The Joshua Tree

I’ve always been rather «meh» about The Joshua Tree. There’s never been anything particularly spectacular or awful about this place until recently.
I live fairly close to this bar and they sell Jack Daniels at a cheap price for the area so I’ve occasionally stopped in for a drink or two. My college football team was playing a game that afternoon and I loathe the bar that my alumni group meets at (McGreevy’s) so I thought The Joshua Tree would be a good place to watch the game. The bartender was friendly and fairly prompt with her service and they put my game on for me. The food met my expectations for this type of bar. All was well until I needed to use the bathroom.
There is one disability accessible bathroom in the bar with the rest of the bathrooms downstairs. I’m disabled due to chronic pain and stairs are horribly painful for me. As I twisted the doorknob for the disabled bathroom I found that the door was locked. I asked my bartender if someone could unlock it and she pointed out the manager and told me he could open it. When I politely asked him to unlock the door for me he very rudely and in an incredibly grouchy manner told me it was for «handicapped people only.» First off the term handicapped is insulting and second there are a wide variety of disabilities many of which are not visible. I calmly explained that I’m disabled due to chronic pain and that the stairs for the downstairs bathroom were problematic for me. Instead of apologizing and opening the door for me he instead sighed in a very loud and annoyed manner before unlocking the door. I shouldn’t have to explain my health condition to use the bathroom. This is ablism plain and simple.
The bathroom ceiling was falling apart too.
I mentioned this horribly rude, discriminatory, and disability shaming encounter to my friend when I returned to the bar. The bartender overheard me and despite that no one that worked there ever addressed the problem. I finished my food and beer, paid my check, and left. I’ve considered getting the MA state disability rights agency involved so they can school the management on how to treat disabled people. It never ceases to amaze me how horrific people in the service industry in Boston are in general, but especially to those of us with disabilities.
Whether disabled or not I say skip this bar and go across the street to The Burren. I haven’t had anything to eat there that I found particularly satisfying, but the service has always been good and they have Irish music. As for a good spot in Somerville to watch a game, well, I’m still on the hunt.

From someone who would go here all the time but now will never go back. Came here for New Year’s 2015 and was having a great time with friends until a bar back ran into me on the dance floor with a tray and I simply asked «why» and thought nothing of it until five minutes later his cronies came over and kicked me out five minutes before midnight. Not only myself but my whole party of friends were shocked by the situation and it ruined what would otherwise be a good night. That whole sequence put me off of this place forever so enjoy that loss of business.

Came here for some late night fun and they delivered. Just make sure you have a few drinks first so you can ignore a few issues. There’s a small dance floor that was hopping at 1am. The bar is U shaped and offers lots of space for people to stand around the bar. The drinks are large, even though the costs are a bit steep. The shot glasses are square which is a bit odd and difficult to drink from. I wasn’t overly impressed with the space though it’s good for a late night option if you really must go out.

I came for my birthday and everything started off great, but quickly went down hill. First, they were out of almost every appetizer we ordered. Second, the sangria tasted like seltza water. They were kind enough to bring us another pitcher, in which we found a long strand of hair. We ordered the fried pickles and they were so salty we had to send them back. My husband found plastic in his quesadilla. Yes plastic. We complained to the manager and she even admitted it was plastic. But she did not apologize, and seemed like she was annoyed with us for voicing our concerns. She asked if we wanted to take it off the bill, as if I would expect to pay for something made with plastic. Seriously? The experience was awful and I would not recommend this place to anyone looking for quality food or a good time. AND to top it all off the waiter, Sarah, didn’t even bother to bring us our receipt after we paid. Instead, she sent them back with security and they waited until we left. We did nothing wrong and to be treated in this manner was just unacceptable. And to top it all off we found out later that night that, our waiter over charged someone in our party 3xs the amount she signed for. What kind of shady business is this? I am so upset and will not be returning. Thanks for ruining my birthday!

One of the best places to watch the game. Food is good and the drinks prices right. I try to make it down from Medford to watch my 8 – 0 bengals win!!!

This place is run by a bunch of teenagers. Worst service I have ever encountered in Davis Sq. Usually this is a low key, easy spot to get drinks, however, the experience was painful…
Our bartender was more focused on pouring her friends drinks, giving them food and chatting behind the bar most of the night. Out of 20 customers in the bar at the time, not one of them was looked at again. It took at least 20 minutes to get the bartenders attention to put a food order in and another 30 min until we got the food! People were waving her down to get another drink or their bill to get out of there. Worst service I have ever seen. We wont be going back.

Went on Saturday ⁹⁄₂₆ around 3… bad bartending. I ordered a dark and stormy and my friend ordered a beer. The bartender took someone else’s cocktail order after ours and served them first. For the dark and stormy, she added flat, old ginger beer before the rum. Topped it with a lime that looked like it was cut sometime last month, all brown, dry and discolored. Drink was pretty awful, and cost $ 8. Won’t be returning.

This is a chain, but they do a necessary job, and they do it adequately. I dont love anything they make, but their crazy number of giant TVs, wide beer selection, and moderately priced burgers make them okay. Don’t take a date here, unless you’ve been dating for a while and the whole «false self projection» phase is over. This is a simple Applebee’s style eatery in the middle of the fast developing Davis square.
No pretention, no expectations, just okay food and TVs on the walls.

I would not recommend dining at this restaurant. The food is terrible. We had a party of 6, we ordered a couple of appetizers, onion rings, that tasted like curry, fried pickles that had a ton of salt on them, my entre was a fried chicken sandwich that was obviously previously grilled with sweet teriyaki sauce, then fried in bread crumbs it was disgusting. The fries were seasoned which I personally don’t like. The service was slow. The bathroom was dirty and falling apart. So I can just imagine how dirty the kitchen is. Don’t waste your time or money at this restaurant.

All I can say is that what happened to this place? It’s creepily empty now most of the time compared to a couple of years back. The great beer selection and lots of TVs are still there! Food is very mediocre. An OK place to watch sports!

Probably the best bar food option in Davis. The food here is pretty underrated and you can get pretty good drink deals with dinner. When it gets crowded it is hard to get drinks at the bar.

Hands down worst food and service I’ve had in years. Bad drinks, nasty brunch. The food tasted like last week’s microwaved leftovers.
We were the only table and our food took maybe half an hour. After being served our food and second round, we were never even looked at again. I had to see the hostess for our bill. The place was not busy at all, even for Sunday morning brunch in Davis Square. Could’ve easily been handled by one waitress plus a bartender and hostess.
Don’t waste your time or money.

Probably the chilliest bar in Davis square. The employees are great and the nachos are
too!

Last time I was here I was coming off a shift at another bar and was out to grab drinks with friends. We got there before last call and each ordered a single beer and closed our tabs under the instruction of the bartender who told us they were closing soon. Pretty much as soon as we sat down a manager came over to us and told us that we needed to leave. It was not the closing time of the actual restaurant yet the staff had decided it was time to close before any of us could finish half of our drinks. I informed the manager that we had gotten our drinks less than five minutes ago but he was aggressively condescending and rude. I have never felt as disrespected and not welcome in a place where I have spent money.

Very conflicted here.
The first 4 or 5 times I came to Joshua Tree, I had a blast. Ate lunch with my parents here on a sweltering day in September, and had great service and food (there were about 2 other people in the place, so it’s probably pretty hard to mess up food when it’s that quiet).
I also used to go to J Tree most Friday nights. No cover and the only dance floor in Davis? Great. Sign me up. If I ever want to blow off some steam, I’m going to get a draft beer there and cut a rug.
I’ve since branched out to try (and appreciate) other places in the greater Boston area that are of a similar flavor.
I guess my point is that Joshua Tree fits into a necessary niche in Davis Square: a niche that involves tipsy former frat stars, dark and crowded dance floors, and a dash of seediness.
It reminds me the Harvard Square Hong Kong’s little brother. If that’s what you’re into, this place is right up your alley. Bro.

Early 20-​something bar. Sports on TV. Weekends are college kids.
Haven’t dined there a ton. But, food passes the test.
Over the fall, they had an AWESOME staff of BARTENDERS. Really nice friendly people. I don’t have anything bad to say about it. Although it’s niche is certainly not a romantic night out or gourmet food.
Grade: Solid B/​B+

The food was not good, and I’m not even picky! And the place we were sitting was so cold, It was like the wind was blowing from somewhere in the middle of winter, and even after our complaints, they couldn’t fix the problem!

I need to remind myself that I’m not a young hipster college student looking for relatively cheap beer and bar food anymore. (Wait, was I ever?)
I forgot how much I loathe spaces like The Joshua Tree until I visited this bar in search for a quick beer and appetizer before a table opened up at Boston Burger Co. We were lucky enough to land a cramped table next to the dark side of the bar, surrounded by loudly gossiping «young professional» girls and a bunch of hipsters who decided that taking up as much space as possible and forcing us to huddle more closely around our table was appropriate social convention.
What a sucker for punishment I am.
At least our waitress was trying to please us, despite a drunken, hands-​on crowd. She quickly took our order for beers and nachos, and returned just before we were about to fight our way to the bar to ask to where our food and drink had disappeared.
$ 35 later, we sprinted over to our final destination for the evening, wishing that we’d made a better pre-​dinner decision.
Never make decisions on an empty stomach.

Go here for to watch sports, do not come here on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s crowded with too many people, and on too if that you can hardly hear anyone. They play horrible loud music (desperately trying to be a hip night club?)
Come here to cheer your favorite team. They usually run specials, they’re not super crowded during games, and the bartenders are more relaxed and a bit nicer during these times.

I have been here a few times; some for sport team meet-​ups, others for just a beer. Each time it has been a consistent «Eh!» of an experience. The food is okay, the beers they offer are good, but the consumers aren’t drinking enough of the more rare beers and the kegs aren’t changed enough and the beer tastes bad after a while.
My review comes after a stop for a drink at the bar and while it was late afternoon, it was clear that the only other people at the bar were (off-​shift I assumed) bartenders/​waitresses. They were loud, I knew exactly what they were talking about and I was at the other end of the bar, and it was pretty annoying. The woman working behind the bar was great though, she basically ignored them and made sure we were taken care of.
Will I be back? Probably, as a convenience factor for plans, but not as a first choice.