"Encouraging Others to Wallow in Gluttony!"
Written: Jul 19 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Giant portions, good salad bar, full bar, great selection
Cons: Giant portions, boring prepared salads, often quite a wait
The Bottom Line: Better-than-decent food at slightly expensive prices justify an occasional trip, but not regular dining.
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| dequebec's Full Review: Claim Jumper |
(for those who have not seen the musical Oliver, please forgive the title)
With the possible exception of Buca di Beppo, no Southern California restaurant is better known for ridiculous food portions than Claim Jumper. Be aware that on your first trip to Claim Jumper, your eyes will widen as your plate arrives at the table and you exclaim, "O my goodness...I can't believe its so big." But nobody ever seems to mention food quality. Does CJ taste measure up?
In college, my buddies enthusiastically voiced their preference for Claim Jumper over other "expensive, sit-down restaurants." When asking them about this preference, they responded, "Because...they give you, like, enough food for a week. You should see the chocolate cake!"
Despite this glowing recommendation from college students, I did not visit Claim Jumpers until last year. The event was a "ladies night out" for the women in our family; about 12 of us attended. This ended up being key for entertainment-we laughed at one another as our giant plates were progessively presented, 2 by 2.
Claim Jumper is, in fact, a restaurant best enjoyed by groups of people. The theme centers around a miners paradise, complete with a wood and iron decor. The menus are printed on "old-looking" brown papers, with pictures of men who look like forty-niners. The 3 Claim Jumpers I have been in also have a bar area. Thus, one should not expect a quiet, romantic environment...it gets a bit loud and is meant to facilitate a good ole time.
Appetizers
Complete with several options for different taste, the breadth of the menu can compete with that of Jerry's Deli. Start your group off with an appetizer, and be sure to share. Some interesting choices are offered on the appetizer menu, such as a soft pretzel, rotisserie chicken and tortillas, mini burgers, and cheese potatocakes (which are quite good and the most popular appetizer). The quesadillas surprised me: full of flavor and the right amount of spice, the quesadillas consist of avocado, chicken, tomato, black beans, and onions between corn tortillas. Of course, you get order typical choices such as onion rings, buffalo wings, potato skins, and nachos.
Soups and Salads
Here in California, many people opt for salads when choosing lunch. After a while, the same old cobb salad gets boring, and health salad-eaters feel left out of the eating fun during lunch. Unfortunately, Claim Jumper features only one interesting salad: a beefsteak tomato with mozzerella cheese and red onion. Other than that, the salads (chopped cobb, barbeque chicken, caesar) are standard and nothing above average. My chopped chinese chicken salad was edible but could have been (much more cheaply) purchased at a coffee house.
What? You say that you still want a salad? Go for the salad bar. Complete with all the add-ins you hope for in a salad bar, Claim Jumper has the one feature required of a great salad bar: a freezer with chilled plates. A salad is so much more satisfying when served on an icy silver platter! A separate kiosk chills the dressings. Very nice!
The potato cheese soup is quite satisfying and resembles a corn chowder in its consistency. It arrives very hot in a stylish triangular bowl. This is a tasty choice and can be enjoyed by itself or with a salad. I wouldn't order it before a meal because you will be full to make a dent in your lunch or dinner. Other soup choices are tortilla and clam chowder (in a sourdough bowl).
Sandwiches
If you order a sandwich, don't expect to be able to eat it the traditional way (placing both pieces of bread and the filling in your mouth). These are so thick that you may need to use a knife and fork, or eat them as open-faced sandwiches. The chicken salad sandwich with cashews was not bad, but again nothing extraordinary. The squaw bread was tasty, and the chunks of chicken were large cubes.
Dinner Choices
The dinner menu offers several traditional items such as meatloaf, steaks, and ribs. My dinner companions have always seemed reasonably happy with their choices. What is really cool is being able to custom tailor your side-dishes. You choose one item from each category: Soup or salad, sides, and breads. These choices include mashed potatoes, cheese potatocakes, apple muffins, garlic toast, and the beefsteak salad. I appreciate this flexibility.
Dessert and Drinks
I have never once had room for dessert. I think that one would need to come to the restaurant JUST for dessert, or take it home with them. $7 will get you a giant piece of "the motherload" chocolate cake; other choices are carrot cake, bread pudding, and mud pie. Sometime I will have to go with pals to try the sampler plate.
Claim Jumper has an impressive full bar. Any drink you could want is available. Better yet is the assortment of non-alcoholic drinks for those of us driving- you can order many fun coffee and fruit drinks such as a virgin Mai Tai. Also available is a variety of smoothies and ice cream drinks.
Other Information
Getting a table for lunch is no problem; be prepared to wait for a dinner table. Even with a reservation, I waited 10 minutes. People usually can be seen standing all around the restaurant when waiting. Be prepared to spend more money that you would expect for similar-quality food. The restaurant justifies the price by the portions, but this bothers me. One should be able to go to a restaurant and purchase 1 meal without purchasing dinner for a week. Some of us don't like leftovers or are not in a position to use a "doggy bag." What usually goes on here is overeating and waste.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dequebec
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Member: Jennifer
Location: los angeles, CA
Reviews written: 131
Trusted by: 118 members
About Me:
No longer an editor, thanks a bunch Nirav.
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