Jora — Restaurant in New York

Well, let's start with the food...

I was born in Perú and had a grandma who grew up there and cooked our dishes all her life, of all the Peruvian restaurants we've tried around NYC, this was the LEAST authentic. She said so herself. We assume the chef are not Peruvians or they wanted to stand out and improvise dishes so much that it kinda backfired for any one who's used to eating Peruvian food, whether authentic or from around the city.

If you've never tried Peruvian food at all, you will get flavors from here and might actually like it but it's very hit or miss as their menu constantly changes. Sadly, it won't be very authentic and you might get thrown off when you try other places later on. The plates we ordered was causa, lomo saltado, arroz con pollo, and aji de gallina. I tried a few bites of some of the dishes and noticed they heavily use seasoning. Maybe over compensation? (No, I'm not talking about spiciness like the aji verde and ricotto sauces) I love spicy food but I did notice that the seasoning was very strong.

I was looking forward to trying the Tallerin Verdes but they didn't carry it anymore. I'm not sure how often the menu changes. Unfortunately, I had in laws trying out Peruvian tonight and they did not like it. I can only hope it doesn't ruin their Peruvian food experience.

If you look up or know causa, you know what to expect. Here, you get what looks like 2 chicken nuggets. I'm not sure why they chose to fry a soft puree dish at all. We thought we got the wrong plate tbh. I feel they over compensate the lack of authenticity by making the dish look presentable with a lot of typical fine dining garnishes, which I don't mind but the overall service and atmosphere was unsatisfactory as well.

Here's why.

The dishes do not come complete, they charge extra to add rice to all the dishes that are supposed to already come with rice. As if the prices weren't already the highest I've tried compared to other Peruvian places by at least $8-$10 more. Typically, I'd spend $15-20 on a dish that comes with rice and the portion is very big. Here you'll spend $25-30 and then add $3 for the rice. The portion is hit or miss, some of the portions are small, some are still good portions.

Staff is nice when you actually get a hold of someone but unfortunately for such a long trip we took, we won't be going back. The music playing was a soft house music style. Similar to elevator music.

When the dishes were brought out, it looked like they didn't know who's dish belonged to which table. As they were calling them out to all the tables that were outside. At this point we already waited an hour and they didn't have any complimentary roasted corn (cancha) like other Peruvian restaurants have while you wait.

We also asked for an empty glass for our jar of chicha morada, but they never brought it. They gave us take out containers but never brought a bag for them so we had to ask another server.

The reason we were outside is because inside was small. But it got very hot in the tent. We did ask for the heat to be turned down (another table did too) but instead had to opt for a sliding door to be opened. Only for the next server to close it 3mins later... We ended up turning down the heat ourselves since there was a heater behind us, had to use the flashlight on our phone 🤷🏻‍♀️

Once we had enough of our food we got our bill right away but it was the wrong bill it was from another table, so be careful, they had to switch it out... Then we waited for the server to take the card and bill back but ultimately had to go inside to pay as they never came back for us.

Overall, our family as a whole did not enjoy the experience which is very unfortunate. We were looking forward to it judging by the other reviews. Again, if you've never tried Peruvian, this can be a starter place to get a feel or...

We were a group of 5 for Mothers Day. We had reservations. There is inside seating, outside al fresco and covered outdoor seating as well. The location is pretty easy to find as has a corner location. The staff was friendly seated us quickly. When our waiter with the Handheld device came over it was Suggested by him to order Shared Plates as the food comes out by individual plates. Well, now here’s where Jora took this suggestion and took it to Ionospheric Heights! We ordered drinks, and my mango juice was refreshing. All others at my table were satisfied as well. We ordered our appetizers, which were 2 flights of empanadas, and our entrees all at the same time. The empanadas were so good. All very fresh and prepared well. They seemed to be baked and not fried because they weren’t the least bit greasy. We had to wait a bit afterwards, and then our entrees arrived. One bowl after the next with some time in between each delivery. We were seated near the kitchen door so we were able to see and understand they were busy. Four out of five bowls finally came out and the others at my table were waiting anxiously for my Lomo Saltado to come out. After 3 minutes passed since the last of 4 bowls came out, I encouraged them to go on and eat. Mine will arrive soon. Well, let me make it Quite Clear here. IT DIDN’T. I asked the waiter TWO times to locate my meal and he apologized saying “they were busy”. Really? I didn’t know that. But all were served at my table MANY Minutes ago??! My family and I talked over Their meals and they All finished their foods. My son, was embarrassed and excused himself from the table because he wanted some time to pass before he became vocal at the table. When he returned, they were clearing the table of the spent dishes while I NEVER EVEN ATE! The waiter was now taking DESSERT requests!! I got my bowl of soy salted food 32 minutes after we ordered our food!! It had 9 small pieces of beef. Some were well done because they were too small to cook medium rare! It was only 9 fork sized sirloin pieces, half a red onion, a cooked tomato, and half a red bell pepper. It was Soo similar to Asian food but at twice the price! They wanted to charge money for a small bowl of cooked white rice. No Asian restaurant would Dare such a stupid and miserly move! I told my family to order dessert. I won’t be digested enough to have any as I was Still eating my bowl. The menus were looked at and they decided on having 2 of the chocolate cake desserts. Well, don’t you know. It figured. The waiter replied with “oh we don’t have that today”. There was no substitute. Tres leches was there. It was a 12:30 reservation, and they didn’t have it. Why not say that when you Ask if we want dessert and subsequently try to take our order? We left with a long stemmed rose. Nice touch. The BILL, did Not reflect Any consideration for the Poor service I got in not receiving my entree for 32 minutes. I wasn’t full because there was no starch in my bowl Except for an added cost. The kids paid a Huge price for the great time out we had. As it was their Mothers Day treat to us. My advice is to go to a nice Asian restaurant for 1/3 the price, 1/4 the time and...

This was lovely. I love Peruvian food, and I’ve gone to about 5 or so Peruvian restaurants throughout the city over the years, and this one is simply the best. The food is presented so well, the servers are excellent, and the flavors are just unbelievable. My fiancé’s mom is a Midwestern lady who likes cheesy potatoes, a burger, and a Miller Lite. It’s really tough to get her to try food outside of that world. But at Jora, she tried ceviche, sangria, empanadas (best in the city, by far), paella and loved all of it. That was unbelievable to me.

I had the mariscos con arroz and it was fantastic. It’s this seafood paella with everything you’d want in it, prepared so well. I would take what I thought was just a clump of rice into my fork and find that there was actually a scallop in there or a shrimp or something yummy. It was just really surprising. I think the low light at night helped too. It’s not like it was too dark or anything but being able to see what your food looks like but not see every detail and being allowed to be surprised by the bites was fantastic.

I have two Bite of the Nights: one was that surprising scallop in the paella. The second was my first bite of the Ceviche Classico: so tangy, so beautifully onion-y, and so wonderfully fishy. And the crunch! Wow, I’ve never had whatever it was that they put in it, but there’s a very surprising and delicious crunchy element to the ceviche in the form of some kind of toasted seed. I don’t know what it’s called but it tasted kind of like a corn nut. It was astounding.

This dinner was a huge hit with my family. Me and my fiancé’s parents were meeting this weekend and we were on our way to Bierocracy for some simple beers and burgers, but we saw Jora and we’re just like “uh, let’s do this instead” and it was soooo the right choice. Lovely.

5...