I have to give Original Joe's credit for having a number of vegetarian items on the menu. When I'm with a group and we need somewhere quick to grab a meal, I know that OJs will always be an option. On my most recent visit I had the veggie burger with fries and honey slaw; love that the burger comes topped with hummus and salsa (I get enough crunchy lettuce in my diet without needing it on my burgers!) and I appreciate having a choice of sides.
That being said, I am NOT a fan of this location. The layout of the restaurant isn't great, for starters. To access the bathrooms you have to squeeze past the food service area, and I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sorry, but my long hair got way too close to food that servers were bringing out. One coughing guest on his way back from the bathroom could infect an entire table's food with avian flu! While we're discussing bathrooms... um, gross! They're located in the basement, which actually has a stench reminiscent of the New York City sewer system. The stalls are cramped and weird (my door had a triangular cut-out allowed the door to close along an angled wall); another patron commented to me that she felt like she was in a dungeon. Keep your eyes peeled for trolls. The stairs leading to and from the bathrooms are narrow and slippery; on the way up I actually noticed some fist-sized holes in the stairs! (Maybe that was where the smell was coming from?) We came when the restaurant was quite busy, so the only available seat was near the door. Original Joe's has double doors in this location- when it's cold they need to use them! With huge groups of guests coming in and out the doors remained opened for minutes at a time and freezing air kept blowing over my table, meaning that I actually had to keep my winter coat on to eat and my food cooled quickly. All that the serving staff needed to do was close the second set of doors. Overall the experience was just kind of icky... I felt like needed some hand sanitizer and some mittens after my meal.