The Mason Jar

My wife and I took a lunch date to The Mason Jar yesterday. The hostess/waitress/bartender/manager was delightful and took care of us. We ordered the pimento balls for an appetizer and they were tasty. They weren't to greasy and the jam on them gave them a different dimension. I got the meatloaf and it was good. The mashed potatoes could have used some help on taste, but the broccoli was good and the onion rings were as well. My wife got the chicken salad sandwich. I had a bite and it was good. It could have been elevated by adding maybe pecans to it for some crunch. We'd go back for another meal.

The name Mason Jar suggests a southern style, be it in the ambiance or the food, this place misses on both. On our first visit my wife and I went in for lunch. The decor is nondescript not leaning in any particular direction. The menu offered appetizers that averaged about 12 to 13$ Salads averaged 14 to 15$ brunch classics and sandwiches average 15 to 16. The lunch plates start at 20$ for chicken and waffles and top out at 35$ for crab cakes. I was looking at the lunch plate meat loaf with two sides (broccoli and mashed potatoes) for 22$, but I just couldn't do it knowing I could get lunch meatloaf at Cracker Barrel for 8.95 with two sides, and you get to pick from about 12 different sides. I ordered from the brunch classics, Ham Benedict - described as English muffin with country ham, two poached eggs and hollandaise. My wife ordered from that section as well getting the Biscuits and Gravy. On mine the country ham was a single very thin slice of deli ham not what we know as country ham. One egg was slightly under done with a running egg white and the hollandaise was lemon forward but not bad. My wife's biscuits and gravy had a poor quality sausage and the gravy was not a milk based creamy sauce but an off yellow thin sauce. It was served over home fries and most of the gravy ended up in the bottom of the bowl rendering the home fries soggy. I didn't volunteer any feedback at the time nor were we asked how things were. We drank water and spent 43$ for lunch. They may have better food on the menu but we will never find out as we won't be back.

Extremely high hopes and totally sad about this place. First.. super slow service.... like turtle slow. Grossed out by watching the severs pick up the limes & lemons with their fingers without even washing the hands first. Watched this 8-10 times within a 15 minute span. Floor dirty and had to wipe off the chair before sitting down. Food was just ok. For the price point I was expecting the level of quality and quantity similar to the Egg Bistro or First Watch. Zero desire to go back.

First time trying this place since it opened! Bailey was our bartender and was fantastic! The place was low key & southern ambiance which I loved, with two large tvs behind the bar and a couple beers on tap. We opted to go with cocktails which ranged from $10-$13. All were fantastic! The Raspberry Lemonade was my favorite followed by the blueberry crush. The pb&j and the bourbon margarita were okay, don't think I'd order them again though. The pimento cheese fritters were fantastic! Light & airy with delicious breading allowing the cheese to shine without overpowering. One thing I'd recommend is having an option for tortilla chips with the dip, as my wife can't eat gluten so we opted not to get the pimento dip to share (which we really wanted to do). Excited to come back and try a full meal but it was an awesome place to visit and glad to have a new nice place near our house, we will definitely be back

The first visit here over the weekend was a bit of a mixed bag. Upon arriving, we had to figure out where the door to go inside actually was. There are two sets of doors, but neither had the restaurant info on it (tinted windows make it even harder to figure out). I highly recommend adding it to the entry door to clarify which one people should be entering. Get that logo and hours up there, pretty please!There was no wait, so that was great. However, once we were seated we waited no less than 15 minutes before someone came to our table. Our server was lovely, though. She was really personable and checked on us often from there on out. Once we ordered our food, we waited for almost 45 minutes for our food to come out. The hubs was not happy - he was angry (and that's not pretty, folks).The hubs liked the flavor of his shrimp and grits, but there were only three small shrimp. Fortunately, I had plenty of food on my plate to get an assist with my Chicken & Waffles. The waffle had good flavor but was slightly on the dense side (to be fair, I am SUPER picky about waffles). I got butter to soften it up, but it came out melted, which I found a little strange. The fried chicken, however, was PERFECT - nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked. I had a blueberry crush, which was pretty tasty, but slightly lacked in the alcohol content.The prices here are on the high side. It was $72 for two people to have brunch. For a brunch that pricy, I expect to be blown away (at least give me more shrimp in the Shrimp and Grits and a better alcohol balance in a mixed drink). We're definitely interested in some of the other menu items that looked amazing flying by us while we hungrily waited for our food. But we'll likely skip some of the higher-priced items and the drinks. We'll also probably wait a little while to return so the staff gets a better footing in the daily ins and outs. We've needed something like this in the area. I'm hoping it only gets better from here.

The Mason Jar restaurant is now open at 141 Kempsville Road, near Greenbrier Road in the heart of Chesapeake. They offer classic Southern Breakfast items and they are open for Lunch and Dinner as well. Some of the offerings include Southern fried chicken as well as Shrimp and Grits!They really know how to treat their customers with Southern hospitality.

New place that is figuring it way. Service was a little slow, but super friendly and we weren't in a rush. But took some time to get water as there were no more cups. And our server forgot my husband's coffee but we were charged for it. But we didn't say or complain. We shared mine and paid for it since we got a refill. The spicy bloody was delicious. Would have liked the bacon to be crispy. Coffee was good and loved the cups with the little personal creamer.My bagel sandwich was delicious. And the house potatoes were fire!!!! So make sure you get house potatoes.Wish I took photos of everyone's food. We were a big party of 7 adults and 4 kids. The biscuits and gravy are not your traditional kind. My neighbor had no complaints and ate it all! My husband and kids got pancakes. They were a bit thick and dry. We will be trying this place again outside of breakfast items. The place is so close to our house, very cute and the friendly staff was amazing!!

The service was good, the food was good, the atmosphere was nice. Got the monte cristo and it was delicious. Went back again got the chicken and waffles, was great.

Excellent food, service and friendly folks. They are having a soft opening right now, but everything is on point. They have a portobello burger, a homemade chicken salad sandwich plus breakfast food and complete dinners like ribs or crab cakes. We will be back to sample more of their great food!

Disappointing. This was my 3rd time eating at the Mason Jar. The first two times were fantastic, including the food and service. However, I couldn't help but speak my mind after this last visit. I tried to order a club and they said they were out, which was fine, so I ordered a BLT with grilled chicken instead and my accompanying family ordered fried chicken sandwiches. We waited over 30 minutes for our food to come out, mind you the restaurant was empty with maybe 2 other tables and a few solos at the bar. Once the orders came out, both fried chicken sandwiches were overcooked. The waitress made a mistake and brought out a 3rd fried chicken sandwich instead of my BLT with grilled chicken, which was also fine, but I reminded her that I ordered something else. She apologized, took it back, and said that the cook was starting my order again. Perfect, no problem at all. She returned once again with "another" sandwich less than 10 minutes later. I quote "another" because it was the exact same sandwich she had brought out before, but this time the fried batter had been picked off, leaving remnants of it along the edges and on some other parts. I was shocked and confused as to why anyone would do this other than being lazy. The sandwich itself was plain and flavorless, and not to mention it was also $20!I'm usually not one to complain, but that is a little ridiculous. I'm certain the restaurant would make it another day if another chicken breast had been used and cooked properly. Fortunately, I don't have any allergies or another major reason as to why I ordered a grilled sandwich versus a fried one, but I'm very disappointed. I'm not sure I'll ever be back, but I hope that others have a better experience than I did.