Downtown Joe's Review
Dinner: Sat & Sun: 5:00pm - 12:00am
Downtown Joe's food
Downtown Joe's food actually tries to be a bit more upscale even for something that's primarily viewed as a bar or brewery. I've had their burgers before, and they seemed fine in the "BIG BURGER" sort of way although a bit pricey. Some of the other dishes that we've had were just sort of ok to meh.
Here are some pics from another visit. The dish below is the rosemary polenta with Italian sausage. It's labeled as a ragu, but I don't remember seeing any meat in the sauce. The mushroom reduction had a bit of a kick to it. Polenta cakes were fine. Without the sausage, it might've made for a good vegetarian meal (assuming there wasn't any meat in the ragu...) We had it on a cold night; so it hit the spot then. It might actually be the best Downtown Joe's dish we've had.
Below is the New York Strip Sandwich which is an 8 oz NY strip on a french roll with marinated red onions and blue cheese and beer battered fries. This one was disappointing, particularly for $18.50. I can't tell if the onions and blue cheese just totally overpowered the meat, or if the meat wasn't seared or seasoned enough to bring out the caramelized salty, meaty goodness of a good steak, but you really couldn't taste the meat much.
Downtown Joe's setting and service
We've been to Downtown Joe's about 3 times, I think. The first time the service was lackluster. The second time it was just plain bad. It's not like they were rude or anything, but you got lost in the shuffle. They'd be way too slow in getting back to you to take your order, the order itself, getting the check, etc. once they got any sort of volume of customers.
It's hard to get my wife to go, but I like checking back in on restaurants every now and then. When we went the 3rd time, the service was fine, but there weren't a lot of people there either so it's not like hurdle rate was particularly high. *shrug*. We can deal with bad service if the food can make up for it, but Downtown Joe's isn't one of those sort of places.
Downtown Joe's does have one of the better downtown locations in Napa in that it's right next to the amphitheater downtown which frequently has something going on so it can fill up. During the summer, the outdoor seating and the enclosed terrace overlooking the river and amphitheater is probably nice in the spring.
During the week, you'll see locals stop in to watch Monday Night Football or whatever. Sometimes, it seems much more like a bar than a place to eat. This is good or bad depending on what sort of mood you're in.
Price of our meal
2 entrees, 1 glass of wine, tax, tip = $54
Downtown Joe's is on the pricey side for what you get, particularly when you factor in the service. But if you want that brewery feel downtown (gee, that's not too specific, is it?), maybe it's the place to go for you.
Other Downtown Joe's reviews and links