My family and I went there last weekend as well. The general consensus was that the only thing that might bring us back is the decor. The food is nothing special. The catch phrase "comfort food" is somewhat inaccurate (for us, at least) because it is too bland and lacks the "earthiness" to comfort. E.G., I had chicken and biscuits, served with virginia ham and cream gravy: the chicken was good, the biscuit was more bread-like than biscuity, the ham had no flavor and added NOTHING to the dish, and the cream gravy was more of a wine-y, continental cuisine sauce than a gravy. My idea of cream gravy is closer to a "red-eye" pan gravy than a delicate wine flavored sauce. Also, this dish traditionally uses a full flavored, salty ham. The comfort, home-cookin' theme is cute, but Mr. Jones is not doing that -- home-cookin'. Of course neither are the local favorite diner-type places, like Ritter's and Drew's. They use too much of the canned and packaged mixes that want to make you think you're eating Mom's cooking. There is a place in this area for what Mr. Jones is trying to be, and maybe they need to work at it a little more (no, a lot more). Right now, I think they can't decide whether they want to be haute (sp?) cuisine or down-home. The portions are small too, and most everything is ala carte (sp?). But the decor is MAHVALOUS! IMHO. BTW, for the person who asked: Mr. J's is in McIntyre Square on McKnight Rd in the North Hills. From Pgh, take 279 North, get off at the McKnight Rd. exit, stay on McKnight a few miles, go past the Ross PArk Mall, at the first traffic signal light after Ross Pk Mall's 2nd entrance is a McDonald's on the right, just past this is an exit into the jug-handle turning lane, take this exit and just as you enter this, make a right onto McIntyre Rd, and a left into McIntyre Sq. Look for Mr. Jones in there (it is where the old Hot Licks used to be). PManion
Pittsburgh, PA
Mr. Jones
Philip M. wrote: > The food is nothing special. The catch phrase "comfort food" is somewhat > inaccurate (for us, at least) because it is too bland and lacks the > "earthiness" to comfort. Curiously, the catch phrase on their menu is "honest food," not "comfort food." I recall reading the "comfort" bit in Pittsburgh magazine, so someone may have conveyed it to the author, or they may have dreamed it up. Whatever. Mr. Jones is not unlike Mad Mex or Kaya in that the owners have taken a theme and then put a big twist to it. For example, Mr. Jones does have meat loaf and mashed potatoes, but the meatloaf is stuffed with pesto and the potatoes are mashed with garlic--hardly a "bland" combination. In addition, the chef at Mr. Jones seems to have been trained in the Mad Mex/Kaya school of interesting salsas/relishes/sauces. The "unthreatening side salad" is actually a very healthy portion of salad with a fresh vegetable relish; the Caesar dressing I got with it was also Caesar with a twist--I suspect that there was a bit of Dijon mustard in there somewhere. If I do have a complaint about Mr. Jones, it's that in some places, they like to make their customers and waitstaff work a bit too hard to deal with the menu. For example, the menu includes their brunch items. Too bad that they neglected to also print that brunch was only available on Sundays from 11-2. Likewise, some menu items could be better explained. As I am lately on a portabello kick, I ordered their "portabello/roasted peper melt." That was the extent of the description. The waitress kindly informed me that the sandwich also included a spinach pesto (which was fine), but she didn't tell me that it was served with a honey-mustard dipping sauce. Fortunately, I thought the sandwich was delicious. But I spent the first part of my meal assuming that the dipping sauce was served with the onion crisps that I'd chosen as the side to my sandwich (these were also quite good). It wouldn't be a Mad Mex spinoff without the close-together tables, so that's a given. However, there are some very spacious booths along the wall, and there's a nice outdoor patio for when the weather cooperates. Beth Mazur "Whatever you fear, whatever you hide, whatever MAYA Design Group you carry deep inside...there's something more Pittsburgh, PA than this." [email removed] -- October Project www.maya.com/Local/mazur
Curiously, I was just there last night.
Between the three of us had a large amount of food, and had mixed
feelings about the place in general.
We felt that the corn and potato soup was wonderful, as well as the
house salad and dressing. The entrees were ok [chicken, steak and
meatloaf]. The service was excellent. One major disappointment was the
number of things that they were out of.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Esther Filderman [email removed]
System Mangler Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Member of the NonSequitur society. Our motto:
"We don't have regular meetings, but isn't blue a nice color?"