J.J.'s Coney Island

565 S. Main St., Fall River, MA - (508) 679-7944

Overview Reviews(1) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on August 31, 2010 12:47 PM

Most hot dog joints, especially in southeastern New England, are places you likely wouldn't take your dear old grandmother. They are, let us be kind, rough around the edges. Not so J.J.'s. "We don't allow swearing," proprietor Albano Medeiros once told a reporter. "We want families to come here…. We wanted to offer a classier place." The large street corner restaurant is accoutered with comfortable booths and tables and even an espresso machine for leisurely sipping. There are no counter seats. And the menu extends beyond tube steak variations to include chourico pie, stuffed quohogs, chow mein, nachos and bacon-and-egg breakfast.

Chris Ayers and Amy Breisch, who zeroed in on this place, said that the first time they came they assumed they should get some gaggers (localese for Coney Island hot dogs), which are the featured attraction on the menu. But while waiting in line at the counter (service is tote-your-own), they noticed that a person in front of them got a chourico roll … and it was a beauty. Sure enough, this is no roll from Cheap-Eats Central. It is a lovely twisted pastry enveloping a great load of rugged, spicy sausage.

J.J.'s also is a prime source of the Fall River hot cheese sandwich, for which a hearty scoop of warm, hashed cheddar is retrieved from a steam table tureen (where, miraculously, it does not melt or clump) and put into a burger bun. Harmonized by a measure of the fine-grind, meaty sauce used on Coney Island hot dogs and a sprinkle of raw onion, the sharp cheese sings a vivid dairy melody.

Overall Rating

Hot Cheese Sandwich

Chourico Roll

Coffee Milk

Cheeseburger

10 out of 10 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes