jukGajee – New Thai Jersey Cuisine

Larb, pad Thai, all curries are unreal. This place has the best Thai in new jersey.
It makes it happen

We went there last night (a Saturday), and the restaurant was closed. It looked like it was undergoing a complete renovation. I would call and check before going.

Very good thai food. Especially for jersey. Hard to find a decent Thai place. This one is the one so far. Very clean, good service and nice décor.
Menu is good and the curry is right on
Point. We will be back here many times to come. Great place !

We ordered steamed pork dumplings and they were served to us raw. Not to mention service is slow. We will never return.

The food is really good at this place. I have never had a complaint thus far since I have been eating here since they opened.
Then only gripe I have about this place is, they are always closed every summer, all summer for renovation but the place still looks the same. So far this year, they have been closed since the end of June and I am still awaiting the «grand re-​open».
Hopefully they read this review and understand how anxious I am as well as others to enjoy their good food again.

My wife and I finally found a Thai restaurant that is responsibly priced and food is phenomenal! We love their waterfall fried rice and Mr. Chan is very friendly and helpful. They have a real cool spicy level system which goes from 1 to 5. Other things to recommend are Thai Ice Tea and smoothy, veg roll, chicken curry puffs, drunken noodles, and curries.

Top five Thai food in Essex county! Fast attentive service. Clean space with contemporary décor. I came here with a large group and everyone left satisfied and delighted with the grub. I had the massaman curry with chicken, the dish had a great balanced flavor.
Some of our group critiqued that the portions were on the small side but I had no complaints

I agree with most of the reviewers that this is the best thai food in the area. Ordered pad see ew, pad thai, and bbq chicken wings. All very good, not too greasy, and not overly sweet. Service is friendly, atmosphere is very nice. Im definitely coming back… parking tho can be bit of a challenge

Pretty impressed by this place. Warm, woodsy atmosphere. Unique menu with lots of stuff I haven’t seen before at a Thai place. Friendly service, especially the manager/​owner (?). Not to mention, really affordable prices.

It is not a common occurrence for me to dole out an honest 5 stars, but for this review it is well deserved! Stopped by for lunch and was pleasantly surprised with a calming quiet dining room when I entered. Lunch menu was fun and cost efficient with many choices under one fair price. I had Gingery Chicken with Tom Yuung Kai soup and 3 tasty little chicken wings. All delicious and spicy with the number 4 spice level. The only problem was that service could have been quicker since it was lunch. Although the friendliness of the staff and quality of the food made it much more tolerable. This time I was eager to welcome the extended break, but next time I might need to eat and go a bit faster. All in all, a wonderful experience at one of Bloomfield’s hidden gems.

A great place to get Thai in the area. A combination of traditional and modern dishes with vegan and vegetarian options as well. Desserts are a great way to finish a delicious meal here. I’ve been here couple times now and had a great experience.

My husband and I really liked our meal. It helped us reduce the cynicism we have developed about the way many Thai Restaurants accommodate American tastes and thereby deprive customers of the real thing. (Hamburger restaurants in Thailand ruin the hamburger often too when trying to accommodate Thai tastes.)
We each ordered a whole red snapper, mine fried in a garlic sauce, his in a ginger sauce. We felt we were back in Bangkok. The spring rolls were to die for, and the entire meal left us glowing.

Girls’ night out while visiting my best friend, and this was the chosen destination, Great looking ‘NY style’ loft looking and decorated with a modern/​Thai look. Spacious, and there was a private party on the second floor.
The owner/​server was friendly and all the food was delicious and generous enough to share. Would definitely recommend this place to go with one friend or a group. And for private parties, absolutely.

Very good ambiance. I was actually surprised by the amount of food. I thought it was a lot, especially for the price.
Most importantly, everything tasted great. I do agree though the service was a little slow. I will be back soon.

It’s a cute and spacious restaurant in Bloomfield. The portions are a little small, but you are getting quality food. The food was packed with tons of flavor and was surprising for a Thai restaurant in NJ.
Small problem, the service is a little slow. I felt like there was only one cook in the kitchen and the food were not coming out all together, but one at a time. I observed one table, there was 4 people and their food came out 6 minutes apart and of course that’s annoying — your food might get cold waiting for the other peoples food.
The food is delicious ans very tasty. They have bubble tea and tapioca to go with it. taste like the one you would get in Chinatown… yummy!!!

A month ago I would have thought that the odds of me eating a decent meal in a hip and relaxed Bloomfield Center Thai place were pretty small. I did tonight, and jukGajee (Thai for «tickle») was actually quite good.
What the servers lack in polish (our entrees sat for a few minutes awaiting plates), they more than make up for by being gracious and eager. From owner to chef, everybody made a stop at our table to thank us for coming, and inquire about our meal.
As we always do, my wife and I split an appetizer and two entrees. While the portion sizes aren’t huge, they were large enough to satisfy two hungry adults. We began with the chicken curry puff. Inside a flaky puff pastry crust was a smooth paste of very finely chopped chicken and potato, accented by a touch of cayenne and curry mix powder. It was tasty, but a little light on the curry and fried in oil which had some slight off-​flavor. Nicely plated, it was an admirable effort.
I don’t know why, but the menu writers have renamed all of the Thai dishes with cutesy non-​Thai names; annoying, and somewhat disheartening when were expecting a Thai (not Thai-​American) dining experience. We asked our server to turn up the spice a bit, in the hopes that this would somehow signal the kitchen as to how tired we were of the rash of local Thai-​American and Thai-​inspired eateries. We were seeking authenticity and are very familiar with what the real deal looks and tastes like; no prisoners would be taken!
Shrimp pad thai and pork pad gra pow were nicely plated and served. We could see from the orange hue of both dishes that the kitchen received our request for spicier fare, but would the dishes deliver Thai balance and authenticity? The pork was flavorful, a skillful blending of flavors and textures; «yes» for the pork. The pad thai was less successful; stumbling, but in an easily corrected way. When the heat was ratcheted up, an extra tablespoon of palm/​caster (or dark brown) sugar and an extra teaspoon or two of Thai fish sauce should have accompanied. This is an instance of a chef reading a recipe card, rather than reacting to an unexpected twist. Correctable, forgivable, and at $ 26 (with green tea for two), certainly worthy of a second chance. Noteworthy is that the rice noodles used in the pad thai are cooked al dente, not easy.

Back in business!
I went here three times in one week. I’m insane, I get obsessed, but the food is just that good. And what the hell, the price! Did I just step out of my condo into a portal to Thailand? Good lord, $ 16 bucks for TWO ENTREES AND A TEA. What-​the!!! And the quality… yeah, you can not find this anywhere. They can easily charge an extra $ 6 – 8 dollars an entrée.
Indeed, this is as good as it gets. The best Thai food I have ever had outside of Thailand. There are literally 20 Thai restaurants in Northern NJ that I have been to, and this is the cream of the crop.
The contrasting flavors of Thai cuisine can either clash on your palate or sing harmoniously. The true test of a *really* good Thai meal is to almost compare it to watching a Cirque du Soleil performance. You have all of the necessary components, and if everything works together smoothly and in harmony, you will be amazed — but one little error, one little fall, can break the entire meal. Every meal I’ve had at j.G.j. has been a home run.
Crispy, fresh spring rolls to start — simple flavors with a huge impact on your taste buds. I fell in love with their Papaya salad (som tam?) — every bite you can taste those four Thai flavors, sweet, sour, hot, and salty. served over sticky rice to contrast the heat. Beef salad (yum neua) is easily the best I have ever had. Spicy and tender, so good.
All of their curries are delicious — my favorites are the Green Curry & the Massaman Curry. Both are lick-​your-​plate good. Why?:
–The Green Curry is creamy, sweet, and spicy with fresh eggplant, bamboo shoots, lemongrass. many other Thai restaurants simply can not achieve these crucial flavor components.
–The Massaman is rich, creamy, & aromatic… spicy yet sweet, there is a reason this curry is called the «king» of curries… get it with Beef, the dry spices used just tenderize the meat and it just melts in your mouth. This restaurants delivers big-​time on the Massaman. They don’t screw around.
But what kills me… in a good way… are the CHICKEN WINGS. Yes. Chicken wings. I don’t lie.
Friendly service and great hours. They stay open until 10 almost every day of the week.

Decent place, but for me it’s not a go again anytime soon. I actually double checked to make sure I went to the same place the other reviews were from, as they put expectations high.
We got spring roll apps which were fresh and crunchy. Fresh young coconut milk was great, as was the Thai Iced coffee. The pork dumplings app was homemade and okay, but seemed lacking a flavor to pull them together. My group aren’t spice heads by any means, but after being warned that the 4 (on a 5 scale) was really spicy… we were quite surprised by the lack of heat or chillies in our dishes.
Service was acceptable and amicable, but too slow (it was a weeknight and they were understaffed, so I can understand). There was video game theme song music playing between normal music, like the Golden Eye 64 theme, that gave us a laugh. The décor was nice, but seemed like it was only half decorated with pictures resting on the floor. The menu with several «under construction» sections made me want to cut the place some slack for being new, but when the waiter said they opened 8 months ago it gave me pause.
Overall it was nice, I’ll give it another try in a few months.

Having tried several Thai establishments in the Montclair-​Verona-​Bloomfield vicinity, I’ve only been mildly satisfied. I haven’t found anything that truly hits the spot in terms of taste and cost. So when we had the cravings for Thai last night, we decided to give jukGajee a shot.
I called in for takeout and was greeted by a friendly lady’s voice on the phone. Since they don’t have their menu online yet, I ordered based on my usuals and her recommendations. We decided to go for the grilled chicken wings appetizers (as recommended by a previous reviewer), pad kee mao with beef (extra spice), and rama chicken (low spice). She said they made the chicken wings fresh to order, so it would take about 20 minutes for our order to be ready. 20 minutes later, I was there, and was greeted by an equally friendly man at the front. After some small talk, he offered to email me a PDF of their menu since they don’t have their website going yet. They also have a facebook page, in case anyone’s interested.
Finally the food: So glad I took the recommendation for those chicken wings because they are sooooo good! They were juicy, crunchy, seasoned, fall-​off-​the-​bone goodness… and complemented perfectly with a mild sweet and sour chili marmalade sauce. The pad kee mao was fantastic — thick stir-​fry noodles with a generous serving of beef, onions, basil and green peppers, topped with a spicy brown sauce. I really enjoyed it but be warned: they take their spice level quite seriously here (which I love). The only thing we weren’t too crazy about was the rama chicken — chicken cooked in a peanuty sauce on a bed of spinach. It is still quite yummy but I think I’ve had better. Overall, I would give the food a ⁴⁄₅ star experience.
But what pushed it to 5 stars for me was the cost. Total for the order = $ 22. You just don’t see that in a Thai restaurant anymore and I think this is particularly where jukGajee stands out among its competition. jukGajee’s food + service + cost combined = there’s no way we won’t be back!

Wow. This place is the real deal. There are a lot of new and established Thai joints in Bloomfield and Montclair, but the food and ambiance set Jukgajee apart from the others. Then there’s the low prices and the value is just amazing. We had the spring roll and vege dumpling appetizers. The rolls were quite good, but the dumplings were absolutely top notch. The dipping sauce was unique as well and tasty. My wife had Vegetable Panang and I had seafood soup or Tom Yum. The curry was tasty and had a great variety of veggies. The seafood soup though, was over the top. Fish, squid, scallops, mussels, shrimp, ginger, pepper and a beautifully spicy broth. One of the best Thai dishes that I have ever eaten.
The owners were very hospitable and really cared about what we thought about our experience. When we turned down dessert since we mentioned we had some leftover cake from my wife’s birthday on the previous night, they brought out a piece of delish cheesecake with blueberries on the house. Can’t wait to try the other dishes. The whole meal was $ 27 before tip.