Jules Bistro

Sad to say it, we lived this place, but after today’s visit. It lost its charm and service completely!
Not returning.

I went to this place for a Saturday Date night with my wife. I wanted to see live music and they had a Flamenco Guitar Player. Food was very good the service was also done well but the waitress was working a lot of tables so there was some slowness but was clearly made up for by the charm and manners of the staff. We enjoyed the intimacy of the setting the music was great but not overpowering. For a few hours it felt like we had been transported back to Bordeaux, France (where we vacationed last year) and somehow where in the East Village. If you want a unique NY dinning experience, and want a good meal at a good price with great ambiance go here. This place is small laid back but vibrant. Can’t wait to go back.

Great live Jazz, great Ratatouille, great cozy cave-​like vibe with candles all around and a great French waitress!

We went to Jules Bistro for New Years. One star is being generous. The steak and duck were both chewey and hard to eat. All of our steaks were barely cooked. Even after sending them back to be cooked again, they arrived completely rare.
In terms of the ambiance, the jazz was a nice touch. However, they packed everyone into a small space so we were sitting by the door with a cold breeze coming in and out the whole night. Also, because of the way the tables are tightly arranged, it was difficult to see the singer or musicians. It felt very cramped.
The waitress barely paid attention to our table or any other table for that matter. She was more interested in having a cigarette with the wait staff outside. The only time she paid attention was when the check came. I asked for the check a couple of times with no response. When she finally brought the check, we noticed that she billed us for four bottles of champagne, when we actually only had four glasses. After we decided to tip her less than 20%, she came over and circled the tax and insisted that we at least double it! She also pulled the manager over to back her up. The fact that she thought she deserved 20% for the worst service possible is embarrassing.
I would not recommend this place. The food is awful and overpriced. The service is terrible.

I love this place! Great ambiance. Great music. Great food. One of the rare finds in NYC in the heart of St. Mark’s place in East Village! The staff is very attentive as well. A year ago I was there having a good time (too much of a good time) and left my cell phone at the restaurant. I didn’t realize until I got home. I went back and they held it for me. I know I can trust the staff and they will always take care of you! This place is fantastic!

the place gets the casual french jazz bar done right, along with great food and service. the steak with mushroom risotto is absolutely amazing… i cant decide if i liked the steak or mushroom risotto more, each spoonful i took had a but of both in it. On a lazy sunday afternoon at around 3pm i swung by and there were two french girls singing on the little stage, and it just felt like you were in a parisian bistro; the music wasn’t jazzy but more in the vein of french folk music and it totally just puts you in the mood to drink wine and smoke cigarettes.
the service is also very quick and attentive and while there aren;t that many servers, they pay attention to everyones table perfectly. the only thing i wish was that they had the steak and risotto on their brunch menu since right now its only on their dinner menu. overall, great mood, great food and great people.

Forgive me, this review is overdue by several months.
I came here with my friends in September for my birthday dinner! With a party of 9 and a very accommodating staff we were seated promptly for our 7:30 reservation.
This was quite a hot summers day and the windows and doors were wide open to let the breeze in but the location is slightly below ground level so it was pretty hot. I wish it was a closed environment with temperature control.
The food: ⁹⁄₁₀
Escargot (⁸⁄₁₀) was perfect, the serving size could have been bigger (6 escargot piping hot) but the taste was wonderful, it was perfectly soft and rich.
POITRINE DE CANARD RÔTI A L’ORANGE (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
This was delicious, it was perfect portion size, very moist duck breast, delicious rice and the orange slices were a great match
The drinks:
Honestly, I am bias, I give this ⁵⁄₁₀. I love cocktails but this place made very strange cocktails not to my taste. I had the pear one and another… name escapes me. However if you enjoy wine cocktails, this might be for you.
The Music: ⁸⁄₁₀
I came here for this very specific reason, I love jazz. They had live jazz that day and honestly it could have been better! While I enjoyed the music, the restaurant was much too loud to fully enjoy. The audience were much too cramped and the space is too small. That evidently ruined my experience a little bit.
Come here for the food, a wallet stuffed with cash or an amex but don’t get bent out of shape if the music isn’t to your liking.
PS. Its very hard to pay a $ 700 bill with cash… please let us use visa!

I used to love Jules. Not anymore. Food is mediocre. I had what they list as lamb shoulder in the menu and is tasteless shredded meat soaking in plain rice. The skirt stake is barely ok and covered with sauce. The wine list is uninteresting. Service amateurish. And trust me I am easy going. The only good thing was the jazz band.

It was OK, but nothing to write home about. Mussels were tasty, but kind of small — the bowl comes with a lot of shells, but what you’re actually getting in terms of mussel meat is on the low side. Frites were mediocre. Some of the people I was with didn’t get everything they ordered. I was surprised that nobody refilled our water glasses at all, not even once. It wasn’t even very busy, so I don’t know what that was all about.
Bathroom could use a cleaning, and what’s with the Amex-​or-​cash-​only policy?

My friend and I ordered the steak, which… was not as good as I thought. But it is not bad. And fries tAsted good. There was a band here, which made it a little bit too noisy that we can’t talk to each other.

Had a great brunch at Jules! I can’t speak to their dinner or music, but their outdoor patio is adorable and quiet, and the almost entirely French waitstaff made me feel like I was back in Paris. We had wonderful eggs –an omelet and eggs Benedict with some of the best home fries everrrr. Simple food, nothing crazy, but a lovely quiet place to have brunch on a sunny morning/​afternoon.

The food is excellent! Entertaining live band as well as a good variety of dishes. Try it out!

A place I once loved is done. No longer serving bloody marys. Been nice knowing ya. So disappointed in these guys and apparently so is the band. They didn’t show either.

Paris in the east village. We took my son to Stomp down the street and wrapped things up with a great meal with French jazz.

Perhaps I ordered badly — I see several other reviewers with the same complaint — but Jules served me some of the worst moules (mussels) I have ever had. Ever. Anywhere in the world. They were gritty, past their prime, minuscule, overcooked and rubbery.
On the plus side, the frites were crispy; the soup of the day, a carrot leek soup with the surprise addition of diced potato (or chestnut?) was not terrible; and wines by the glass were drinkable (a limited selection of approachable starter wines probably designed to appeal to NYU students). My Sancerre was served at the correct (not overly cold) temperature and my pour was from a fresh bottle. Prices for wine are on par for much nicer wines at much nicer restaurants, but I didn’t mind, given that there was no cover for the excellent, excellent live music (a classical guitarist and percussionist duo) on the evening I went.
Service was fair, friendlier than what you’d find in France and the pacing was comfortable. My dining companion wanted the prix fixe menu and had to ask for it; it was not automatically forthcoming. One major hiccup: a member of the wait staff (not our primary waiter) asked whether my dining companion wanted more wine while we were on our dessert course. Instead of bringing over the wine list, he brought over another glass of malbec. With flan? Nuckin’ futs.
I’d return for the lovely music, but most emphatically not for the food.

Jules Bistro is my second house! This warm place during winter turns into a beautiful one on summer thanks to the terrace.
The food is really good — very French — and well presented. My favourite as appetizer is the salmon tartare or the charcuterie plate to share; for entrée the onglet de boeuf is the best!
The wine list is interesting with a large selection of different wines. A good value is the Margaux (on the board) but also a nice rosé from Cotes de Provence in a shaped bottle available in magnum.
The staff is very friendly and can advice you a lot about food and wine. Every night a different band is there which bring a familial atmosphere!
I recommend this place especially on Monday night (prix-​fixe menu), Thursday night (crazy band) and Sunday night (couscous + amazing singer).
… Oh and the bottomless brunch is crazy with a really competitive price! Great mimosa!

My friend likes to frequent this place for happy hours. It’s generally very empty until 8:30 or 9, when people start arriving for dinner and the live music is playing. Our small group was hanging around the bar, ordering drinks and food, and they were enjoyable as the previous times we’d been here. I tried the lardons et roquefort salad, which is probably the world’s most unhealthiest salad, but it was delicious. How can you go wrong with greens covered in warm bacon and cheese?
Things went a little downhill when I went to cash out. I needed to leave early, so I specifically asked for MY check. The bartender took it upon himself to charge my order — AND everyone else’s — on my bill and then rudely told me he couldn’t give me a separate check since he had already cashed our whole party out even though they were still ordering and planning to stay longer. Seriously?
I then asked if it would be okay if I only paid my part and the others could pay when they finished. He said okay — but then refused to calculate my part of the bill and told me I needed to tell him how much I would pay! So here I was, using my phone calculator to add up my bill + tax+ tip. Not that it was difficult, but it’s the principle here. There’s no excuse for you to screw up my bill and then act as though I’m asking too much of you to give me a correct total!
So for that kind of behavior I do have to take it down a star. In addition, I witnessed the manager acting rude and dismissive toward other customers, and it didn’t sit well with me. It’s still a fun place with good food, shame about the service.

I happened upon Jules while entertaining an out of town guest who wanted to take in some jazz. At first I thought it was going to be a tourist trap but it’s actually really legit, and has become one of my go-to’s for visitors who I want to show a unique NYC experience.
My first visit, on a Sunday evening, was the best because of the band that was playing. I think the server told us that it was the owner and his friends who gathered regularly to just jam. You could tell it was a super experienced bunch. I sat at the bar, enjoyed some charcuterie, and sipped a glass or two of wine before heading off to dinner.
The next time, we were seated for dinner and that was also a lovely experience. The space is a bit cramped (let’s call it cozy), and the room is romantic and dim. As for the food, it’s the kind of French food you’d expect at a place like this, and though it’s tasty enough, I’d say it’s a bit pricey. Like $ 18 for a nicoise salad and $ 29 for the steak frites entrée… not exorbitant, but up there. I had the $ 18 moules frites and very much enjoyed it.
Along with the music, my other favorite part of Jules is the service. I’m not sure if all of the employees are French, but the servers and bartenders that I’ve had have all been, and there’s just something about that irresistible accent that adds so much to the jazzy dining experience. Of course, it’s not just the accent… they’re also super friendly, informative, and chatty (when the music’s not playing).
I love the ambiance at Jules and can’t wait to take more people to enjoy as well!

Okay this has been the first time in which I didn’t like my food here.
I decided to go with the White Wine Moules Frites, okay, this has to be the most disgusting Moules ever. No joke. I am always hesitant to order Moules, since people have a hard time infusing the broth into the mussels, but whatever I took my chance. This dish arrived not properly cooked, and I ate one and forced myself to eat two more and I asked E if E wanted to try it. I had to tell E I didn’t like it and not to be annoyed, but I had to send this dish back.
I was afraid if I force anymore of these questionably cooked mussels, I would definitely have some sort of food poisoning moment.
I ended up getting the tuna tartare and so much better.
However, I do love their Steak Tartare here.

Not super expensive, yummy food, friendly service and a nice array of live jazz music!
Depending on the night it can either be super crowded or kind of dead – to be safe, make a reservation.
This is a fun date spot for sure, although you might struggle to hear each other over the music.
Great wine choices!