CJ’s Grill

This is our 2^nd time here. The hostess was nowhere to be seen when we walked in. When she finally deigned to make an appearance, we couldn’t help but notice that she was dressed in appallingly inappropriate attire for an «upscale» (based on the prices only) restaurant (short-​shorts & tank top). We chose this restaurant based on the menu online. We were specifically looking for soup and dessert. When we asked about soup, the waitress said «Oh we don’t have any soup today.» We then inquired about desserts. The waitress listed 2 types of homemade doughnuts, ice cream and sorbet, but told us that the sorbet might already be sold out. The last time we went to this establishment, the situation was the same. They were sold out of half the menu items. No wonder the parking lot was half empty during the peak dinner time. The word must be getting out: Don’t waste your time at this amateurish excuse for an eating establishment.

Great food, great service, friendly staff. Best burger in town. We ordered the battle burger and the classic burger. Both were excellent, juicy and were served on a yummy pretzel bun!
We will definitely be back again!

This place is awesome. Great wine, delicious steak and lots of tasty appetizers to choose from. It’s fairly priced and our waitress Stephanie was very cheerful and attentive. I’ll definitely head back next time I am shredding the gnar in Mammoth!!!

By far the best meal I’ve had in mammoth in the past five years. We decided to try it after being disappointed three nights in a row at other local eateries. Food was excellent, service was superb. Simple menu but well done. Please support this place so it succeeds. Coconut shrimp was to die for. Best Cesar dressing I’ve had in a while. Steak perfectly cooked. I can’t wait to come back.

Diverse menu with excellent burgers and chef-​crafted items. Great for lunch or dinner, and usually not as busy as other restaurants along Old Mammoth Road. See if you can sit by the fire in the winter, or the front windows or deck in the summer. Really good food, but can be pricey like many restaurants along the OMR row.
Like everything in Mammoth, it’s a bit pricey for a burger but better than Burgers in my humble opinion. Good competition for the best burger in town!

Good food, fast service. Seated us and our friends, including our (combined) 6 kids without a problem. Kids’ menu includes quality food, not the typical throwaway stuff often served to kids.

This review is actually 3.5 stars. Rounded up this time due to nice service.
CJ Grill has very basic but good food. I started with the pretzel bits with a honey mustard sauce as well as a jalapeño sauce. The pretzel bits were good but the sauces were only so-​so. For dinner I had the chicken pot pie which came with side of steamed carrots/​broccoli and a side Caesar salad. The pot pie was very good but it would have been nice to do something different with the side veggies than a straight steam. A little somethin’-somethin’ to spice it up some would have made the pot pie pop more.
There was a good selection of wine and beer and as I mentioned above, service was good (one server for the whole place! She was busy!). Décor-​wise, this place needs a little step up. The furniture is from the 90’s at the latest.
CJ’s could be a real 4 star place with just a little step up in a few areas…

The worst experience I ever had in my life!!! We were waiting 30 min and the the idiot in the front tells us that they are booked for the night.
Never going backkkkk

We were super excited to try this restaurant — the website and menu looked amazing. However, it was marginal at best. The staff was rude, slow, and tired. The food wasn’t good. The dining room was littered with dirty empty tables that needed bussing. I sadly can’t recommend this restaurant when there are so many other good spots in Mammoth. Get your act together CJ’s.

The fish and chips were disappointing. Serving size was big but the fish lacked flavor and my husband agreed. The chips were great though.

Went with friends on a Friday night for dinner. Everything was delicious. Some great drinks we ordered were the regular sangria and the muled wine. We had a table by the fire place and the service was great. We were seated within 10 minutes.

I decided to give them a second chance and their kitchen is still very slow. It took 45 minutes after we ordered to get our food and we didn’t get our appetizer for a long time because the order got messed up. The sirloin steak, once it arrived, was very tough and rubbery. Then the icing on the cake was that the lava cake, which they say should be ordered early, arrived in the middle of the main course.

We went to CJs on a Thursday afternoon for lunch. First thing we noted was our group of five was only given one menu along with the comment, «Sorry, we seem to be out of menus.» That did not bode well for our meal because the restaurant was basically empty, but we still tried to keep a positive attitude.
Another waiter walked by in a few minutes and handed us two more menus, along with the same comment. So much for first impressions.
Our waitress was pleasant, gave us water and took our order. We ordered fish and chips (no complaints), a turkey panini (slightly dry and flavorless), two orders of fish tacos (lacked flavor) and served with an awful tasting cole slaw that neither customer in our group could eat. I had a regular burger, cooked medium well, advertised with a chipotle mayo (which was not visible on the bun, so I asked for more). I sat waiting while the waitress cleaned other tables and served water to other patrons as they entered… because she forgot me. If someone is waiting to take a bite of their food, please serve them quickly.
I’m rating three stars only because it wasn’t terrible, but we do not plan on returning.

We like CJ’s and will come back again.
Con’s — the tri-​tip was a little on the dry side and could have used a boost with some aujour.
Caesar was very good, but my bowl was warm rather than chilled.
Pro’s — Salads were delicious — Caesar and house salad with strawberry dressing
Battle of the Burger was great and I would order it again.
Fries were very good if you like the thick cut rustic fries.
Good service and nice atmosphere.

The food here was surprisingly good! We had just gotten into Mammoth for the weekend and was starving after a 5 hour drive. We were having some difficulty finding a place on Unilocal,but we finally agreed on CJ. it was definitely a good choice. The service was great, we were greeted by the hostess right away.
We ordered coconut shrimp as an appetizer and I ordered the buffalo chicken caesar wrap. The coconut shrimp was really amazing, and I totally didn’t expect that.
The shrimp was cooked perfectly, and that is something really hard to find! It wasn’t all over cooked and rubbery. I’ve eaten a lot of coconut shrimp where they mix the coconut in with the breading. This one was different, the breading was pretty much all coconut shavings! The chutney sauce it came with was also perfect for the shrimp. After that delicious ape i was excited about my wrap.
The wrap came in two pieces with a homemade apple sauce. I wasn’t a huge fan of the apple sauce. I can tell it was homemade and likely better in a pie. I also just wasn’t feeling the vibe of pairing the apple sauce with a wrap. I had asked the wrap go easy on the caesar sauce, but I don’t think that was done, but that doesn’t change that i really enjoyed the wrap! The combination of the buffalo chicken and caesar salad was very tasty. They didn’t skimp on the chicken and the tortilla was decent. It’s no homemade ones like we get in San Diego, but it wasn’t terrible.
I will mention that apparently CJ’s grill won the mammoth burger challenge. I thought about ordering it because it definitely sounded amazing, but I was trying to save my calories. Had I been with my significant other, I would have asked him to order it so I could have a taste! It’s ok though, I’ll wait till next time because I am going to come back!

Great food, great service.
Wife got gluten free pasta with sun dried tomatoes and olives, and I got chicken with artichokes and capers. Both were excellent.
The kids food was great too, especially cinnamon applesauce (made in store!) chicken tenders were good and so were sauces.
Bill for two adults and two kids, though, was $ 70, and that was with a special offer that gave us free kids meals.

Stopped at CJ’s Saturday for dinner. Had been fishing all day and really were looking for a nice meal. I was not disappointed. The food was good, our server recommended a great wine, in all a very good experience.
The pretzel bites were exceptional, everything that was promised. Fresh, not too salty, mane the dip was great. Our steaks were good, not great, but certainly acceptable. The only weak spot was the salad. It wasn’t bad, just not as fresh as I would have liked.
The cost was on the higher side, but not out of line at all. What really set the experience apart was the service, it was very pleasant and attentive. Cary was our server and we never wanted for attention as she took care of a busy room. The food runners made sure our orders were served hot and to the right table.
In all, I’ll likely be back when I find myself in Mammoth.

Came here for lunch. The place was super quiet. Server was very friendly.
We ended up ordering a Rueben, which was nice. Nice pumpernickel bread and a dressing. Pretty standard Rueben which is a good thing. I added a side pea green salad (no crab), but was still very tasty, have also had it with the crab and it is pretty good. I’d recommend the salad over the sando, but overall a good experience.
We’ve also been here for dinner, kids like it so much that we’ve been back 2 days in a row. The most popular dish amongst the family is the petite serloin which is cooked nicely and is a decent price. Only complaint from one is that it is slightly salty, but the fam is used to low sodium. Another hit is the mac and cheese, which are pasta shells.
Also had the italian salad which is as advertised. Maybe a little heavy on the dressing, but that’s easy to fix as a customer. I really like the caesar which uses wheat routons
Staff is super friendly.

Ate dinner here on 12÷22÷14. Bumped into husband’s former co-​worker and family and booked a last minute dinner here for a group of 9 the day of, through Opentable.
We were greeted with friendly hostess and server. Ordered a couple bottles of wine for 4 adults (1 red & 1 white), while the 5 driving teens stuck with soda.
Adults started with Ahi. Good, but after skiing all day, everything tastes good. Heard the Wedge salad was good. The chicken pot pies were a big hit with several in our party. I had the Petite Sirloin, medium rare; standard. Other’s in our party had New York Strip and had the same response. No complaints and no leftovers.
Best part, as the wine was drunk, our group got very loud and boisterous and staff were friendly. We were the last to leave and they were friendly to the end.

This place has super warm staff and a wonderfully cozy interior. My bf and I shared only some small bites since we had been snacking beforehand but these items were delicious!
1. hot cocoa — an awesome amount of whipped cream over perfectly steaming cocoa that’s not too sweet
2. pretzel bits — as good as all the other reviews have noted! extremely pillowy and without the large salt crystals which I personally find overbearing
3. fried cheesecake — I think the flavor of the cheesecake changes from time to time but when I went, it was egg nog with a small side of actual eggnog and whipped cream. The fried part was super crispy and crunchy and when dipped in the eggnog, was most amazingly tasty. I’ve never had fried cheesecake before so I wasn’t expecting the cheesecake itself to be a little warm and almost cake-​like in texture as opposed to creamy. Nonetheless, it created great textual contrast with the crunchy exterior.
Great experience!