Had a sub par experience at Jess's place. Came here to eat because we were craving Peruvian food. Service was just ok. When we sat down, the server took our drink order. My girlfriend ordered a soda and I had a water. The drinks never came. After about 10-15 minutes, a food runner brought out our meals. We both ordered the lomo saltado and it was decent but nothing to write home about. Meat and veggies were flavorful enough albeit a little dry but the french fries were very soggy. We finished our entire meals without the server checking on us once. We also finished our meals without receiving our beverages. We waited at the table for a good 10 minutes after we finished eating for a check that never came. Unsure how the restaurant functioned, we decided to just walk up to the counter to pay so we could leave. When the server charged us out the counter, we were billed for two plates and two sodas. We informed the server that we only had two plates (since we ordered drinks but never received them). So she re-entered our check and charged us accordingly. After I got home, I looked at my bank statement. My card was charged twice by Jess's Place: Once for the amount of two meals and two drinks, totaling about $36 and once for the amount of just two meals without drinks, about $31. So I had two separate transactions totaling to nearly $70! A few days later, I called the restaurant and a really nice woman answered the phone and after explaining my situation she apologized and took my name and contact information and informed me a manager would be in touch. I waited a few more days and I never heard from said manager so I called back. This time I spoke to an employee who didn't seem to speak English very well. She just told me to call back in a half hour when a manager would be in. When I called back later, I finally spoke to a manager who rushed me through explaining my predicament with being overcharged. Nevertheless, he took my name and information and said he would look through the restaurant's recent transactions in order to secure me a refund. The manager informed me he would call me back within a couple of days. And then, you guessed it, he never called me back. A week went by and I didn't hear anything. I wanted to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt but I eventually decided to simply call the bank and have them negate the transaction. The mediocre service during my visit and the subsequent unprofessionalism of all but one staff member I was in touch with during my subsequent contact with the business, combined with less than impressive food left a bad taste in my mouth. I probably won't return. UPDATE: 9/05/17 I first visited this restaurant on May 19, 2017 and had the experience described above. Today, I found out that after over 3 months of investigation by the bank, Jess's Place refused to issue the refund for the second, invalid charge on my credit card. Still never heard back from any restaurant management. Unless you want your money stolen, DO NOT EAT HERE. read more

I've been at this place twice for Pollo a la Brasa and Caldo de Gallina, and overall it was ok. I guess this will be the closer we have in the area for that. Service is ok, and the place itself looks more like a cantina (not fancy at all!). The location/area is a bit shady, and most of the patrons are too. So 3 stars for good food (Pollo a la brasa mainly) and average service. read more

My husband always told me not eat at any of the restaurants close to our house (not the best area) but when we were craving Peruvian we had few options. Off we went. Jess's Place (which bothers me already as there should be no third 'S') is split, one side is a restaurant and on the other side of the mirrored glass is the bar. The two have a door and the bar shares a restroom with the restaurant. This means that 1) you can hear the blasting music through the wall and 2) every time a patron from the bar side opens the door to use the restroom, or as the waitresses go through the door to serve people at the bar, you hear an intensified wave of music. The restaurant has very hard surfaces, not very comfortable, not a welcoming feeling. The sun beams in through the wall of windows and nearly every seat inside is in direct sunlight. We both ordered the Lomo Saltado and an Inca Cola. Very good food. Tender meat, crispy fries, onions and tomatoes cooked perfectly. The side sauces, a white and a green bottle, are kept refrigerated which alleviates some thoughts of bacteria. The complimentary salsa is very good, the chips taste very store bought. On our second visit the Lomo Saltado was clearly prepared by someone else, this time it had cilantro all over it. Not being a fan of cilantro I was not pleased. I'll add that the dish costs $13.75. This is not a place where you would want to bring your kids, or even a date, the waitresses/bartenders are scantily clad and walk through the restaurant side. We'll be back but it won't be our first choice. Looking forward to visiting Isabella's. read more

I had modest expectations for this restaurant. I recommend that you should have modest expectations, too. Maybe there are specialties de la casa. read more

The food is good. But the service is slow. They could get more business if they need to hire more people to work. If you can wait for everything you can come here. The day that we were there there are a lot of garbage on the street at the front door that really disgusting. I know that is not restaurant responsibility to clean the street but not too pleasant for your customers to see that. read more

Good food, good service and reasonable prices. Im chinese peruvian and the food here is good. read more

WORST PLACE EVER! I have vowed never to come here again. Thank God I found other Peruvian restaurants in the area that are far better than this place. Sadly Jess's Place was highly recommended by some co-workers who are Peruvian. Just by looking at the outside of this place you can tell what quality service and food are coming your way. Since it was recommended I gave it a chance. The first time I went with my husband and sister. We placed our order and food was brought promptly. As soon as I took the first bite I noticed a strange taste. I offered my husband to taste just to see if maybe it was my imagination and he too tasted what seemed to be dish soap. I thought, no biggie, it can happen anywhere. We called the waitress over ( a mexican woman) and we told her about the strange taste of soap on my food and she looked puzzled. She said "well it can't be dish soap because we don't wash our dishes with soap like you do at home, they are run through a machine" and she offers to inform the cook. Upon returning, she says neither her nor the cook have ever heard of this ever happening before and they don't believe it is soap. She asks/tells us "so you don't want it then?". My husband says, " No, there is no way my wife is going to eat that. If you don't believe it's soap then maybe you should taste it yourself and see what it is." The lady say "Well don't worry about it, I'm not going to charge you for it". My husband then says "well can you offer her something else?". In a sarcastic and laughing tone she replies "well sir, we wash all of our dishes the same". (Meaning that if I had a taste of soap in one dish, they would all taste the same to me so there was no use in offer me anything else). I was shocked! So I left the restaurant upset but most of all very hungry. Shame on us, we gave the restaurant a 2nd chance. My husband and I walk in and sit in the very back against a long window looks into the bar next door. We place our order and as we are waiting, my husband notices something crawling on the wall next to me...3 HUGE COCKROACHES!!!!! Needless to say, that was the last time we set foot in this place. I had to give this place 1 star because it didn't let me give a 0 stars read more

Went to Jess's place with school colleagues to celebrate the end of the year. I hadn't been here in a while. All our dishes from shrimp, octopus and meat were delicious. Our waitress was kind and attentive, taking the time to tell us about how the dishes were made. The seafood was delish and fresh. We capped off our meal with tasty desserts as well. read more

In summary Jess's Place was horrible. Service was bad and food was not what was expected and was overpriced. My husband and I came to Jess's Place for the first time tonight. We live in the general vicinity and were looking for a local place to have some Mexican food. I know that Jess's specializes in Peruvian food as well. When we realized that, I was interested to see what that was, as I've never had it before. I didn't order Peruvian food only because my Spanish was not strong enough to understand the menu and they had no translations on the Peruvian menu. I ordered chicken fajitas and my husband ordered the "Jess's Place" combination plate. As we waited for our food we finished our chips and drinks. My husband went into the adjoining bar to try and get a mixed drink (because our waitress had no idea what he was asking for) but when he was over there the language barrier was in the way again, so he came back with a beer. He was also locked out of the pass through so he walked around the front doors to get back to the restaurant. Shortly after this we were approached by a gentleman who seemed to be in charge. He had noticed my husband had essentially served himself and so he wanted to check and make sure that someone had taken our order. We said that yes that had been done but it had been 20 minutes and explained the drink situation. It was still another 20 minutes for our food to actually be served. When it came we were incredibly disappointed. My chicken fajitas were drenched in an over powering soy sauce based sauce. I was given 1 "super burrito" sized tortilla, which just seemed ridiculous and awkward to assemble my fajita in. My husband's combination of Taco, Tostada, and Enchilada (all with beef) came with dry and hard meet. The size of each item was incredibly small, the enchilada looked just slightly larger than a frozen taquito. My husband's plate came only with beans, no rice. We double checked the menu, which said that the combination plates come with rice and beans. When we asked our server she gave a story about for that particular combination you get a choice of rice or beans but not both and the menu was old. Apparently we were supposed to just know this, as it was not a choice that was presented to my husband when he ordered. It just felt like a bs excuse for having forgotten to serve the rice. I might be making it up, but we sure felt like we were singled out for our lack of Spanish speaking ability (I am white and my husband is Hispanic, but he doesn't actually speak any Spanish). We stopped at the taco stand at seven trees to fill our cravings after we left. read more

I'm Peruvian and I can make limo saltado better than here, but I wanted to give it a tried, dry meat, onions are sour as much as they can be, no flavor whatsoever and fries are the ones you buy from the frozen bags. This is not Peruvian food read more

The food here tastes like basic Peruvian home style quick food- they aren't too lavish, but they do taste like authentically cooked Peruvian food. Most the reviews I read about this place talked about the location and you can't rate a place on location ... and then talk about other hole in the wall places. It's good food. You rate a restaurant on food and service - not on location and what happened to you before or after leaving.. read more

Jess's Place - Apanado - Latin American Near Me - San Jose, California

See all

I would give this place a fat zero if I could. My wife and I visited this place and ordered some ceviche, and OMG! After eating half of the plate we found a huge mutant fly. To make a long story short, we both ended in the E.R. This place is nasty!! read more

I love the pollo a la brasa. I agree this restaurant doesn't look inviting to sit and have lunch or dinner there, but their pollo a la brasa is delicious! Is the closest taste to original Peruvian pollo a la brasa. I always order the chicken to go, it comes with fries and salad. I would like to try their ceviche I've heard is good too.i read more

Jess's Place - Yummy! - Latin American Near Me - San Jose, California

This place had the worst service ever. We arrived there first and they attended everyone else and we had a lot of people with us. We waited for 10 minutes for them to clean our disgusting table. Then waited for half an hour for a menu. And we ordered food that was already ready to take out because we didnt want to wait. We waited like 30 more mibutesfor our food. We got pissed off and decided to leave. We wasted an hour and a half to get nothing. El mas peor servicio de mi vida. read more

Make my order at 11:00 am to pick it up at 5:00pm came to pick up my order and they says that I've to wait 10 minutes I'm waiting more than an hour and nothing yet very bad service very disappointed read more

See all

The food was just ok. I'm not Peruvian, but I've had enough Peruvian food to know I've had better. The food is alright if you're craving chicken. Not a big fan of the area though. It's in a really sketchy location. read more

Plates are shrinking!!!, I order a ceviche the other day, not like it used to be.

I was hesitant after reading the reviews but this is a genuine Peruvian place with great food. The staff made a mistake with my order but corrected it quickly and graciously. I recommend the lomo saltado. read more

I understand Peruvians love their food but there's nothing really special about this Peruvian restaurant. The food was bland. I don't think Peru is known for chiles so don't expect anything spicy or deeply seasoned. read more

I ordered a super burrito for it to only be a few pieces of meat & A LOT WHITE RICE . The Food is super plain. I will definitely not return here or recommend this place. read more

Jess's Place - "Super burrito" - Latin American Near Me - San Jose, California

Really great Peruvian food!! Lots of options to choose from! They aren't busy. I have gone here twice now and it is empty so there is no wait time. They have a few tables and from what I could tell they have a section that closes with foldable doors where they might have it like a club area. In that room they have a pool table and what looks like to be a bar. I have only gone during the morning (around 9am) and the evening (around 6pm). They have excellent service and the staff members are courteous. They do have about three spots especially for their restaurant, the rest is on a first come first serve basis. The parking area is shared with other small stores so it might get crowded. Personally I haven't seen it packed just yet so there is hope to find a parking spot. We ordered the Papa rellena and the Lomo Saltado which were a potato filled with meat and the Lomo Satado was a pesto pasta type of meal. I recommend going and trying their food! Oh and also try the Inca Cola. It's a spin to Coca Cola. read more

I've been coming to Jesse's place for a long time (years) and have had my ups and downs with regards to service being too slow. I really liked the owner and was very faithful in coming almost every Sunday. About a month ago, I ordered my usual dish, ceviche and bought 2 plates. I failed to see it before I left and my pieces of fish were very Mexican, so thin you cannot be able to taste the fish. On the other hand, the price went up but for a good plate of ceviche it would be okay for that price if the pieces of fish were cubes. I was very disappointed since I drive all the way from the north side of San Jose. I do not feel that they should put Peruvian ceviche if the ceviche they serve is not like that. Consistency is important in a restaurant. read more

Went in with a friend to pickup his TO-GO order...waited a DAY for it to be ready...besides feeling like I was in the GHETTO in Peru while in restaurant...if you recall the line "HOLE IN THE WALL"...this place gives A NEW MEANING line..."GARBAGE BEHIND THE WALLS" !!! When friend opened his plate in car (he ordered some kind of Chicken dish), when I lQQked at it...the plate made me say "WTF"...it was 1 of the most UGLIEST To-Go plates I've ever sQQeen hands down !!! But with me being a believer in don't let lQQks of a Restaurant/Food deceive your taste budz...because there are "HOLE IN THE WALL" places that sells OUT OF THIS WORLD FOOD...and I was thinking...this place could be 1 of them...so I tasted a piece of my friends food...OMG...I know everyone has EXPERIENCED instances in their lives that makes them to REALLY THROW UP...well it happened to me !!! Well...the COOK that day must've been DRUNK (because that's who are outside in the parking lot...lotta DRUNKS)...I Just hope PEE wasn't part of the INGREDIENTS of that Chicken dish...cuz it kindve smelled like it...or was it the DRUNKS PEEING ALL OVER the area (GEEZ..REALLY HOPE THAT WAS THE CASE...MY NOSE PLAYING TRICKS ON ME) read more

This place is a hole in the wall but the food tastes great! Portions are large and they always have the signature dishes like pollo a la brasa and anticuchos. Some restaurants don't have pollo a la brasa so this is really important lol. Minus one star for ambiance.. the music is usually way to loud to speak at a normal volume, especially on sundays. Good food but I wish the place were bigger! read more

Great place!! Hosting amazing, made me feel like my hometown. Great vibe, definitely coming back.

Man this place remind me of Peru hiding restaurants. Great food way better than the other fancy Peruvian restaurant and less expensive. If you are from Peru you would love this place. No complains here. read more

WARNING!!! RIP-OFF!! BEWARE!!! NOT THE ORIGINAL JESS'S MEXICAN NOW PERUVIAN!! They do not list the beverages on the menu nor the prices, the drinks are about the same price as their meals!?! For 4 we paid $78, that's with no alcohol and not including tip!! :( Lousy Service, Yuk-ka place.....Never go back again, sorry we even tried it. I do miss Jess's Mexican Restaurant! By the way if you only speak English, forget it!! I am just sorry I did not check yelp first! read more

I like to go to this place every so often. I usually get the Caldo de Gallina, it's perfect especially for the cold season. Most of the time it feels like they are understaffed and sometimes have to wait a long time to order and receive the food. But on the weekends they have a one-man-band playing and he isn't half bad. :) read more

I don't understand why there are so many bad reviews, I've been going here for a while. I consider myself a Peruvian food enthusiast, and as such, this definitely feels like an authentic Latin American restaurant. This is not your cliché overly expensive "Peruvian restaurant" that one would find in San Francisco where nothing resembles real authentic Peruvian food. If you're looking for authenticity go here, if not, go to Santana Row. Yes, this place is in a bad location, but so what, it's all part of the culture in San Jose. Being Mexican and having travelled throughout Peru, I can tell you firsthand this food is good, flavorful and authentic. It may not be that overly fancy food you see on travel shows, but rather, this caters to the working-class people who miss home and want some home-style cooking now and again. Give it a try. read more

Jess's Place - Lomo Saltado - Latin American Near Me - San Jose, California

Just had a wedding rehearsal dinner catered by Jess's Place. Menu included Papa a la Huancaina, Tamalitos, Empanadas (which one of my guests kept calling Chalupas), Lomito Saltado, Seco de Cordero with all the trimmings, including a big platter with cebollas encurtidas, hot pepper sauce, white garlic rice and frejoles --my favorite! All 38 people LOVED everything! They came back for seconds and some of them even for thirds... The servings were very, very generous... And there was plenty to go around for the next day!!! Jess's personnel came and set up the food serving trays as close to the dinner time as possible and had the tables ready to go by the time the first guests appeared. When it came to cost it was very very affordable. I will have them cater anything Peruvian from now on. I agree that the service at the restaurant is a bit slow, however, so it is in other Peruvian restaurants that do not offer the authentic Peruvian flavor as this one... Jess's is still reasonably priced... read more

Nice staff and clean but food is nothing extraordinary. The place itself needs upgrading to make it more appealing. $$ ok. But it's understanding since the quality of food is very basic. Pollo a la brasa tastes like fried chicken instead. Just so you know that it should't taste like that at all if you ever go there. Overall this is an ok place to have some very basic tasting meal. read more

This is one of San Jose's hidden gems. It's located on a strip mall that's not too visible from the main street. The food is authentic, it is amazing what they can do with rice, meat, potatoes. and plantains. Admittedly, they are a bit understaffed but I guess that adds to the personalized service and attention you get. The place looks dated but then again, it transports you back to Peru -- with actual Peruvians frequenting the place and soccer matches on the TV. Another plus is that they are open till 9:30 -- tennish which is when I like to have dinner. The food is great, the rice is done right. Certainly the food is better than anything you can get in the area that late. Highly recommended. read more

The worst service ever and the the food was cold!!! The Server did not understand english and we wasted One hour waiting for our bill.

Food is good but won't be coming back. Prices on menu are completely different than what they charge you. Mentioned it to the cashier and she didn't seem surprised which makes me believe they are aware they over charge you. read more

Best Peruvian food in the Bay Area. I've tried many other Peruvian restaurants but this one is hands down the best

So my friends and I were recommended this place. We sat ourselves. It took 20 minutes for the waitress to bring us chips; 45 minutes to place our order; another hour to get our drinks. After another 40 minutes we got our food which was cold. Granted they were slammed with only two servers. Still the waitress did not offer our party any drinks or an appetizer. Over all this place is not worth your hard earned cash or time. read more

My Friend is Peruvian and LOVES coming here to eat. Very Authentic Peruvian food. My favorite is there Arroz Con Pollo and Arroz Chafau Pollo. Yea it's a whole in a wall but it's decent and the prices are resonable. But my downfall for this place is the location. read more

Nasty and expensive ass food!! Bathroom had hair all over like someone wash them self in there.the service was bad enough

Green sauce was very distasteful, I saw roaches climbing up the wall gross !! Lomo Saltado tasted like nothing, wouldn't go back their again. read more

i had a lomo saltado a lo cenon!!!! it was the best lomo saltado i ever had ..way different from the normal lomo saltado, make sure you ask a lo cenon on every plate .. it means your plate would be different and bigger , a lo cenon means like the owner likes it !!! read more