Jar

Good service, great atmosphere. I came here for the pot roast, but no more. My good friend was in town and we thought it would be great to get some serious comfort food. It’s a little «dark» in the restaurant, so I was taken back that my first bite from the pot roast was very fatty. Oh well, I tried it again, it melted in my mouth, only it was mostly fat, ugh. Ok, let me take a cut from a different part of the roast, same thing. Cutting into it with my knife I discovered it was a fatty piece of inferior beef that any serious chef would have thrown out. I barley ate a third of it and gave up. I’ve been in the cattle business most of my life and this was not prime or choice beef. My friend said that her’s wasn’t that fatty but utterly tasteless compared to her previous experience there. The waitress said nothing when she took my plate of barely touched pot roast. We both, wrote the restaurant (never asking for a refund) nice letters but no response. When hard working people spend over $ 100 for dinner and are fed an old Chino cow, how can you expect us to ever return.

Disappointed. Not worth the $$$, . meat overcooked. Should have melted like butter. And the ultimate was having no paper and toilet seat covers in the restroom. !! Just completely disappointed can’t believe its ranked. Husband liked the ambiance.

Dude. So good.
So crazy good.

The food is excellent, the service is amazing, and the prices are reasonable. We love this place and we’ll be coming back again!

Nice place for a pre show meal, everything very good, complaints.

The server (Rachel)‘s attitude was very condescending and short with us. The food was terrible. We had to ask for bread twice before it came. We asked for water with no ice, server kept giving ice water. My friend orders the salmon and all sauces were cold. Other friend asked for more sauce for her skirt steak, it never came. We went elsewhere for desert.

I’ve been to Jar a number of times, and have always been very satisfied. I even bring «visiting dignitaries» (i.e. out of town family and friends), so I must like the place.
Well tonight I had my first REALLY DISAPPOINTING DINNER here, and I’m talking about the food.
I started off with the Fried Ipswich Clams, which I’ve latched onto here as they’re done very well. Very tasty. This really isn’t a West Coast item so to find it on the menu and done well is a real rarity. I find it disappointing at Connie and Ted’s, and I find it wonderful at Cousin’s Maine Lobster in Pasadena. Never cheap, but when cooked properly and when served with juice from a few lemon wedges accompanied by a terrific tartar sauce it’s just like being back east in the summertime.
So Jar does this dish very well. Unfortunately, you get about 6 clams for $ 17! Now that is NOT good. I don’t recall either the price being this expensive, or the portion being this small. Tasty, but VERY EXPENSIVE for the portion.
Next, the blue cheese iceberg wedge salad. Jar has probably the best blue cheese dressing around (with actual blue cheese pieces in the blue cheese dressing). Delicious. Unfortunately, instead of being ½ a head of iceberg lettuce it’s more like ¼. And two slices of avocado, with a dollop of shredded red onion on top. $ 13. No bacon bits, no nothing else for crunch or texture. Again, Super-​tasty blue cheese dressing, but VERY EXPENSIVE for the portion.
Finally, the main course. As usual I went with sides of creamed corn ($ 9) and mashed potatoes ($ 8). Not cheap, but not outrageous either. Rather standard prices for upscale restaurants. Notably, both of these are DELICIOUS. I love them, and always get them.
For my main course it was hard to decide. I had actually driven up there from the Marina specifically for the pot roast, since I couldn’t remember what it was like and it’s Jar’s «signature» dish. Rave reviews, so I read. But when I sat down the people next to me were feasting on fried chicken. When I asked the waiter he said it was «fried chicken Sunday», and that you needed to call in advance to guarantee you’d get some since it takes three days to brine the chicken and they make enough to cover the reservations (and you must specify that you want fried chicken when you make the reservation for Sunday night). They generally make some extra, but tonight they were already sold out of fried chicken when I got there at 8:15PM so that option was off the table.
Then I asked about the pot roast, and was it (a) «long and stringy and soft», i.e. falling apart soft LENGTH-​WISE FIBERS WITH THE GRAIN submerged in a wonderful brown gravy with over-​cooked soft carrots and soft onions, or was it (b) «cut into chunks», i.e. cut across the grain thus making it dry and tough. Well, I was told it was cut «in cubes», which I took to mean it was absolutely going to be dry and tough (like beef stew?) and cut across the grain, and definitely NOT going to be long and falling-​apart long soft fibers of pot roast swimming in brown gravy and carrots. I figured I could always try it some other time, but I imagined I’d still be disappointed since it sounded like it was not going to be what I was really looking for.
Finally, I was intrigued by the «special steak of the night… bone-​in New York». On several occasions I’d had the bone-​in Filet at Jar, when calling early in the week to guarantee that they would have it on a Friday night special so that I could make my reservation. Aside from the OUTRAGEOUS $ 68 price for this item, I will say it was very very tasty. Not large (maybe 10 oz.?) and of course as you get closer to the bone it gets rarer and more gristle, but the flavor is still superb overall. So every once in a while I can splurge. I’ve had better bone-​in Filet at Abe & Louie’s in Boston, and I’ve had worse bone-​in Filet at Mastro’s. Bone-​in Filet at Jar is pretty good.
So, I expected the bone-​in New York to be equally wonderful and tasty. Certainly a New York steak generally has more taste than a filet, although they’re obviously two different cuts of beef. Anyway that’s what I decided to go with, the «special selection steak bone-​in New York».
DREADFUL!!! HORRIBLE!!! Probably ½″ thick instead of 1″ — 1 ½″ thick as you might expect a really superb «prime» New York steak to look, albeit this time with the bone-​in on the side. So it was actually THIN! And it smelled off, and tasted not good. Did not even taste like New York steak. Kind of like a $ 7.99 special steak and baked potato at Tad’s on 42’nd St. in NYC, but not as tasty.
And, it was ½ gristle and progressively tougher «meat» as I got closer to the bone, that I couldn’t even cut it with my steak knife. I simply was unable to coax any additional edible pieces of this «meat» with my knife, and finally gave up.
I told the waiter, and told the manager. But I was still charged an OUTRAGEOUS $ 49 for this «piece of dreck», if you get my drift.

First off, Jar is not a $$$ restaurant as Unilocal,Open Table and critic Jonathan Gold state. It’s actually a more expensive place, like a $$$$ or even a $$$$$. But to Jar’s credit, their FB page does state that they are expensive –$$$$, that is.
Still reading? Okay, here’s my review.
SIGNAGE (5 Stars): A category for signage? Yes, gentle reader. Never has a signage so fascinated me as Jar’s signage. Check it out:
DÉCOR (5 Stars): Conservative yet contemporary. In the pictures, it almost looked like it’s outdated, you know, kinda like a senior-​citizen look. Morever, when we first arrived at the place, I was surprised to learn that their armchairs have wheels. Now, that definitely is a senior-​citizen touch. It reminded me of an Olive Garden where the chairs with wheels looked tacky. However, at Jar, the wheels worked. In this classy-​looking and very dim restaurant, the chairs made me feel like I was floating.
SERVICE (3 Stars): It was really slow at the start. We arrived shortly after 5:30 pm (their opening time) and the place was still empty except for one couple. Yet even though it was practically empty, it took awhile for anyone to ask us for any drinks or to give us the menus. So I went towards the bar/​kitchen area where a worker came out of the kitchen. I complained to the worker why it was going so slow. The worker responded in a cocky manner saying that that’s how they work. He said they start slow. He was probably just tardy. Anyway, maybe to appease me, he added that they will speed up in accordance with how we want it. That worker turned out to be our waiter. After that unpleasant start, it was smooth sailing. After the main courses, they cleared our table really well. That is expected for this restaurant but it seemed that they did it exceptionally well. Here’s a photo:
Also, the waiter religiously and cheerfully refilled our cups of coffee. Our waiter probably was a Stepford Waiter – programmed to be cheerful and that is fine. But if you have a complaint, the cheerful response may seem like a cocky one.
DRINKS (4 Stars): I was the only one who ordered a drink. I ordered my usual glass of Chardonnay. Their Chardonnay was good and was chilled just right. Price: $ 14
FREE BREAD (3 Stars): They serve free bread. However, it did not go well with my Chard. It was sourdough. But it was free, so thank you. :)
APPETIZER (3 Stars): We ordered the very popular Crab Deviled Eggs. I love deviled eggs but I could not tell much difference between their version of deviled eggs and the regular deviled eggs. As my cousin exclaimed twice, «I can’t taste the crab!» Price: $ 12
ENTREES
1) Chilean Sea Bass — my cousin ordered this and she said she liked it. No rating from me because I did not taste it. Price: $ 38
2) Bone-​In Filet Mignon (2 Stars) — This was one of those items that was Not on the menu and that means you won’t know the price unless you ask. And I couldn’t ask because we were treating my sister for her birthday (this was her order). But still, I did not expect it to be double the going rate of their main entrees. $ 68. I almost had a whopping cough. Had I known, I would have split it with my sister, and she was really willing.
Not counting the bone, this was a 10-​oz steak. I tried it and it was tasty. But my sister said there were parts that were not tender. And yes, it was kinda chewy. I wonder if we should have brought this to their attention.
3) Pot Roast (5 Stars) — This was my order. This is very popular and it’s also their signature dish. And it lived up to the hype. I liked it a lot. Price: $ 32
SIDES
Sides are separate. For example, my Pot Roast came by itself. So here are the sides that we ordered.
1) Duck Fried Rice (5 Stars) — My cousin ordered this to go with her Chilean Sea Bass. I tried this and I liked it a lot. It also went well with my Pot Roast. Price: $ 9
2) Baby Broccoli (3 Stars) — This was my sister’s order. It was agreeable – but I guess the good thing about it was knowing that you were eating something healthy. Price: $ 11.
3) Mashed Potatoes (5 Stars) — My order and this was very delicious, yet it did not overpower my Pot Roast unlike the mashed potatoes at Forage. Price $ 8
DESSERTS (no complimentary birthday dessert)
1) Butterscotch Pudding (1 Star): No good. Price: $ 12
2) Chocolate Tart a la mode (5 Stars): Pretty good and also priced at $ 12
PARKING (5 Stars): There are metered parking and a valet parking. Valet is $ 8 but, oh well, we spent a lot already and it’s a nice touch that their valets are nice.
SUMMARY
We enjoyed our dinner at Jar. Thank you, Jar.

What a hidden gem of Los Angeles. I’ve never have heard of Jar until this past weekend when we were invited to a dinner party.
Fabulous place to gather and eat good food, experience impeccable service and lovely ambiance.
For a party of 10 they catered to us and all of our food requests, their wine list was great, the chef even came out to greet us!
I’d say this is a must visit if you’re looking for a quieter steakhouse than say Cut or Mastro’s.
Cheers!

I went there for a friends birthday dinner tonight and all I can say was its amazing! The food was so flavorful and the service was really good as well! At the end of the night we even got a picture with the chef/​owner I believe. I would definitely come here again and recommend it to all my friends!

I went to Jar last night and it was really good!
Yes, I know last night was a Monday night and they are closed on Monday nights but this was a private dinner and this review still counts.
Why does it count?
Because the pot roast coming out of the their kitchen on any night is still their pot roast coming out of their kitchen!
So, I have been to Jar many times before, through all of their evolutions and incarnations and each time they were very good. Last night was no exception, they were still very good.
The tuxedo I was wearing didn’t make the food any better or worse. It was just Jar doing what it does best and that is comfort food. They are the «Doctors» of comfort food.
The Asian pear apple salad, the scallops with avocado, the duck fried rice and of course the pot roast were really really good. The grand finale was the butterscotch pudding with salted caramel whipped cream and that was killer good.
What a wonderful dinner — period.
Will it ever earn a Michelin star, no. Was it just very yummy and happy and tasty food… a resounding YES!

It is old school? Yes
Is it overpriced? Yes
Is the service excellent? Yes
Are the cocktails good? Yes
Is the wine list impressive? Yes
Is the food perfect? Yes
Should you go? Yes

We have been there a couple of different times to celebrate birthdays and we have had an AMAZING experience each time.
The service was fantastic and everyone was so attentive even during busy Saturday night dining hours.
I have a severe gluten allergy that results in seizures if I have any gluten. The staff and Chef Suzanne made sure to guard against the possibility of cross contamination.
The food was a standout. Each dish was exactly what we were looking for. We’ve had the halibut, prime rib, Kansas City steak, pork chop, skirt steak and pot roast. Sides were mashed potatoes, onion rings, lima beans and asparagus. We enjoyed the butterscotch and chocolate pudding for dessert and I definitely recommend also trying the pear crisp and banana cream pie as they were favorites of the table as well.

Ordered: Duck Fried Rice, Salad, Signature Pot Roast
The venue is nice but the food I ordered tasted terrible.
When I was ordering my dish, the waitress asked if I would like salad or soup with my meal. I ordered a salad, which came out to be almost 13 dollars. The restaurant menu did not state that a salad or soup would cost extra, nor did the waitress tell me that it would cost extra. When the salad came, I was extremely unsatisfied and even more unsatisfied when it showed up on my bill. The hidden price of the salad in my opinion was outrageous for how it tasted.
The waitress later brought the The Duck Fried Rice, which turned out to be too salty and sour. There were only tiny shreds of duck but the flavor was complete masked by the salt and the sour taste. Luckily, the waiter took it the duck fried rice out of my bill because I had barely touched it.
My main course, was the the Signature Pot Roast, which was burnt to a crisp on the outside to the point where you can taste the cancer (basically to the point where it left a bad after taste). The inside of the pot roast was a little better, but the sauce that it was drowned in made it taste awful… Again, there was too much salt added. I barely finished the pot roast. I gave my friends a taste of the Pot Roast and they did not like it either. In the end, my Pot Roast was unfinished and it was still placed on my bill.
The good dishes that I tried from what my friends ordered were: Deviled eggs, Steak, Gloria’s corn. The steak was a little under done, but tasted very delicious initially.

So, it was with some trepidation that the date, myself, and two friends journeyed to Jar given its (current) three-​point-​five star average.
I generally feel that Unilocal is a perfectly reliable indicator of a restaurant’s quality when all of the reviews are taken in aggregate, but here I’m at a loss to explain how Unilocal could collectively rate what should be a five-​star restaurant in a star-​tier generally reserved for bog-​stock Thai restaurants and local P.F. Chang’s franchises.
So, here’s the basic rub: among four people, everything we ordered was spectacular. That included three ribeye steaks perfectly seasoned and cooked (accompanied by delicious lobster bearnaise sauce), lemongrass chicken that exploded with flavor, scrumptious duck fried rice, delicious pea tendrils, and perhaps the best french fries I’ve ever had. I thought the butterscotch pudding was another knockout. Total cost for food and drinks: about $ 90 just for me. But worth it. Oh, so worth it. I would go back, for sure.
About those other reviews. There are two theories I have. The first is that Unilocalers’ expectations are rising perhaps disproportionately to the amount of money they spend. Perhaps people expect that once you spend $ 100 on a meal, the waiter should come by to drop the keys to a Ferrari off at the table and give you a happy ending before the desserts reach the table. As a thought exercise: is it possible for a restaurant charging $ 40+ a steak to bowl over the majority of its diners? Our other options, Nick & Stef’s and Pacific Dining Car, both have the same average, and along with Jar are pretty consistently rated as having some of the best steaks in LA.
However, actually reading some of the other reviews, people seem to be lodging extremely legitimate and articulate complaints, which leads me to my second theory: Jar should really up its quality control and front-​of-​house acumen. Consistency seems to be an issue.
Here, I shrug, as I don’t have the answers. I can only say I went and had a great experience.
For anyone on the fence, we went at 5:30 on a Friday to a mostly empty house. Chances are this was the absolute optimal time to go. If you want to double down on your chance of a meal like ours, perhaps that’s something to consider. The food was to die for and nobody left without a smile on their face.

On a normal night this place would be 4 or even 5 stars. However for Valentine’s Day my meal with my wife SUCKED. I wasn’t made aware that this was a pre-​fix menu when I made reservations and 2 other couples got up and left immediately when they realized the normal menu wasn’t available (we are kicking ourselves for not following them). For the amount of money I paid for this dinner I would expect to eat some of the greatest hits like crab deviled eggs for an appetizer, a well cooked filet as a main, and the budino for dessert. Rather I had a pedestrian salad, a chewy steak with sad vegetables, and a red velvet cake that seemed store bought. At the end of the meal I was waiting for Chef Gordon Ramsey to come out of the kitchen and tell us that we were on an episode of Master Chef Jr. and 8 to 10 year old home cooks had prepared our meals.
We were looking forward to such a great meal and were extremely disappointed. Was Chef Suzanne Tracht even there to taste the food that came out of that kitchen? I have no idea what restaurant I just ate at.

Came to Jar for a work dinner and was fairly neutral about the experience. If there was a way to give Jar 3.5 stars, I would. I liked it, but I found myself thinking «I’ve had better _​_​_​somewhere else» for the majority of the dinner. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Got here around 7pm on a Wed and although it wasn’t packed, it definitely got crowded within the following hour. We were a large group and we ordered quickly, but I felt like the food took a fair amount of time to come out.
I ordered the filet mignon that came with a starter (celeriac soup). I’m a huge soup person but was very unimpressed by the soup. It was bland and the texture reminded me slightly of applesauce. We also ordered oysters on the half shell to start, but we agreed that they were a little too briny for our liking.
My steak was REALLY delicious though, to counter balance the appetizer situation. It came with a little herbed butter and was perfectly cooked to medium.
We ordered a majority of the sides to share, although they didn’t all make their way around.
Must-​orders:
Purple yams — not as sweet as regular yams. More delicious. Order them!
Brussels sprouts — with kimchi instead of bacon! So i could actually eat them! And they were surprisingly delicious.
Solid:
Tuscan kale
French fries
Mashed potatoes
Passable:
Onion rings
Turnips
Very sad I didn’t get a chance to try the duck fried rice though! It seemed to be good.
Desserts:
Apple bread pudding: the best dessert hands down. Not overly sweet and perfectly dense.
Butterscotch Pudding: Delicious but a little too sweet for my taste buds. Very intense. Definitely for the sweet tooth. I personally prefer Mozza’s version.
Banana cream pie: The basic banana cream pie. Delicious, but slightly forgettable.
Overall, solid restaurant but definitely not a standout amongst the many new american restaurants in Los Angeles. I would eat here again, although not necessarily suggest it.

My housemates and I went here for our annual holiday «bro dinner». We were pretty amped about it after hearing great things and it turned out to be fantastic!
The restaurant itself was a bit dimly lit, but I liked the vibe. It was very classy, very professional and was exactly what I was expecting as far as look. The server was very knowledgable and knew all of the specials with full descriptions like it was his middle name.
I really liked the fact that you can bring in your own wine and they charge you for a «corkage» fee so that way my 4 housemates and I weren’t spending too much for separate glasses of wine.
I split the clams with one other person, which was a special and it contained a chicken sausage that was in the sauce. Everything about this starter was fantastic and the sauce was to die for.
I ordered the Prime Rib-​Eye and it was cooked to perfection. One of the best pieces of meat I’ve ever eaten. Prior to trying my meal, I ordered the Lobster Bernaise sauce which came on the side and that was very tasty as well, although I didn’t even need it for the steak. The steak was cooked so perfected all the way through and it didn’t need anything at all.
We ordered 5 different sides for each of us and circulated them. My favorite out of the bunch was the Brussel Sprouts which were seasoned perfectly and were very flavorful. The garlic french fries, mashed potatoes and purple yams were also very very good. The only issue I had with anything was the Duck Fried Rice being a bit tangy, which I didn’t prefer, but this was very minor.
Overall, a great experience and I’ll for sure be going back again!

I guess this was a fitting fathers day brunch as the meal was as painfully mediocre as my haphazard parenting skills.
STICKY BUN
Just as sticky as I like my buns.
BLOODY MARY
Sadly, best part of the bloody meal.
GRUYERE SANDWICH
(actual conversation between the wife and I from 30 seconds ago)
me: «hey, how was your sandwich?»
the wife: «it was fine I guess? I don’t remember bitch, leave me alone»
me: «geez, sorry.»
FRESH FRUIT
$ 10?! I got fruit raped.
BACON
I’d rather get bacon raped.
POT ROAST HASH
It looked like someone swept up the floor of the kitchen and scrambled it with some eggs… but it was pretty good.
SORBET
Kids seemed to enjoy this while I pondered why I had kids in the first place.
BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING
The wife and I ate this up. I could have done with less butter and more scotch.
In conclusion…
I don’t care what the circumstances are… fruit and/​or bacon rape are no laughing matter my friends.

The question I always have when it comes to expensive restaurants isn’t «does the food justify the cost?» but rather «will the food make me immediately start saving to come back?»
For Jar, the answer to both is a bold, underlined, and capitalized YES.
I had the crab deviled eggs (very vinegar-​y, but delicious), the radicchio salad (if you’re into radicchio, you’ll be into this salad, which isn’t surprising), the pot roast (which didn’t even need a knife, it was the kind of meat that seemingly melted in your mouth), the pork chop (which I stole off my friend’s plate and wish I had ordered — it was easily the best pork chop I had ever tasted), and the banana cream pie (I mean, it’s a really damn good banana cream pie).
Any one of those courses would’ve made me want to come back. Especially the pork chop.
A quick word on the staff: I wish I could name names (but I’m writing this days later and forgot), but our waiter was incredibly nice, helpful, and fast. He made an already great experience even greater.
So, in short, I’m already squirreling away my hard earned money to come down and enjoy a meal at Jar. It’s worth every penny.