Restaurant Review - Not Your Average Joe's

Not Your Average Joe’s

291 Turnpike Road (Rte. 9)
Westborough, MA 01581

Phone: (508) 986-2350

Generally, I’m not a fan of chain restaurants. Applebees, Chilis, Bertuccis….hmmm, maybe it’s anything ending sounding like “ease” I don’t like. Actually, I’m not a fan of Olive Garden either, and that doesn’t end in “ease,” so that can’t be it.

Intending to go to the Indian restaurant on Route 9 (recommended by Bruce Tretter), my business partner and I steered to Not Your Average Joe’s for lunch when the target restaurant was closed for the holiday.

Entering the restaurant, I was struck by the nice decorating, warm colors, and general good vibe of the place. 

As we sat down, my partner declared, “I heard this is one of those places where everything is frozen, and all they do is nuke it in the back. I can read the review now, ‘The bread with the parmesan cheese and garlic olive oil was a meal unto itself.’”

Gee, I hope not.

So when the bread with the parmesan cheese and the really tasty garlic olive oil was served, we asked Gail if this was a microwave place. Gail was aghast, “Everything is prepared here daily, including the bread. It is all fresh.”

Hold on…a chain of 17 restaurants serving fresh food?

We went through the menu and quickly found some options.

My buddy went with a “sweet blue burger”," with blue cheese, country bacon, caramelized onions and arugula. I was in the mood for something to warm me up on the frigid day and selected the “sourdough grilled cheese & tomato basil soup – ‘grafton village cheddar and swiss cheese with a Vidalia onion and roasted jam’ with a cup of ‘creamy tomato basil soup.’” 

“I hope you like onions,” cautioned Gail.

We were at Not Your Average Joe’s midafternoon, and the place was still busy.  Not bad for a Monday holiday.

According to their website, Not Your Average Joe’s was founded in 1994 by Stephen Silverstein, a former CPA and clothing retailer. He wanted to create a concept of creative casual cuisine. Based on Middleborough, with 17 stores in MA and northern VA, the average check is $18, with a 30/70 lunch/dinner split.  Alcohol is 20% of their business.

The food was very good. The burger was a drip down your arm style, tasty while challenging to eat. The accompanying salad would have been better separated from the burger juice.

The grilled cheese was tasty, with the sourdough bread being quite firm. The tomato soup was very thick and hot, welcomed on a cold day.

Overall, our lunch was quite good, and you could imagine the location would have a nice evening crowd.

So if you are heading out on Route 9, Not Your Average Joe’s is better than average.

Hours

Mon: 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
Tues: 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
Wed: 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
Thur: 11:30 am - 10:00 pm
Fri: 11:30 am - 10:00 pm
Sat: 11:30 am - 10:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Not Your Average Joe’s  gets a GREEN LIGHT – Go and enjoy.

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