Jasmine House — Restaurant in Amman

Went there with my wife and another couple. First of all, this is a place you go to with maximum another couple, it is not a family place nor one for big crowds, it is a small group place who want a nice setting, be able to talk and enjoy excellent food. If you go with that mindset, it is a gem. We decided to take antipasti, primi and a secondi, basically a four course meal including dessert. It was sharing all around. For antipasti, we chose Tartare (fish tartare), alberobello (salad) and fave e cicoria (fava bean paste and salad), the tartare was excellent with clean flavours, the salad was fresh and excellent and the fava beans made my palate sing, it was lovely. For prime we took pasta , Rigatoni and spaghetti with seafood. The pasta was Italian aldente which means it had a slight core but was well cooked, but the star was the ragu with thecrigatoni, the tomatoes were perfection and fresh with basil ornating the flavour to the sublime. The seafood was also good but not to the extent of the ragu. The secondi was parmigiana and manzo, basically eggplant parmigiana and a fillet steak. The parmigiana was again outstanding and the fillet was beyond perfection. The meat was medium with no liquids and the flavour was just right, you did not need to add anything but a little serving salt. Dessert was tiramisu and it was just right not too sweet... at the end the chef came by all tables and hats off o a great Italian dinner that made us feel like we were in an Italian garden. What makes the food Italian and outstanding is the quality of the ingredients and the simplicity of the cooking...we were the last to leave as we had an amazing time because of great atmosphere, lovely company and outstanding food... if you want a place with someone special go there it is very worth it, but know what to order, the waiters know what to...

Another management took over the place and it has drastically changed, from food quality, portions, taste to customer service.

Booked last week for a special occasion and the food came kinda cold, not as described in the menu, and not well cooked. We approached the “Italian wanna be” waiter and he claimed to be the supervisor (Although we met the supervisor/manager of the place when we first came in). We had some comments on the food but he was super rude, unwelcoming and unprofessional and we ended up almost fighting with him although we spoke to him with full respect.

I highly do not recommend this place.

We ordered:

Sour bread with jam and cheese: 10/10 That was the best out of the 3 other items. Flavourful and well presented.

Asparagus, strawberry and ricotta cheese salad: 2/10 - It was basically green leaves with 2 pieces of strawberry and only 3 whipped pumps of ricotta cheese, the olive oil used for the dressing is bitter and seems old.

Fungi spaghetti : 3/10 (Not well cooked, it was al dente but the edges of the spaghetti almost broke in my mouth, consisted of exactly 3-4 pieces of mushroom, and the sauce is meh!

Beef tenderloin: 4/10 Almost raw, the mashed potatoes had some uncooked potato chops and it lacked taste...

Every time I'm in Amman, I have to have at least one lunch or dinner at Jasmine House Restaurant in Jabal El Waibdeh.

The atmosphere is tasteful and not pretentious, the clientele is a mix of elegant and artistic people. The very friendly service makes you feel immediately welcome and  you fit in.

As for the culinary experience (you are there to eat, after all), I can literally call it EXPERIENCE.  I still crave the tomato tartare salad I had two years ago.

The chef is a talented young lady with a deep understanding of her metier. She pays attention to what is fresh in season, appreciates fermentation and has a broad culinary horizon and forward-thinking vision. She endeavours to make your dish an EXPERIENCE.

The summer seating area is very inviting. I attended a great birthday party there with around 70 guests. A marvellous ambience.

JASMINE HOUSE also endeavours to present current topics and exhibitions to its visitors by making its premises available to artists...