Happy Jack’s

Service was good. The meal was cold. Mother good to say. Looking forward to a good meal. Wouldn’t recommend.

I’ll keep this short and sweet.
Pros:
Food is almost always good — I recommend the Ragin’ Cajun Jambalaya and Boneless Border Wings.
Margaritas are usually good
Fair prices
Cons:
Service can be hit or miss (and when it misses, it misses BAD)

Another delicious dinner with excellent service and Host Charley is the best! We don’t get here often enough but every time we do we leave very satisfied. Tonight was a Mardi Gras celebration. All with zydeco music, authentic New Orleans cuisine, and they even throw in the beads and King Cake. We dine out a lot, all over Southern New England and Happy Jacks is up there with the best casual dining around. No doubt, 5 stars.

Awesome food and awesome service! Drinks could have been a bit stronger but still pretty good!

Its really a shame how bad this place is. when it was the border it was great! Since they’ve moved we have tried to like it, but there is just too much to overcome. Poor service, poor food quality, smaler portions. 3 strikes your out. To me it is just a loud bar that serves food. Slowly. Do us all a favor and close down, or bring back the quality and quantity we came to expect from the border bar and grille.

Always have had great food but tonight was the worst I have had. Sampler was cold and not at all tasty. Sent chicken back to reheat.. Taco Tuesday black beans ok rice was terrible tasting and taco meat cold and chicken one tasted old. Won’t be going back for s long time. Perhaps a bad night but waitress could have been a bit more catering to what was very unsatisfying to us…

We came here for the first time with a large group. After walking in I was not too hopeful. The décor is kind of old and dingy looking. But, we were all pleasantly surprised! The service, food and drinks were all great. We had a group of 8, and everyone was happy with their meals. We will definitely be back!

Love Happy Jacks! Food is great, service is great and atmosphere is great! They always have something going on at night. Thursday «Flip Nights» are my favorite. If you get an entrée, the Manager comes by to flip a token: tails= nothing, heads= 10% off or $ 10 grille buck!
Best things to try? All the appetizers are amazing! Nachos, Border Wings, Armadillo Eggs, Buffalo Waffle Fries… You can’t go wrong! Check them out!

Every time I come here the food is just not satisfying. I had the jerk wings which by the description I was expecting perfectly fried and baked wings… they should change it to partially burnt tasteless wings, I kept eating them because their homemade blue cheese was actually pretty good! It masked the burnt taste. My husband had the prime rib burrito. Haha it was filled with a little bit of overcooked steak and loads of onion and mushrooms, he was not so thrilled. However drinks were pretty good. I had the godiva chocolate martini. .it was delicious! !

One of the areas best restaurants in my opinion. The tex-​mex is excellant as are their burgers. We mainly do take out, each time our food had been well prepared and hot. I do think it’s a bit pricey for the area but at the same time ou get what you pay for.

I have mixed feelings about this place, I love the atmosphere, the waitstaff, the fishbowls and cute trendy drinks, and BANANA KETCHUP! If I’m in the mood for a fishbowl with a couple friends and a basket of fries and banana ketchup I’ll come back here in a heartbeat. Although the food is not so good, the portion size is good but I’ve never really had a good meal here unfortunately. But like I said, try the banana ketchup, you will not regret it, I thought I wouldn’t like it but I was dead wrong and I’ve yet to find banana ketchup elsewhere!

We went there for drinks and dinner. The drinks were great I had a pins colada and I was very surprised when the bartender refilled my glass at no charge. My friend ordered the shrimp and catfish appetizers and enjoyed them very much. Being a vegan I found it hard to find something to order, in the end I got a burnt to with grilled veggies and no meat, the server said it came with rice and beans. I was not happy to find the rice and beans in the burrito and most of the burrito consisted of rice and beans. I would have liked to see more grilled veggies.
The entertainment was provided by T. C Polk was was exceptional, quite a talented young man. we had an overall pleasant experience

Stopped by for lunch. Food is not good. They’re clearly trying to cut costs, but aren’t smart about doing it. My «chicken» quesadillas had 3 small cubes of chicken in it. You need to ask for guacamole or salsa. Weird scene inside. It gets a star for carrying a solid beer tap.

Good tex-​mex: ordered the Don Diego burrito with steak tips which were cooked to perfection. Portions were large and the boyfriend and I split it with satisfied tummies.

The atmosphere here is fun, especially in the summers when the pAtio is open. Drinks are great; especially their famous fish bowls filled with tons of booze and fun candy. They have many flavors as well and it comes with a souvenir bowl :)
Food is mediocre, you really just have to order the right thing. Their armadillo eggs and most of the other appetizers are tasty. Try the border boneless wings. That sauce is great! Quesadillas are also good. They hAve an AMAZING happy hour deal which is Monday-​Friday 2 – 5 and after 9pm consisting of an entire page of $ 5 options. Just do yourself a favor and avoid the queso… it was worse than disgusting

First and last time there. I Went with friends to try the place but it wasn’t what expected. Service was really bad, we wait in our table 10 mins, the waitress was in a rush and in a bad mood. She forgot to bring appetizers we had order too. The food wasn’t the best, you can eat better Mexican food in Taco Bell than here. For the price you paid, they gave me too litle food, the taste wasn’t that good either.

My oldest daughter and I had just made the rounds from the hair salon, to the nail salon and it was time for some food and drink. We both wanted a casual atmosphere, reasonable prices, great tasting food and drinks. We are both fond of a hearty winter soup and a balanced, light dish. After talking it over, we decided on Happy Jack’s. We’ve come here quite often and enjoyed our meals each time.
I ordered the Bourbon St. Bowl and a bowl of their chili.
Tender marinated sirloin tips, mushrooms, onions, scallions, sweet red peppers, sautéed with garlic jalapeño butter over spanish rice and served with garlic toast.
My daughter ordered their Black Bean soup
Traditional Cuban Black Bean soup with vegetable, bacon and beer. With grilled garlic toast and sour cream.
We partook of a couple of the house margarita’s
The atmosphere is casual/​family. The staff does a good job of getting well-​prepared food promptly to your table. The quality of the food is good. It’s hearty fare and easy-​going. Don’t expect inspiring aesthetic presentation, but do expect consistently good and interesting dishes at reasonable prices which will fill you up and give you something to take home for later.
The «House» margarita was every bit as tasty and as potent as the more «upscale» offerings. No skimping on ingredients and quite potent.
It was a good choice for some hearty winter fare and quiet enough for us to catch up on our day and what is going on in each other’s lives.
In warmer weather they have outdoor seating with a fire pit. Ample parking, and convenient location on route 12 between Leominster and Fitchburg, MA

Always good great staff. chef many many years in the business. Beef vegetable stew, great fish meals. different menu items.

I’m not sure why this place has so many bad reviews.
My wife and I used to go the Border Grill in Leominster which was the precursor to Happy Jacks. Unfortunately, the Border property was purchased by CVS who replaced it with yet another generic drugstore. Anyway, one of the owners went on to open HJ’s and I must admit in the early days it was pretty disappointing; the food was a shadow of the original and the portions were lacking. We gave it another couple of tries and then gave up on it and moved on to other places.
Last year we decided to give it another try and were really surprised; the place had completely changed. The food was excellent with good size portions and as a bonus, they also gave out free chips and salsa.
I usually have the steak fajitas and my wife has some salad thingy that she seems to really love. Their burgers are also really good too. The quality of the food is very consistent; some of the places we go to will be really good one week and not so great the next (are you listening Applebee’s), but HJ’s is solid no matter when we go.
Anyway, like I said, I’m not sure why there are so many bad reviews. I don’t really understand why people are not liking this place. I like it, my wife likes it and if it’s good enough for us, I’m guessing it will be good enough for you.

I made some notes while I was there and I was going to flush it out into a full review, but, really, my notes pretty much cover it:
Catfish claws bland.
Popcorn shrimp mediocre.
House salad okay. Desperate for tomatoes and no cucumber. A few onions. Seriously, it’s just a big pile of lettuce with two grape tomatoes and a handful of onions. Citrus vinaigrette excellent. Jerk chicken boring.
Service friendly and prompt.
Cute inside. Key-​Westy. Sort of.