Joe's Corner

Joe's Corner is a cool place. It is an older place that serves new food. It tries to harken back to The food is basic bar food but it is good. There is not much service as you order at the bar and the person brings it to you. That is it. There is only one person doing both jobs so it might take a while. I always go when it is not busy (I look inside to see if there are a lot of people in there.), so I have never had a problem with service.

It is a place that enjoy when I visit Niles

We had another craving for the giant Fish and Chip platters, and we hopefully brought a appetite to match it. As always we got great service and our dog, Jack got a dog biscuit and clean water bowl with fresh water to enjoy. We opted for eating outside and it was a nice day. I did manage the whole platter as I planned on not eating much prior to coming here. ;)

This spot was delicious! The owner was incredibly friendly and shared some interesting history about Niles when we arrived. I had the tuna melt, and my partner tried the spicy sandwich - both were excellent choices. The place had a charming atmosphere, though we regretted not ordering a beer to complete the experience.

Fellow owners of pittys please read.

I am a local & regular at this establishment so it truly has disappointed me to receive the treatment I did on my last visit recently. It was a super hot day unexpectedly so me and my pup sat inside to cool off. I ordered two drinks and a meal while I worked from my laptop and had my support animal by my side. I had already been sitting inside for almost 2 hours when the owner came inside took 1 look at my dog and instantly make a disgusted face & starts commenting on how aggressive pit bulls are and that my dog looks scary and tells me that we can't be here. Me and the staff working there are all telling him he's extremely sweet but he was so stubborn he didn't want to hear it all because he's a pit bull. I told him he is a registered support animal in the state of California and has been trained. I pointed to the vest but he disregarded and dismissed me.

This obviously made me feel extremely unwelcomed and uncomfortable. I packed my food to go , chugged my drink to get out of there as fast as I could to avoid being confrontational.

To the owner you should be ashamed for judging us based off your own opinion of pit bulls . I'm including his photo below so you can be reminded of the " terrifying pit bull" you instantly passed judgement on who was not a pet but my support animal.

Rarely am I compelled to write reviews, especially negative ones. I really wanted to like this place. There were tons of great reviews so my husband and I decided to give this place a try while in Niles this weekend.

We should have paid closer attention to the review dates. It seems in the past year or so, they've really gone downhill and diners have had mostly negative experiences. From reading through the reviews, it seems like there has been a change in management.

We followed the instructions and scanned the menu from the QR code. This menu was quite different from the menu shown on Yelp (the photos or in the view menus section), on their current website and with even more differences from the hard copy menu they kept at the register.

The menu was very simple. Salads, a couple pizzas and a variety of sandwiches plus a few appetizers / bar bites. Nothing to write home about but all we wanted was a quick easy lunch so this should have been fine.

What was strange was nothing on the menu seemed to require cooking. I'm not even sure they have a grill or cooktop. We heard / smelled nothing coming from the kitchen and we were sitting pretty much right outside the kitchen door. I'm guessing most of their food is frozen and then warmed on a foreman type grill or in a convection oven.

I ordered a turkey pesto panini and my husband ordered a fried chicken sandwich. The only sides offered were potato salad or coleslaw. They did have fish and chips on the menu so we asked if ordering a side of fries was possible and we were told it was not. Totally understand if they don't allow substitutions or ordering off menu, but I really wondered if they even had fries at this point.

We both ordered ice teas and the server brought them out right away and then disappeared to the back. They didn't ask if we wanted any sweetener/sugar so I went and got it myself from the coffee station we passed when walking into the restaurant.

My husband had contemplated ordering a beer. There were a few that sounded interesting that he had never tried, but was turned off immediately by the signage stating they don't offer sampling. I get not letting costumers try all the different beers, but if someone wants a taste before purchasing (a super overpriced) pint, then I really don't see an issue. I'm not super knowledgeable about beers/pricing but according to my husband these were about $3-4 + higher than prices we see in SF, which seemed pretty steep.

Then came the wait. 40 minutes for 2 sandwiches and pre-packaged sides. In that 40 minutes, no one came to ask if we needed anything else, apologize for the wait or let us know that the food would be right out. We saw two pretzels with cheese sauce being brought out to a couple seated after us. We missed this on the QR menu and it wasn't listed on the print, Yelp or website menu.

While we were waiting we also noticed a sign at the register saying that no coin change would be given and if not paying in exact change, your bill would be rounded up to the next dollar. This has to be illegal, right?

When the food finally came, my husband noticed immediately that the bacon was definitely microwave bacon. He had also asked for no ranch sauce on his sandwich and it came drenched in the sauce. Still, the food was fine but also something that was reminiscent of a hospital cafeteria. Nothing seemed like it was actually fresh or made from scratch. We're nearly positive that the "chef" we saw in back was a teenage girl, which checked out with the food served. Again, it wasn't bad just not what we were expecting. It seemed like all Costco frozen items that were simply heated up.

The coleslaw was barely dressed and the potato salad was super bland. Like not even salt and pepper.

We didn't see a server again at all.

I got up myself again and went to the service counter to get a couple of salt and pepper packets since nothing was available on the tables.

Since we paid at the register when ordering, we didn't need to wait for a bill. But I only ate half my sandwich and wanted to take the rest to go. We waited and waited and no one ever came back to check on us, so I wrapped my sandwich in a few napkins and we left.

It's such a cute place with so much potential. We hope the (new?) owners read these recent reviews and take notes. I know the restaurant industry is tough but at minimum you should provide better, more attentive service and serve quality food -- not frozen Costco items -- if you want to stay afloat. We were not expecting four star dining but did expect a little bit more for the money.

Chill laid back place. I love the portobello mushrooms burger. It has balsamic finish. They have beers on tap, that's a plus. The outdoor seating is nice on a warm day. I have no complaints!

Yea .. do to shortened hours, we went somewhere else .. won't be back!
Yea .. do to shortened hours, we went somewhere else .. won't be back!

Tiny portions! For a full size salad. The picture in the menu was misleading, no wonder very few people here.

Limited menu, understaffed and out of most beers on the day we went (6/18/23). This place has so much potential based on its location. I wish the owners would do more to make this place more appealing. Don't think ill be coming back here if it stays the way it is.

First time at Joe's corner today. I enjoyed the food and my drink. Wish they would put a note on the tables. Took me a while to realize you have to order by scanning a QR code, especially because my table didn't have the code.

One thing I would like to suggest is please stop using disposable plastic cups for the sides when dining in. It doesn't seem necessary and fills up our landfills unnecessarily.

Other than that, keep doing what you're doing, I'll be back!