Joe’s of Avenue U
“Best lunch place around lots of Sicilian specialties to choose from.”
“As a vegetarian, I get the short end of the stick sometimes when I go out to eat with my non-vegetarian friends.”
“Favs are the panelle sandwich, caponata, and giant meat/pea rice ball floating in tomato sauce, ricotta, and parmesan.”
Joe’s of Avenue U
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Go. Try the adventurous stuff (Panelle, Pasta con Sarde, Squid Ink, Bacala), try some wine, and appreciate that a place like this exists in America.
A diner-type restaurant that is very laid-back with friendly service. Delicious riceball special, meatballs, and spaghetti with tomato sauce. Happy I took my family here over the weekend to end our relaxing day on a nice note.
I might be biased about this place due to the fact that I am Sicilian and I think all things Sicilian are delicious. When deciding on where to go for dinner tonight we decided we wanted comfort food – so we headed to Joe's of Avenue U for some Sicilian comfort food. And that is exactly what we got. We started off with the purpu e calamari salad (octopus and squid) which had a great flavor. Then next we ordered the pane panelle special (fried chickpea dough on a bun with ricotta and Parmesan cheese) and the riceball special (meat and pea stuffed riceball drenched in tomato sauce and topped with ricotta and Parmesan cheese) and a stuffed artichoke. The panelle special does not come with tomato sauce we had to ask for it separately but the waitress brought it to us promptly. You could tell all of the food was very fresh and homemade. The food was delicious by the end we were too stuffed to even think about dessert. Joe's is a Brooklyn staple and we will definitely be coming back.
The panelle special is awesome. The Rice ball special is great too. Can't go wrong with this place
Maybe my hopes were too high because I recently fell in love with Sicilian cuisine while on a work trip to Sicily but this was a disappointing experience. I could care less about decor and service because I was at Joe's for the Sicilian food I just learned to adore — arancini, caponata, innovative seafood based pastas. I dragged my husband along with the promise of the foods I had salivated over — unfortunately, the pasta was way overcooked, one was obviously prepped the day before and just reheated to be served to us, and everything was bland, none of the extremely fresh, vibrant cuisine I was expecting. Worst of all was the calamari, limp and definitely not fresh. Now I am realistic, I wasn't expecting the same EXACT experience one would have in Italy but New York has some pretty amazing Italian restaurants. However I WAS expecting at least really good homestyle food. It just feels wrong for an establishment that touts itself as truly Sicilian to have low quality ingredients and cut corners, which was the reason why the food was a let down. This made me sad. I redeemed myself with my spouse by going to Coluccio market immediately after, buying white anchovies and expensive bucatini and cooking him a fennel and saffron spiced bucatini the way I learned in Sicily. Moral of the story is, stay home or troop out to Manhattan for much better iterations of Sicilian food. I noticed that most people there were eating sandwiches, which probably supports my point.
Joe's has definitely changed since I was younger, the food was better than.
We ordered the rice ball special to split, and that was really good, but our lunches were just okay.
I wanted grilled chicken with mix vegetables, but I was only allowed to choose one vegetable, so I choose broccoli. My lunch was good, but that's it. My boyfriend asked for the grilled chicken sandwich but they gave him fried chicken instead. The pieces of chicken they put on the sandwich were so small.
The prices of food and waitress service go hand in hand, as in they're not too bad, but definitely could be better.
Guaranteed to curb anyone's Italian food craving.
I feel like there is not enough Italian places like this around anymore, but that's okay since I live close enough to Joe's that I don't have to go to any other.
Interior is very lax atmosphere and the service is great here.
The food:
-Panelle Special is a must, I have rarely seen this on any menu. Perfect ratio of ricotta to fritter to cheese on a bun, see anything wrong here…No…I thought so
-Rice ball here is delicious, tomato sauce is great the the rice ball huge.
-The pasta with seafood was delicious, spaghetti was perfectly al dente and the seafood was fresh with a very clam sauce
-Chicken Parm was delicious, great sauce and good chicken
Really great food overall, a must stop
When you walk in, its like a pizzeria. Glasses with ready to go food. To the left are several booths set up like a diner.
Our waitress had some trouble understanding us. Got a special rice ball which was pretty good but far from amazing. Fried calamari was white. Not fried enough. Chicken parm sandwich was okay. I've heard a lot about this place being very good but was quite disappointed with very mediocre food.