Jacks N Joe — Restaurant in Los Angeles

On Tuesday April 30th, 2024, a precious friend and I found Jacks N Joe. Conveniently located near downtown, it was a fabulous idea to start the day. As an Oklahoman who’s accustomed to many diner-style eateries and breakfast establishments, I was comforted with how much this place felt like home.

We arrived around 10:30am (a high-demand hour). Unfortunately, the parking was a headache. It’s a one-way shared parking lot with no outlet in the front and no signs letting patrons know that there's additional (but limited) parking in the rear. For a building that occupies more than 9,000sqft and seats 60-100 people, the parking situation is not the best. Giving he crowded parking, we arrived to a wait time of about 15mins.

We received a text shortly afterwards. We came back and were reunited with the host. I usually prefer for breakfast/brunch restaurants to have a minimalist layout but I can’t deny that I liked the updated, modern design – high ceiling, attached lighting, open floor, wooden fixtures, and diverse seating options. We were led to our seats, a table with a long booth against the brick wall to the right near the entrance. The server was nice and polite but visibly busy. Still, her service to us was not deterred. We were handed two grand menus, one side flapjacks, other side everything else. While I browsed the menu and chatted away, I decided to get the Pineapple Mango smoothie while my friend got the Strawberry Banana. After having both, we both preferred the Pineapple Mango. Then we ordered. She ordered the JNJ Potatoes, Avocado Toast with Eggs while I ordered 2 slices of ham, scrambled eggs and the Jack’s Banana Flapjacks. To my surprise, the food came out rather quickly (roughly 10mins). Though her food looked more appealing than mine, both meals were pretty solid. Nothing bad to say about the ham or eggs, they were what you should expect from any breakfast eatery. The JNJ potatoes definitely stood out. A little salt, pepper & ketchup and you’ve got a hit. Also, the Banana Flapjacks were on point! I was instantly impressed, reminding me why their pancakes are the main attraction.

Given the number of individual items offered, the Combo options weren’t as inclusive as you’d like but I was rather satisfied with the value (especially being in Los Angeles). Overall, I think that this is a good breakfast option (amongst many) for small to medium parties. Once you finally can park, there’s plenty of seating and the number of breakfast options should be sufficient for...

Had a terrible experience at this restaurant. Took a group of co-workers there. They all work in schools and have a very tough job as school social workers and wanted to treat them for breakfast.

The hostess wouldn't seat us until all of our party was there. I get that. I see that that is common practice in a lot of restaurants. That wasn't the issue. I asked if I could wait for my party having a cup of coffee at the counter and was told that I couldn't.

What?!

I told the hostess that she could ask me to move if a party came in and wanted that counter seat. The answer? "No, because then we have to clean the counter."

What?!

So we got seated when my party got there. I wasn't sure if another co-worker was going to be able to join us and she came in later. They refused to take her order saying that that meant that we would take up the table for more time.

What?!

I have never had this experience at any other restaurant. When I went to speak to the manager and asked if whose policy this was. He said that it was his and it was his place. He said that they try to keep things flowing which I understand. The place seems to be very popular. But if you are trying to keep your customer base happy and keep it as a community hub, you don't treat people like this.

I will never go back. I was approached one more time, BY A 2ND MANAGE (WTH??) to be told the policy and that they'd be taking my coworkers order "this one time"..... after it had already been made clear to me.

I was being infantilized was being spoken to with some real condescension. I understand businesses are hard to keep afloat these days, especially restaurants but this is no way to treat customers, especially first timers.

The food was good. I'm not sure what all the commotion is about. The only thing that I can think of is that there aren't many breakfast places around here or anything similar. That means that the community has to deal with whatever rude business owner decides to take that risk.

I, for one, believe that businesses should be a part of the community and should be a place where community members feel welcomed. That was not...

It's really sad cause I like this place but ordered a breakfast burrito to go, asked about the way their hashbrowns are and didn't like hashbrowns made that way so I said no hashbrown. I pick up my burrito, cool, bite into it when I get to work and there's hashbrown. I don't hate hashbrowns, but I only like then in deep fried forms, not cooked on the hot surface. Take it back, and it seems there was a miscommunication on the phone, that's fine! She said I thought I said 'with' hashbrowns. I just wanted it remade. I'm thinking she's going to have them remake it and basically tells me it cannot be because the burrito comes as is, with the exception of whatever meat you want, but it wouldn't be what they make, nor a satisfactory burrito in size, based on her hand motions, and what I want so she just voided the transaction. This is my issue. First of all, if she heard 'with' hashbrowns, that communicates choice to me, because if it's as is, I couldn't have taken it away anyway, so there would be no reason for me to say 'with' hashbrowns. Secondly, I wish I had pictures because the burrito was not filled with hashbrowns to the point there would be no burrito. The burrito was mostly egg with a thinner layer of hashbrown, definitely wouldn't have made a difference in size. It's just a shame really. It was basically 13 dollars, and usually places where items cannot be substituted or changed, it's cheaper since you can't change it! I personally didn't think it made sense, it's saving ingredients and just one thing I'm taking off cause I don't like it. Waste of time and energy and money. It's sad business to me, especially since it was just one thing that's not even hard for the kitchen to do~ I won't be returning due to the simplicity of the request and the reasoning that made no...