The Jake Tavern & Grill

Really great remodel inside! It was a little slow when we went for dinner but everything tasted great and they have a wonderful summer cocktail menu. My mom as been back a few times and says even when they are busy the service and food are still good! Nice spot in Kenmore!

My fiancé and I have been here twice. The first time was decent, but the second time… not so much. We had a party of 4 and from start to finish, we were there for a total of 3 hours. The food took FOREVER to come out and our waitress was not attentive. Even though it’s right down the street for us, we are not returning. I will say… the food is good. We got chicken wings and they were amazing!

went to Jakes on Thur the 2^nd. never again!!! the waitress was a complete jerk! we sat and she came over saying hello my darlings. this was a 60yr group. i told her i was not her darling! and she took offense, and walked away. i went to the bar to order a beer. as i was returning to the table the the bartender said he could add the beer to our tab, and i said thank you, as i was walking to the table the waitress muttered by the table that she would not service our table. i replied good! she then said i told her f-​ck you! which i didn’t. she heard me say thank you to bartender! they had run out pinot grigio. the food was salty. my wife walked out and sat in the car she was so mad! we just went to another restaurant. the little waitress is a complete b-​itch!!! give me back old Papa Jakes!

Best food in buffalo. Food is reasonably priced. Kozy, casual feel. Only drawback is drinks are very pricy

Have eaten here several times and it’s generally pretty good! We’ve had burgers, salads and fish and more! I always order the stuffed peppers as an appetizer! They’ve gone downhill over the past two to three visits and although we’ll be back, I think I’m done ordering the peppers. They have changed the recipe and have too much spinach in them instead of the chorizo and cheese! We ordered the crab cakes once and they were horrible! They were not made with lump crab and they were soft and slimy. The burger was delish and haven’t had a bad fish dinner yet! I’m not generally a French fry guy, but really like their fries! Love the atmosphere and the bar, although it can get very loud while eating at the bar on a weekend! Drinks are good and they usually have a nice draft beer selection!

This is first time I have eaten here as we are usually stopping here for a late night cocktail. Very impressed! Atmosphere was inviting and relaxed. From the moment we walked in, we were welcomed. Our server was energetic and on top of her game!
I ordered a veggie burger because the menu said it was homemade and I love a good veggie burger. It came with hand cut fries. It was so good. Well prepared and flavorful. The portions are generous and the prices are great!
Outdoor chairs too so I will definitely stop back when it warms up!

I tried this restaurant last night with a party of 6. It is a very nice restaurant and they have a really nice bar. I had a EBC (Ellicottville Brewing Company) Blueberry beer. Okay maybe more like 3 of them. I also had the House-​Made Hot Pretzel Bites — Served with Beer Cheese & Whole-​Grain Honey Mustard Dipping Sauces. They were amazing! I had the double order of hot wings for dinner. Those were great too. Our server was the owners fiancée who was very nice. I recommend this restaurant and I will be back here.

My friend lives right down the street from this place so she’s here quite often, as am i since she likes meeting up here quite a bit. this Place opened up not too long ago and turned out great! its big and rustic feeling a bit, the food is amazing, wings, beef on weak, soups and drinks are all great!
The services is always great at well. If you are looking to dine the seating is a bit limited but there is plenty of bar space to enjoy as well.

Came here for the first time today, I’m so glad I did. This place is adorable and the food and drinks are amazing. I highly recommend the honey bee drink and the poutine!
I love the lighting in this place also. I love all the real plant fixtures all around also. The wood everywhere is awesome as well!
I can’t wait to come back here.

I just don’t know. Food is good, but service was below average. Soup was pretty good, but not nearly hot enough. Waited a long time for food to come out, and the basket instead of a plate just doesn’t work well or fit the angle of the place
The appearance and décor are great.
The bar needs a cheap beer option to switch to after a few high/​over priced craft beers or cocktails.
Just seems like it is not run real well. Disorganized at best. I’ve been saying «they are working out the kinks» for way to long now.

Strictly based on atmosphere and two drinks.
I love the feel of The Jake. Industrial lighting, copper tin ceiling, wood and gates. The interior is incredible. Five stars! Also, I felt there is the perfect amount of space for the bar area. Not too cramped, plenty of space to find a spot and hear who you are talking too.
Going in, I intending on just having a beer or two but came across the cocktail menu and saw the Blueberry… eh, I forgot the name of it, Blueberry Bliss maybe. Anyways, first one was fantastic! Muddled blueberries, mint, blueberry simple syrup, vodka and seltzer. Sounds sweet right? That was what I was afraid of however, not at all. It had the perfect amount of seltzer to take away from all the sweet and I loved it! I enjoyed it so much that I was ready for another one much sooner than intended. This is where they lost me. Second Blueberry cocktail came to me with nothing muddled, mint sprig floating on top and a fancy toothpick with three full blueberries on it thrown in the drink. Looked pretty, sure, but the taste was awful. The bartender that made my first drink did not make my second. There was way too much simple syrup in the second and neither me or my two friends had more than two sips of the second drink. My gripe is major lack of consistency. The cocktails are $ 8 which I feel is very fair and I don’t mind paying. The first one I would pay for over and over. The second, never again. If you have a special cocktail menu, all of your bartenders should be making it the same way.
All the food that passed us by looked and smelled fantastic so I am excited to get back in there and try it out. I will only be ordering the Blueberry cocktail from the one bartender or sticking to drafts.

This one’s a difficult review. I guess the fairest way to break this down by area.
Bar — Bar staff was pleasant & knowledgable. I’ve been brewing for 20 years and I’m a certified cicerone. I appreciate a bar that stocks good beer and a bar person that understands what they are pouring. Bar quality — 5 stars.
Food — I was very happy with the food quality. While this is not a «5 star resturant», the food was good. The soups were great, the sandwich I had was great, & the plate presentation was on par for the bar/​restaurants in WNY. Food — 4 stars, 5 for the bar food category
Wait Staff — Here’s the rub… While my opinion does NOT reflect the entire wait staff of this business, it does reflect our waitress (whom I was told later was a manager, not sure about this). While she was generally fine to our party of 8, we asked for 4 separate checks before ordering & she stated that she would separate the check at the end. The food came out. We enjoyed it without issue.
The waitress dropped off the hand written, unseparated check. Now, normally this isn’t a major issue for me. We proceeded to calculate our separate bills. The waitress stopped by & asked if the check was all set. I stated, «We’re separating out checks because you didn’t. To which she stated, «You’re right I didn’t» with a smirk & walked away.
Now if this statement was a joking comment, I would have assumed that she would have laughed, re-​affirmed that she was joking, etc… Nothing. We paid out separate bills in cash and two credit cards. I had to asked her 10 minutes later to take the check (the Resturant was not busy).
This waitress destroyed all good feelings my party had towards the meal/​Resturant in the span of a flippant, rude comment. Minimal small tips were left for her. Specific Wait Staff — 1 to 0 stars.
The reason we all have paying jobs is to make money. Attitude, respect, consideration, & quality are all things that are necessities in ANY service industry. If you mistreat your customers they will stop coming to spend their money at your establishment & & that establishment WILL go out of business. I’m not asking for a water or waitress to kiss my rear & cow-​tow to me, just treat me with the same respect I treat you with. If you could separate the bill, fine, then tell me. Don’t give me your attitude.
I will suggest people go to The Jake, the food is good & they have a nice little beer menu. I’m going to assume that the actions of this one waitress is NOT indicative of their businesses policies & the view of the other servers. I will however strongly suggest to the owner to rethink this waitresses action & take some type of corrective action. So this does not occur a second time to anyone.

Was not impressed. When my husband and I walked in the door, the bar was very busy, we stood at the hostess stand which was right near the door for about 5 min before someone greeted us. She brought us to a booth and only gave us 1 menu and said that they didn’t have any more menus at that time. My husband noticed a large empty table with a bunch of menus on it right behind us so I grabbed one from that table.
The menu is very small, no entrees mostly sandwiches and appetizer style food.
The service was almost non existent. The food was not too bad, we split the Cuban and the chicken fingers.
The place looks nice inside, they definitely did a lot to it, but service needs major improvement.
Probably will not return.

Had my first meal at the Jake last night and yes they are finally serving food! My wife and I both had the Friday fish fry ($ 12.99) and it was delicious. Came with French fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce as well as a marinated cooked veggie plate of zucchini, peppers, onions, and broccoli. Was served promptly after ordering. Tap selection was good consisting of all specialty brews. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t hard cider on tap anymore. I know I wasn’t the only one as I heard the table next to me ask for it as well. Get that McKenzie’s tap back!
Ambiance is great. A lot of money was put into the redesign of the old Malone’s. You won’t even recognize it. Tall booths with cool reclaimed wood tables are nice for privacy. Our waitress was pleasant and attentive.
Get there early as there are only 11 full size tables and they fill up quickly! Great locally owned establishment. Give ‘em a try!

I went here last night for the first time since it opened, with my friend for drinks and food. We weren’t sure if they were serving food yet since we couldn’t find much online but we were happy when we got there and the bartender offered us menus! :)
The place is so nice inside! We kept saying to each other how much we love the rustic design. The floors are everything! I want them in my future house. Love the cutely painted ladies room and it was also very clean.
The bar is big and there are plenty of TVs to watch sports like last night when they had the World Series on. I noticed they also have darts since people were playing.
The bartender was great and asked us multiple times if we needed a refill on beer and if we wanted to order. I wish their beer selection was bigger but we both settled on Blue Moon. We started with an order of onion rings with our beer and they were amazing! They were perfect! We decided to get an order of the crab cakes as well. I wish they were a little bit bigger but they were amazing too! The chipotle sauce they came with made the dish. So so good!
This is definitely a fun spot and would love to go back soon to try some other items on their menu!

The Jake is my new go-​to bar and dinner stop. The staff is welcoming, warm and accommodating while the atmosphere offers an authentic, clean, ski lodge experience. Unfortunately I have no pictures of food for you, my boyfriend and I ate too fast!
All the food I’ve had so far has been delicious! Some highlights:
Chicken finger bomb: incredible, the bread is amazing, light and crispy, paired with fresh veggies and perfectly sauced chicken.
Pepper pasta: This can be very spicy depending on the peppers that day. Made fresh and in-​house, penne pasta is served with hot peppers, chorizo sausage and cilantro in a light sauce. I absolutely loved it — and I’m not one for spicy food!
Western burger: burger + bbq + onion rings = my boyfriend’s favorite combo! I stole a bite, if you like this kind of combination you’re sure to love this burger! Our favorite are the fries — perfectly cut and fried, they’re delicious!
Poutine: again with these fries — I LOVE thinner crispy fries. Throw cheese curds, green onions and gravy into the mix and you have yourself a good time.
On top of it all, I have absolutely loved each staff member I’ve come into contact with. They’re genuinely interested in making your experience as enjoyable as possible. Hats off to The Jake!

The Jake = Worth the wait! I came here last Thursday for a happy hour networking function and was blown away at the remodeling and renovations that have completely transformed the old Malones into a higher end pub/​restaurant that is The Jake. From the bar area to the seating to the gorgeous bathroom, I really like what they have done with this location!!!
I sampled the chicken wings, poutine, and mozzarella sticks. Everything was great… very well done. The drink menu includes plenty of beers including rusty chain, wine, and some speciality cocktails. Plus, I’m sure you can order any standard cocktail as well since the bar looks like its stocked pretty decently. I’m looking forward to trying the Friday fishy fry once its on the menu. I’m very, very happy there is a decent bar in Kenmore again!

This place is right on the corner of my street. I’ve been waiting 2 years for it to open, so I had high expectations for everything to be done pretty well.
Aesthetically, it’s a huge step up from what was Malones. The bar really is beautiful. Nice dark wood, great lighting, nice TVs. I’ve only had a few drinks here so far, but their beer list is decent for Kenmore. Their cocktail program is laughable though. The drinks that they do offer are boring and could use someone with an imagination to revise them. The liquor selection is average and wine selection is decent. Will update further when I try the food.

I stopped in to ‘The Jake’ as I’d heard they’d started serving food. I would classify this as a sort of gradual soft open as a couple of weeks in they’re still only serving wings/​fingers, roast beef, and curly fries. The bartender said they’d also started Friday fish fries (It’s Buffalo after all).
I had a quick order of wings and noted a couple of things. They were very plump and correctly done. In Buffalo we take this for granted, but it is worth noting. The sauce was at an appropriate level (medium had a little kick). Most importantly the blue cheese and celery/​carrots were awesome. I’m that guy that whines and moans when we order perfectly good wings that come with limp kitchen scraps and a blue cheese packet. I was happy to see fresh crisp carrots and celery waiting to back up my wings!
I’m waiting for the full rollout of this joint, but I figured a partial review was better than nothing at all. The bartender was pretty vague about what the full menu will look like, but I’ll revise once I revisit!

I was here for drinks last night. They haven’t started serving food yet, but I hear that’s coming soon — they have a pretty nice dining area set up. The beer selection is decent. A little on the smaller side, but they have all the basics plus a few nice craft beers (see the menu attached). They also have a few specialty drinks, but since they are pretty basic, I would recommend just sticking with basic mix drinks, since they are a bit cheaper.