Jack’s Fresh

This is a great spot to duck in for an early morning cup of coffee or some breakfast.
It’s set up cafeteria style with fresh breakfast items, like eggs, toast, waffles, fruit
bagels & muffins.
They have several different blends of coffee all fresh brewed.

Is really good food in this nice vibrant deli, nice bar food also have specialty sandwiches looks good will try them next time I come over.

I come here semi regularly, and compared to other cheap chinese food options this is my favorite. Though I cant say much about the salad bar, the chinese food has a more home made taste compared to places like panda express. Ive gotten to know the owners really well, and they are adorable!

Washinton im Juni 2015.
Auf der Frühstückssuche bekamen wir von einem angrenzenden Hotelmitarbeiter den Tip hier zu Frühstücken.
Hat Kantinen-​Charme, aber ein gutes Essen. Beim Buffet sieht man, was man auch bekommt. Von Deftig bis Süß (Omlettevariationen, Speck, Würste, Burger …) und frisches Obst ist alles da. Die Protionen werden gewogen und man bezahlt nach Gewicht. Zu zweit waren wir bei maximal 15 $ und auch satt. Hier haben wir viele gesehen, die vor der Arbeit Essen, bzw. das Essen mitnehmen. Im Vergleich zu «normalen» Gaststätten eindeutig billiger.

I’m no fan of this place. It’s your typical lunch buffet and like everything else in DC, it’s overpriced. I’ve found insect crawling on some of the salad bar options in the last couple of days. I don’t think many people notice given that they are in such a rush. My suspicion is most people eat here because they are busy and it’s conveniently located next to their office on Rhode Island Ave.

Cafeteria style setup. Food is okay, nothing amazing. They have a decent selection of food though from a salad bar, hot bar, and sandwich counter. I’ll usually only go here if I need food quickly because it’s right under my office.

Jack’s is a typical lunch break spot for the employees around the area. It’s a buffet style restaurant with a salad and hot bar. While you may be able to whip yourself up something decent, everything they offer is pretty mediocre.
I’ve been there twice. The first time I got a mash up of different Chinese type foods assuming at least one would be decent. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. Maybe I just chose poorly, but everything I ordered was pretty unappetizing and left my stomach feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. Then the next time I went I made myself a salad. While it was definitely much better than my previous meal there, it was not worth the $ 10 I spent on it.
What I’ve learned from my experiences at Jack’s Fresh is that between the prices and quality, you would be better off going almost anywhere else.

Jacks is right next to Caruso’s flower shop who I occasionally deliver for, and when I do, I always make sure to take either breakfast, lunch, or both at Jacks. It’s really surprisingly good for a hot buffet line. They keep the heat turned down on the buffet line so that, while the food may not be boiling hot, it doesn’t get overcooked and dried out either. Where else can you get over easy eggs off a buffet line where the yolks havent’ solidified? Hell, half the time I get cooked-​to-​order eggs from a diner they cant even get over easy right. Pile a couple of these into a styrofoam box with some scrapple, sausage, hash browns, and a few spoons of the syrup from the ham container and you’ve got a good ass breakfast.
Now’s a good time of year to hit the line around lunch time too, and load up on bbq ribs, (always tender and better than a lot of ribs you’ll get in much higher priced places) garlicky greens, sweet potatoes, etc. The cold salads and fruits are kept fresh and they have good donuts and croissants on the line in the morning. This is just a really unobtrusive place with delicious by-​the-​pound food.

Decent food — I just wish they would change up the hot bar menu from time to time. Every day every week… same selection.

Good Ol Jacks I must say it’s one of the best buffett in this area blows New York Deli out the door after working in this area over a year there are not to many places you can get an enjoyable lunch but everything I’ve tried here has been decent I love there macaroni and cheese seems so authentic. It is also very clean and a warming enviorment doesnt make you want to stray away…

We saw this place from across the street from our DC hotel and it was like a shining beacon. We were on «vacation mode» which means we were eating (er…and maybe drinking) too much and perhaps not exercising as much as we would if we had been in our normal working routines. Also, it was August in DC, which means the sidewalk was like standing on a griddle. So, cool, phat salads seemed like quite the thing. Jack’s was a mess when we got there; by that I mean, everything seemed a little picked over and molested by around 2 or 3pm after the lunch rush. But we REALLY liked the creative and varied salad selections. We were traveling with a 12 year old and a 13 year old and they like to eat so this gave them a chance to just pick what they liked and even try for some nutrition. We wound up going to Jack’s twice during our all too brief stay in DC. We could use some phat salads up here in Boston, Jack’s so do come on up and we’ll be sure to visit.

Jack’s is a self-​serve buffet place. It goes $ 7 per lb for lunch and $ 5.50 per lb for breakfast. For lunch, it does have pretty good selections, ranging from Americanized Asian food such as orange chicken, chicken teriyaki to jerk chicken, beef ribs and meatloaf.
The food itself isn’t good. A lot of them’re very greasy and oily. Also, it is really hard to predict 1 lb worth of food because before you know it, you already got more than a lb. So, in the end of the day, I’d be paying 9 bucks worth of food & would be better off getting food in higher quality restaurants. The only good thing about Jack’s is their salad bar; The rest, you should avoid.

This is a place you go to out of convenience, not one that you look forward to. It’s actually the lobby of my office building, meaning my laziness is the only reason I go.
Breakfast–
Bagels either come with a solid 2 inches of cream cheese or barely any at all, depending who is working. Both are gross in my opinion. Also the people behind the counter are pretty lazy and rarely do they cut my bagel even close to perfectly in half, so when being toasted you get more like 80% of the bagel on the bottom and 20% on the top (the latter toasted to a black crisp). The bacon is ALWAYS horrible and chewy. Pans with egg-​items will rarely be to your liking, as eggs cool quickly even in the heating pans they put them in. The hashbrowns are standard, but steer clear of the corned beef hash. Not only will it kill your wallet due to weight, but it’s really not that good.
Lunch–
Only thing of note here is the salad bar, which has some interesting options. The fruits and salad options are pretty good. Select hot items are OK — the turkey, corn, potatoes. I found what seemed to be a staple in my Orange Chicken once. I’ve tasted most of what they have to offer, and all of the asian cuisine options are pretty gross. I got the chicken strips a couple of times, but upon closer inspection noticed they were laced with veins. Kind of nasty right? Also recognize it’s a buffet and they close at 3pm, so walking in after 2 and expecting to find something decent is a no-​no.
In short, when I do go to Jack’s, I always feel like I overpaid for pretty medium-​low quality fare.

perhaps this disqualifies me as a foodie, but i like any food that is yummy; even if it’s inexpensive, fast food, or possibly full of processed things that are bad for me. as much as i love local, organic, clean food, i also love anything that tastes good, and sometimes that means food full of delicious preservatives and saturated fats.
that’s not to say that everything at jacks fresh is bad for you — there are plenty of healthy choices. it’s a buffet, so you have your standard salad bar choices and a hot buffet. the hot buffet is a medley of asian choices (sushi, egg rolls, fried rice, various dumplings), pastas (lasagna, mac and cheese, spaghetti), and proteins (roast chicken, sauteed tilapia, brisket, meatballs).
**tip #1: hello, it’s a buffet! don’t come later in the lunch rush or the food WILL have been sitting out for a while. can’t help it folks, nature of the beast.
**tip #2: they charge something like $ 7/​lb, so just remember that a salad will always cost less than hot entrees.
look, i’m not saying it’s my favorite place, or the best place, or even one of the better places. but if you work nearby, and are in need of a quick lunch, it’s a fine choice.

A good solid place to get a decent lunch. No more, no less. The quality is consistent and the people are friendly.

In terms of buffet places, this isn’t bad. I still am not incredibly fond of the smell of buffet places when you walk in, but this place is better than most (I dunno, the combination of fried food-​Chinese-​and other just isn’t appetizing).
However, they have an imaginative salad bar, with items like watercress and sweet potatoes on it, which makes for a salad much more colorful (and tasty) than other places that serve up just the regular romaine, mixed greens and generic toppings.
It’s a good alternate to our in-​office café, which lacks in such imagination, and that’s one reason I stop in.

The food is indeed fresh if a little overpriced for the buffet. They have a large variety to choose from both for breakfast and lunch. Some of the items look better than they taste, not bad, just sometimes bland. The hot sandwiches, with the exception of the hamburgers, aren’t that great. Don’t get the cheesesteak here unless you like being disappointed – the cheese manages to get all stringy and gluey even before it cools. The staff are nice and friendly and keep the place very clean. Make sure you have cash on hand if you’re just grabbing a drink or something since there’s a $ 6 minimum for credit card charges.

I take it back. I’ve been back to Jack’s Fresh too many times (usually once or twice a week) for this place to remain merely «A-​OK.» I no longer view Market to Market (see upcoming review) as being the most value-​driven hot food and salad bar in the area since it raised its prices to $ 6.49/pound. And, although, Sizzlin’ Express (see upcoming review) has a more expansive selection, its $ 6.89/pound can be cost-​prohibitive. Why do I keep coming back? Reliability. When in doubt — especially when I’m lazy — I know that I can always get my favorite fixings at Jack’s Fresh, which is conveniently located a block away from my office.
4 Stars — In the context of salad bars, Jack’s Fresh is worthy of your consideration. I’ve been to enough Hot Food & Salad Bars in the area to say that Jack’s Fresh is the best bargain in the Farragut North office area. Its still not somewhere I’d take someone one on a first date or deal-​breaker luncheon.