiian poke to chicken-fried steak. You can get a real steak, as well as pastas or fish ‘n’ chips. Deep-dish pizzas are somewhat reminiscent of Chicago, and contemporary creations include a Buffalo chicken wing pizza. For dessert, there are the chain’s signature deep-dish cookies topped with ice cream. The restaurant boasts a pretty extensive kids’ menu, too, and the staff does a good job accommodating young guests. Weekend brunch brings popular egg dishes. In culinary terms, the excitement ends with the length and diversity of the menu, but what makes this particular location special is the architecture. The Pasadena branch of BJ’s occupies a well-preserved bank building from the 1920s and is a surprisingly grand space.