The Mason Jar Cafe — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Blessed with thousands of wonderfully diverse restaurants in our tri-county region, and most of them have infused multi-ethnic items on their menus, the Jar (Mason Jar Café) is probably one the very few restaurants that provides an almost entire menu of good ol’ Americana comfort food. Mind you that all these foods that are now considered Americana were ingrained in our American culture by our forefathers who settled here from other continents when they homesteaded the lands hundreds of years past and we made them our own.

The appeal of the Jar [Café] is non-pretentious, projecting a simple décor that is borrowed from a meld of old downtown diners and old European cafés, even the top veneered layer of the laminate-wood floor is scraped off from the back-and-forth pulling of the tables’ wooden chairs and from the most friendly and cheerful lady servers (somehow, most servers at the Jar have been there since get-go. That’s a testimonial that they must all be happy to work there) . And all that is the ole quaint charm of the Jar.

I’ve been going there since they opened back in the early 2000 in the building right behind the location they are in now. Though they have a couple of new daily chef specials, they retained the same original down-home comfort food menu over the years—and that is why I keep going there again and again because, to me, their food seem to taste better and better each time I go. For lunch they offer delicious soups, sandwiches, and my favorite lunch item is a colorful Waldorf-salad salad. Dinner offers a variety of starters like French Onion Soup that laughs at Cordon Blue chefs, fried pickles or fried green tomatoes for appetizers to the sound of a rapid fiddle, the best chicken pot pie ever served in a restaurant, crisp country fried chicken to make you exclaim “Hot damn!”, meatloaf to die for, a double bone-in thick cut pork chop topped with a cherry sauce that will make you hate any other cooked-style pork chops, slow cooked beef short ribs that are so tender and slip right off the bone when you fork into it, and an array of other regalicious (I made this word) comfort delights. They are open for lunch and dinner - beer and wine only – reservations preferred.

About a couple of years ago, they opened a Mason Jar Pub at 1388 E. Oakland Park BL, Ft Laud. The menu and atmosphere have an entirely different vibe, but the food is very good. Personally, I don’t care for the atmosphere because they call it a “pub” but it definitely does not have a beer-pub hangout feel. They are also open for lunch and dinner, beer and wine, and no...

1/5/24-All good food . Plus consistent, Make reservations busy place lunch and dinner. Friday special when available. the lobster bisque so good . Slithers of lobster. Check the outside special board

12/13/22-wow the service is fantastic, the food is excellent. I love those brussels sprouts sautéed in butter & pistachio nuts OMG. It’s great when you go somewhere and you hadn’t been in a couple of weeks or a month and the girls know what you want to eat and drink. I think that’s great

2/26/2020- Wow the parking lot was Jampacked. Went inside the entranceway small and that was jampacked. We waited about 15 minutes but the camaraderie among the other guests was very pleasant Lily the hostess the server the bus boy . Boy she hustles., a great employee. Ha 2 grandmas both ordered the Waldorf turkey salad, which came with strawberries green apples candy walnuts Mandarin oranges it look delicious. I went with the meatloaf sandwich and that came with one side and of course I went with their brussels sprouts with the pistachio nuts. I wanted to side for the two grandmas to share they thought it was delicious nothing wrong with this place it's good old home cooked food service is fabulous again Lily you were awesome.

12/6/19- 12/6/19- We went for lunch four of us. Just a little wait. Place was packed. I order off the dinner menu, I started with their lobster bisque which was on the board outside as a special. I Had to have their chicken pot pie $20.00 Hugh. It was filled with big chunks of chicken , potatoes and peas and carrots. Nice and creamy. So big I took home . Feed two of us for lunch How they packaged it , was so nice looked just like when they served it. Hubby had their meatloaf sandwich which was on a nice crunchy baguette. Both the dishes cane with two sides. She let me have my soup as a side. Then I had their famous Brussels sprouts which is sauté in butter and pistachio nuts. Oh my so very good. . One friend had the duck off $25.00 , dinner menu too and the other had the chopped chicken salad. Old school so no computer receipt . They use mason jars for your ice tea

Great home cooking but a bump up pistachio encrusted Brussel sprouts they have a side it is so delicious. I had to short rib sandwich which came with one side so I got the brussels sprouts ice tea served in a mason jar real cute. They muffled the ceiling so it’s not so extremely loud at all anymore. Asked for three separate checks that green sticky it’s our separate checks and one big hand...

Oh the service...I have NEVER received such terrible service in my life. We live 40/45 minutes away from this restaurant, so we made sure to call ahead of time to make reservations and to ask when the kitchen closed, etc.

We were told to come at 7:30 because the kitchen closed at 8pm due to Covid. We did as we were told and arrived at exactly 7:26. We walked through the door and were told to wait there (by the door) about 10 minutes passed and I had to go ask if we could just seat ourselves since there were only 4 tables in the whole restaurant and no one cared to help us. We were told to sit wherever, so we did. From this point on the whole experience just went south. It took 30 minutes for us to get water and then be told that if the other server didn’t come get out orders she would come back to help...but the kitchen closes in 5 minutes? All I wanted was a grilled cheese sandwich, a tomato soup, and a French onion soup...nothing complicated. We were told we couldn’t have a grilled cheese because it was a lunch menu option, not dinner...okay...no big deal, except that the server left our table without taking an order. We stayed there waiting and I just lost my patience and went to ask if we could please get help. I was given a lot of attitude by the server who had the audacity to tell me that the other 4 tables at the restaurant were very high maintenance and they come first...at this point it’s been almost an hour and my family and I have gotten water and attitude. We left and will never go back. So disappointing to know that a restaurant could allow such terrible service and attitude towards their customers who drove over 30 minutes to dine at their establishment.

I will say the server who was handling the floor, who called herself the head waitress” is rude and running the show. I truly wonder if the owners of this establishment know how their customers are...