One of the best traits a restaurant can have, is self-awareness. Knowing what you are, who your…read morecustomers are and what they want, and not deviating by trying to be something different. Adam's Jamestown Pizza and Grill is a really good example of this. Let me tell you why.
My 5 stars isn't me telling you, you should rush yourself and all your family here, as well as out of town guests, to eat some of the most incredible food in the Triad. That isn't what this place is for. In fact, most of their business is take out. They do have a dining room, but according to the manager, I am one of the few who has used it lately.
No, this place is for when you, and maybe a couple others, need an inexpensive, no-nonsense meal that is filling, tasty enough, and perfect for a night where you aren't looking to go big. You want a sandwich? They've got sandwiches. Pizza, pasta, a little bit of Greek? That's on the menu too. Fried seafood, actually, they have that in spades!
For my part, I came in at darn near 9pm on a Thursday. Just needed some food, didn't want to make it for myself. Driven by this place countless times. Decided I finally wanted to give it a shot. I like to eat my food fresh, so I asked the friendly manager, Jack, if I could enjoy it there. He was happy to oblige, and turned the A/C on in there as it was a little stuffy (unprompted by me).
They had a special for whiting (1 or 2 pieces, adjust to your appetite), popcorn shrimp, fries, slaw, hushpuppies. I love an easy fried seafood platter. I went for that. Jack asked me if I cared for whiting, and offered a couple other choices instead, no upcharge. I went with Pollock. I had a seat and in about 10-15 minutes, a beautiful filet of lightly breaded, nicely seasoned fish was presented. Underneath it, a generous helping of popcorn shrimp, fries, hushpuppies. On the side, a cup of coleslaw, cocktail sauce, ketchup, and tartar sauce. Ready to eat!
The fish, nice long filet, took up the whole container. Fish perfectly flaky, not at all greasy, with a super light hand-breading. I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, there was barely any grease at all on the paper lining. I appreciate this. Popcorn shrimp were small, numerous, great with cocktail sauce. Fries, really good, but I didn't eat many because i wanted to eat all my seafood fresh before filling up. Hushpuppies, also pretty good. The cole slaw, not my favorite, personal preference. Too much mayonnaise, but in general, I don't like mayo much, and like a sparse application of it in any cold salad. I wasn't here for slaw, i was here for fried fish and it was great.
I also got to enjoy some conversation with Jack. Learned about his customers, the difficulty of running a restaurant post-pandemic, staff retention issues. Those struggles are pretty common now, but nice to have a frank discussion among two people that know the restaurant industry well.
All in all. I ate all my fish and shrimp, some of my fries, and a couple hushpuppies. I was very satisfied, and I know I'll come back to fill a fish craving, as well as try other things on the menu. So to my readers I say, keep your expectations in line with the price, and know that there are gems here to be had!
