Jo's Modern Thai — Restaurant in Oakland

Let me start by saying that I was a server and bartender in fine dining restaurants (some far more upscale (think crummer time and some on par with Jo's which is downscale pricey) for 12 years in the 90s and early 2000s and have worked in the service industry for 37 years now.

We live in the Laurel District and have thought about going in to Jo's Modern Thai several times, but never ahead of time enough to get a reservation. But on 3/16/23 we went in for my 48th birthday and we were so disappointed in the poor service, multitude of mistakes and ultimately classless response from, Nadia, the manager on duty.

Manager Nadia was polite in their manner of speaking and apologized, however after getting the wrong drinks 3 times and charging me 2 different amounts. for the same drink bringing my husband the wrong beverage and then when charging $6+for a nonalcoholic lemonade to pour only 3/4 a glass because my husband does not like ice is odd and not in line with the $$$ scale of the restaurant.

We are Muslim therefore we are not allowed to eat pork (ever) and not, beef or chicken that aren't halal however we were not allowed by Jo's Modern to substitute fish for meat, even with an offer to pay extra, the server Jasmine said only tofu even when it's religious reasons which is 1/10th the cost of meat so they are making more that way, but we offered to pay if shrimp were extra so we could follow our religious dietary restrictions have a protein we enjoy that was on the menu and was the only protein not offered as an option.

So we ordered the drunken noodles and disappointingly accepted the tofu. Additionally, I'm allergic to bell pepper and when they put the noodles in front of us on our table it had both the religiously banned non-halal meat and the bell pepper I'm allergic to. They apologized and took it away.

Almost 15 minutes later they brought the noodles out for the 2nd time and they still had the religiously restricted meat and the bell pepper that I'm allergic to. So after another 10-15 minutes they finally delivered a dish that wasn't unacceptable religiously and allergy wise.

In the mean time we never saw the server again, they never bothered to apologize. And then my drink came out wrong again. My birthday had not been a good day and Modern Jo's made it a terrible evening as well.

When, I waited tables 20 years ago in a nice restaurant if a guests experience was even half this bad at least half the check would be comped by a good manager and more than likely the entire check, especially if our repeated mistakes ruined a birthday celebration the way the Mgr Nadia and the server Jasmine did. After paying the bill with the 20% included gratuity, which certainly wasn't earned. I very politely and kindly let Nadia know that in my 37 years of working in the service industry it has always been customary to have comped the bill and to not do so is classless. And that I was attempting to give them an opportunity to change my experience and Nadia chose not to.

I live 3 blocks from Jo's Modern which opened during the pandemic in the Laurel District, I have lived here for 12 years and wanted to like it, but sadly I have no desire to return. This is EXACTLY the problem I have with including gratuity on all parties of any size, there is no longer the incentive for good service that only TIPS can provide! I would have tipped, always do, but more like 15%. And if the service had been up to par 25%

We ordered all of the choices on the prefix menu for restaurant week and it was a ok value until the service was so bad, religiously insensitive (especially the 2nd time around) and completely disregarded allergy issues and that it was a special occasion that was...

Update 2/4/24 Oh my god. The spicy brussels sprouts. So bummed it had to share it. Next time I'm getting my own!

Also, you can get the pad thai w/out lobster so it's a bit more reasonable. Still pricy, but honesty the best one I can find in the area.

This review encompass two separate visits: last week a friend and I had an early 5:30 dinner in the outdoor rear seating area; and tonite I ordered take-away.

Tonite's take-away was the green papaya salad, and the Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodle). The Drunken Noodle was interesting, as is all of Jo's Modern Thai, there's always some kind of twist or unexpected element to their interpretations of the classics. I've come to expect drunken noodles to be a pretty "wet" dish with a lot of gravy. Not really my cup of tea, but Jo's version is quite dry which I like. The noodles are thin, light "instant ramen" style noodles which I also enjoyed, boldly flavored stired fried with onion, bell pepper, and topped with fresh basel. The real.... creative element here is the BBQ beef brisket. I found it kind of dry, and felt it wanted to be moister given the overall dryness of the rest. And it's not heavily flavored meat; the smoke is def. there though and certainly adds an interesting twist. I ordered "thai spicy" which contrary to what I've always understood, is their "medium spicy" level (waitress clarified that to me when I ordered). Which is good because i always order spicy and their "thai spicy" level was pretty damn spicy. At $21 not sure I"d order again, but maybe.

The green papaya salad's "twist" is the fresh cut apples; a nice variation. The lime dressing was solid and overall I liked the dish, would order again but I do prefer the dressing to have an even stronger lime/vinegar presence then it had.

My favorites were from last week, though. First, the Oyster appetizer was just outstanding. Beautiful to behold, with an initial mignonette-like vinegary front, but exploding into and finishing with a delicious super intense curry bang. We each had one, I will be ordering more (I want at least two to myself!!) next time we eat there.

Next, the "Fried Fish Taco" (Miang Pla Lui Saun) was also delightful. I actually got more of the "green papa salad" vibe from this dish (even though it's totally different, hard to explain). The flavors and textures were really well done and executed and it's a really substantial portion. The catfish does not really scream "I'm catfish", it's kinda like deep fried crumbly bits infused in the super intensely flavored lime/nam pla dressing. Will def. order this again. Amazing.

The Chef's special "Butterfly Pea Glass Noodle Salad" (not pictured) was solid, but I just wasn't blown away as with the other two dishes.

And finally, we just didn't much enjoy the Massaman Curry (also not pictured). It needed more than just the fingerling potatoes and felt like it was missing something. Further, the potatoes were dry and a bit crumbly; if all your going to have is them potatoes, they better be waxy and yellow to stand up to the intensity of the peanut curry. Can't recommend.

The bottom line is Jo's is an exciting new restaurant that I'm delighted is in the neighborhood, and I very much look forward to eating at in the future and doing our small part to make...

I really wanted to love this place, but there were more misses than hits. The Cat fish salad was missing components and believe it was the dressing, the lack of ingredients that should have made the dish come together. Next, the fried chicken wings were not worth the price and mediocre in size, texture and taste. The best dish was the Pork Belly Curry because it had depth, flavorful and I use makrut lime leaves also, however I don't remember seeing any yu choy in the dish and only a few pieces of pork belly (scraps) that weren't really significant. The Drunken Noodles was a liitle more saucy than i expected and the noodles (ramen) were a little too delicate for this dish. The brisket should've had its own separate taste component where it could have complimented the noodles better. I think a chewier noodle would absorbed the sauce better and created a better textural experience. Ramen is for slurping and now that i think about it the noodles seemed soggy - over cooked and doesn't hold up. We also had the Tuna Tartare - the tuna was okay, but not really fine grade and when you take a bite of it, no one said, " Oh my God, this is so good!" Reminded me of a tuna poke bowl that the kids get. There was a steak dish and I wish I took a picture, the steak was cooked as requested, and it was presented in quarter inch slices and was fanned out on the plate. The steak was accompanied with raddichio and gem leaves and it made no sense? Perhaps, if there was a cucumber pickling with greens to place on top of the raddichio or gem leaf and then place the steak on top. However, if that were the case, then the steak should have been sliced thinner. I tell you this, I dipped the steak in the curry sauce and that was excellent! Get rid of the raddichio and gem leaf and find something else to plate the steak with, and drizzle the curry sauce. Dessert - Sweet Blue Rice with Mango Sorbet. I agree the sorbet is a bit over powering. I love the pendan rice krispies for the crunchy texture, but not worth $14. Side note: The lamb burger looked enticing and the fried branzino had a beautiful presentation as I watched other dishes coming out. Unfortunately, I felt our server gentleman was not happy. Eating is an experience and you need to feel welcomed like it's your house and sometimes you can forego the service because the food is to die for, but it was not :( It felt like it was a chore and I felt I should have been the waiter and he was the tough customer who needed extra attention to make his experience wonderful. I tipped him 25% because I won't be coming back. (One and Done). Always remember what Maya Angelou said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel." I could feel my guest felt the same way, but they were being polite. Remember, it is easy to get customers, but harder to keep them. I'm sure this establishment will continue, but I had...