Blujeen

Blujeen is great for a lot of reasons. For starters, I was kind of mesmerized by the ambience and décor. it was cozy and comfortable. The art was really cool as well. But for most people, we don’t go to restaurants to gaze at art. So here’s the deal. I enjoyed Blujeen. I had the crab cake salad which was tasty. Friends ordered ribs, mac & cheese and the homemade cornbread. The cornbread was pretty slamming. Here’s the deal — if you’re into high sadity soul food, then this is your place. If you prefer the sloppy smothered pork chop type of vibe, you should probably look else where. Service was exceptional! We arrived around 11pm and the waiter was knowledgable and patient with the group. I’d totally pay Blujeen another visit. Hoping next time around I can give it 5 stars.

Took my daughter here for dinner and it was exceptional. One of the best meals we’ve had in Harlem in ages. I got the Short Ribs and she got the Crab Cake Ceasar Salad. The ribs were succulent and tender and the crab cakes were tangy and mildly sweet. Plus don’t forget to order the Pie in a Jar for dessert. The service was prompt and very friendly. We’re looking forward to a return visit.

Really cozy and relaxed atmosphere at Blujeen. The staff was friendly, the food was delish (order the fried brussels sprouts — thank me later), and the price was right. Just one critique, as a macaroni & cheese connoisseur, the lobster mac has room for improvement. It was tasty don’t get me wrong, but I’ve prepared lobster mac for Thanksgiving. It is a rich and decadent dish, and unfortunately Bluejeen’s version fell a little short — not enough gruyère cheese perhaps. Otherwise, I’ll definitely be back! Cheers!

I was very impressed with this place. The service and food were excellent. As a coffee lover, I was especially impressed with the coffee presentation. If you love bacon, order the slab of bacon. In fact, I wish was eating that bacon right now.

we’ve been dining here since the beginning. At least once a month. The food has ALWAYS been spot on.
The past several experiences have gradually gone down hill i.e. Out of things, not having the updated menus, service being terrible etc. Today’s experience takes the cake.
I ordered a hot tea and my partner ordered a mango iced tea.
I was brought a 2/3^rd’s full mug of hot water along with Lipton tea. Whatever I would suck it up and drink Lipton however when I was opening it I realized it was decaf. Blujeen is a nicer establishment not tea at the plaza by any means but nicer than a diner where Lipton would be acceptable.
When our waiter abruptly came to take our order (with no pen & paper) I addressed the tea situation and he stated they have a display of tea and he would bring it to the table. My question is why didn’t he just bring it in the first place?!
He brought the tea display approx. 8 mins later in which I made a decision.
Here’s the huge kicker we had been waiting 20mins from when we placed our order to receiving our order in which he proceeds to tell us he hasn’t even put our order into the system!!!
We are still waiting on our order.
No apologies of any sort just a «want me to buy you another mango iced tea?»
How hard is it to have a decent dining experience on harlem’s restaurant row anymore?!
Really disappointed. The wait staff really needs an attitude adjustment/​refresher in hospitality.
The food will bring us back however if the service doesn’t shape up we will no longer be patrons.

Definitely worth a try! I had the kale salad, corn soup and red velvet donuts which were all delicious. Friends had the salmon & grits entrée which they were also happy with. Lemon cake was a little too tart for my liking but also delicious. Our server was pleasant and did the best with recommendations but it was clear that she hadn’t sampled many items on the menu. Overall all the staff were very friendly. I’d definitely return and try some other items on the menu.

Delicious food! Happy we caught the happy hour. I really enjoyed my 2−4−1 wine after a long day. The bar bites hit the spot! I would recommend the lobster Mac and cheese, baby kale salad, shrimp and grits, and don’t forget the salmon. My husband and I devoured it all! The apple cobble was a great finish to the meal. Super nice ambiance in addition to the food.

Really great food. Friendly staff. The Corn Velvet soup was SO YUMMY! And the lamb sausages were super tasty.
Don’t forget to end the dinner with their wonderful coffee.

We ordered most of the menu, and there was not one item that was not delicious.
I ordered the Monk Fish (which I have never had anywhere before) and it may have been the best fish I’ve ever eaten!
Thank you.
Service was a bit slow, but not really an issue. Everyone was very friendly and professional.

As stated in most of the previous reviews, I really wanted to like this place. I gave it a good THREE tries and heres the deal.
The look and feel of the restaurant alone sets an expectation of good food and service and unfortunately it doesn’t deliver.
Our first time coming here we just sat at the bar for a couple glasses of wine. The bartender Christina basically became my best friend over the hour or two that we were there. She is awesome.
Second time we came in for dinner. This was a Friday night I believe and it was quite empty. Our waiter was friendly and pretty attentive. My bf got the short rib dish which I tasted and it was good. I got the chili rubbed skirt steak and was not pleased. The potato wedges were dry and needed salt. The steak had a grainy texture and was not seasoned (also needed salt). My bf ordered the red velvet doughnuts and they were 5 microscopic crumbs on a plate. Don’t waste your money on those — it’s almost pointless to have it on the menu. We made a complaint to the manager who was apologetic and took off a glass of wine from our bill. Overall not a horrible experience but had a few issues with the menu. Not enough for us never to want to come back.
Our third and FINAL visit was this past Sunday for brunch. We were greeted by an extremely sweet and warm hostess. She was so cute. Our bartender best friend recognized us when we walked in and waved at us. we were surprised she remembered us! A few minutes later she came from behind the bar to say hi and offer us a drink while we waited for our table. We were very impressed by her. This is what keeps people coming back. Unfortunately all that goodness went out the window when we sat down at our table. It took 20 minutes for our waiter to come over for the first time. We had gotten our mimosas right as we sat down at the table and we had just finished them by the time our waiter came over. I realized the table next to us also did not get any service as they sat down right before us. They also were disappointed in our waiter. My bf ended up getting up and asking someone to come over to our table. When he finally came over he was just like «are you guys ready to order… i’m sure you are by now» as if he knew he had us sitting there for a long time and was very nonchalant about it… no apology or nothing… and they did have tables that were full… but this place is not that big… and he walked past us SEVERAL TIMES and never said one word to us. So we placed our order and requested the unlimited mimosa option. They ran out of champagne and offered some orange wine spritzer in it’s place. –_​_​_​_​-​. Even if we did get unlimited mimosas, after our waiter took our order — that was the last we saw of him. So no mimosa’s would have come anyway. I’m not exaggerating. To add insult to injury i ordered the pecan crusted chicken with sweet potato pancakes and it was HORRIBLE. The chicken was so tasteless and dry that it was embarrassing. Plus the pancakes were cold! The fact that A CHEF owns this restaurant is the most appalling part about all of this. Not all chefs know how to run a successful restaurant but you need to have flawless food coming out of that kitchen plus a management company in place to make up for where you are lacking. Clearly none of the above is happening.
Needless to say I had to speak to the manager about the horrible food and service. My bf ordered the shrimp and grits which he liked. We were only billed for the meal that he ate which was completely fair. The manager was very apologetic and professional which we appreciated — but even she took about 10 minutes to come over to us.
Again, I love supporting black owned businesses and hope the management really gets things together rather quickly. If they are still here in about 8 or 9 months I’ll stop in for another try. I’m curious to see if things have improved.
Chef Lance Knowling — please take heed to these reviews. The restaurant is clearly struggling and not living up to it’s full potential. We all want to see this place succeed, help US help YOU make it happen!

The food was alright. Bottomless brunch wasn’t bottomless. They poured our glasses half full, took forever for refills, and finally proclaimed that they were out of «all alcohol, all types». We ended up getting ~2.5 drinks in three hours. Then they added on 20% gratuity for generally awful service.

I’m so pleased to have finally made it over to Blujeen for dinner. The whole experience was outstanding… the service, the food, and the atmosphere were all great! From the moment we entered we were greeted at the door and immediately taken to a excellent, quiet corner table, where Rashid took care of us for the evening… he was attentive and polite and quick and cool.
I started with the Country Vegetable Salad, which had a good balance of greens to dressing and bacon without being too heavy on the radish. Plus… you know… bacon. She had the kale salad, which she enjoyed, but I had bacon, so I can’t offer more insight to her salad.
For dinner I got the chili rubbed shell steak and my date had the chicken with risotto balls. The steak was perfectly cooked, tender, and well seasoned. The asparagus was grilled to be tender without being overdone, and the potatoes/​french fries were super-​tasty. Her chicken and risotto was also outstanding, and I’ll be tempted to order it the next time we go.
We skipped dessert, but I’m sure it’s delicious too… I’ll plan to find out on my next visit.

A lovely experience. Happy hour 2-​for-​1 wine and small plates for $ 5 are terrific value. The corn soup was velvety delicious; the confit chicken came with crispy risotto dumplings.
Great location and friendly service. I’m happy to support this local enterprise!

Wir waren gestern im Bluejeen. Das Essen war hervorragend, nur hat immer der Nachbar das eigene Essen erhalten. Die Kellner waren etwas verplant, Besteck hat gefehlt, Mr. Kellner hat es geholt (so heißt der Cousin 3. Grades von uns — ehrlich), aber sonst war es sehr lecker. Kann man recommend.
Fam. Goldstein und Fam. Lother

Latoya the hostess was AMAZING! Soooo that’s where the ONE star comes from.
Other than that the service was rushed, the mood was combative and unwelcoming, was overcharged for three glasses of wine, billed should’ve been $ 28 but was initially billed $ 42 AND… saw a big ass roach that scared customers out the door so needless to say we didn’t order any food!
Bye.
Won’t be going back. Hopefully… they’ll do better with future customers

With Harlem gentrification continuing at a steady clip, it’s nice to see that some of the newer establishments are black owned. Blujeen is one. On a late afternoon we made this our dining choice. It had gotten good Unilocal reviews and when we peered inside and at the menu, everything about it seemed appealing. The décor exuded a comfortable elegance, from walls decorated with vividly colored paintings by the cook’s mom to the rustic pale blue cupboard in one corner. Blujeen is spacious; you won’t be knocking your neighbors’ elbows. The dark cherry tables are big, the wooden chairs ample, and one side even had leather banquettes. The wide windows lent the place a sense of airiness, with the late afternoon sun shining in. But the different mirrors, and assorted lamps gave it a relaxed intimacy. At one side was a long bar. It’s as you were entering into a restaurant that used to be someone’s home, reminiscent of a few restaurants down South I’m fond of. The food here mirrors the ambience, comfort food taken a notch up. We had the heirloom tomato salad for starters, despite my warning that it wasn’t a good year for tomatoes – too short a summer. The salad fell true to my predictions; the colorful grape tomatoes were more sour than sweet, a true disappointment. Blujeen needs to taste the tomatoes they buy and not offer that dish if they aren’t good that day. But the pickled shallot vinagrette that dressed it was exceptional, flavorful, delicate and light. Our mains were happily, wonderful. Based on Unilocal raves, we knew we had to try the roasted cauliflower hash. All the shout outs were indeed correct. The chef nailed this dish, the flavors intense, the textures intriguing, the taste superb. I suspect you can wean carnivores off meat with this dish. We also had the blackened salmon, with smoked tomatoes, arugula and citrus comeback. Maguerite, our delightfully warm and attentive waitress, mentioned that the chef suggested the salmon be medium rare. We were sharing dishes and my friend wanted it medium more on the done side. I added hurriedly, «but not dry». Well, Maguerite listened and the chef performed his magic. The salmon was perfectly cooked, moist inside, and so fresh under the coating of spices. Not as a creative dish as the cauliflower hash, but delicious. And nothing was overly salted, which I sometimes experience in finer restaurants, the sign I say of an insecure chef. Not this chef. He knows how to cook. Everything was plated beautifully, not captured in my Unilocal photos because we were hungry and divvied up the dishes before I thought to do some photography. It was a lovely dining experience, in food, service and ambience. I can’t help but hope Blujeen can find a way to add a jazz brunch, or jazz dinner, perhaps in a series even if not permanently. Gilding the lily, as they say. Blujeen is a fine addition to the NY dining scene.

This was a good restaurant. However it could be significantly better.
Food:
Beef Brisket sliders — This was very good well seasoned and well presented. I also had the Fried Chicken and Biscuits. The gravy was a little bitter for my liking but the Fried Chicken was very good. Biscuits were very dry.
Lobster Mac and Cheese was delicious, though all the lobster was on the top. It was very smooth, it could have used some more flavor, maybe thyme or nutmeg.
Finally had the Red Velvet Donuts for dessert — ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
Ambiance: The ambiance was very good however it was freezing in there, seemed like they could not control the Air Condition. Overall a good experience that will probably get better as they get better.

Let me just say, they had me at the Erykah Badu and India Ari playing through their stereos, perfectly pitched so that I could hear the music without shouting to my cousin.
It would’ve been fine to get some homemade margaritas or sangria at the bar, but now that Blujeen is open for lunch, there’s was no question we had to stay.
It took me 20 minutes to decide what I wanted because I was too overwhelmed by amazingness to choose. Finally, after our server suggested the exclusive lunch-​time only burger that is exclusive to their restaurant and provided by the grocer next door, I was sold. My cousin got the BLT (beef bacon) and we also got a side of lobster macaroni and cheese and the velvety corn soup with crab.
Everything was piping hot when it came out, and tasted even better than it looked, which was hard for me to fathom. The lobster in the Mac n cheese is real, literally even included the claw meat. You can taste the lobster throughout, even if you’re someone like me who eats all the lobster off the top first.
The beef bacon was fresh to death, no pun intended. It was so tasty, couldn’t have been store bought, I would even dare ask if they butchered a cow specially for us.
We ended with an apple upside down cake that we didn’t have room for, but are anyway. Strongly suggested.
If our food wasn’t the cherry on top, the visit from Chef Lance was. We told the waitress we had family in Kansas City after we noticed he cooked a «Kansas city rib» option, and he came out and exchanged stories. From the décor stapled with black art to the armoire accents that my grandparents had, I really felt at home. I’ll be back!

I have eaten here twice now.
Pros:the taste of the food that was good — was downright delicious (ribs are better than dinosaur!) and the waitstaff is the friendliest by far on Harlem’s Restaurant row. I want them to succeed! I really do…
but I don’t know that I will be going back.
Cons: PICK A LANE!!! You either want to be Vinetetia/​The Cecil… OR Harlem Tavern/​Beir international. You can’t be both. You can’t offer a signature burger with a special blend made for you from our local butcher (harlem shambles) but ONLY serve it at the bar. You also cannot suggest (through fake smile) that my family and I should eat at the bar if we want our children to be able to have said burger. That’s illegal Mr manager for a 4 year old to sit at a bar FYI. You also cannot charge $ 6 for a side of French fries that consists of 3 potato wedges! THREE! Lastly — the extra charge for bacon in my mac and cheese was a joke! Not only was the bacon boring (thin floppy) but it was about ½ of a strip of bacon.
I really hope your chef/​owner reads these —
Keep your staff —
keep your recipes that you do well
But decide — are you fine dining? Or are you a gastropub?
Otherwise — I’ll choose from the slew of other amazing spots in and around FDB.

Fabulous food and service. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The restaurant is a large somewhat spare room with nice art. You can actually have a conversation. Tried the jerk chicken leg which was divine, the cauliflower hash which was terrific and unusual. The best most complex yet simple was the red snapper over dirty rice… yum! We really wanted the Carmel salted yams so ordered and pretended it was dessert. Another home run.
Very friendly service. Chef Knowles was right there in the open kitchen cooking away which was a pleasure to see. I will definitely return as there were so many good choices on the menu I would like to try.
Happy to have another winner in Harlem.

Disappointed.
My boyfriend and I were really excited to support this new Harlem restaurant. We planned our night around it. We expected an intimate and enjoyable experience, where we ultimately hoped to meet the chef, and unfortunately – disappointed, summarizes our experience.
The hostess was unprofessional. End of.
Our server, while polite and well meaning, was not properly trained. Without giving a menu or wine list, or waiting for all guests to be seated, he attempted to take drink orders.
He could not properly describe dishes on the menu when asked. Specifically telling us there were two crab cakes to an order, and having us find out on our own, there would only be one. No apology or explanation offered.
While we felt rushed to order, we didn’t see food for quite a while. There was a considerable wait. No spin on cornbread, no chefs compliments, no food update, nothing.
We were one of the two couples Dining at the time.
Beet salad – skip
Crab cake in tomato – fresh crab cake, nicely done, be sure to order two!
Jerk chicken – very nicely done, gave me hope for entrée, a must
Bass – good portion size. Collards buried beneath the fish and mixed in with something else, struggled to be tasted.
Ribs – fatty, small and paled in comparison to the couple that came in an hour later and ordered identically. You could actually see the difference in plates. Inconsistent.
No dessert.
Our waiter became a complete ghost.
As disappointed as we were, we want Blujeen to work. With more staff training and a keener attention to detail, it will. Wishing our experience was better, but understandable of opening hiccups.
(+1 for the Art and music)