EXHIBIT 99.1

BJ's Restaurants Opens in Pembroke Pines, Florida

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Sept. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (Nasdaq:BJRI) today announced the opening of its newest restaurant in Pembroke Pines, Florida on September 19, 2011. The new BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse is located at the intersection of Pines Blvd. and Flamingo Rd. as the latest addition to the Pembroke Crossing shopping center. The restaurant is approximately 7,500 square feet, contains seating for approximately 265 guests, and features BJ's extensive menu including BJ's signature deep-dish pizza, award-winning handcrafted beer and famous Pizookie® dessert. BJ's highly detailed, contemporary décor and unique video statement, including BJ's 103" plasma display as well as several high-definition flat panel televisions, creates a high energy, fun and family-friendly dining environment for everyone to enjoy. Hours of operation are from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

"We are very excited to open our first BJ's in southern Florida in the city of Pembroke Pines," said Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and CEO.  "Our new Pembroke Pines restaurant joins seven other successful BJ's restaurants currently open in central and northern Florida.  We continue to believe that Florida will be a fertile development ground for the BJ's restaurant concept for many years to come.  Additionally, we anticipate opening two new restaurants before the end of September in Dublin, Ohio and Brentwood, California. As such, we remain on track to open as many as 12 to 13 new restaurants during 2011, and we have a solid pipeline of locations in place for potential 2012 openings." Investors are reminded that the actual number and timing of new restaurant openings for any given period is subject to a number of factors outside of the Company's control, including weather conditions and factors under the control of landlords, contractors and regulatory/licensing authorities.

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 110 casual dining restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery®, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse® or BJ's Pizza & Grill® brand names. BJ's restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts. Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ's experience. The Company operates several microbreweries in addition to using qualified contract brewers to produce and distribute BJ's critically acclaimed proprietary handcrafted beers throughout the chain. The Company's restaurants are located in California (53), Texas (23), Arizona (6), Colorado (4), Oregon (2), Nevada (5), Florida (8), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (2), Kentucky (1), Indiana (1), Louisiana (1) and Washington (2). Visit BJ's Restaurants, Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com.

Certain statements in the preceding paragraphs and all other statements that are not purely historical constitute "forward-looking" statements for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Such statements include, but are not limited to, those regarding expected comparable restaurant sales growth in future periods, those regarding the effect of new sales-building initiatives, future guest traffic, as well as those regarding the number of restaurants expected to be opened in future periods and the timing and location of such openings. These "forward-looking" statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from those projected or anticipated. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the effect of credit and equity market disruptions on our ability to finance our continued expansion on acceptable terms, (ii) our ability to manage an increasing number of new restaurant openings, (iii) construction delays, (iv) labor shortages, (v) minimum wage increases, (vi) food quality and health concerns, (vii) factors that impact California, where 53 of our current 110 restaurants are located, (viii) restaurant and brewery industry competition, (ix) impact of certain brewery business considerations, including without limitation, dependence upon suppliers, third party contractors and related hazards, (x) consumer spending trends in general for casual dining occasions, (xi) potential uninsured losses and liabilities, (xii) fluctuating commodity costs and availability of food in general and certain raw materials related to the brewing of our handcrafted beers and energy, (xiii) trademark and service-mark risks, (xiv) government regulations, (xv) licensing costs, (xvi) beer and liquor regulations, (xvii) loss of key personnel, (xviii) inability to secure acceptable sites, (xix) limitations on insurance coverage, (xx) legal proceedings, (xxi) other general economic and regulatory conditions and requirements, (xxii) the success of our key sales-building and related operational initiatives and (xxiii) numerous other matters discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. The "forward-looking" statements contained in this press release are based on current assumptions and expectations and BJ's Restaurants, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or alter its "forward-looking" statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Greg Levin of BJ's Restaurants, Inc.
         (714) 500-2400