Restaurant Review - Janet's Hilltop Lounge & Restaurant

Janet's Hilltop Lounge & Restaurant

59 Maple Ave
South Grafton, MA 01560

(508) 839-6838

“I’ve found a new place,” the friend uttered in a whisper, “you have to try it.”

Why does everyone whisper places to try?  It’s like they want it to be a secret so nobody else knows.  It’s my observation the word quickly gets out on good places with the market determining if the place is good or not.

Janet's Hilltop Lounge & Restaurant is hardly new.  They’ve been around since 2004, and the place was known as Rick's Hilltop Lounge and Restaurant for decades previously.  That’s an important fact, since the sign out front still says Rick’s Hilltop.

One night after work, the Gotta-Eat guy, , and I headed over.  Bruce was back from a trip to the west coast, and we had to get caught up.  The last time we were out, ….so he had to drive it this beautiful late summer Wednesday evening.

Getting to Rick’s, er, Janet’s looked fairly easy on MapQuest…head over to Grafton's 122S, make a right on Depot and a left onto Maple.  One problem…there is a bridge on Depot running one way now.  So head over to 122S, make a right on Ferry, and then a right onto Maple.  Janet’s is on the left.

Entering the building, we were standing in and area reminiscent of my grandmother’s kitchen.  There was a young woman studying her AP History at a small table lit by a table lamp.  Asking her where to sit, she told us anywhere so we went into the dining room and grabbed a booth. 

The restaurant has a homey feel to it, a kind of local place where you’d be comfortable meeting local friends.  Our waitress was very friendly and engaging, immediately suggesting Buffalo Chicken Tenders as an appetizer.

While our appetizer was being prepared, we had the opportunity to meet the owner, Janet.  She told us she’d worked at Rick’s for 20 years, and when she took it over was going to just keep the same name.  Her friends began making menus and t-shirts with Janet’s name on them, so she decided to ease into renaming the place.  They pump out 220-240 dinners on a busy Friday night.

We asked her for dinner recommendations.  Any of the fried seafood was off limits, as the fresh seafood is delivered on Thursdays.  She did recommend ribs (“I make my own sauce”), lobster roll (served on a Kaiser roll (“no buttered hot dog bun here”) with a half-pound lobster), or mac and cheese (with sharp cheddar, Monterrey Jack, and Velveeta.)  Mom didn’t make her mac and cheese with Velveeta, so we opted for the ribs and the lobster roll.

The Buffalo Tenders we unremarkable chicken strips swimming in a Buffalo Chicken Sauce. There was no subtle flavoring here, the sauce smothered the chicken.

The ribs were of the baby back variety, albeit a bit fatty even for ribs.  They were cooked nicely, and fell off the bone.  The sauce was respectable, along the lines of a KC Masterpiece doctored up.  Suffice to say the folks at KC Masterpiece don’t need to worry about their BBQ sauce sales.  We didn’t finish the ½ rack of ribs.

The Kaiser roll was indeed carrying an enormous amount of lobster.  Sadly, the lobster was overcooked.  The combination of the very bready Kaiser roll and lobster didn’t work, so the roll got left behind.  A good dose of vinegar provided some much needed moisture for the entry.

Overall, getting to Janet’s was a bit of an adventure, and the homey feel and very nice wait staff made it interesting.  Overall the food was a disappointment.

So if you’re in the area, drop in….and don’t make a special trip.

Hours

Lunch

Wed                            11:30AM – 2PM
Thu, Fri, Sat                 11:30AM-4PM

Dinner
Wed                            5PM – 9PM
Thu, Sat                      4PM – 9PM
Fri                               4PM – 10PM

Lounge

Wed, Thu                     11:30AM – 11PM
Fri, Sat                        11:30AM – 1AM

Sun – Tue                     Closed

Janet's Hilltop Lounge & Restaurant gets an AMBER LIGHT – Use Caution

About the RAG scale:

       Green Light – Go and enjoy

       Amber Light – Use caution

       Red Light – Save your time and money

The Author

Gary Kelley has lived in Westborough since 1994. His reviews are what he would tell friends, and are not an academic analysis. You can follow him @glkelley or www.garylkelley.com