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Isleton Joe's
Category: Restaurants American (Traditional) American (Traditional) [Edit]
212 2nd StIsleton, CA 95641
(916) 777-6510
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
17 reviews for Isleton Joe's
17 reviews in English
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Review from Laura A.
South San Francisco, CA
1/25/2012
We attended a wedding at the Grand Island Mansion on the day of the NFC Championship. There was no way we were going to make it back to SF before kickoff. On our way up we saw this restaurant and decided this is where we were going.
At first, we were a little hesitant walking in with two older locals hanging out outside, but they were nice and said hello. We walked in, confirmed they were showing the game, then went out to car to change out of our "wedding clothes" and into our Niner gear!
Everyone was very welcoming. We enjoyed ourselves. Had some great food and watched our team lose. =(
It was a great experience though! Hoping we have another even out there soon so we can go back! -
Review from David W.
Brentwood, CA
7/2/2011
They have a few crucial things:
A patio.
Cold beverages.
Decent food.
People who bring you said things.
The service was fine, the food was good, and yes if stared at the locals they would make you feel uncomfortable. Just like any other small town place. Don't believe the negative hype, come here and get a crawdad melt or sandwich and you won't be disappointed. The melt i had was a perfect size and the sandwich my wife had was gigantic. The calamari was great too, not greasy but full of flavor. Our waitress checked on us numerous times and we didn't feel sick when we left.
If you come on a Saturday, they may have music on the patio like they did when we came.
All in all, it was a great time and we enjoyed the small town feel. We will definitely come back! -
Review from Michelle W.
Brentwood, CA
7/25/2011
Went with the family to explore and have some crawdads. It was a little intemidating walking in the door, but once we sat down we were very comfortable. We sat outside to listen to the live band and enjoy the weather. Like Dave said get the melt and the crawdad sandwich. Our 4 year old loved the calamari which wasn't greasy at all.
Pricing was good
Parking, just down the street
Food, good
We will be back! -
Review from Jackie S.
Pleasant Hill, CA
6/20/2010
We went to Isleton to go to the Crawdad Festival today for Father's Day, but unfortunately they moved it to Redding. We saw that Isleton Joe's served crawdads and it looked like it could be a fun and funky little place to stop so we went there.
It was a bit busy (a lot of people didn't realize that the Crawdad festival is now in Redding), but there were tables available and it was a seat yourself arrangement. It seemed like it was going to be pretty cool because a band was setting up to play. It pretty much went downhill from there.
There were two unsmiling waitresses who seemed to be having an "avoid eye contact with the customers" contest. They would go to the tables that they had served, but after they were done with them would turn and walk eyes down back into the restaurant. I swear it was purposeful so as to not have to serve the new tables.
After about 30 minutes a new younger unsmiling waitress came on shift and started taking orders from the tables around us. We had made some friendly conversation with one of the tables that she took an order from so when she started to head back inside the restaurant without taking our orders they pointed us out. She then came over and we jokingly told her that we had thought we sat at the table of invisibility for a moment. She laughed and apologized and took our drink and food order. We thought things would get better after that. WRONG!!!
She disappeared for about 20 minutes and then started taking food to people, but refused to make eye contact with us. After about another
15 minutes she brought out my friend's drink, but not mine. She set it down on the table without looking at us and walked away. She finally returned with my drink about 10 minutes later.
By then we had been sitting there for over an hour and she had brought out drinks, but not our soup or food. Another 10 minutes went by and we saw her bring a bucket of crawdads to a table that had arrived after us. We got up and left.
The food looked good from what I could see (I was pretty much starving at this point), but the service was TERRIBLE. Terrible, terrible, terrible, rude, terrible. Did I mention that it was terrible?
We decided to drive to Crawdad's in Sacramento (a bit of a drive, but a nice one) which was just as lovely as the other place had been horrible.
With service like this, I don't know how this place is going to stay in business once they lose the people who go there not realizing that the Crawdad Festival is no longer in Isleton. -
Review from a o.
Alameda, CA
10/30/2011
western burger was a lil too messy. garlic fries were good but greasy @ the bottom. wife had 1 lb of crawdads... it's a lotta crawdads. decent service, but don't expect anything too fancy
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Review from Matt R.
Oakland, CA
2/18/2008
Sometimes you need to get out of your head. Especially after your head spent a week being crushed by work and drowned in phlegm. After two days sleeping off the flu, it was time to head out into the world and try out the road trip abilities of the new car. I'd heard about Isleton and crawdads years ago, and always wanted to turn north on 160 on the way back from Kirkwood, but never did. So I figured the Delta was the place to be on a holiday Monday. Yep.
After some meandering through post-housing-apocalyptic Brentwood and Antioch, the Saabaru found a wide-open levee road and steered toward the small waterfront town of Isleton, where Joe's appeared at the head of Main St. just like the photo indicated. This sure isn't Oakland. It's an old Western saloon in a town with a southern bayou flavor. There's a Master Baiter tackle shop next door. Harleys parked on the street. A long downtown strip that could exist in 1947. And, a visitors' center that promotes fishin' and Isleton crawdads.
And damn, these are good crawdads. I hear the famous Isleton Festival has to import Louisiana critters to meet demand, but I don't think that's what they were serving today. I never really liked crayfish--small, not much meat, too much work, all spice and no substance. But the crayfish at Joe's were just spectacularly good. Large, easy to break apart, filled with meat (including removeable claw, knuckle, leg, tail, and body meat), and tasting more like baby lobsters than the fishy-salty stuff I've had in the South. We did the Delta bug trifecta ($8.95 per entree): deep-fried crawdad tail sandwich, crawdad-tail melt sandwich, and a 1lb bowl of whole boiled spicy crawdads.
It was perfect. The whole critters were just a pleasure to tear apart and eat, and were coated in a wonderful Old Bay-like spicy seasoning that balanced the sweet claw meat and slightly gamier tails and bodies. Deep fried tails were a luxurious cross between popcorn shrimp and a Maine lobster roll. The melt was even more decadent, packing an inch of tender, juicy, whole crawdad tail meat in between one of the best diner-style (taste that griddle tang!) grilled cheese sandwiches I've had on the West Coast. The fries were seasoned curly-style, the cole slaw was strong on crispy cabbage and light on mayo, the drinks were tall, and the pickles were sour. All of my expectations were met and exceeded. Service was homey, friendly, and made the whole visit just... fun. Too bad there was no room for pie, because--they had pie, and I'll bet it was good, too.
There's an outside seating area that looks to be great on a hot day (perhaps with live music?) and a lively bar with a take-out booze option. There's public dock across the street on the slough. I want to come back in a boat someday soon. And... what the hell, I should check out the crawdad festival.Listed in: The Mokelumne Wine Trail
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Review from Brian C.
San Francisco, CA
8/19/2007
This place used to be called Ernie's and is right on the main street in Isleton. You can't miss it because there is a huge mural of a crawdad on the side of the building. It looks like a saloon with additonal outside patio seating as well.
We wanted to try crawdads but we weren't sure what to order, The menu is full of burgers and sandwiches for lunch, but if you've made the trip and found yourself in Isleton - it's the crawdads you want.
We unded up eating at the bar - like the locals were doing. We tried the crawdad cocktail and the deep fried crawdad sandwich. Both were greay choices and stuffed with a ton of small crawdad tails. The sandwich came also came with really good beer battered onion rings. Total with a beer and a margarita was $26.
We came for local character and crawdads - they delivered. So, 4 stars for isleton Joe's.
The other unique thing about this place is that they also operate a min-liqour store at the bar (hard liqour sold by the bottle). I haven't seen that before, but it must do a brisk business at last call... -
Review from Ahna P.
Novato, CA
4/10/2010
I love Joes! You never know what you may encounter when you travel through a small side of the road type of town. We were just passing through on our way to another destination when we had to stop after seeing the giant crawfish on the side of the building.
We received a very warm greeting from the moment we walked in. We bellied up to bar to enjoy an ice cold bud $2 draft and a couple snacks. The cook brought out our ginormous crawfish cocktail and clam strips. Both were very fresh and huge portions.
We were able to witness the kind of exchange that classic jokes are made of. An old timer local was sitting at the bar when a couple pulled up alongside him. It started off with the typical small talk...where you from, what brings you here, etc. Then it went something like this "Terry, Jerry, no Terry, Jerry". So one guys name was Terry, the other Jerry. So it was a back and forth tug of war name game. It took almost a dozen exchanges before they both laughed and realized that no one was hearing incorrectly, that one was in fact Terry and the other Jerry. Guess ya had to be there. -
Review from r l.
Lodi, CA
3/13/2009 9 photos
My longest Bike Ride this year... 27.5 miles going by Google Maps, that is.
Route:
Start in Lodi, CA
North on Lower Sacramento Road
Continue through to Woodhaven Lane - This is Woodbridge, CA
Turns into Chestnut Street
Turns into East Woodbridge Road
Right at North Ray Road
Left at Kile Road
Right at North Thornton Road - This is Thornton, CA
Left at Kile Road
Right at North Midsection Street
Continue through to West Stockton Street
Right at North Thornton Road
Continue on to West Walnut Grove Road
Continue on to Walnut Grove-Thornton Road
Right at Old Walnut Grove Thornton Road - Giusti's Restaurant here!
Right at Walnut Grove-Thornton Road
Left at Race Track Road
Right at Tyler Island Road
Stay Left on Tyler Island Road
Right at West Tyler Island Bridge Road
Left at CA-160 / River Rd
Arrived at Isleton, CA
Wind To: WNW 5mph
Back: W 5mph
Isleton Joe's has got this town locked up! There is no way you can avoid this restaurant if you're driving through Isleton. North-bound, cars stop at a Stop sign and have to turn left... first thing you see on the right is the Giga-normous mural of a CrawDaddy on their South wall. Southbound, cars are directed towards the center of Isleton... first restaurant they see on the left is Isleton Joe's. There are other restaurants on the North end of Isleton, but traffic will have to go out of their way.
When you enter the restaurant... on the right is a typical bar with counter seating... on the left, separated by a partition, are dining tables with seating arrangements for 4-6 people. There is additional diner-type counter seating at the rear of the restaurant. And in good weather, you can dine in their enclosed Patio. Joe's is an old establishment... the tables are covered by a thin film of grease that is probably impossible to wipe clean. This place needs Merry Maids... right now!
First of all, the waitress / barmaid / bouncer / busser and I got off to a bad start... Since she was the ONLY person in the front of the restaurant, it took around ten minutes for her to bring me a menu. I perused it for another five, and decided on Prawns and Linguine, a Dinner item. Well... I got rebuffed right off... "That's Dinner, Can't order it now!"... "Give me another few minutes..."... "You know there are a lot of people here, I might not get back to you for quite awhile..."... "That's OK." Phew...
After the Preliminary Sparring... she came back in about five minutes.
Ordered...
Prawn Lunch (*** $10.95) Six Butterflied Prawns (*** 1/4) and French Fries (***), with Cole Slaw (**). Nothing special here. Split Prawns with a film of Breading Mix. Fries were the McDonald's kind... Crispy, crunch on the outside, soft insides... Hate 'em. Cole Slaw was also lacking.
Bowl of Clam Chowder (*** $4.49) Size was a small in most other restaurants. Again, nothing special. There was enough chunks of Clams, chunks of Potatoes, Celery and spiced with Pepper. Just Plain Jane.
Lemonade (***) Not very well mixed.
Total: $16.54
Why didn't I order a Pound of CrawFish for $9.95? Or a Bucket with a Plate-full of Fries for $21.95? Well... I talked with my youngest last night about riding my Bicycle to Isleton, and he said he wanted to try the CrawDaddys this Summer when he is going to visit. Alright... I'll wait.
Did I check any other restaurant? I perused the menu of Pineapple Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant... their entrees were $8.95 to $13.95! Give me a break! Those are tourist-trap prices! And how good can Chinese be in... Isleton... of all places! And Rogelio's... whose claim to fame is to do American, Mexican and Chinese... all on the same menu! I've been to those versatile places that can cook anything... the one's who get sacrificed is the customer! -
Review from Candace Y.
Elk Grove, CA
7/17/2008
I went to the crawdad festival this year and found that most of the festival had moved to a vacant lot on the edge of town. It didn't seem to have the same friendly feel of the festivals of old.
So, I went back to the main street and walked into Ilseton Joe's. They had a bandstand set up in the patio and were serving up lots of fresh crawdads and beer.
I was happy with a big platter of the boiled mudbugs, a plate of fries, and cold Blue Moon beer. The server was friendly and attentive.
Maybe the crawdad fest has seen better days, but this place still pulses with the heart of the festival. -
Review from David F.
Elk Grove, CA
10/22/2010
Don't go here got so sick almost didn't make it home. To bad wife and I would have loved to go to this place again cause we're down here all the time
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Review from David G.
Union City, CA
8/30/2010
Took a delta run and was looking foward to eating at this place and also having a drink at Al the Wops. I didnt know what to expect, but I really only came for the crawdads. We sat ourself down and waited for menus and eventually got them but the wait for the young lady to take our order was a little more then I liked. With that out of the way we ordered. I had the western burger with fries and ordered a lb of cradads for the table and a refreshing two dollar draft beer.
The burger was a suprise!!! Very tasty and messy and it might have been one of the best burgers that I ever had. The crawdads were huge much bigger and fresher then the typical ones I get from my local asian buffet and they were smothered in what tasted like Franks Hot Sauce.
I was glad that I stopped here and will continue to make it a stopping place on my rides, the only thing that kept it from getting 5 stars was the sloooow services, but hey I wasnt in any hurry and in all fairness there was a huge party outside so that might have kept the crew busy. -
Review from Leslie P.
Brentwood, CA
1/31/2011
Good meal: garlic fries, fish & chips and a crawdad melt... very tasty.
Disappointed to hear about IJ not taking http://restaurant.com gift certificates, but the 20% off was a nice replacement.
Highly recommend for good dinner fare with a local, crawdad, angle -
Review from Doug E.
Elk Grove, CA
12/21/2010
A large group of us went for breakfast. We had fast friendly service. I had the Crawdad Omelet. I had Crawdads years ago and did not like them; so I was a little worried; but the Crawdad Omelet was delicious! The place is hella old and needs a good steam cleaning; but it is great if you keep your dark glasses on! LOL
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Review from Cris V.
Vacaville, CA
9/8/2010
Rode the levy in my chopped sporty, a bunch of nice little bars and restaurants but this one is probably the trendiest, with it's big patio area, live band, and riders from all around makes it a pretty entertaining spot for everyone. I had a PBR and the deep fried crawfish sandwich which is worth having over and over. The food menu is pretty impressive for a small town, and beer is ice cold Stop by if you're passing thru, and if you're on your bike you'd def want to check it out.
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Review from James D.
Antioch, CA
7/24/2010
Going to drive that far better off going to al the wop's in Locke
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Review from M W.
Oakland, CA
1/3/2011
They also don't serve breakfast on Monday mornings, but somehow, the cook was able to serve lunch at 10:30 AM, and he was also able to make a pretty good breakfast sandwich (flat french bread, melted American cheese, and either ham or sausage) for $3.50. Regarding the other post saying they got really sick here, I have a pretty weak stomach and I had no issues here, so their food must have been fresh or properly stored. (We didn't try any seafood) They don't take the http://restaurant.com coupons anymore, but they gave us 10% off instead. The food seems like a typical American diner type food, although it seems like their specialty is seafood, and we didn't order seafood. The customers are locals, and the patrons and the staff are friendly. Go to check out local Isleton flavor (people/company) here. It was worth it to visit with the locals while they smoke and drink on a Monday morning at 10:30 am.
