To Whom It May Concern,
I'm writing to express deep frustration and disappointment following a visit to your Irvine BJ's Restaurant on May 22nd, 2025, for my wife Roz’s birthday celebration. We had a party of 13 and called ahead, only to be told the wait would be 30–45 minutes. Instead, we waited over 2 hours while being repeatedly given conflicting and inaccurate wait times (20 mins, then 5 mins, then 15 mins, etc.). It was only after escalating the issue to a manager that we were finally seated — a full 45 minutes after being told our table was "being cleaned."
The service did not improve once seated. Staff were rude and dismissive — not just to my wife, but to multiple members of our party who politely asked for status updates. At one point, BJ's attempted to offer "lobby pizza" to the waiting group, which would have been appreciated if they had respected dietary restrictions. My wife has celiac disease, and we explained she could not eat gluten. Despite this, we were told there would be no accommodations — even if we were willing to pay.
To make matters worse, Roz also suffers from hypoglycemia, and being forced to wait that long without food triggered a medical episode. This was not just inconvenient — it was dangerous and negligent.
When we were finally seated, the experience did not improve: only one overwhelmed waitress was assigned to our large group, service remained slow and unfriendly, and to add insult to injury, an 18% gratuity was automatically added — despite the substandard and outright harmful service. Our total came to nearly $800, and every single member of the group was charged that gratuity — regardless of their experience.
This was meant to be a celebratory evening for my wife’s birthday. Instead, it was a source of anxiety, frustration, and actual physical harm. We expect a full apology and request appropriate compensation for the unacceptable experience we were put through.
Sincerely,
Mario A.
Build your own pizza with a lot of fresh ingredients, you can choose gluten free or cauliflower crust for some extra bucks
And pair your pizza with draft beer
Soo delicious
My new fever place
This is a gluten free review.
The food here is packed with flavor. Here are some of my favorite gluten free options:
Cha Cha fries
Hand made Guacamole with chips and salsa
Empanadas
Chicken breast tacos
I also love the ambiance. Very open, breezy, and comfortable.
Would give 5 stars if it wasn't so expensive. $18 for three tacos and $20 for enchiladas? Woah.
Came here for a bd celebration. 6 out of 5 stars for presentation, food, service, and atmosphere. Brian did an exceptional job making sure our meat was well done and to our liking. All of the meat was delicious, and the sides during brunch were perfect. You may also go to the buffet bar where rhere is an assortment of fruit, potatoes, waffles, sausage, fritata, mixed greens, etcetera.They offered a $53 pp special for Father's Day, so it was very crowded. The sides came with polenta, gluten-free bread, mashed potatoes, and fried bananas. Bathrooms are on premises. Valet parking or park for free near the restaurant.
Definitely not good service.
Once tried to order one drink at 7/40 pm (place is open until 8 pm on Sundays, unkind bartender said its too late… bar was still full of people, he was just too lazy to serve me a drink during normal open hours.
Today I’ve ordered gluten free turkey burger to go- to eat on the plane- with NO AVOCADO bc have a very strong allergy (that I informed of) and can’t have avocado even touching my food. Burger was with avocado, wasted 18$ and now Im starving on my flight cause can’t eat this…
Please hire better staff
I've been to this location 3 times, and each time I/we were greeted with friendly staff and great pizza! THIS IS BY FAR THE ABSOLUTE BEST GLUTEN FREE PIZZA CRUST I HAVE EVER EVER HAD! Turns out, they make the dough in-house and their ovens cook the pizza at 900 degrees. Wow! The taste reminds me of the pizza in Italy and it doesn't get better than that.
I used Lime Food Truck for my husband's 50th Birthday party recently. Ethan was very communicative and worked within my food restraints (all food had to be gluten-free for my husband's celiacs) and budget. On the day of the event, the team showed up on time and were friendly but professional. A week later I am still getting compliments on the quality of food! I would love to use Lime Food Truck again for any catering needs.
If your looking for a phenomenal breakfast restaurant, this is it! Great menu with gluten-free options. Went on a Sunday, line was long but that’s always a good sign! Lots of outdoor seating.
Got the espresso mascarpone waffle, it was delicious. Pity that they can't make it gluten-free, but oh well. The espresso mascarpone is AMAZING, I need to learn how to make it!!!
Ordered & served within 20-25 minutes, reasonably good for a summer Sunday at 11am. I like the pay-up-front approach, so European & very efficient.
First off, the food, coming from these very humble owners, is fantastic! They are extremely Celiac/allergy friendly, making gluten-free Roti/Naan from Gram flour; those worried about cross-contamination, they will work with you, even making it safe for the 1 part/million sensitive individual. They do have wine pairing for those that are interested. Reservations are highly recommended for weekends, as it is a smaller dining room area. While there, several people had called ahead for take-out. It is on the pricier side, but well worth the cost!
Delicious desserts and coffee.
Gluten free selection range of products is very decent and most importantly tasty. My go-to place for cakes, cupcakes and macarons.
Really cool place with plenty of options. Had the bison burger which was pretty decent and the fries are great. Gluten free options available as well. Good drink menu
My favorite "healthy" dining in the University Town Center for nourishing meals. I trust my dietary restrictions (paleo) and other dietary restrictions (keto, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.) to be met.
I really like this place they have really good tri-tip so I definitely recommend that they also just have a lunch menu which is a really good deal. The one thing is I wish they had gluten-free breadsticks because there were six are so good and it is a bummer that if you can’t gluten, you can’t eat breadsticks. But otherwise the food is great and I like that it’s like a casual as well
Accommodating Gluten-Free