Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar

UNIQUE.
A place where you most definitely walked right pass because it doesn’t quite look like a restaurant or anything in particular from the outside. It is however, a worthy little eatery that spawns creative, unique little dishes. Each dish on the menu is basically an appetizer, one would need to order about 4 to leave with a happy belly.
I’ve been here twice, and still would go back again. Their oysters from diff bays have yet to fail to impress. I highly recommend their «Roasted Oysters,» «Clams & Chorizo,» & the Scallop served with lemon foam. MMmm yummy.
But their menu changes periodically, which is why I enjoy coming back to this place. Very fun place. I’ve also sat at the bar where you can watch your chef cook your meal up — WOo! It’s awesome when the restaurant is not packed (yet) to have your personal cook!

Absolutely unacceptable.
I had heard that Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar’s last night was tonight, and I wanted to try it before they closed down so I made a reservation for tonight at 8 pm. I made a reservation about 10 days ago for three people, and because the recent reviews listed horror stories about Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar having trouble with reservations, I called them TWICE to confirm.
When I got to the restaurant, I waited for about 10 minutes before the waitress even acknowledged me. I understand that they were busy, but they simply walked right past me to serve the other customers. without even a simple «Hi» or «I’ll be with you shortly.» Finally, she came up to me and I told her my reservation details, and she seated us at the counter.
After we had looked at the menus and were ready to order, the waitress came up to us and told us, just as previous reviews had said, that they didn’t have room for us in the restaurant. She pulled out her reservation book and said that my reservation was for 2 people, not for three. After telling her that I had confirmed the reservation TWICE, she said she would call the owner. Then she disappeared while we waited for about another 10 minutes, wondering what we were supposed to do. Eventually, she came back and said sorry but there’s nothing she could do. She explained that she had to make room for 2 other parties that were on the way… UMMM… WHAT.
Not only did they mix up our reservation, but the other people weren’t even there yet, and they wanted to kick us out to make room for them AFTER we were seated!
Anyway, long story short, I was extremely dissatisfied with what happened tonight. I understand they’re busy and that it’s their last night, but what happened was completely unacceptable. I’ve eaten at Degustation before and had a wonderful experience. I thought this would translate over to JLOB, but apparently not. I have a reservation for degustation tomorrow, which I will have to call and confirm yet again to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

This place is ok but definitely not 4.5 star worthy. That’s why I’m giving it 2 stars, to lower the rating a little bit.
Whenever I see a restaurant rated that high I expect excellence. What we got was a quaint east village eatery with pretty good food. What I’m trying to say is that this place is over hyped by Unilocalers.
Portions were small but built for sharing. Oysters are served on a bed of salt which is aesthetically pleasing but lacks function as the oysters don’t stay cold. Personally, I like my oysters very chilled, served over ice. I don’t want a room temperature oyster and that’s what you get here.
Nothing really blew me away and I probably wouldn’t come back.

So we had a reservation last night for 8pm, made like a month ago, confirmed yesterday, for a birthday dinner. At 8pm, our friends were in a cab, so my husbandpartnerfriend steps into the restaurant, says that we have an 8pm reservation, and half of our party is en route, but not to give up our table. At this point, they realized that they had overlooked our reservation, they didn’t have a place for us to sit, and they were going to offer us a place at the bar to sit for our reservation.
At 8:15, our whole party was there, we stepped in, understanding that we are going to have to sit at the bar. The hostess was like «actually, we are too full, and now there are no seats at the bar either.» She offered that we could wait or make a reservation for another night. We explained that this was night-​specific, what with it being a birthday dinner and all, and we said we’d go get a drink. She said it would be an hour and a half wait, but that she’d call us as soon as a table opened up.
So we are sitting in a bar around the corner for like 2 hours. There’s nothing wrong with the bar, or its patronage, but we’re all in like nice clothes for a nice birthday dinner. We have lovely drinks with a bar full of college students who are shouting.
At 9:50, the person who made the reservation called the restaurant. They had run out of ingredients and closed the kitchen without calling us.
I totally understand that restaurants lose reservations or get overwhelmed or overbooked, but you said you were going to call us. We were waiting around the corner. We could have been scrambling for another restaurant at 8:20 or 9, if you knew you couldn’t accomodate us. Instead we were left scrambling for a nice birthday restaurant at like 10pm.

I had a bit of a funny experience at Jack’s… while the food was excellent and the staff incredibly friendly, we did not get to stay the entire meal. I’ll get to that part in a moment.
Jack’s is small with a nice cozy feeling. The entire place probably only has about 8 — 10 tables and then seats at the bar. It has an American feel and simple décor. With no sign on the door, it’s an under the radar little gem in the East Village from the Jewel Bako team.
We started the hot Summer night off with a crisp bottle of Sauv Blanc. I was quite excited to try this place and decided to take my Mom here while she was in town. I’d heard great things about the tasting menu, but Mom is not quite as adventurous an eater as I am so we opted against it. I still would like to go back and try it sometime.
The night that we went was super hot so we opted for some of the lighter, refreshing items on the menu. The crudo of diver scallops was absolutely divine with a lovely citrus flavor and should not be missed. The beet salad is also excellent and perfect for summertime. It came with pumpernickel crumbs which added such a lovely texture to the beets.
Right about then is where things began to get dicey. I quickly learned that since the space is so small they usually have the door propped wide open. Seeing as it was close to 100 degrees out the door was closed to preserve the cool air inside. Well, the more patrons came in and the more food they cooked up it began to get very smokey and hot. They cook the food right behind the bar.
I found myself sucking back not only Oysters but tears as well. My eyes were bothered so much that I had to get up from the table and stand outside to fight back the tears… I’m sure I looked like a hot mess standing on 2^nd Ave in the heat, my eyes watering with makeup dripping down my face! Lovely!
We finally agreed that this was just a bit ridiculous, here my Mom had flown into town to see me and was eating dinner by herself while I ran outside after every couple of bites (the bites were in fact excellent, but this didn’t make the scene any less ridiculous). The waitress couldn’t have been nicer and more understanding and brought us our check right away (don’t worry we didn’t let that bottle of wine go to waste, I know you may haven been thinking ‘oh no the wine, I hope they finished the wine at least.’ We did). The waitress said her eyes were driving her nuts too.
All in all, I’d like to go back to Jack’s (maybe eat an entire meal this time) and I would recommend it… just go in the Spring or Fall when the door being wide open is not an issue!

Solid, amazing, delicious food. Had the tasting menu. Flavors, creativity, all there.
Service could use improvement. We had to double check on our reservation a few days before (they didn’t seem to have it down) which we did only because it was for a birthday. We had to wait for way too much time between each course — and this is coming from a very slow eater. We asked two different times about a candle for the birthday– they said yes, but I guess forgot since it never happened.
So, all in all, great food, but it’s a place where it seems like they already have so much business, they won’t bother with better service.

Quite definitely one of the best meals I’ve ever had in NYC. We went there for our anniversary and were not disappointed.
Atmosphere: very small and boutique-​y, but intimate. We sat at the chef’s table which was fun.
Wine: excellent. Paid $ 48 for a Shiraz blend that was very nice.
Food: The best part. We had the tasting menu, which can’t be beat for $ 55 bucks. Started with lightly cooked oysters on the halfshell that had a kind of chorizo essence with shredded potato crisps atop.
2^nd course was a white asparagus that was seared and atop a dijon aioli and sprinkled with bee pollen… it was a good palate cleanser.
3^rd course was seared arctic char over a mushy peas and crisp potatoe stack and then toped with sunchoke chips and white wine foam. Wife’s favorite.
4^th course was a rock shrimp and bacon risotto that was amazing… my favorite.
5^th course was carmelized pork belly over a cream dill succotash with a fried squash blossom filled with mascarpone. MMMmmm.
Dessert was an espresso ice cream over a ‘mud’ crumble topped with dried milk crumbs.
The presentation & preparation was flawless as we got to observe Tristan work his artistry every step of the way. Highly recommend this place.

the most delicious food ever. I’m taking off one star because it took us four hours to eat here because each dish came out separately, or as our waitress explained, cooked to order. It was the most tiring dinner I have ever had. If you are jetlagged you should tell the waitress right up front that you’re only good for a couple of hours before passing out, which we almost did.

Following the recommendation of a friend’s friend (that is a chef), we ate at New Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar one weekend evening. What a great recommendation! This place is a jewel in the city!
First of all, it is small, and so I would recommend making a reservation. There were 6 of us, and I felt that we took up ¼ of the space.
We all agreed to do the tasting menu at $ 55.00 per person. The price in itself is shocking considering the Manhattan location. We wondered if we would be full after the meal. No worries there! We were completely satisfied after dessert, which was the 6^th course on the tasting menu. Every course was executed to perfection. It continued to shock me with each bite how affordable the tasting menu was.
Each course was delectable but the standouts for me were the roasted oysters and pork belly. It appears that menu constantly changes, but I’m confident that everything is good here.
Service was great! The time between each course was properly spaced.
Of course, we ordered two bottles of wine to go with our meals, so the overall cost was more but this restaurant was definitely a pleasant surprise both to our a palette and wallet. We will definitely be returning in the future.

Pretty annoyed with JLOB after my last visit, so I’m revoking my prior 5-​star review.
Made a reservation for 8:30 PM for four. We had guests visiting from out of town and I raved and raved about JLOB to them. When we arrived (exactly on time) our table wasn’t ready. No biggie, they sat us at the bar to wait it out. Little did we know the wait would be 1.5 hours. 1.5 hours with a reservation?! I appreciate the restaurant is small, but that’s just too much.
A party of four seated at the bar for dinner is two too many. It was challenging enough to share an oyster platter, let alone a conversation.
I used to adore you JLOB, but am I less inclined to come rushing back after this last experience.
Grr.

My actual rating is 4.5.
I’m feeling this place. Because of mixed up communications etc. we arrived late for our reservations. They were still gracious. Then three of our party bailed. They were still gracious though they had held the table for us while turning away potential customers.
I enjoyed the majority of the dishes we had. The best was the lobster pot pie. I also really liked the oyster sampling we had as appetizers. What I didn’t like was the prices of wine. TOO crazy! My advice for the very little it’s worth — New Jack’s needs to be less wack and get some $ 30-​$ 38 bottles on that menu!
The place itself is quirky yet cute.
In summation, I’d come for a second round.

Unpretentious, relaxed atmosphere where the food does the talking. Our waiter was
Knowledgable without being over opinionated (unless we asked!).
The halibut was like butter, and the rich foie gra was offset with its sweet accompaniment. Octopus has been a favorite of mine since I had it at Craft many years ago and have been unable to find an octopus dish that compares. This one compares.
This meal was a great addition to good company and decent wine. Get here before the $ 55 prefix goes up (maybe to late) and you are unable to get a reservation after 5 and before 10:30.

HMM… really 3.5 stars. It’s pricey for the small plates of food.
Dishes we ordered:
Scallops — really good with parsley flakes. I didn’t like the bitter sauce that came with it.
Halibut — one of my fav. dishes. peas were sweet and fish was moist.
lobster pot pie — it was alright to me. it’s basically a deconstructed pot pie with lobster pieces. but good sauce.
pork belly — liked it.
oysters — fresh. and the waitress was nice enough to tell you which one’s mild and salty and etc.
clams and chorizo — MUST GET THIS. best dish we ever got. loved the broth and the bread it comes in to dip in is yummy.

I came here on a weeknight with a friend, and it was very quiet and about half of the tables were filled. It is a very small place with dim nighttime lighting and one waiter. Rather than do the tasting menu, we decided to order a la carte — best idea as the menu is quite small anyways so you probably end up wanting to try the majority of the dishes.
Memorable eats:
— market oysters for the day — all were quite delicious and fresh
— Torchon Of Foie Gras — i am allergic to almond, so the waiter gladly left the almond butter on the side for my friend to enjoy. The foie gras was perfect amount of richness and he brought over more bread for us when we ran out without us requesting
— Lobster — this was definitely to die for and had a nice quantity of pieces to share
I do think though that the menu is small, and you go through items quickly and by the end, we were definitely full, but would have enjoyed a bit more variety.
Definitely a nice place to go when you want to sit at a quiet place with a friend to catch up.

I haven’t given out 5 STARS in a while… but this was just too damn good. 5 STARS well deserved.
Tasting menu — phenomenal — every single dish was rich, yet delicate and superbly delicious
Service — outstanding
Atmosphere — loved it — cute, quaint, cozy… small but not too small like some of the nooks in the city
Lack of Valentine’s décor on Valentine’s Day — TWO THUMBS UP
Menu Recommendations:
**Best pork belly I’ve ever had in my life. The perfect mix of crispy pork & juicy fat.
**Risotto with wild arugula, quail egg, bacon — WOW. The quail egg seals the deal on this dish.
Living in New York, it’s easy to continue to try new restaurants and never have to go back to the same place twice. But I think Jack’s Oyster Bar is going to have to be added on to our very small and exclusive list of restaurants to return to.
Well done Jack… well done.

This place is easy to miss if youre walking down second avenue. Its a small door on the west side of the street with no visible name.
The restaurant is cozy with dim lighting. We had requested seats at the bar which is fun since you can see everything the chefs are working on and the chef serves you food directly to you after making it. The chef was very friendly and even let me charge my blackberry in one of his kitchen sockets!
Wine list was a bit limited, but there were a few by the glass options ($ 9-​$ 14 range). I had a montepulciano which was great.
The chef’s tasting menu on offer was not the same one that I had looked up online and did not look terribly appealing, so we ordered off the menu. The food:
Roasted oysters with paprika and potato chips. I thought this was delicious but my companion wasnt as much of a fan — she did not feel like she got much oyster flavor out of the dish. jurys out
Lobster pot pie — the lobster was absolutely delicious and buttery. the pie part didnt add much
Hamachi crudo — standard stuff. great tasting but nothing special
berkshire pork — this was one of the more substantial items. really tasty and wholesome
littleneck clams with chorizo — this was not my favorite dish. didnt think combination of flavors was amazing, and the chickpeas were a little undercooked.
octopus with lentils — i’m a huge fan of octopus. this was pretty average
coffee dirt ice cream. this was generally tasty, but had an overdose of salt.
we were also comp’ed an apple based dessert which was great.
overall a great night with great service and pretty good food

So the portions are small, but this is an oyster bar not an Arby’s. This is a great place to go for a fancy snack. We went and had a glass of wine and about 5 small plates. The oysters were some of the best I have had and it is clear that everything is made with care. The risotto was incredible. We received some roasted oysters with prociutto on the house and they were excellent. This is a great place to come on a date, sit at the bar, have a drink and splurge a little. It is a little pricey, but really a great deal considering it is an oyster bar in manhattan.
The bill came to 81 dollars for 4 or 5 small dishes and two glasses of wine. Not a place to go if you are starving and don’t want to spend a lot of cash, but it is worth it if you do.

This is a super cozy somewhat casual restaurant. It has maybe 10 tables but it is super cute.
We went with the 6 course tasting menu and it was delicious. The courses consisted of an oyster roasted with some sort of bacon with fried onions (amazing), a variation of New England clam chowder with a homemade salt and vinegar potato chip (delish), Arctic Char (yummy), veal cheek with goat cheese ravioli (insanely good) and Waygu beef (super yum) followed by a variation of apple pie a la mode. All the food was great and we didn’t walk out feeling overstuffed (which is why we headed over to Momofuku Milk bar afterwards).
The only negative to this restaurant is that the kitchen is fairly close to the dining room and they were cooking something that was burning our eyes (me and the hubby have very sensitive eyes). Otherwise a great meal!!!

Sometimes it’s all about the details. Whether its the antique cupboard that greets you as you walk in. Or the mirrored marine windows and framed paintings that lined the red & white striped wall. What about the subtle addition of mint sambal & meyer lemon atop some creamy Kumomoto oysters. Or the sole crisp piece of fish skin balanced on top of the confit of artic char. I can’t forget the dehydrated peas that swam in the amuse bouche of cold pea soup. Or the corn nuts that introduced a playful texture into the delicate yet bright scallop crudo.
It’s the details such as these that dazzle and delight the senses. Numerous intricate pieces on a plate challenge the palate and make you question the cohesiveness of it all. However after one bite, you wonder no more and sit back to the enjoy the show.
The $ 55 chef’s tasting here is one of the best deals in the city. It seems to vary according to season, which keeps things exciting and unpredictable. Since the restaurant is so small (only housing 20 or so seats including those at the bar) the smells coming from the «kitchen» as your dish cooks arouses the taste buds. Just as soon as the drool is about to hit the table, your food arrives and is introduced by the friendly waitresses.
If you think the 6 courses is not enough food, feel free to add on the creamy torchon of foie gras, the generous cheese platter, or a few dozen fresh oysters, appropriately priced at $ 2.50 a slurp. The affordable tasting menu allows for these additions that will satisfy your stomach as well as your wallet earning New Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar 5 stars just for the value alone — which is the other important detail to note for those counting dollars and not calories.
Degustation — Check!
New Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar — Check!
Jewel Bako — I’m coming for you next.

Due to the far away places work has taken me this year, I haven’t been back in a while. So now that I’m finally back in town for a full two weeks, it was unquestionable that I stop by at one of my absolute favorite places to eat!
As usual, Brendan was amazing! My sister and I sat at the bar, where we passed our time talking to Brendan and Nick while they masterfully prepared plate after plate of delicious and unexpected small plates:
— Small, plump oysters topped with a sweet apple salad and yuzu cream: the perfect juxtaposition of sweet, tart, and briny
— Hamachi crudo in a «ceviche» style, with pimenton, red onions, pickled chilis, and tangerine granita: refreshing, smoky, sweet, tart — the perfect combination of flavors, perfectly chilled, perfect for a hot day like today
— Salad of heart of palm, red onion, cilantro, pea tendril leaves, and tangerines: also refreshing and delicious, with great crunch from the raw hearts of palm and juicy citrus; this was my sister’s favorite fo the night
— Octopus with pine nut purée: perfectly tender (after being poached for hours in olive oil!) and perfectly balanced flavor combination
— Smoky agnolotti with a light but boldly flavored lemony sauced and crunchy pistachios: complex and surprising combination of ingredients, great textural and flavor contrast. Yum!
— Super tender beef short ribs with potato pureee topped with horseradish and pickled turnips: extremely flavorful, very tender, amazing flavors that perfectly complimented each other. Loved it, and loved the use of the genius secret ingredient! This was my favorite of the night.
— Rich chocolate ice cream with some sort of foam, a sherry gelee, and salty, crunchy biscuits. I know some Unilocalers thought this was weird, but I absolutely loved it. I love salt with chocolate, which to me really brings out the flavor of this food of the gods, and I’ve always loved how sherry is a perfect pairing for my favorite food. Overall, an unexpected, deliciously memorable combination.
Beautiful presentation, decadent and wonderfully surprising food, great wine, and spectacular service, not to mention a couple of charming chefs. Make sure you sit at the bar so you can chat them up and watch their food experiments!