jj's bistro de paris

french food, french food, desserts, desserts. i am thrilled to say i have found a new favorite! they are open for lunch and dinner and if you've just watched julie & julia or read my life with julia, you'll want to come here and sample everything.

i have been hearing of this establishment (and french pantry) for a while now, and i was finally able to take a long lunch (requiring me to work at the crack of dawn so i can do this) with my college foodie friends, cathy and marian. the entire place is a bit disneyish, but a big eiffel tower graces the inside where cute café style tables and chairs fill the cozy space. murals in muted reds, blues, beiges, and greens add to the ambiance. it is chic casual, and i loved it. even more lovable about this place is the plethora of desserts we passed in the glass cases. lunch options range from $8.50 and $14.95; i ordered a cup of tomato bisque, one of the lunch specials of herb crepes with chicken and vegetables ($9.95) with a creamy balsamic vinegar reduction sauce, and the hefty "mini" dessert sampler ($15.95). (i went way over budget, but i was ravenous that day). cathy ordered the same lunch special crepes with fries and a cup of french onion soup. marian ordered a cup of tomato bisque and for lunch, the quiche with a side salad.

my meal was divine; the soup was creamy with the right tartness and sweetness for a bisque. the crepes were deceptively light but with the filling and lovely sauce, i could not get past 1 crepe. this was my favorite part of the meal, savory crepes. cathy said her fries were a bit heavy (peanut oil can do this) but well seasoned, and she fully enjoyed her french onion soup. she loved her crepes as well. marian was not used to light texture in her quiche, but she admitted it was her being used to heavy cheesy americanized quiches.

finally, the dessert, oh, the guilty pleasure. with over 40 selections (dessert options are written on a blackboard for you to drool over), it was difficult to choose so i opted for the chef's tasting option (4 half slices of cake). when it arrives, on my plate, there are 4 huge slices! (this is a half slice, yes, my kind of place!) we were warned by the waiter about the amount, but who cared??? i had chocolate raspberry mousse cake, blueberry cheesecake cake, chocolate banana cream pie, and tiramisu cake. not a fan of any chocolate/fruit combo, marian was thrilled to have the chocolate raspberry confection. the rest was heavenly, moist, luscious, sweet but not overly sweet: just what a dessert should be. pie was light, flaky with a light-as-air chocolate filling; i saved the rest for sharing with my family that night. cathy's plate contained the lemon crepe cake, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate cherry bomb cake, and pumpkin cake. one cake slice (was it the lemon crepe one?) was a tad dry, but the rest of the plate was delicious. wear your stretchy pants if you're doing this dessert sampler. this sampler is meant for sharing.

one loyal customer had the pecan bourbon tart with vanilla ice cream which he described as the "pecan pie on steroids." so he graciously allowed me to take a pic of his favorite dessert; too bad he would not let me sample his, too. pictures of this meal will be posted later on my blog at jaxfoodiefreak.blogspot.com as they would not post here (for some odd reason). stop by here, wear stretchy pants, and practice your french! you will return.

we've never been disappointed with jj's bistro de paris.  it's our default choice of restaurants when looking for affordable pampering.  my husband & i have enjoying this establishment for several years.  we've always been impressed with the attentive waitstaff, inventive menu, yummy meals, quiet artistic setting, and the ahhhhhhh feeling while dining.  we're not true foodies, but we do have fairly high standards, have traveled quite a bit, and expect good service.  we've eaten at both jj's in jacksonville and prefer the bistro de paris.

a favorite with the excellent service, food and wine. best dessert selections in jacksonville. nice atmosphere for a romantic meal. a little pricy but they do have coupons.

great little bistro with classic french dishes as well as specials that combine traditional with more mainstream choices. wait staff is exceptionally friendly and attentive, very good wine list, too. we had the crab cakes and the confit di canard (duck)... outstanding. if you are looking for a break from the string of dull chain restaurants that plague jax, bistro de paris is for you!

decadent dark chocolate mousse. excellent and very large portion too!

cozy and charming are the perfect words to describe jj’s. wonderful french accordion music fills the air and you dine in a space that does an amazing job of allowing you to forget where you are for an hour or two and relax in the streets of paris. jj’s bistro de paris is a small fine dining french restaurant located on gate parkway near i295. the space is very inviting and attempts to whisk you away to another time and place in paris. it actually reminds me a lot of the paris hotel in las vegas. there’s even a decent sized eiffel tower replica in the restaurant. for the last week we’ve been in the midst of coming up with our list of the top ten most romantic restaurants in jax. i’d heard jj’s bistro de paris might fit the bill so i thought i’d stop in and see for myself if it might be a good candidate for the list. for the first 15 minutes we were there i was convinced jj’s would be a place we could recommend as one of the most romantic in town. unfortunately as the food and service spoiled the environment i was saddened to realize we just couldn’t recommend it. we started things off with the soup of the day which was a curry vegetable soup ($5 cup, $7 bowl). i sort of expected something akin to a thinner cream based soup. instead i got a broth based soup which had an amazing flavor to it. if all vegetable soups tasted this good i’d order them more often!   jjs bistro de paris – french onion soup being cheese lovers we couldn’t help but try a cheese plate next. we asked the waitress to recommend one that was strong but not strong to the point of stinky. she said the les pyrennees plate($19) was their most popular. we figured we’d give that a shot. the cheeses included in this were manchego, crottin maître, and petit basque. we actually didn’t realize manchego was one of t

i love this restaurant and go there for lunch and dinner all the time. always have nice dinner specials with local ingredients which i love. a very nice privately owned restaurant which i would recommend to everyone. very romantic and great friendly staff!!!! good job jj's, we will see you soon!

fantastic french fare!. absolutely love this place. how refreshing to enjoy a delicious meal and be able to hear the conversation with my dining companions! i've had it with the chaos and clatter of most of the big chain restaurants in the town center. let the crowds stay there because jjs offers the true intimacy of a bistro. and the food was wonderful. my favorite is the salmon with sautéed crab fondue. beautiful thick piece of salmon encrusted just right. chose it over risotto w/spinach instead of twice baked potatoe. we had a cheese tray starter that was excellent and flowed into the (albeit small) salad perfectly. despite us never ordering dessert we took the plunge (and brought some home). finally the server's suggested wine was so perfect, we bought 3 bottles to take home. our server paced the meal perfectly and each course was the right temperature. our server was fantastic! if you read bad reviews on urban spoon, check out the author's other reviews. generally there is a trend to their complaints.

i short i would like to warn about the cake and pastry they make is usually a week old they are not fresh totally not recommended if u hav kids who love to try desserts. i took a black forest cake and told it was fresh but when we tasted it i cant tell u enough how stale it tasted. i took the cake back to them and asked when they make it they told me last week and according to law it is fresh...it certainly dint tasted like. the staff was very rude and owner too started abusing instead of talking reasonably... i mean my party was spoiled and i should be the one getting mad...i just left their cake there.... very bad experience trying to forget

this place is a joke. this bistro is overly hyped up, mainly by the owner. i would pay good money to eat good quality food, but when the cakes are literally lathered in frosting, i just do not see the point! those that work there act as if this is some top-notch upscale restaurant, and while the food is merely ok, the service/staff/owner is downright ridiculous. i don't want to beat a dead horse and rant about the bad service (seeing as that has been more than done with the number of negative reviews already), but in order to succeed in the restaurant business, there needs to be a sense of professionalism. to bad mouth customers on the phone is absolutely appalling. i cannot express my rage. turns out this has been done more than once with other customers as well. i will never be buying a single overpriced thing from that place again, and neither will my colleagues. if the staff keeps it up, at this rate they will be out of business within a year. i just think it's unfortunate that me, being a restaurant critic, had to take being back-talked in order to agree with the majority of the reviews on this page.

i think it's especially comical when the lady answering the phone cannot even pronounce 'bonjour' correctly. so long, jj's!

at home in paris. i'm confounded why anyone wouldn't be raving about their experience at jj's! i admit to being madly and passionately in love with anything that is truly french! a dear friend who grew up in france referred me and just like her...i was thrilled. the lunch menu was diverse and delicious. i had the goat cheese tomatoe bisque and i've thought of it almost everyday since! actually...going today for more. the caesar with blackened shrimp was good. but i was transported to paris with the appertif kir...and of course, dessert! this is the best coconut cream pie i've ever had (and i've had plenty)! the atmosphere is authentic to shops and cafes in paris...great wine shop and deli too. you can get cheeses from france that you cannot find elsewhere in jax. the take out macaroons are delightful. thank you monsieur jean jacque!

food is bland and service is awful

thank you michelle for the great service and thank you to the chef for another wonderful meal!!


-----05 feb, 2013-----

love the food and staff!

blah!. i agree with the others highly overated food was bland just lots of salt. i was taken here to be impressed by a date . we paid the check, left most of the food, still hungry, we went to iii forks awsome. we had dinner dessert and appatizers i hope this helps others,but this place is all hype because it's in a a big country town like jax. would not survive in new york a day. but i am still dating mr wonderful.

just plain nasty. i am new to jax by way of orlando, and this place came highly recommend. due the fact that orlando has so many places for awesome desserts and french food, so we went to an awesome restaurant at town center rushed through our meals to get to jj’s. first of all it is not the warmest atmosphere, it did not smell good at all and the customer service is like that of a restaurant in paris, just plain, snobby!! we ordered the lemon coconut lemon cake and a lemon tart. needless to say i love lemon! my husband did not get anything because he did not think it looked appetizing at all. well i could not wait as soon as i got in the truck i took a bite of the cake, my face fell. my 10 year old has made better goodies in her easy bake. i would not even touch the tart out of fear. it was flavorless dry flourey, ok let’s cut to the chase, it was nasty!!
when i called the manger to advise her of the quality of the desserts, she advised me that they do not give refunds. this is america not france, it is in my opinion that they should pack their bags and head back to france where bad customer service distasteful attitudes and awful food is the standard. just not here, you could have gotten a warmer reception from an eskimo. save your time and your money, if you pass by this place or someone mentions it let it go in one ear and out the other. put it on your list of suckey restauraunts never to visit.
sincerely,
very dissatisfied customer