Irene H.

I really want to support Taiwanese food, there aren't a ton of options in Manhattan, but I felt mediocre about our recent dinner. Maybe my expectations are too high, as someone who has enjoyed really good Taiwanese food, understanding this is fusion. Service - this was great, everyone was super friendly. Ambiance - modern, pretty casual Food - - Stinky tofu was pretty good - Grilled sweet sausage was good - Oyster egg omelet - Didn't love the oysters, liked the rest. - Salt and pepper chicken was good - Beef noodle soup - darker than I would prefer. The meat itself was good but I didn't care for the broth (too dark, like more body/flavor) - LBB - I thought this was just ok - Sweet potato creme brulee - I thought it was just ok. It was very liquidy in the middle - not sure if that's how it's supposed to be. Pricing - I know everything is expensive these days...

Jenny L.

I have yet to leave this place without waddling home with a food coma from stuffing myself to satisfaction. The Berkshire lo ba beng is my go-to-comfort food where I just can't get enough of the soft poached egg over rice with the sauce from the mince beef and picked veggies. My bro would lick that bowl clean =b What keeps me coming back is the evolving menu of seasonal dishes that elevate Taiwanese dishes with a culinary twist for those who want to try something new and not compare it to street food given we're in NYC, not Taiwan. For example, I loved their refreshing l watermelon with pickled rind and heirloom tomato salad that melded the colors and flavors together well for another hot summer day. My teeth sank into the tender lamb ribs that were seasoned to perfection with just the right level of gamy flavor. I also appreciated how the three cup lobster was easy to eat either the tail and claws exposed without too much effort to extract the meat. The star of the night was the delicate, smooth, and shining white scallops with a layer of sea urchin to accentuate this canvas in my mouth as a "unicorn", which explains its fitting name. Of course, I couldn't leave without dessert. How can you beat a bowl of freshly made tofu with sweet red bean, ai yu jelly, and grass jelly, coated with a honey and ginger sauce? You can always ask for more sauce to sweeten the flavor to your taste buds' content. Service was exceptional as usual. It's rare to find attentive, warm, and helpful staff, who care to ensure you're enjoying your meal with water refills and recommendations to try that make you want to come back craving for more. This Jaba munchy monster can't wait until her next feast given this is as close as she gets to her last heavenly meal!

Jason W.

A pretty bold attempt at modern Taiwanese, Jaba is definitely one of the more interesting restaurants I tried this year. The restaurant feels pretty trendy, and I do admire the attempt to fancify Taiwanese classics, but I left the restaurant feeling a bit mixed about the place. On to the good, I've been to Taiwan and I don't think I've had takes on Taiwanese food quite like this. The creativity is refreshing and the menu still does feel authentically Taiwanese, however, I think the execution was a bit mixed. I thought the three cup lobster, a riff off of the famous three cup chicken, was a bit of a miss. While the lobster itself was fine, it didn't really capture the "three cup" flavor I grew up loving. The oyster pancake was also pretty interesting, but the actual dish itself was just..fine. The century egg sesame noodles were a hit though. As to service, it was pretty slow. I'm going to forgive the kitchen on this one as the restaurant was likely still going through some growing pains. As a whole, I admire the concept, but I'm a bit mixed on the execution. Perhaps with time, Jaba will mature into a staple in the Upper East Side

Tony Y.

We're always excited to hear about a new Taiwanese restaurant so here we are. Jabä is about a month old and located in midtown East. The restaurant itself isn't very large but they have a good spread of large and small tables. They don't have a liquor license yet so they're offering BYOB. The staff here is super attentive. Everyone is friendly and helpful. One thing I always look for is whether they fold my napkin while I'm in the bathroom and they did! Let's get to the food. We ordered the cucumbers, salt and pepper chicken, crab and mentaiko dumplings, 5 spice lamb ribs, pork lo ba beng, and braised cabbage. Overall everything was pretty good, the ribs stood out as the best. But I think the food would have been better if they made it less modern and more traditional. Like the pork wasn't saucy enough and the chicken felt like it needed more pepper. Let's talk about dessert. I dislike sweet potatoes but the sweet potato creme brulee was amazing. It was a very balanced and delicious dessert. We also got the shaved ice which was okay. I kind of wished it was more like the Taiwanese mango flavor. Overall, not a bad spot. Again, great staff, decent prices, and good food. I just didn't feel like there was anything other than the sweet potato that made me say, wow. Extra tip: if you ask for chili oil, they give you chili marinated in soy sauce. It's delicious.

Josephine L.

As I type, my lower backside is soaked in beef noodle soup. I stink of broth. It is very, very unpleasant. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning. I visited Jaba recently with my Taiwanese brethren, excited to try a place that--by all marketing--sounded legit. In a nutshell: It is. If you can ignore the requisite Manhattan tax (higher prices, smaller portions) and the requisite Manhattan styling (nicer presentations, use of "refined", "elevated", "modern"-type buzzwords)--this is still the most authentic Taiwanese restaurant in the borough (including Chinatown). Best dishes: - Stinky Tofu: This is how you know Jaba is the real deal--they're not afraid to put this oft-maligned dish on their menu. And for all the "elevated" posturing, they didn't change this dish one bit--which is the way it's supposed to be. Fried to a delicate crisp, soaked in pungent garlic/dark soy sauce and served with pickled cabbage/carrots. Fantastic. Just needed more sauce, so we got additional on the side. - Lo Ba Ben (AKA Lu Rou Fan in Mandarin): Umami, fatty, braised to a perfect melt-in-your-mouth texture. - Taiwanese Shaved Ice: A mountain of ice with oodles of thick, rich, caramelized condensed milk, juicy grape halves, and decadent mascarpone cream. This ain't your Shilin Night Market baobing, but the makeover is just as delish. Good dishes: - Beef Noodle Soup: Appropriately red braised and tender enough to cut with a butter knife. Beef was of the thin slice, tendon-y king, which is great for umami but not my favorite style for BNS (I like my fatty chunks). The chewy, handpulled noodles were the best part of the bowl; the broth needed more complexity. - Basil Garlic Manila Clams: Authentic in that Taiwanese people love cooking clams with basil. The bivalves themselves were of appropriate texture. The sauce was too salty, though. - Corn Spare Ribs: Fun and juicy, but it's just grilled corn on the cob. - Papaya Milk: Good, but needed some more sweetness. Bad dish: - Crispy Pig Ears: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Nice attempt at creativity, but the unnecessary batter masked the cartilege-y texture that I love about pig ears, and the accompanying aioli/mayo concoction did nothing for flavor. Chef Inn: If you want to get creative, do interesting things with the braising sauce. But don't fry the pig ears. What a waste. Now, back to my story. We got a second beef noodle soup (because one is never enough), and about half of it ended up being packed for me to take home. The staff didn't separate the broth from the solids, so everything was put into a takeout container with a thin plastic lid. Despite packing it carefully in my backpack, the lid came loose and the broth spilled everywhere--hence the soaked backside. No more BNS for me. :/ Jaba staff: If you're not going to separate noodle soups properly, then at least invest in better takeout containers with tighter lids--most other Asian restaurants already use these. Come on.

Kathryn W.

Tried out Jaba for a weekday dinner. Overall it was decent food but nothing outstanding. I got the berkshire pork lbb which was super flavorful and tender, but definitely on the fattier side. The soft shell crispy shrimp was tasty and nicely fried, but I wish it came with more sauce, it needed just a little extra something to dip in. I also had the sesame noodles with century egg. The sauce was great and the century egg was great, but the noodles were a bit too soft for my taste. I like mine with more chew.

Katie C.

We really enjoyed our meal at Jaba, which took place just after they opened. The service and food were outstanding, especially considering that fact. The dishes we got were: Stinky Tofu - Very yummy, but could've been even stinkier. Basil Garlic Clams - Really tasty and with a delicious broth. Taiwanese Sweet Sausage - again, very yummy. One of my faves of the night. Pork and Chive Dumplings - well seasoned and really tasty (and may have since changed). Are you seeing a trend yet?? Beef Noodle Soup - very flavorful, but I had wished for a bit less fatty piece of meat as it was difficult to eat (and yes, I am a picky finicky eater. Husband had no issue with the beef). I'm excited to go back again, and will probably look for a reservation for this weekend. Don't sleep on Jaba!

David Z.

Saw all the influencers hyping this up so had to try as i often visit family in Taiwan. These food influencers prove me right everytime, they just sell outs hyping up anything for a free meal. Good ambiance and vibes and loved that it was filled completely with asians so had hope. Unfortunately, The quality and flavor could not justify the ridiculous price. If you charge high prices has to be backed with quality and flavor which jaba lacked. At least should be at the quality of the night markets in Taiwan. Similar reviews have come in and the owner replies were classless hinting that the reviewer should go eat at cheaper places if she cant afford the "high quality "ingredients they source. Based on the taste, i could not tell they used these so called high quality ingredients. Nothing was bad per say but why is popcorn chicken over 20$ with like five pieces of chicken? Bawan really disappointing, they give you one for 12$, they are around a dollar in taiwan. The portion is small enough for me to shove the whole thing in my mouth and the texture of the wrapping was wrong. Either too much of the starch or the wrong starch, it was not nearly as QQ as it should be. Too firm. The LBB was good and the fried pig ears were the best thing on the menu and was truly great but overall way over priced and the flavors do not justify. 25 for beef noodle soup? Cmon jeju noodle bar has cheaper noodle soup options Just go to four four or taiwan bear house, if you wanna go fancy, 886 or wenwen

Lauren H.

Upscale Asian restaurant. Food is solid but a little pricey. The pork over rice was the best dish - classic and simple. Chilean seabass was great as well. Wasn't such a fan of the oyster pancake or the beef noodle soup. I enjoyed the meal overall, although I think the prices were a bit too steep.

Christopher C.

Starting with the good. The ambiance was good. The presentation was good. Now the bad. The food was mediocre and portion sizes were outrageously small for the prices. The worst is the bawan which doesn't have enough chew to the skin. It's not difficult to make so there's no reason it should be $12 for about 2 bites. When we ordered our waitress upsold us on the lo ba beng (AKA lu rou fan) saying it's their best dish. The minced pork itself was decent. However the rice was way too mushy. And like the other dishes, the portion sizes were egregiously too small for the price. I understand that they were going for a fine dining experience with small portions sizes and clean presentation. For that to work the food must also be good. But it doesn't live up to the standard, and the result is a highly overpriced and pretentious restaurant.

Albert K.

New restaurant! It ended up being around $100 a person with barely any drinks, which was on the pricier end. However, the lamb, chicken, and beef noodle soup were excellent. Razor clams were tasty. The meat portions for the soup was good. The dried noodle dish could have packed more of a punch. The egg tofu dessert was a bit disappointing since the tofu was so broken up. The potato and ice cream were good but extremely sweet. Overall solid 4/5. It was hefty for the price to value, and very dark inside.

Ching T.

Minimalistic decorum with dim lights when you enter Jaba. Coat check service was offered during seating: tables were fairly close that it was hard to enjoy dinner with loud chats amongst other guests. Table service could use some education such as introducing host name, inquiring allergen and describing dishes as they are delivered. The food had great concept but the combination of execution, taste, texture and flavor were a huge miss. Crab dumplings skin was undercooked, drizzled with chili sauce (not described) cold and filling lacked other textural elements. Oyster omelet was presented beautifully but the batter was too thick and oysters were scarcely hidden. Salt&pepper chicken was under seasoned and missing that crispy crunch. The last dish, beef noodle soup had AA-choy (bitter leafy green) concocted with soy broth that missed the richness of herb aromatics. The win I took from this dish was a side of picked mustard. Overall, I would come back to Jaba after some minor adjustments are upgraded and hope to see the improvement! I thank the chef for making the moment right with my experience. Coat check- yes Bathroom- yes

Victoria X.

Groups of 7 people or more will be subjected to a minimum $95 per person spend. They don't have a liquor license so as of July 3, 2025 it's still free BYOB. The noodles were actually the best texture I've had in a beef noodle soup. The Taiwanese sausage came with garlic which is the correct pairing. The sweet potato dessert was my favorite out of the 4 we tried. The ambiance inside is very minimalistic and clean. There's only 1 bathroom. They're able to split the check amongst as many people as you request; accepts cards. The location is not the best in my opinion because it's right by the 59th street bridge so it's more of a pass-through part of the city. Some dishes I felt was very expensive (I.e salt and popcorn chicken $20 & the 3 cup lobster for $65) . I'm glad I tried it but given the location I won't be back anytime soon