Jujube — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

It was very good, but based on the reviews I had expected more of a “wow“ factor than we received.

It was move-out day for my daughter from her Chapel Hill dorm, so before we headed back to Asheville we thought we would grab dinner at Jujube. I had heard great things about it. Sometimes I wonder if because Asheville is such a foodie town, that I am spoiled with options, but I found this to be good, but not excellent.

The highlight was the pork belly dumplings. Although normally, when I have pork belly, it has a little bit more fat than this. This was ground-up pork belly. Flavor was good but would’ve been nice to have a little bit of the traditional pork belly fat.

My bulgogi was very good, and reminded me of bulgogi at Asian restaurants in Boston and San Francisco. The meat was tender with only one non-edible overly fatty bit, and overall the dish felt authentic.

My husband had the Jujube Bolognese, Which was an interesting concept, but reminded me of just regular Italian Bolognese, with a different type of noodle. It was good bolognese, but I guess I thought there would be more of a fusion element happening than just the noodles.

I think the disappointment came in my daughters dish of the salmon. It said that it came with sweet potatoes and spinach, but there was no spinach to be found, and perhaps it was just spinach ground up in the sauce? She did not mention it to us, until after we left the restaurant or we would’ve asked the server about it.

Highlights include an excellent wine list and very good service.

Will we be back? Yes. It was very good, it was just not the exceptional “fusion Wow” I had been expecting after reading the...

Disappointed, especially as Jujube was in the weekly rotation for takeout / dine in for my family and I. I called in to notify the staff that everyone in our party had signs of food poisoning after dining there the night prior. I let her know what dishes we had incase they had anyone else call in or needed to pull items from the kitchen.

I was told that the staff does a family meal each night & that no one was sick so it could not have been food poisoning. In addition, I was told I probably don't have food poisoning as it doesn't happen until 24 hrs after ingestion and to refer to the CDC.

I regret calling. I am disappointed as I didn’t feel my purpose for the call was heard. A simple “thank you for letting us know, and I hope you feel better” would have been more than enough. Instead, I was told I was in the wrong and that it couldn’t possibly be food poisoning from the restaurant. We spent the entire night with terrible stomach cramps and repeated vomiting.

Thank you for referring me to the CDC - dependent upon the strain of bacteria on the contaminated item, food poisoning can actually kick in as soon as 30 minutes after consumption (CDC, 2022).

My family member had an similar interaction last week with the same individual at the restaurant when ordering a salmon dish for take out. They called in as the portion of salmon was extremely small compared to the norm. The individual she spoke with did not hear her out and told her she was in the wrong.

A little bit of kindness and making someone feel heard goes a long way. Unfortunately, my family and I will not...

Birthday celebration gone bad. I have been a loyal patron of this restaurant for many years and will not be going back. After booking a special occasion reservation online, I called ahead to make sure it was okay to bring a birthday cake in for my daughter's birthday celebration. The host I spoke with on the phone advised it was okay as long as we brought our own utensils to cut the cake and plate it ourselves -- great, it's an inconvenience but that works for me we'll take that responsibility on. When arriving at the restaurant and upon check-in, the female hostess who clearly did not like our birthday cake, rudely communicated we were going to be charged a plating fee per person and there were no exceptions. I advised her that I called ahead and was told differently. She then proceeded to promote an argument with me in the middle of the restaurant in front of my family and other patrons. It was completely unprofessional and my entire family was offended. She kept repeating that their hefty 'plating fee' is industry standard and all Chapel Hill fine dining restaurants charge the same thing. From my perspective it was a completely inappropriate way to handle the situation and I didn't appreciate the tone or abrasive communication she was using.

I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone for special dinners or otherwise. I gave them a pass last year when they started charging for standard water service at the table, but now this with the poor customer experience and service -- particularly from a restaurant that labels themselves 'fine dining' per the...