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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
Had a particularly hectic week, and didn’t get a
chance to get a review done this week, so please enjoy the following from the
“Best of Dot Com Dining” collection, originally printed in early October, 2004.
I go back a long way with Claim Jumper restaurants,
longer than I really care to admit. My first connection with Claim Jumper 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 defintiely 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.
Anyway, I
recommend Claim Jumper. It’s good food and good service, today, the way it used
to be done when I first began to understand quality restaurants.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website
featuring more than 160 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. |
