I've been a frequent patron of NYAJ for years, starting at the Watertown location, and now more frequently at the Arlington location. I've sometimes gone at crowded times, but mostly I try to go at slow times. The bread comes with a wonderful olive oil / garlic / Parmesan cheese dipping sauce. They used to have only one or two soups on the menu, but on my last visit there were three soups, one of them an appealing soup with pureed sweet potato and chorizo sausage. The Cobb salad has lots of avocado, hard boiled egg segments, blue cheese, and greens -- one can supplement this with chicken breast, salmon, or sliced beef. There is always at least one salmon entree (often there's the balsamic glazed salmon on the regular menu and some other presentation on the specials menu). In my experience, it''s generally possible to substitute which side dishes come on the entree one has ordered, so if you want the salmon but not the rice and green beans that come with it, you can ask for the asparagus and potatoes that come with another entree. I really like it that they now offer desserts in tiny portions as well as in regular portion size. \r
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The service is generally quite attentive. The few times when mistakes were made or the food wasn't as excellent as it usually is, when I made a comment either on their comment card or to a supervisor, there was always an effort to make up for it (once when the fruit crisp I got had a topping that was scorched, I said I didn't want to wait around for a replacement, and the supervisor insisted on giving me a take out dessert to make up for it). \r
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I usually eat in the restaurant, but I also often get take-out from the curbside service; they include their bread and dipping sauce with the order, and they package the food very carefully (for their fruit crisp, for example, they use several little packages, one for the fruit, one for the crisp mix, one for the ice cream topping).
Pros: Good food, fairly late hours
Cons: Crowded on weekends; Medford location lacks handicap parking
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