Jūn

It was a delicious meal. We had the tasting menu. It’s actually a great value, and had a wonderful variety of modern dishes. The flavors were executed really well, and the dishes were gorgeous. The staff was so warm and friendly too. I will definitely be bringing more people here. Congrats to the whole team on the James Beard nomination, it is well-deserved.

My partner and I went to Jūn in early January (1/19) to celebrate her birthday and our experience was mixed.

We ordered-
Cocktails: Sweater Weather and Christmas in Jūn
Snack: House Made Pickles
Raw: Oysters
Vegetable: Persimmon, Carrots, and Cauliflower
Protein: Mussels and Whole Fish
For the above, we paid $245.

Overall, the vegetable dishes were each amazing – I could go on about the smokiness of the carrots, the balance of sweet and hot with the persimmon dish, and the cauliflower was likely the best dish of the night. The oysters were quite good and the cocktails were creative and festive. Other reviews seem to rate the pickles highly, but our experience was that the pickles themselves were good but the pickled blackberries and broccoli were far too sour.

However, both of the proteins were so-so. The mussels were delivered well but I think that curry with mussels makes the dish too heavy. This could simply be my taste. The whole fish, however, is not well conceived. The fish itself is seasoned well but plain and slightly dry. It comes with a mint chutney which is so strong that you cannot pair more than a toothpick’s worth with the fish if you wish to taste the fish. The salad that comes with the dish is boring and adds nothing to the plate. The yogurt in the description is seemingly undiscovered.

The service was kind and communicative, but our dishes took nearly two hours to all come out. Our second cocktail was earnestly ordered out of boredom. The ambiance was good but the lighting was too low, and I (28 y/o, not blind) had a hard time seeing certain dishes very well and we had to keep reorienting the solitary candle which allowed us to see. It’s a restaurant, not Death & Co.

The food is spectacular. Starting with the cornbread (a must), it melts in your mouth with the split butter. Then there’s everything else…the ribs are incredible, with the perfect amount of spice. The fried chicken was perfectly crispy without being oily/greasy (not sure how she does it), the cauliflower dish and the carrots dish (two separate things) were both delicious. Seriously, I can’t wait to try everything else on the next visit.

Loved the food, but service was not great at all. When we first sat down the server asked us if it was our first time at the restaurant, we thought she would explain the restaurant and the concept a bit more. But she just said ok and walked off. We ordered a few dishes and wanted to keep one of the menus on the table. We were rudely told
by the waiter that holding on to the menu is not possible because they do not want to get the menus stained. The waiter made everything extremely awkward and unfriendly from there on. She would quickly bring the food to the table and drop it off without saying anything making it seem like we deeply offended her by asking to hold to one of the menus? Very odd. The redeeming factor of the bad service was the food which was hands down great. We had the cauliflower, oysters, sweet potatoes, whole fish, prawns, fried chicken, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The carrots, whole fish, and oysters were our favorite. We will be back for the food. Maybe the rude waiter would be having a better day next time?

The food here is exciting. The texture, the flavor and the smell…

I love the persimmon … a light crunch contrasted with creamy corn milk, a bright citrusy note echoed with smokiness, layered on the herb and touch of fennel… I had such lovely bites.
Fish can use a bigger plate but I guess I can overlook the uneven match since the fish was cooked perfectly! Actually all the dishes were cooked to perfection – the beef tenderloin is so tender and lovely …

Happy eating