Jacques
“This place had a beautiful Pappardelle and Mussles Mariniere, BEST CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ OF MY LIFE!!!!!”
“I love the atmosphere, the neighborhood "hangout" vibe – but I do have one mega-complaint – they no longer serve Leffe Brown on tap!!!”
“The Verdict
Jacques Brasserie has been a neighborhood staple on the Upper East Side more more than 20 years.”
Jacques
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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The owner was quick to introduce himself and the hostess, Diana is a pure peach. Extremely attentive bartender and amazing food. Nice ambience, interesting music and even more amazing service.
Very good French cuisine–I came here tonight and enjoyed the salmon with dijon sauce. It was perfectly cooked (medium) and came with a tasty mixture of lentils and vegetables. I would return.
no undersea adventures with Mr. Cousteau here, but Jacques Brasserie is still a fine spot for sampling French cuisine.
it's pretty rare that I have canard a l'orange, but it was a good choice. tender, flavorful duck with sauteed scallions and…wait…prune gnocchi? never heard of that before, but it was actually pretty tasty. the orange sauce was nice and tangy.
so far as the atmosphere here, it was a bit more relaxed than most French places. I was also a fan of the selection of Belgian beer available.
service was good on a Saturday afternoon – attentive but not overbearing.
overall? solid spot for French dining. probably on the higher end of 3-stars for me, but it'll take a repeat investigation to merit bumping up to 4 methinks.
Just OK and overpriced.
Service and food were both lackluster. I got moules frites, and the only really good thing I can say was that the pot of mussels was exceptionally large.
I've been back to Jacques on numerous occasions and I have never been disappointed. The food here is nothing but perfect.
The highlight of any trip to Jacques continues to be the moules-frites. They have several varieties and I've been happy with them all. (Dijonnaise style is my definite favorite). I've been to Paris and had moules-frites on more than one occasion there — Jacques's are better! I swear! (Yes, I know this is a Belgium style brasserie, but I'm just saying)
Beyond the moules-frites, everything else has been wonderful. I love the steak tartare, the croque monsieur and madame, etc…
Although I haven't gotten through the entire menu yet, I'd be shocked to find something that suddenly did not live up to the expectation of everything which has come before it.
The entire staff at Jacques is welcoming and accommodating. They make you feel at home.
So should you come into Jacques??? Most definitely – what are you waiting for?
They keep a three star just because I have so many memories of this place. I learned about French food here back when I had just graduated from college and lived in my first apartment around the corner from this place. The bartenders and waiters helped me experience wines and the food was generally mediocre except for the mussels dijon and the eggs benedict. I always found that the steak came out too tough no matter how you ordered it and it often came out cold. This place is also not cheap so there is no real excuse.
After years of absence, I found myself on the UES looking for brunch with some friends and we walked by this place and we went in. The champagne was good. I think people enjoyed their egg dishes, but but my steak and eggs (the steak was diminutive) came out cold and stale.
Perhaps that wa s because the food took forever to come out.
I suppose that I would return only for the bar and the mussels, but if I am on the UES, I'd rather go to Orsay, Cafe D'Alsace or maybe even Demarchalier although that place is more expensive and not as good.
There's two listings for this on yelp but I'll go with this one because it actually has the right name…
For lunch you can get the "business lunch." A salad or pate, huge pot of mussels, and fries for $18.95. If you don't want the salad, mussels and fries is only $18.00. They have a couple of different "flavors." I went for the chardonnay, garlic & parsley. My salad was huge and tasty. The fries were also just how I like them. The mussels were great, hot, perfectly cooked, and obviously cooked in the sauce (a lot of mussel places on the UES just steam the mussels and then our the sauce variety you choose over it- like FLEX [or that's what I think anyway]).
My only complaint is the sauce was a little too oily. My friend got the dijonnaise and I liked hers better.
Tonight was my first time eating inside. I have been here a few times before and have eaten outside. I liked the old-world decor and french posters. Our server was very polite as well as the support staff. They even escorted us to the front door afterward to hold the door open for us.
You can't go wrong with the moules-frites here. I love the Provencale with the tomato broth. The Vol au Vent was perfectly flaky and cheesy with truffle oil. Mmmmm. My friend and I split everything along with some delish wine, and were full. We had ordered sauteed spinach too, but the forgot to bring it out. It was okay though, because we couldn't eat another bite. The oysters here looked good, at least the 9 year-old next to us thought so. I have never seen someone so young eat Oysters like that. Impressive. I hope to be back soon to try more of the menu.