MOUNT VERNON — The new restaurant JJ’s Sports Bar and Grill is opening its doors this week at the site of the former Bob Evans at 4424 Fairfax Dr. in Mount Vernon.
The eatery, described as a family-oriented restaurant, is owned by the Jacinto family which also owns the local El Rancherito. Even so, co-owner Rosa Romo Jacinto was quick to point out that JJ’s Sports Bar and Grill has a totally different menu and concept than El Rancherito.
Jacinto said parents are invited to bring their children to JJ’s Sports Bar and Grill. There are claw machines and other games for kids, a lot of TVs to watch sporting events, and more. There is also hot chocolate available for children and coffee drinks for adults, as well as a wide range of food, Jacinto said.
The new restaurant will serve brunch, lunch and dinner every day it’s open. The menu includes a wide range of homemade food such as pasta, burgers, wings, steak, huevos rancheros, nachos, desserts, and much more.
“Our food is homemade,” Jacinto said. “We have a pasta that’s a recipe of the cook’s wife. Some of the desserts are my recipes. ... The menu will be available soon on Facebook.”
The local Bob Evans restaurant closed in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jacinto said it took her family almost a year to renovate the building and get it ready to open JJ’s Sports Bar and Grill.
“We tore up the whole dining area, the whole area where they served their food,” Jacinto said. “We tore that out and put a bar in. It took a lot of time to renovate that. It almost took a year. We started in February of this year.”
Tony Iriti, executive director of the Jefferson County Development Corporation, said he is glad to see a new restaurant opening up where Bob Evans used to be.
“Having it open back up after the closing of Bob Evans back in 2020 is just tremendous for this area of the interstate interchange,” Iriti said. “We’re really excited about it. It’s a little different twist on some of the other restaurants around, so we think it’s going to do really well.”
JJ’s Sports Bar and Grill had its soft opening on Sunday and its official opening on Monday of this week. The public is encouraged to visit the restaurant’s Facebook page for updates on the restaurant hours and the menu items. In addition to Rosa Romo Jacinto and her husband Luis, the other owners of the eatery include her father Jose, her uncle Rufino, and her cousin Juan Carlos.
“We invite everyone to come out and give it a try,” Rosa Romo Jacinto said. “We appreciate everybody’s patience as we’re beginning.”
