JIA Asian Street Kitchen — Restaurant in Bend

Jia is everything, and exactly the Asian street food influence Bend desperately needed!

First things first—we live in the SW Bend neighborhood and frequent Brookswood Plaza, so we have visited this restaurant space through many different places and owners. We have been anxiously and expectantly waiting for Jia to open. Sometimes when you highly anticipate something, it's a disappointment. Not in the case of Jia! This place exceeded ALL expectations.

Jia is all of your traditional Asian street food favorites, but elevated. The comfort of grandma’s cooking, but with surprising bursts of spice, flavor, texture, and intrigue. Someone at my table said “not a boring bite,” and it couldn’t be truer.

We started with their Far East Chicken Wings and Green Beans, as well as every mocktail on their menu. Everyone at our table agreed—the chicken wings were perfectly crispy, so tasty, and a perfect way to start the meal. These are a must try. The Green Beans were perfectly seasoned and fabulous. The mocktails were creative, refreshing, and perfect balance of sweet and tart. We can only imagine how amazing they will be when the liquor license comes through and they are transformed into cocktails.

My 10 year-old son is somewhat of a noodle connoisseur, so we had to order the Spicy Noodles. This dish was not just your run-of-the-mill wok noodles, but packed with flavor and delicious crunchy peanuts.

Vermicelli rice bowls are practically my favorite food, and Jia has created a gorgeous, traditional Bún chả, but again, better than average. My favorite part were the tasty, crispy spiced pork meatballs, and traditional crispy egg rolls that crunch and delight. On the side, and not to miss—their own proprietary sauces — chili oil with heat and Nước chấm, fish sauce with striking umami. So delicious!

The chef also sent out spring rolls and pork belly bao to our table to try, and every last bit was eaten and enjoyed!

But for me and my husband, the showstopper was the Beef bun Bo hueh. Think of your favorite phô, but with a combo of pork and a gigantic, meaty, fall off the bone short rib that is dripping with deliciousness. Savory, spicy, and with a gigantic bundle of round noodles. This dish will bring us back again and again.

The space is lovely—the owners have done a gorgeous job decorating with modern style, a gorgeous mural, and fun accessories. The staff is welcoming, attentive, kind, and engaging. The chef, also head chef of beloved Dear Mom Cafe on the Westside, has created a menu that is sure to have something for everyone.

You MUST stop by. I’m so proud of what they’ve created and can’t...

As a chef and restaurant owner it is tough to walk in into a such a nice establishment as it heightens expectations. I can assure you that it was the best part of the experience. Service was superb , but in the grand cosmic of things this was a very dissatisfying dinner. I don’t understand why these Bend establishments spend tens of thousands on decor and do not put the same detail into the food. Hiding behind what seems to be an authentic concept to attract eaters . I had the grilled chicken dinner and chicken skewers . My chicken was at least a day old, it was served at room temp , the gelatinously texture made it near impossible to eat. It had no attention to flavor and I hate to convey this but it tasted like dog food . You can tell alot about an Asian concept based on the rice , and the rice had an off putting aroma and no salt. (Zero). My skewers were presented on a bed of thick red cabbage , the chicken was rubbery and had no sign of an Asian flavor profile. I ordered a side of pickled carrots and daikon , it was what seemed to be grey and rancid , it was lifeless and had a strong putrid flavor and am truly amazed that they would serve it to anyone . I’m not here to bash them , but Bend has a real issue with all these concepts popping up and putting no love into the actual food and the Fabricated fake reviews calling it “a must try “ which probably was owner or freind makes even more scary and it completely depicts a false narrative about the food ( people willing to lie to the public is dangerous. It was me and my wife’s anniversary and we spent 130$ and ate less than half of our dishes . Having the money to open a restaurant is one thing, but to completely ignore the truth about their cuisine cloaked by the beauty of the place is what is killing the bend food scene . We need real food and not just a nice place to sit . I truly didn’t want to leave this review but for the money we spent on our anniversary it really shook my faith on how bad...

Decent food, good service, great drinks and ambiance. My wife and I had great cocktails, some of the best I have had in town. Creative, nuanced, balanced. We had friendly service, albeit maybe a bit inexperienced. We ordered the green bean starter, and then 15 mins later were told they were out of green beans. That happens, but we would have loved to have known that a bit sooner. So we got the crispy rolls instead. The main courses came out just a minute later, again, something I would have liked to know before I reordered another starter. We had the eggplant dish with pork and the Thai basil with beef dish. Both were good, not great. The eggplant and the actual crispy basil were fantastic, but the proteins left a lot to be desired. Dry pork, unremarkable beef. A big teller in a Thai or Asian restaurant like this is how much attention to detail they pay with something as simple as rice. My rice was a bit dry and starchy, a sign that it wasn’t rinsed thoroughly before cooking. Then our “starter” of crispy rolls came out. They were not great at all. I thought the filling would taste more unique and better than it did, but it was the dough itself that was just not good. It tasted like it fried at too low of a temp or in too crowded of a fryer, because a lot of oil soaked into the roll. This made for a really heavy eat that didn’t sit very well in the stomach.

However, with how good the drinks were and how nice the ambiance was, I would come back for drinks and maybe to try a different dish. So far, I think there are two other similar restaurants in town that I would rather go to. If I could give my single experience a...