J B Dawsons Restaurant & Bar

This place used to be a standout in chain restaurant food with outstanding service. The last two times there service was abysmal, the food was mediocre and the prices had gone way up. They have priced themselves way out of their league ($ 13 appetizers in a chain?). Will not be back.

A reliable place for an American meal especially during the week. The lovely wife and I along with a friend stopped in last night around 7:30. We were seated immediately which is the norm during the week. Weekends can be very busy.
We began our meal with the Roasted Tomato & Basil Flatbread Pizza ($ 12.99) as a shared appetizer. Delicious! My entrée was the 12 oz. Cajun Ribeye for $ 20.99. It was cooked perfectly and juicy, spicy and tender. It came with a large salad and my choice of one side. I choose chipotle black beans & rice which were a great accompaniment to the steak. My dining partners were also pleased with their entrees.
I’ve come to rely on JBs as a great place for a weekday dinner. They hit the mark every time. They are very popular so the weekends are insane. I strongly suggest you visit during the week. They are part of a plaza so parking is no big deal.

Went here on a Sunday night, and had to wait about 10 minutes. I didn’t think Sunday’s were especially busy for restaurants, but it wasn’t that long of a wait to really make me want to turn around & go somewhere else.
Seems there were a lot of large groups there — for birthdays etc. Maybe thats where their crowds come from? It’s in a nondescript strip mall, in a normal suburb of Philly… I can’t otherwise explain why it would be so crowded on an otherwise slow lazy Sunday night.
Anyway, the food was pretty average, nothing really special. The portion size was average-​to slightly larger than average. Got drinks too. The prices were reasonable for them as well. They did seem to have a bit of a kick to them as well…
I also don’t quite care for the «team» system… I only saw one person’s face twice… everyone else who came to serve us was someone different — like 4 or 5 people. My dining partner also wanted a glass of water, after 20 minutes, had to ask someone else for one…
Overall, descent food, but nothing really special, and not really worth the wait…

Cute waitresses. That and cold beer is the only good thing Dawsons brings to the table. It’s a solid «meh». And how is it that there is only one urinal in a place this size?
I’ve been here twice this summer and the food that stands out most to me is the steak I ordered about 8 years ago. I guess its worth it if you get one of those free $ 15 off gift cards though.

The food was good. The atmosphere was solid, with lanterns with real fire coming out of them. The prices were good for the large portions you get. For six people (four of them with at least one drink from the bar) our bill was a little over a hundred dollars.
I do have one comment about the team system of service. The waitstaff got their signals mixed up and gave us another water when we hadn’t asked for one. I imagine this was taking away from another patron’s experience.

Interesting ambience, better than average faire, but exceptionally long lines.
My wife and I still haven’t figured out why you can’t go out to a Delaware County restaurant on a Saturday night, any time after six o’clock, and expect to be seated in less than forty-​five minutes.
Our guess is that the population in this area has expanded at a much more rapid pace than has its business base, and local zoning ordinances have kept the restaurant chains and big box retail stores out. Mercifully we’ve not experienced a «retail explosion» in the area but the downside is that you have to be willing to drive great distances in order to vary your dining, shopping and entertainment experiences.
Dawson’s is a case in point. The ambience is interesting (English tavern-​style dark woods and gas lanterns, abound) although it’s a little hard on the eyes. You may call ahead for what they call a «limited» reservation, which means that you’ll still wait between fifteen and twenty minutes to be seated.
Don’t expect a table for at least forty-​five to fifty minutes on a Friday or Saturday night if you’re a walk-​in. The waiting area is large and always crowded and the hosts and hostesses do their very best to keep things running as much like clockwork as humanly possible.
The menu at Dawson’s is standard American grill-​style faire. The steaks and prime rib are very good, although not outstanding. The fish dishes are good, as well, but inconsistent. I’ve had the same grilled salmon dish on four separate occasions, and the fish seemed to vary in freshness from one visit to the next.
The salads are always excellent, however, and the greens are consistently fresh and crisp. Kudos to the chef for his very appealing choice of dressings and garnishes. The desserts are unimaginative and rank among the most banal offerings at places like TGI Friday’s and Houlihan’s, largely because this is a small chain restaurant (three locations) and there’s little temptation to vary the selection of postprandials.
Things get so busy on a weekend night that the kitchen can go haywire at times, so be aware that the scheduling of deliveries from the kitchen and the bar can become a little confusing. I once received a side dish long before my entrée made its appearance — and a glass of white wine that I ordered «with the meal» didn’t appear until I had nearly finished all of the food on my plate. My glass of Lohr riesling became a dessert wine instead of a dinner wine.
The wait staff is very professional and they all work in teams, so you can flag another waiter or waitress just in case your server is attending to the needs of a very large party, or goes AWOL with your check.
So, be prepared to wait at Dawson’s. You’re better off going on a weekday night, when foot and auto traffic are a little less complicated. The Pilgrim Gardens Shopping Center is much too small to meet the needs of everyone who shops (and eats, and parks) there, so negotiating your way through the lot and into a parking space can be a bit daunting at times.

I really dislike this place. Not necessarily because of the food (its fine; your normal types of food, expensive for what you get though), but more based on their bizarre service arrangement; the «team» system. You have zero clue who your server is, 15 different people do 15 different things. So if one person is outstanding and one is mediocre, there is no way to differentiate who will get your tip at the end of the meal. Because of this, there doesn’t seem to be much drive to «work for the tip» because everyone shares the pot. They seem to run this place like an army too. I much prefer one attentive server even if that means waiting a bit longer for everything.

I just found this website so this review is from a couple months ago. I went to JB Dawson’s with another couple and my boyfriend. It wasn’t very busy, and we got seated promptly. However, our waiter was absolutely AWFUL. I’ve been a waitress, so I am very understanding when it comes to being new at the job, etc. This guy was just inattentive and uncaring. Another waiter brought out our food (I guess this is part of the «team» system.) I will say our food was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but decent. Our waiter never came to ask us how our food was (neither did any of the supposed «team members» either.) There were no other workers anywhere that we could see in the restaurant — we were there about 8:00 pm, so ther should have still been quite a few people there and around. About twenty or so minutes after we were finished our food, we finally saw an employee, who we asked to find our waiter and bring our check. Our waiter finally returned, didn’t apologize for never coming back, or not asking how anything was. He never questioned how our food was or anything. Since the food was pretty decent, if the service was better we would be returning. However, this service was absolutely awful. I don’t know what he was doing for the time we were there, but it certainly wasn’t his job.

my boyfriend and i often go here when we want something better than standard Applebee’s or Friday’s fare but don’t want to spend a ton of money.
we’ve rarely had to wait for longer then 10 minutes for a table. they do their serving on a team system so you can ask any waiter/​waitress for help as they float by.
the food has always been good and i’ve never had complaints about that.

This is one of our go to restaurants when we want a good, simple meal that’s decently priced, but better than a chain restaurant and closer & cheaper than the city. We’ve been countless times, and never really had any issues. The only complaint we’ve had over the years is that the french onion soup isn’t topped with melty cheese like you’d expect. However, more recently we have noticed that they give you that heads up when you order it. My husband is from Baltimore and raves about their crab cakes. The Crab Alfredo is my favorite dish, and the salads are really good too… and huge, enough for leftovers.
Their reservation policy is weird. You can call ahead or make a reservation as long as it’s not more than 7 people. i guess those tables are super limited since it’s mostly booths, but then you’d think they’d be harder to come by.
Their take out is great too, and ready very quickly.

Service is very spotty. Food is also unpredictable… One time was awesome, next time it was horrible…
Parking is a pain, the restaraunt next door brings in a big croud.

The salads are huge and tasty and the veggie burger was very good. Other than that it’s pretty much just bar a chain restaurant with the same old, same old. It’s great for a convenient dinner in the area.

Your typical chain restaurant. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. Can’t make up your mind and want something that won’t disappoint? Try J B Dawsons. Want exotic, memorable and creative food? Go somewhere else.