Jake’s Place

To start, Jake’s Place is a small building. Small packages can contain very expensive and important things. such as diamond engagement rings. Jakes Place is just that, a small place but awsome food. The owner greeted us warmly at the door. There was a short wait and the gentleman in front of us offered us a menu. I thought he worked there but as we talked, I learned he was a customer. He explained they come to Jake’s Place every weekend. I asked what he would recommend, he laughed and said absolutely everything but start with the ribs.
I took his advice and ordered a ½ rack baby back ribs, collard greens, and sweet tea. My wife had the Fried Green Tomatoes BLT with sweet potatoe fries. The ribs were without a doubt the best I have ever eaten. The collards, oh my, those collards we simply devine. They should have their collards on the desert menu. Seriously, they were that good.
We have found our new favorite restaurant! You will too when you come by for dinner. You may want to call and get a reservation. They were really busy but as I finished my meal the owner, waitress, and another employee all asked us about our dining experience. Great service, very kind owner, employees, and customers. What a winning combination!

Kind of a cross between a Southern country kitchen and a road house, Jake’s Place is really good. I tried the black bean burger with a side of collard greens. All very tasty: the burger enhanced with red onion, avocado, and a house made salsa; the collard greens did not need vinegar, the taste was perfect with ham and a bit of spicy tang. For dessert I enjoyed the pound cake topped with first rate vanilla ice cream, a bourbon sauce and peanuts, I will go back just for that!
Definitely bookmark Jake’s Place.

We stopped by Jake’s Place for lunch during a 5 hour drive. We were starving and at that point, didn’t really care where we ended up as long as the food was even semi-​edible, so when we stepped through the door we were pleasantly surprised. The décor is great; reminiscent of a homey old country cottage (the tabletops are especially funky). I ordered my go-​to: a pulled pork sandwich, which I paired with fries and macaroni and cheese. Everything about the meal was awesome — the pork was super tender and came with the barbecue sauce on the side, which I appreciated, as pulled pork sandwiches can sometimes be overly doused. Fries were hot, crispy and salty, and the clearly homemade macaroni and cheese was really, really good. My girlfriend ordered the french toast with a side of fried apples and loved both (I tried a bite of the toast and it was indeed delicious).
The service was quick and friendly, and the only reason I am not giving Jake’s Place a 5-​star rating is the fact that they are closed from 2 – 5, which is typically when I like to eat lunch. Overall though, I would go back time and time again.

Jake’s Place is homey and cute. After being away from Virginia for awhile, Jake’s Place was the perfect homecoming. If you are looking for southern comfort, this is the spot. The staff is nothing but sweet. The buttermilk chicken is delicious paired with golden crisp French fries.

Excellent food. Lots of southern charm. Affordable. She crab soup may have been the best I’ve ever had. The buttermilk fried chicken was excellent. Great service. We’ll definitely be back again soon.

After searching the Unilocal reviews in this area, I decided try Jake’s place for a Saturday dinner as I drove by. I found the parking small parking lot full and Jake’s Place was filled with plenty of patrons. The restaurant is homey and the staff friendly, though a tad slow. (We’ll just call that laid back.)
Based on the previous Unilocal reviews, I chose to get something from the Qued menu… Barbecued. I ordered Jake’s Platter with two meats (pulled pork and angus brisket) for $ 13. Actually, considering the amount of food, this seemed to be a very good deal. The pulled pork was pretty good — moist but not very smoky. The baked beans may have been my favorite part of the meal — with bits of meat throughout. The coleslaw was moist, but without much flavor. The brisket came smothered with SO MUCH overly sweet sauce that I couldn’t even see the meat. Then I started eating it and discovered why. The brisket seemed to be nearly fifty percent fat. I might be exaggerating, but it was so fatty that I had a lot of difficulty choking it down.
Maybe this was a one-​time mistake… but I guess it will be my only visit here.
By the way… Something odd in a restaurant… No refills on coffee.

Jake’s place is a great little local gem that is still relatively new.
The menu keeps changing as they find things that people love (recently added their fantastic pork chop and a delicious shirmp po boy, among other things). The folks that run the joint want to make sure you have a good meal.
I’ve eaten here probably 10 times now and I’ve never had a bad meal. Anything from the smoker is delicious. I’ve learned not to go there without checking out the specials board, they are usually fantastic.
Fortunately for me, they have a pretty small parking lot and I can walk there.

A great little place just on the edge of Ashland. I had the steak burger a mixture of chuck and brisket with cheddar cheese. It was tasty, cooked just right and served hot. The collard greens were simply delicious and the hush puppies really good. The Bison burger was not as thick and over cooked but still good and the fries were fresh cut and cooked well. This is a great place and they should do very well. The service is a little slow but then this is not fast food! I’ll. be back to try the BBQ and other interesting items on the menu!

Went here for dinner with my husband and son. Tried to go last night but the place was so busy people were jockeying for a parking space. Waitstaff was very friendly. Service was a little slow. Place was packed again and we even showed up early this time. The back patio was full as was the dining area. We sat at a table by the street.
Now onto the food. My son had the club which was nothing to write home about and perfect for a teenage picky eater. Hubby and I split the fried green tomatoes and the batter on them was so light and crispy you’d have thought the angels made it. They are topped with feta and local buckwheat honey. The honey was really good. I got the seafood and grits which were very delicious. The sausage was a bit spicy — i like that. lots of good sized shrimp. There was some more fat on the plate than I prefer which I drained off. My side was the collards. They were so good I drank the pot likker from the bowl.
The hubby had the smoked meatloaf. A huge portion. He ate it all. He also had the collards and the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese could use a little kick.
They carry local beer.
I’ll be back for brunch sometime soon.

What a great place! We came here for lunch from KD. about a 10−15min drive from the park. Great food great service and kind locals to chat with. As part of a massive road trip, we decided no chains for the entire trip, so finding this place was pretty easy from the other reviews.
Eat here. You will love it!

Went for brunch as soon as they opened and the place fills up fast. Both the softshells and pimento cheese were delicious. Wish they gave you more than one softshell. Excellent flavors and local beers, good prices. Just wished portion sizes were a little bigger! Next time going to order an app and a dessert, too. Looking forward to going back again soon.

Horrible food, Over Priced, and Waitress will chase you into the parking lot harassing you for more money.
Then will have the fat owners come out and threaten to ban you it you don’t issue even more money for tips for everyone.
How can such a greedy, unfriendly, rude, and just plain terrible people have a restaurant that is successful.

Nice little place. Seating is limited, staff is nice and friendly. Food is homemade for the most part. Chicken salad wrap is made with house smoked chicken and wrap is grilled. Very delicious.

Awesome people and food. Breakfast, lunch, whatever it’s all great. We go every weekend. This place should be packed but it’s a little hidden compared to most in Ashland, trust me go to it and you won’t regret your experience what so ever.

I don’t know where to start! We have eaten here at least a dozen times and not a bad meal yet. Definitely start with anything from the smoker, brisket, barbecue, meatloaf, ribs – amazing. The collard greens and mac and cheese are the real deal. No shortcuts here! Then try the shrimp and grits or the crabcake. The restaurant is almost always busy so show up early or on a weekday to get a spot!

Hands down some of the best food you’ll find in the area and worth the drive from Richmond to try.
I had the smoked bacon-​wrapped meatloaf and it was truly amazing.
The beer selection was good and they had some local beers on tap.

My husband and I arrived in Ashland this afternoon from Tennessee.
After a quick trip to the grocery store we stopped here for a quick dinner. Very good food, friendly owners and staff. We found our new favorite restaurant!
You won’t be disappointed!!!

My husband and I went for dinner and we were NOT disappointed! The food was perfection and the wait staff friendly and accommodating. I got the fried catfish with hush puppies, collards and mac & cheese. So much food, I had to carry some home. My husband got the seafood/​grits dish and collards. no carrying home for him, it devoured it all right there. We will definitely make this a regular for us!

It was totally serendipitous that I found this jewel of a place on Thompson Rd outside of Ashland. The brick building with porch, once a gas station, looked well renovated and full of happy diners as I pulled into the parking lot. The dining room, almost full before noon was a good indication that a good southern lunch was in store. Tyler, my server, who never stopped running from table to table, recommened I add extra bacon to the spinach salad with warm bacon vinagarette and a sample of the top notch pimento cheese to the fried green tomatoes. While enjoying a second cup of good, hot coffee, I noticed the creative décor: hand made curtains and all the tables made with a base of old singer sewing machines! The Southern friendly menu will carry Jake’s into a good first year and the friendly staff will see to it that this will become a place of many happy returns!

As someone who has watched «Kitchen Nightmares», I know that when a place first opens and is crazy busy, it usually isn’t performing at its best. So I want to caveat my review to say this place is new and probably not running on all cylinders yet and working out some of the kinks.
The owner and concept are great. Nice place, great décor, people running it that you really want to succeed, etc. The execution leaves something to be desired. At least so far. The husband and I first went opening week. Packed, and a wait. We learned that they take reservations, and I’d strongly recommend you make reservations if you intend to eat here. They were out of a lot of things (some salad dressing, some side dishes, a dish I’d originally been prepared to order, but I had a backup planned, etc) as they were probably not able to figure out supply and demand yet. Okay, not a big deal. I got a tomato soup and salad and the husband got the club. Tomato soup was good, but more of a paste-​like consistency (but again, pretty delicious), salad was a salad. Husband enjoyed the club. We got a dessert that was described as «Homestead Creamery Vanilla Ice Cream topped with a bourbon and maple syrup sauce and Virginia peanuts». The dessert came out more like a soup, but it was still good. Just not what we expected. We ate it with a slice of pound cake, and were glad we opted for the pound cake with it, as we probably wouldn’t have eaten much of the ice cream soup by itself.
Okay, we decided to try again about a week later, on a Sunday at lunch time. They had more of a limited, brunch menu with some main fare. Again, out of some items, and a little disorganized, but whatever. I ordered a grilled cheese with chicken noodle soup and the husband ordered the burger. Our waiter asked him if he wanted regular fries or sweet potato fries, and he went with the regular fries. Halfway through eating our food, the husband asked me if I’d like one of his «room temperature» fries. I told him no, I was happy with my room temperature soup. The grilled cheese on my sandwich was congealed when I got it, and the soup was room temperature and over-​seasoned with some flavor I couldn’t identify and personally didn’t prefer (onions and an herb?). The husband enjoyed the burger, and it came out piping hot, so I assume the kitchen staff is still perfecting getting everything prepared. When we went to pay, we found out those lovely room temperature fries were not included in the price and tacked on as a side item, and we left irritated at the disorganization of everything, vowing not to return for at least 2 months, at which point we figure it would be fair to re-​evaluate if they are permanently mediocre or just «finding themselves» currently and going to be better later.
In conclusion, make reservations, be prepared for something you want to not be available or to be sold out, verify if that side dish is included or extra or part of a combo, set your expectations low (then they can blow you away if I’m wrong), and appreciate the nice people working there. See you there in 2 months.