Well-known chain restaurant and brewhouse sets opening date for Henrietta location
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse will open its first western New York location Monday, Sept. 4, at 760 Jefferson Road, Henrietta, a representative for the company said. (A soft opening for family and friends is happening Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 29 and 30, she said.)
The newly built 7,662-square-foot restaurant is in Market Square Plaza in a spot that for two decades was occupied by Romano’s Macaroni Grill, which closed early in the coronavirus pandemic, never reopened and in late 2022 was torn down to make way for BJ’s.
Based in Huntington Beach, California, BJ’s has just three other locations in New York state: Valley Stream, Long Island; Nanuet, about an hour’s drive north of Manhattan; and Colonie, just outside Albany.
The business has no relationship to BJ’s Wholesale Club warehouse stores.
It was founded in 1978 with one restaurant in Santa Ana, California, and has grown to more than 200 U.S. locations, which are company-owned, not franchised.
BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse menu
The BJ’s menu includes steaks and slow-roasted entrees, burgers, sandwiches, pasta dishes, pizza, a children’s menu and desserts.
Its most well-known dessert is a Pizookie, a cookie cut into pizza-like slices and topped with ice cream.
Currently, the online menu lists a Peanut Butter S’mores Pizookie, but the chain has offered numerous iterations over the years, including one made with Fruity Pebbles cereal.
Appetizers include regular and boneless chicken wings made with a variety of sauces and drizzled or served with ranch dressing.
Despite “Brewhouse” being part of the name, and the fact that BJ’s serves its own line of craft beers on tap, “This is not a restaurant that morphs into a bar at night,” company representative Jared Taylor told Henrietta officials in 2022, when the company was seeking approvals to operate. “This is absolutely a family establishment.”
The Henrietta BJ’s will sell packaged beer and wine for off-site consumption, too, he said. However, unlike at some other BJ's locations, no beer will be brewed on-site.
He added there will be no live entertainment. “No band, no dancing or anything like that,” he said.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday; 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
For more, go to bjsrestaurants.com.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse sets opening date for Henrietta NY location
