Jora Restaurant & Bar

Authentic and delicious I tried the lamb and the steak and the mushrooms risotto. All fab. Almond praline helado for dessert wonderful. Pleasant atmosphere. The sangria was weak but the coffee was strong.

An amazing restaurant! We came here a few months back and I never wrote a review. Everything about this meal was flawless. We made a reservation a bit in advance and we were seated immediately in their beautifully designed dining room. The service was quick to take our order and to pour our water glasses. The menu was really nice, featuring a variety of classic Peruvian dishes and more eclectic fare.
Immediately we were given a fantastic complimentary appetizer (small corn chips). Our appetizer soon followed. It was a simple potato, olive, and egg salad with a wonderful green sauce. The potatoes were fresh and the small cubes of cheese added much needed flavor. The green sauce was not spicy, but it did add some complexity to a rather simple appetizer. There were definitely some other appetizers we wanted to try, but for a party of three, one appetizer would suffice.
We decided to try an aji de gallina, or shredded chicken stew. The chicken was cooked nicely and the aji amarillo sauce wasn’t too spicy. We also got an arroz con mariscos, seafood with rice (paella). This paella was better than all that I tried in Latin American countries. The rice was so delicious with the light seafood sauce. The vegetables added a nice balanced to the dish. The star was the extremely high-​quality seafood. The shrimp were perfect, the calamari rings were not too chewy, the octopus was absolutely incredible, and the mussels were delicious.
This definitely was an awesome choice, not too expensive for a high quality restaurant in the middle of a somewhat upscale, expensive area. I would definitely come back here for that paella again as well as their wide array of appetizers.

I like to give feedback only after a few visits, to show consistance in … well in everything! Their service is great and their Peruvian food is right on point every time i go!

A little outside Manhattan you find this gorgeous little place. Super authentic, great atmosphere, nice service and delicious food!!!
Definitely a place I’d recommend and re-​visit!

This restaurant is beautiful, which sets the tone for a nice evening out. Once you taste the chips with an amazing green dip that they provide as a starter, you won’t be able to stop. This was hands-​down one of the best parts of the meal! We had parmesan-​encrusted baked scallops for the appetizer, which were delicious! For my entrée, I had the aji de gallina — shredded chicken in a creamy stew. On top of tasty food, add on generous portions and attentive service and you have all the elements for an enjoyable evening.

This place is the best Peruvian food!!! I had the skirt steak and it was super good! It was marinated and delicious. We also had the lamb which was also very good (and I’m not to crazy about lamb) for dessert we had the flourless chocolate mousse, I was a bit iffy about it at first but I’m glad I ordered it. It was very good not to sweet but just perfect! I will def be back here

Great drinks and really good food.
The plantain chips are so delicious and addictive. We had the ceviche which was not bad. The lamb shank was so tender and perfectly cooked — I just didn’t like the heavy/​salty flavor. I wouldn’t order it again. The braised octopus was one of the best octopus dishes I’ve had. It was smoky, tender, and just fantastic. Highly recommend.

Truly a ‘local’ spot! Best kept secret in LIC. My husband and I just recently arrived back home from our honeymoon in Peru and are reliving the dream… one Pisco sour and chicha at a time! They also have Inca Kola here and corn nuts! A great happy hour spot. I mean, what’s not to love?!

I love Peruvian food and Jora is no exception to this rule. The ambiance of the restaurant is nice with enough lighting to see the menu. The staff is extremely nice and they’re always willing to give suggestions.
Why come here?
— Extensive List of Pisco Cocktails
— Large Portion Sizes
— Great Home-​style Peruvian Cuisine in a Good Décor
What I ordered?
— Drink: Urubamba (Pisco. Muddled Strawberries. Basil. Fresh Lime Juice. Orange Bitters.) $ 10
— Entrée: Seco de Cordero (Braised lamb shank. Cilantro ají panca sauce | Rice and beans. Salsa Criolla)
— Dessert: Quinoa y Chocolate (Organic Quinoa and chocolate mousse. Flourless chocolate cake. Almond praline | Fresh whipped cream and berries)

Great place! I heard about Jora from a friend who raved about their Happy Hour drink specials and the Seco de Cordero. Sure enough a few days later, I made it into LIC for Happy Hour and was not disappointed.
Happy Hour is everyday from 4−7pm (including weekends) at the bar area. Happy Hour drinks (specifically Pisco drinks) are amazing here!
Plantain chips with delicious green creamy sauce and a spicy red sauce comes for every table. I ordered the Seco de Cordero for my main entrée and boyyy was I in heaven. The lamb just fell off the bone and was marinated in such a rich flavorful marinade.

Had a spontaneous Sunday early dinner. Our first time there. There were a few large parties but other than that it was not busy. We chose to sit in the bar area.
Our bartender/​server was friendly and helpful.
We got a little bowl of delicious fried crispy green plantains and crunchy corn kettles.
We started with a yummy spicy raw corvina ceviche. I had Corvina Frite and my Bear had Lomo Saltado. Most of the entrees are meat based. They have only 2 or 3 fish dishes. The sourcing of the meat was unidentified even though the server tried to find out for me.
We were thirsty and our water glasses were constantly refilled, we were grateful.
Overall, it’s a chill place, great for a date or a large group. I would like them to have at least one organic or grass fed meat entrée though.

So nice quaint restaurant. When we sat down we were removed from the streets of Queens. We were greeted with plantains and green sauce that is delectable. … everything is dee lish. Now for some hints… if you really like octopus please order it without the sauce. The sauce is good, please don’t get me wrong, but it covers up the flavor of the octopus which should be the star.
Parmesan scallops were very good. Beautiful… nothing more to be said. …
Yep, I keep coming back to edit… the dessert purple pudding is AMAZING. I am not a dessert person but this right here? Ummmm
Great Peruvian restaurant in Queens.

I was really looking forward to trying this place for some Peruvian food. I’ve never really explored that type of cuisine so this was my first foray.
They give you plantain chips to start, with a nice dipping sauce. We tried the Ceviche mixto. Not that impressive in my opinion. I asked for recommendations since I’m not so familiar with Peruvian food, and went with the roasted chicken based on the server’s recommendations. Chicken tends to be boring so I wasn’t sure, but I thought maybe this chicken would be special in some way. It wasn’t. My friend got the Bistec a la Chorrillana. I liked that better. It had more flavor and was a more interesting dish overall, but he also didn’t seem so wowed by his meal. For dessert I wanted to try the Picarones de Chocolate because they sounded so interesting. These I actually liked, though I think some ice cream would have been a nice addition.
The atmosphere is alright and the service was just ok. Perhaps the food is better if you know exactly what to order, but I didn’t feel a strong desire to go back after this dining experience.

Had an excellent birthday dinner here and I would definitely come back on any occasion!
Had the rocote as an appetizer and as a fellow Peruvian, I’ve never had this dish spicy but it was very tasty nonetheless. The drinks I ordered were great! Not juice. Not pure alcohol. Just right.
For main entrée, I went with the entraña which was cooked to perfection! It was so flavorful and the meat just melted in my mouth… xD
The onions on top also were very flavorful which I loved because purple onions are a huge part of Peruvian food.
For dessert, I got the Lucuma ice cream because it is my absolute favorite ice cream in the world. It tasted great and came with a little candle in it and a happy birthday singing staff. For the price of the ice cream, I do wish I had gotten more than just one scoop.
All my friends loved their meal choices as well and it’s safe to say they would recommend the restaurant just as much as me.

We were trying to find a restaurant at LIC and found Jora as the top spot in the neighborhood. We don’t have Peruvian food often, so we didn’t have much expectations (though the high ratings definitely hyped us up)!
Here’s what we order for Appetizer:
Ceviche Mixto — $ 17
Raw Corvina, squid, scallop, octopus and shrimp marinated in lime juice
Verdict: Holy moly, it was sour! It wasn’t really what I expected, but boy were there a lot (or too much) going on. I probably wouldn’t recommend this dish, although I read other Unilocalers raving about the assortment this plate offered. The seafood was really clean and fresh, so perhaps this dish was an A+ plate… but just not my kind of thing.
…for Entrees:
Arroz con Pollo — $ 16
Pan-​roasted chicken breast. Cilantro rice with peas | Huancaína sauce. Salsa Criolla
Pulpo con Pepián $ 20
Grilled Ají Panca Rosemary Octopus. Ají Amarillo Corn Stew | Chimichurri
Verdict: As we were already 75% full from the complimentary chips and ceviche, we were definitely unappreciative of the large portions of our entrees. The presentation of the chicken dish was pretty with a lot of vibrant colors… but the taste was very standard. I didn’t think the sauce was necessary, as it didn’t really enhance the flavor of the chicken and rice. I took 70% of this plate home and ate it the next day… and boy was the rice super SALTY.
As for the Pulpo con Pepian, we really enjoyed the rosemary octopus. The octopus was super tender with a burst of flavors. The corn stew and chimichurri were unnecessary additions to the plate. The corn stew was like a congee/​grits texture… not my kind of thing either.
We would have been really happy with the food if we just ate the grilled octopus and the complimentary chips with the green sauce.
Here’s my advice:
— Make sure to come here super hungry… entrees are HUGE
— Resist refills of the complimentary chips and addictive green sauce … if you plan to eat your entrees
— Leftovers are super salty (especially the Arroz con Pollo)…might want to dilute the cilantro rice with some plain white rice
— If you order the ceviche, make sure you REALLY enjoy lime and lemon… It’s incredibly SOUR!!!

Great atmosphere and service. This is also the better restaurant if you are thinking about Mu Ramen next door (the wait is not worth it) and this.
Food ⁴⁄₅
Value ⁴⁄₅ (big portion — good for sharing)
Comfy ⁴⁄₅
Ambience ⁵⁄₅
décor ⁴⁄₅
Service ⁵⁄₅
Bathroom ⁵⁄₅ (clean, neat & bright in a good way)
They started us with some complimentary fried plantain chips and corn at the bottom with special green sauce. The green sauce was more on the creamy side than sour/​spicy at other peruvian places. It went very well with the plantain chips. While we were waiting for the appetizer and entrée the waiters kept the water full and refilling our chips at all times.
I have been to Jora twice and both I enjoyed their supremely flavorful appetizers (The ceviche was very sour but I like it!) The first time I had Lomo Saltado, the meat and rice were cooked to perfection but the second time the rice was slightly under-​cooked and the meat was over-​cooked (tough) so that was a hit and missed to me. I highly recommend Jalea if you are looking for varieties. It came with 3 very different things, ceviche mussels + yucca fries + Fried fish /​calamari. Ceviche Andino will shock your taste palette with their ultra tangy cilantro sauce. I love the avocado touch and the white beans!
Jalea 15 $
Crispy fish, squid, mussels and shrimp | Fried yucca. Salsa criolla
Ceviche Andino 16 $
Diced Yellowfin Tuna. Huacatay Cilantro Leche de Tigre | Fried Corn
Lomo Saltado 17 $
Top sirloin, onion and tomato stir-​fry| White rice and hand-​cut French Fries
Overall, I would come back again with my friends to try their whole appetizer menu, and perhaps start at the happy hour bar area in the back, which I passed by and looked very classy! Their drink selections intrigued me (spicy drink — anyone?)

Alas, my disappointment was palpable upon learning from the waitstaff that this place was, in fact, not named after Jora (h) Mormont, aka the Andal, aka Ser Friendzone (of Game of Thrones fame for you nerds and «I’m hip-​to-​it» wannabe nerds…). Missing the H after that initial «A»… perhaps it was foolish wishful thinking on my part. «Admirable, but mistaken.»
Nevertheless, the pain was fleeting. Was it my own self-​starter mentality that pulled me from the precipice of sorrow? Was it my dining partner’s «charming» dinnertime banter? It certainly wasn’t the weather (raining sideways that night…). What was it?! If memory serves, the ambience, drinks, and bites at this joint were delightful.
In this relatively derelict section of LIC (at least where it comes to food spots, aesthetics, and watering holes), one can find this establishment, which is apparently not named after the kinda-everyman-esque-if-every-lady-didn’t-think-he-was-a-hot-old-dude Jora (h) Mormont. And a Peruvian joint to boot (shout out to my man, Tod).
Went with a bottle of red to start, along with some comp plantain chips (which I was able to have all to myself… they’re cooked in peanut oil, and dining partner has allergies”. Delicious stuff, which she, unfortunately was unable to partake in (she filled up on the booze to drown her sorrows).
I had ordered the braised lamb shank, which always makes for an impressive presentation. I quite enjoyed the Peruvian approach. The pickled onions and other veggies on the side made for an excellent acidic pairing to that meaty gamy taste that you gotta learn to love (especially when it comes to lamb). The creaminess of the beans also wnt well with the firm white (seasoned?) rice that came with the rest of the meal. Everything went together well, and I approved of the meal (though the shank’s size was more deceptive in nature, as I could have probably eaten another one… either that or it was just that good!).
The standout however was probably the picojito (s) I had to end the night. Tart, sweet, and boozy… might need to find out the recipe, as it could very well give my signature G&T a run for its money as far as being #1. Well done Jora (h), you’ll still be Ser Friendzone to me.

Truly a 4.5 stars. Quite divine food.
The restaurant is quite elegant w/​nice clean décor. There are a few interesting artwork pieces through out the restaurant that brings it some character. They are open for lunch only on Friday-​Sunday. Open for dinner 7 days a week. Restroom is for 1 individual at a time. Overall very clean. There is no lunch special menu. It’s the same menu for lunch and dinner.
For the food– I ordered the seafood paella. I been craving for a paella lately and this place didn’t disappoint. There were ample amount of squid, mussels, squid, clams, and etc. All of the seafood were cooked perfectly. I really enjoyed the rice, peas, and the tomato/​onion on the side. The tomato/​onion cleansed my palate and very refreshing. The paella offers many contrast in food texture and it had great taste & color. I would highly recommend the paella in the future.
My friend had the chicken stew w/​rice. It came with an egg. I sampled the chicken stew. I thought the taste was very one dimensional. It started off tasting a little spicy but there was no lasting heat. Maybe for people who doesn’t like spicy food. I wasn’t impressed with the plating– thought that it could had some garnish to color it up. Then again, I had the paella– everything seems bland next to a paella.
I had the flan for dessert. The pineapple and raspberry was a nice addition. It not only offered a contrast in texture, but also heightened the sweetness of the flan.

This is probably my 2^nd Peruvian restaurant that isn’t Pio Pio. We walked in one night and when we asked for a table for two, the hostess asked us if we had reservations. Both of us looked around and saw the million empty tables and said… Ummmm no.
We weren’t our usual fat selves, since we only ordered two things.
— Scallops were good. Raw diver scallops with a citrus flavor topped with sea urchin. Nice presentation but I’m 80% certain that large clam shell it came with was cleaned and re-​used. It looked too perfect and «old».
— We ordered the special of the night, which was the steak and pesto pasta. This wasn’t that great. You can go to Chimu and they can really show you how it’s done for cheaper at $ 17. It was $ 25-​$ 30 here. The steak tasted like it was bought from Key Foods. Wasn’t a fan.

Really a 4.5 stars. No complaints about the food, service or ambiance but I’m not sure I’d go back which is why I’m not giving it a 5.
I ordered the lamb shank and I also tried my friends skirt steak. I personally preferred the skirt steak but the lamb shank was definitely a solid choice.
The lamb shank was huge. Really meant for two people unless you’re an athlete who eats a LOT. The meat was fall off the bone tender. It didn’t have a gamey taste to it at all. The sauce was good but needed more salt and spice. Needed a kick. The rice and beans were standard but also would have benefitted from more seasoning.
The bite of skirt steak I had was tender and well marinated. The sauce on top added even more flavor. If I were to go back here it would be to order this!
Also had sips of my friends drinks and all were extremely strong. Some liked it and some didn’t.
My friend and I also shared the quinoa y Chocolate for dessert. Very rich chocolate, fresh berries and overall not too sweet. Loved the crunch of the almond praline.
Great, attentive, patient service.