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View the
Claim Jumper, Monrovia Menu
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Restaurants: Claim Jumper
Where: 820 W. Huntington Dr., Monrovia
Phone: (626) 359-0463
Reservations: Not required
Cocktails: Full cocktail service
Service: Full table service
Atmosphere: Casual
Outdoor Dining: Yes
Credit Cards: MC, AMEX, Visa, Discover,
Debit Cards (with Visa or MC logo only)
Kid’s Menu: Yes
Senior Discount: No
Hours: 11-10 weekdays, 11 – 11 weekends
Food to Go: Yes
Catering Menu: Yes
Price Range: $4.00 - $23.50, avg. $10 -
$15 |
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Claim
Jumper Monrovia is at 820 W. Huntington Dr. |
The
Produce Bar has a wide selection, just a portion of which is shown above |
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Garlic cheese toast appetizer, with marinara sauce |
Blue
cheese wedge appetizer |
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Pot
pie is served with fresh fruit |
Gold
Rush Chicken |
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Meat
Loaf dinner |
Chocolate, chocolate chip cheesecake |
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DOT COM DINING
A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Claim Jumper Monrovia Carries on CJ Chain Tradition of Good Food, Good
Servce, Good Portions, Good Quality
By Bill Coburn
I go back a long way with Claim
Jumper restaurants, longer than I really care to admit. My first connection
with Claim Jumpers was when there were only two or three stores in what is now a
chain of more than 35 restaurants in six states, with stores scheduled to open
in November in Tucson, AZ and in early 2005 in Lynwood WA. In fact, I used to
bus tables, and then wait tables, with the guy that now runs the whole CJ kit
and kaboodle, COO Robert Ott. It was at a different restaurant chain, also
known for quality and consistency, but that chain’s policies and procedures have
definitely been ingrained into how CJ’s has operated over the last 25+ years.
Now I have to admit, usually my
restaurant spotlights aren’t about the chain stores that do millions of dollars
a year at one location. But, since Claim Jumper is on the San Gabriel Valley
Menus website, which is the source of all the spotlights I do, they have as much
right to be written up as anyone. To those of you who’ve eaten at CJ’s, and I’m
sure there are many of you, you don’t need to read any further. You already
know how good the food and service is, and you’ll surely be going back anyway,
without paying any attention to my humble opinion. For those few of you who
haven’t stopped by to try the place out, read on. Or not, if you’re not into
details, since I can sum it up quite easily – consistently good food,
consistently good service, consistently oversized portions, consistent attention
to detail, you’re gonna like it.
For those of you still reading,
I’ve eaten at Claim Jumpers many times. The subject of this spotlight, the
Monrovia store, has a reputation, as does the chain, for the same adjectives I
discussed above, i.e, consistently good food, consistently good service,
oversized portions, attention to detail. I’ve eaten at Monrovia Claim Jumper
several times, and have found the same superior quality every time I’ve eaten
there that I’ve found in the other CJ locations I’ve tried over the years.
Now I don’t know if the chain
still does things as they did them years ago, but I know that I still find the
same quality food and service I found back then, so I suspect they do. When I
applied as a waiter in the 1980s, I was confronted with about a 30-page manual,
and was told I would have to pass a test on that manual, including awareness of
the ingredients of each menu item, cooking times for these items, etc. Most
restaurants don’t require so much of their employees. But Claim Jumper did, and
that’s why they were able to consistently provide quality service from employees
who knew volumes about the items they were serving.
We’ve tried many items on the
menu. Their produce (read salad) bar is always fresh, well stocked, and of
superior quality, and can be added to your entree for a reasonable extra
charge. Their soups are always excellent, I know I’ve tried their French onion,
their baked potato cheddar, and their New England chowder. We’ve also tried
the Loaded Skins appetizer and the Garlic Cheese Toast appetizer, and enjoyed
them both. The garlic toast in particular had the right crunch, the right
softness, and the right combination of garlic and cheese, one of the better
Garlic Cheese Toasts I’ve had, and there was lots of it.
Keelan had the chicken
pot pie, served with fresh fruit, and was quite impressed. He’s not had many
pot pies, but said this one was as good as the one that has always been his
favorite. Katie had the Gold Rush Chicken, a fresh
double chicken breast topped with a rich sour cream mushroom and onion sauce and
Mozzarella cheese. Served with mashed potatoes and buttermilk biscuit, there was
lots of good food, so lots of it came home, and she’ll do a lunch leftover thing
with it, too. She also added the blue cheese wedge appetizer for just $2.50,
and raved about it.
I had
the meat loaf dinner. This had to be about 10 oz. of meat loaf,
made with
fresh ground chuck, pork, mild onions, green peppers, served with mashed
potatoes and gravy. It also came with a buttermilk biscuit. These biscuits are
incredible, by the way, huge, light, fluffy, and delicious.
We’ve tried
many different items on various visits to Claim Jumpers, and have never been
disappointed. We’ve had the Frisco burger, the regular hamburger, the
baby-back ribs, the chicken and noodles pasta, the baked ham sandwich.
Everything we’ve ever tried has been good, never had a complaint.
I just spoke
with the manager of the Monrovia store, who informed me that today’s employees
are held to the same standard applicable at the time I was trying to get onboard
years ago, i.e., huge manual, pass the test, etc.. And that philosophy in place
then, and apparently still in place now, seems to be similar to the one that Rob
and I worked with at that other restaurant back in the seventies, based on the
fact that everything was good, and done well, but you didn’t know why. People
who eat at Claim Jumpers don’t have to know HOW the restaurant works, only THAT
it works, because the people who work there work together to ensure that the
details of the operations of the restaurant aren’t obvious, and don’t interfere
with your ability to enjoy a memorable, quality service, quality food
experience. The details are going on, but you don’t realize it. You just know
you had a good time, good food, and good service. To give you an example,
while I was there I visited the men's room. The men's room was amazingly
clean, the mirror was spotless, every inch of tile looked like it had just been
polished, not even a drop of water on the sink counter. But I didn't find
a tacky sign-in sheet on the back of the door telling me the name of the unlucky
busboy who's job it was to check the room every hour to make sure it was kept
clean. I didn't know how it was made clean, or who made it clean, only
that it was clean.
Anyway, I
recommend the Claim Jumper. It’s good food and good service, today, the way it
used to be done when I first began to appreciate what made a quality restaurant.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a
restaurant website featuring dozens of restaurant’s menus, as well as
downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant
business, and has been eating for much longer than that. |
