Deja Bu - דז'ה בו — Restaurant in Jerusalem

We got to the place at 11:50 with a reservation for 4 for 12 pm on a Saturday. We were told that the kitchen switches from breakfast menu to lunch menu at 12 and therefore we will not be able to order until 12:15. It was a hot day and we asked whether we can get water. The water did not arrivd for awhile until we asked them again to bring water. By 12:40 the place filled up and we were still waiting...my friend ordered beer and we were waiting...by then, i got up and ask the waitress to take our order. She responded thar she will be right there but it was the third time we were asking, thus my friend became very angry rightfully so and raised his voice and demanded to order right away. She responded that she is not his servant... The manager came by and started yelling at us that we do not deserve to be there because we came early....i tried to tell him that we are the clients and he needs to apologize and give us priority but that did not help.

The food arrived after awhile and only 2 of the dishes were served and we finished ours before the 2 other dishes arrived. The food was ok but not the high quality specified in the other reviews. They did offer us free deserts but the whole atmosphere was unpleasant and the service was horrible.

I am writing this review because I am ashamed that in my country, rudeness is still acceptable. It should not be and should be irradicated.

I hope this place will take this review seriously and will train its staff to behave.

• Response to the owner who rudely replied to my sincere review: we DID NOT arrive 30 minutes earlier, the reservation as stated & documented was for 12PM and we were there 10 minutes before. Lying does not help here...and if we would arrived at 11:30, we would have ordered breakfast that was served until 12. Also, the referral to age is ageism at its best as we are mature but not old and the terrace was almost empty so it is the custom to sit and wait...for any age. There was NO violence towards the staff!!! only a loud justified expression of our discontent as is usually practiced anywhere in the world!

In addition, the remark about sexism was also ridiculous as my friend was simply joking and it's too bad Moshe did not get the humor. As I said above, this place needs to train its staff and especially the manager Moshe who wrote the reply as he was inappropriate throughout and did not act to calm...

It is so hard to find that goldilocks dining experience when planning a trip for your organization's board. There are many places you where you can eat well but for a price that would make a wealthy New Yorker blush. Then there are the tired old institutional restaurants that lure you with their name and a decent price tag but leave you knocking yourself for falling into their trap. After a week of oscilating between these two dissapointments in a city I thought I knew, we ended at Deja Bu, which I had picked after briefly having gone there for a friend's business farewell party.

The experience was a godsend. Dish after dish was a hit (tartares, burrata, carpaccio, minute steak, even a high-end take on American style buffalo wings). The lighting and flowing minimalism that made you both indoors and outdoors simultaneously made for an ideal ambiance. The board couldn't stop raving about it. It was that perfect expereience that makes people remember why they fell in love with Israel. And here's the secret: it wasn't that expensive. We got the best $$$ experience at $$ prices.

Service: We were stuck at our hotel due to the (some would say absurd) security measures around Pride March. The manager, Moshe, arranged with the police a route and walked 10 minutes and back to escort us through three check points. How's that for...

Deja Bu has great food…in the US we would refer to it as a gastro pub. It worked for serious foodies, and for normal kids. For example, our wonderful waiter Yuval recommended fish pori (which is like a fish dumpling, but that doesn’t do it justice). My mother said it was excellent…that she'd never had anything like it, and thought it was amazing. Meanwhile, the 12 year-old could get chicken strips.

We liked Deja Bu so much that we returned a few days later. About 50% of the menu had changed, so we could get a few things we really liked from our previous visit, and try some new things. This restaurant is really special.

Both outings to Deja Bu were without a reservation, and they managed to squeeze in 4 adults and two kids. Also, they are open on Shabbat! Finally, if you are immunocompromised or worried about COVID, they have a covered, heated outdoor area that...