Calvin S.

+.5 for service Passed by this restaurant on my way back to the hotel and saw the recommendation from The Lonely Planet, so my family decided to give it a try. The restaurant was inside this cool little house that looks like it was converted. Dinner menu options were quite good, with options ranging from seafood to rabbit. I had the seafood chowder to start, followed by the cod. My dad also ordered the lobster linguine tutto mare, so I was able to share a couple of large plates. The seafood chowder was pretty good here. I'd still give the slight edge to Buoy and Arrow though, I really loved their seafood chowder there. The cod, however, was amazing. Probably the best one I had that entire trip. The lobster tutto mare was also very good, the lobster pieces were obviously fresh from the waters nearby. Service was excellent here. Definitely worth the recommendation in my opinion.

Brett D.

Traveling to this area for the first time can be challenging, trying to figure out what your restaurant options are. Rocky Harbour is fairly small, and it has no chain restaurants at all. That's a good thing! We stayed three nights within a mile of this restaurant, and we tried it out first for a lunch. We split the seafood chowder and (warm) Irish soda bread, which were both amazing. I had the big garden green salad, and I can tell you that all the ingredients were so fresh it tasted like it came right out of their garden... which they actually do have onsite. The lemon garlic vinaigrette dressing was homemade, too. On top of all that, the second floor dining room has some great seats by the window overlooking the bay. The wait staff was impeccable as well. That's my review for lunch. This place was so good, we came back a night later for dinner and then followed that up with our morning of checkout by dropping in when they opened for breakfast. Dinner entrees here are simply over the top. In such a small little town, I was shocked at the freshness quality and even the presentation. For my dinner, I had the pan-seared cod. This came with tomato confit, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh seasonal grilled vegetables, and the icing on the cake... a nice slab of house-made lemon dill butter melting on top of the perfectly grilled cod. While my dish was as five-star as it gets, my wife's lobster linguine was one of the best seafood dishes I've ever tasted. See my photos! On our last trip to Java Jack's, we arrived right at opening time. Both of us had one of the amazing muffins, which we had to wait just a few minutes as they came right out of the oven. Worth the short wait! This is some of the very best brewed coffee in town, too. Get the dark roast, you won't regret it. If you are staying in Rocky Harbour for a couple of days, by all means hit this place up more than once. It was by far our favorite place in town.

Dwayne S.

Great place to grab a breakfast sandwich and coffee and then head to the beach for the view. Great service with great local tips for where to go.

Delicious! We had the seafood chowder & salted cod fish cake. First time trying Irish Soda bread & i'm hooked. Our waitress was fantastic - trying the sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Definitely coming back b/f we leave this charming town! We love NL!!

Raymond M.

This is an excellent choice for anyone visiting the Rocky Harbour area. What makes it a five in my mind is it's broad offering of vegan and gluten free options. There are several choices of each and more that are listed as adaptable. And after a short discussion with the waitress, we discovered that there are even more options if you're willing to be flexible, like substituting rice for pasta. Of course, this alone won't make you a five. The facility is clean and nicely decorated with local art. Service is very friendly and the food is excellent. Everything has a home, rather than restaurant feel, from the tablecloths to the traditional-ish menu. A great choice for anyone, but probably the best place in town if you have any food restrictions.

Hugo F.

Food is over rated. Not sure what everyone else is raving about. Service: I'm sure someone else will have a different service experience but we had a different waiter touch our table twice (after a long period of waiting or with clean plates) before our actual waiter touch our table a second time after seating. Not great. Food: We ordered cod tongues, mussels, cod main and rabbit en croute. The rabbit was our favourite. It's basically a chicken pot pie but with pulled rabbit. It is definitely delicious. The cod large plate was listed as "black bean crusted" but was clearly only crusted with breadcrumbs. It came with confit tomatoes. Which were quite cold, typically anywhere else these are served to atleast room temperature. The fish was cooked fine, but didn't feel special for the price. It was placed on a bed of mashed potatoes which were bland. Felt unseasoned, if it was supposed to be plain then it's a huge disappointment for $35.50, you can atleast toss in some garlic or parsley, or any herb. Both large plates came with these vegetables that did nothing for the plate. There were these very sad, steamed veggies that detracted from the meal. Bland, felt previously frozen, definitely unseasoned and was barely warm. Honestly felt like someone reheated those precut frozen mix veggies in a bag. Cod tongues were a strange attempt of elevated cooking (see pics). They had clearly trimmed the fat off, but this leaves the tongue relatively 1 dimensional and lacking it's signature soft chew texture in contrast to the flesh portion. The crust was too salty and the sauce didn't do much for it either. At $17 you get 6 tongues. In St. John's and Petty harbor (of the four other) restaurants you'd get much more for less. Disappointing. Mussels were okay. These apparently change everyday so your mileage may vary. Although if you're reading this, I'd hope you've decided otherwise. Our mussels were cooked with a herb and spiced butter sauce. Very salty, cook was fine. Anyway, spent about $120. Left hungry for ice cream we got across the street.

Matthew G.

Great to be back at Java Jacks after five years. Great coffee and a delightfully fresh cod fish cake. The restaurant is quite cozy and had a simple but varied menu. Lots of homemade dessert mixes, sauces, and fruit spreads.

Jill M.

Great place! Enjoyed two cold beers with our amazing entrees. The Cod, which was pan fried and served with roasted potatoes and steamed veggies, which was a nice change from deep fried fish. The Rabbit pie was also so good and flaky! Service was excellent considering we didn't have a reservation and the place was packed! Definitely book a reservation, you don't want to miss this place

Andrew C.

We visited this place because it was well reviewed online and for the most part it was a solid 3.5 star experience. The food is mainly seafood although there were some meat and vegetarian options. We started off with a bowl of the clam chowder and cod cakes. For our mains we had the cod and the lobster arrabiata. They were both solid but a little uninteresting. Overall, our meal, along with two beers was about $130 with tip. The lobster pasta itself was $38 and definitely not worth the price. The cod was $26 and also a tad overpriced. While the ambiance was nice, I probably wouldn't return because of the cost of the meal. If you do decide to come, I would recommend making reservations.