Jesso’s Seafood Restaurant & Bar

Catfish and oysters. This girl is at home in Oakland soul… finally! Thank you for bringing the Delta Cat back!

I SOOOOOO miss Jesso’s:(

Let me tell you my experience at this place called Jesso’s Seafood Restaurant & Bar.
We walked in, the wait staff passed us by as we waited to be seated. Five minutes later finally one of them asked if we needed a table. Duh! Oh yea. we walked in and waited for fun just to waste our precious time?!
We ordered beer, we waited a while to get it because the waitress forgot about it. I ordered the Snapper Fish n’ Chips and it tasted really fishy and salty. like catfish. I told the waitress I really think it’s catfish. I asked her to take it back but the Chef insisted it was Snapper but I’m very sure it’s not since I eat snapper all the time. They wouldn’t make me a new order so I had to stick with the nasty salty-​fishy stuff they call «snapper» while I picked on it all night.unhappy.
I also notice the Chef looking over the wall mad-​dogging us to see who complained. It was the most uncomfortable ghetto restaurant experience I have ever had.

Whenever I want to hook-​up with friends or fam I haven’t seen in a long time, I always suggest this spot. It’s good seafood at reasonable price points. A cool atmosphere — mellow crowd and live jazz and r&b music! Definitely a cool date spot. Across the street is Air Lounge and Levende East, so if you are in the mood for more music and dancing, you have those options.
If I’m with my boyfriend, we always get the seafood platter ($ 20), mac & cheese ($ 7), and fried oysters ($ 10). Yeah. we are heffers, but we don’t ever finish the seafood platter. The fried oysters at this place is my default. It’s great with their special «Jesso’s sauce», which tastes to me like ranch with Tobasco. Their menu is pretty extensive. You can opt to have your food grilled or fried and you can change the combinations they have to offer. The dessert is a «boo-​boo». Skip dessert and have a drink instead…“Katrina Hurricane” is my fav.
If you decide to check it out, let me know and I’ll most likely meet you.

Your stomach may be happy after eating here, but your wallet will feel violated.
$ 3.49 for a 5.5 oz side of rice n’ beans? That comes out to $ 11.49 a pound for f-​ing rice and beans. Excuse me if that makes me a tiny bit irate. And since when does rice and beans qualify as gourmet!!!
Rant aside, what’s worse than being violated, is wanting to go back for more. The food was cooked and seasoned well, and even good cold the next day. Yams, hush puppies and even those damn rice and beans were super tasty.
Minus stars for the hostess who had her back turned to the podium when I arrived, and for the prices, but the food will have me crawling back.

I was randomly here on a Sunday night, and was excited to know that they were the only eatery within a block that was open until 1:00am.
I grazed on hush puppies with some friends, and ordered the Grilled Salmon Burger for myself. They had a good tartar sauce, and I was excited that the salmon wasn’t overcooked. The bartender warmed up to us after a while, and I was kinda disappointed that there weren’t more seats at the bar — the place was pretty busy for a Sunday night!
The live jazz every night is definitely a plus, although the bar menu said that this place is closed in Mondays and Tuesdays. The jazz singer last Sunday was absolutely sultry and amazing. I highly recommend.

This place is the BOMB!!! It really depends on what folks are looking for but all my experiences there have been good ones. You wanna talk about prices!!! well how do you expect his staff to get paid and all the overhead that comes with having a business. You break down everything you ordered and then go purchase yourself separately from the grocery store and let me know price then. Come on people!!! It’s a place for the grown and sexy to chill and have good food and conversation.
I have read alot of the reviews and sounds like to me that too many city folk don’t get it! Oh well !!! you can all try the not so hot spots in silicon valley and let me know how you feel then. I love this place and has not been disappointed. If there’s a problem don’t be AFRAID to let the wait staff know. It will be corrected, don’t give them attitude, that’s not on the menu or necessary.

Looking for a mellow, yet live place to go with a date, Jesso’s is the spot.
Wifey and I went on a Wed. night on our way to Air Lounge, and we never made it the lounge because we was just lounging too hard at Jesso’s!
Too cold for patio though some rocked it anyway, so we sat inside next to the stage, where 3 jazz musicians tuned up and played great dinner fare, and if you got it like that, it’s upbeat enough to dance to, but for me, I just sat and appreciated the skills.
Atmosphere: cross between Everett and Jones on Broadway and hotel bar… people represent Oakland, with OGs posting outside in pimp hats, youngsters with the new tight-​sagging jeans and stunna shades, corporate folks off of work, older AA couple, and a few motley crew groups here and there.
Waitstaff are professional, a little slow, but all about business — they look and are busy.
Now to the food: seafood is on hit — salmon fried was some of the best fried fish I’ve had. And the collard greens and yams, better than EJs, Lake Merritt Bakery or Chx/​Waffle. My burger was okay, could have been better. (if you’ve been reading my Unilocal posts — I’ve been on a burger kick for the past 6 months… it’s the only thing that fills me up!) The patti seemed like it was prepressed and frozen… boo.
We’ll definitely be back and this time only order the seafood items. Huge potential here: good food, location, and atmosphere… they add some better service and maybe some specials and rearrange the tables a bit, and it’ll take it to the next level.

I was happy to see that a restaurant served food after 10 and it wasn’t chinese or from a truck. The crazy thing is I frequent Air Lounge, but never ever thought about making the trek across the street to eat. Well I finally did and was very disappointed.
My girlfriend and I visited after working AND partying at the Annual First Friday White Party at Preservation Park. After a decent wait we were finally seated. The server was wayyyyy hot, but wack. After initally dropping off our food he disappeared. He was nice enough to bring our food out in stages like we asked, but he forgot – supposedly we didn’t tell him– about the mac and cheese. (My girl and I were talking about the mac and cheese while we were waiting so that’s impossible). After he brought the second half he disappeared again. We had to ask our neighbors for ketchup and a busser for another fork. Honestly, we didn’t see him until he brought the check.
The food? Aight. The potato salad was too spicy and salty. The yams were pretty good (and I don’t like yams). The greens had turkey instead of pork, which is great for non pork eatera. Everything on the seafood platter (fried fish) was ridiculously dried out and had no flavor. (I’ve never heard of anyone frying salmon.) Thankfully, they have an option to grill your fish but the menu read something like «expect 20 minute wait». We were hungry; that was not going to happen.
The restaurant’s best feature was the band, but if you’re sitting inside the restaurant, as opposed to on the patio, the music is so loud it’s difficult to hear the person with whom you’re sitting.

Picture this: seafood platters, sitting on an outside patio, happy buzz of people outside, a warm summer night, live jazz playing.
It was a great night, but the highlight of the restaurant wasn’t the main course of food — it was the friendly staff and the non-​stuffy ambiance of the restaurant. Our group had everything from fried catfish, to grilled salmon, to tequila prawn shrimp, to hush puppies (did I mention this was a soul food joint?). I had the grilled salmon for my main entrée, and it was a bit salty. The collared greens were too «leafy», and I don’t care so much for yams so I pawned it off to my friend for some of her mac n cheese (btw — they wont substitute). The only things worth mentioning is the mac n cheese (oh yum), calamari (even yummier) and fried chicken appetizers (tasty business)… There were so many things on the menu, that I do want to go back to try the crab.
At the end of the evening, our cute waitress surprised the birthday girl with a whipped cream topped peach cobbler fresh out of the oven. Its a great place for a late night seafood dinner — the kitchen is open pretty late for a Wednesday night.

Fried okra was great. The menu doesn’t mention the word «fried» but just assume everything is fried unless stated otherwise.
Got the combination grill fish plate. I recommend sharing this. Nothing special but it wasn’t bad. We were on a search for someplace serving dinner after 9PM on Sunday and that considered, we were very happy to be here.
If you can get a table outside, that is a good place to be for the live music.
Wine list was a strange combination of cheap supermarket wine and Provenance Sauvignon Blanc available by the glass which is one of my favorites.

I wish I had the option of no stars. Why isn’t that an option?
Can I be Frank?
I ate here once about two or three years ago. It was delightful. I remember having the oysters and thinking they were phenomenal. Mind you, I’m not really an oyster eater. In fact, it was so good I returned there about a month later with a friend of mine. This time I ordered a larger portion of the oysters. I enjoyed some of the ambiance and dined in with the jazz players. It was quite nite. I chomped on my large order of oysters in seeming bliss.
Why, oh, why did I do that? For the love of God.
I have never in my life been so sick. Honestly. Spewing putrid disgustingness out of both ends… simultaneously! I hate to be so candid. But, seriously, it was the most awful experience of my life. I couldn’t eat for a week. And I had to drag my sick ass on a plane 4 days later to go to my best friend’s graduation in Michigan. I didn’t eat for the first 2 days of the trip. Those bastards robbed me of prime eating time. And I LOVE to eat!
Let’s just say I never ate there again. Not only did I never eat there again. I never ate oysters again. Still haven’t to this day. And it’s the best frickin’ decision I ever made.
I wouldn’t chance it if I were you. But, that’s just me. You’re more than welcome to all the barf you can eat.

Gosh darn it! If you want good fried fish and grilled fish this is the place. No sass, no wine pairing, no shit.
Good food and good ambiance.
We had both grilled and fried fish. She had the grilled snapper with yams and greens; I tried the fried shrimp. You get 10 massive fried shrimp and they take up the whole plate. Plus, if you come on a Friday night apparently it’s date night which adds a whole new dimension to people watching.
So, I’ll be back. See ya there.

Like mama used to say:
” Girl Shut Your Mouth UP !”

tried the 5 piece sole (7.75) fish only for take out. the lightly cornmeal batterd fish were curled up, meaning they were thin. the fish was dry and had no juice. the ranch dressing provided with the fish did nothing for it.
had a jesso pale ale (3.75) while waiting for my order. nice body. the waitstaff kept my fish under a hot lamp until i was ready to leave. the restaurant has nice jazz & rb music piped in. there’s also two flatscreens tuned to sports.
food-​one star, service-​one star, ambience– one star.

This place should change the title in their name from «Seafood Restaurant» to Jesso’s «Oakland Jazz and Soul Food», it has a better ring, and way more accurate. This place is a cool find and is unmistakeably «Oakland». I can’t wait to go back.
Small enough place that when the jazz starts playing, you feel like your in the front row, no matter where you’re sitting. The jazz is perfect, not too loud, and funky enough to not make it boring. There’s a full bar with nice beers on tap, and really nice servers to round out a nice dining experience.
The food here is soul food which is done decently. Your fish can either be grilled or fried in cornmeal and the sides are straight from the south (collard greens, hush puppies and yams). Our group all got fish, done differently. I had the Fried Red Snapper ($ 14, i think) and it was good, good as my good ol’ dads fried fish. Someone had a Grilled Sole and that was flavorful but dry. Another had the Smoked Catfish, and boy was that smoky. Good, but the whole table smelled of a camp-​fire. We all tried their Gumbo to start off with, with the addition of Dungeness Crab (small bowl for about $ 14) and it was big enough to have been our entrees. Rich, authentic flavor but it was just on the verge of being too salty. Actually a lot of the food here is quite salty, especially their gumbo and collard greens.
So on a laid back evening, we got to celebrate a friend’s birthday, ate some decent soul food, watched a Warrior’s victory, and got to listen to some soulful jazz. Quite the quintessential Oakland dining experience. I only had to leave off a star, for the salt happy cooks in the back, other than that, straight money.

So this was my first time here and it completely hit the spot for some fried fish. I had the red snapper and garlic fries. Although the fries were a little bit too salty, i’m willing to give this place a second try because of the free shots we got from the bartender, who was pretty yummy himself. If you want have that seafood feeling then this is a great place to go. I’d like to go on another day where they have the live band, I hear that’s pretty awesome too.

Does my hair have enough mousse?
How does my purple silk jacket look?
Somebody get me my Fender.
This is like so tubular… www.youtube.com/watch?v=adaYUM5­wl7c
You know, I wish that I had Jesso’s grub
I wish that I had Jesso’s grub
Where can I find hush puppies like that?
Like Jesso’s grub
I wish that I had Jesso’s grub
Where can I find hush puppies…
Where can I find hush puppies like that?
This place has nothing to do with Rick Springfield, but is he really close to sixty now? Man, he looks great. So Jamie W. and I were on our second failed attempt to eat at Le Cheval. We tried once before when Barack Obama was in town, but I always forget they don’t open until 5PM on Sundays. We wandered a block and saw fried stuff on the menu here, so we decided to try it.
Here’s the shocker… it’s really good. I ordered the $ 13 Grilled Catfish which came on a bed of pan-​fried cabbage. There were ramekins filled with yams and collard greens, a smart move since the greens are so wet. Topping it all off were three hush puppies (see photo). It was all really good. The fish and greens were very fresh, and the yams were almost dessert-​like with a creamy texture. The hush puppies were really tasty, especially when you put them in Jesso’s Sauce (not to be mistaken for Jessie’s Girl), which comes on a tray with your meal.
Jamie had the $ 9.95 Red Snapper Fish and Chips (see photo), and he got his own hush puppies, a good thing ’cause (…playing a riff on my electric guitar)…I wasn’t gonna share mine, and the point is probably moot. You know, I wish that I had Jesso’s grub, I wish that I had Jesso’s grub… By the way, it’s close to the 12^th Street BART station if you SF’cans want to venture under the bay to eat here. They have live music, but I don’t think Rick’s played here yet.
FOOD — 4 stars… really good Southern-​style seafood… everything is fried but who’s complaining?
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… well, it’s actually part of that fading Housewives Market, but it looks like they’re doing some remodeling.
SERVICE — 4 stars… waitress was terrifically responsive and gave up Diet Coke refills without provocation
TOTAL — 4 stars… lately something’s changed that ain’t hard to define, Jesso’s got itself some grub, and I want to make it mine

Three stars for live music, good atmosphere, okay food, good crowd, and a good waitress.
We came here after we stopped by AIR (that was dead that night).
Two of the three waitresses were nice. The third waitress with-​the-​stick-​up-​her-​butt told us we had to turn our table so that it was in a line with the others so we wouldn’t be in the aisle (since it was so packed with people – NOT).
We were advised by the waitress to have one of the «lemonade» drinks as they were the Jesso special and in a bigger glass (thus warranting the $ 9 price).
Catfish good, hushpuppies good, yams too sweet, greens too salty. Okay for a quick bite and live music.

Food was good not great. I ordered a Mojito it was strong and good. The folks I was with liked this place, but then again they aren’t ones to complain.
I like that this place is next to Air Lounge because you can have dinner and drinks and then walk across the street and «get your mack/​mingle on»…perhaps next time.