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    Jo's American Bistro

    4.3 (603 reviews)
    Closed • 4:30 pm - 9:00 PM
    Updated 2 months ago

    Jo's American Bistro Photos

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    JO'S AMERICAN BISTRO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Intimate
    Classy
    Moderate noise

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    Seared Scallops
    Vanessa C.

    Came here with family for dinner while visiting and was overall pretty happy! First, the bread was freshly baked, still steaming when pulled apart and super soft on the inside. The calamari appetizer was a tad on the saltier side but cooked perfectly, and the aioli sauce was delicious and had a slight kick. The duck and lobster quesadilla was piping hot and had a good amount of both duck and lobster, although the red mole sauce was not my favorite. The taste was more like a curry sauce which I did not think paired too well with the quesadilla. The lobster carbonara was thick and creamy and had a good amount of lobster in it, but at the market price of $45. The seared scallops were delicious, with a yummy creamy puree. My own entree however left me a little disappointed with the pan-seared cod. The cod itself did not taste seasoned and was quite bland, although cooked perfectly. Similarly the potatoes were bland and the bread on top a touch burnt and dry. The romesco sauce tasted more like salt and I unfortunately did not get a strong roasted tomato or nutty taste. The sauce was more like a broth than sauce. Overall the food was delicious and worth the price although the cod fell short. As for the atmosphere the restaurant was in between casual and classy. The staff were welcoming, however service was a bit slow. I would come here again if visiting the area, but the menu is just a tad on the pricier side.

    mixed salad
    Frank W.

    In preparing for our recent vacation I noted that Jo's had a change in ownership in late January so I was mildly concerned that there would be some negative changes. I am happy to report the only observed change was the weekday 3-course dinner special is now offered 3 nights per week rather than the previous 4. As far as pricing and quality are concerned, these remained the same which is good. My wife and I each ordered the $25.95 special that, as in the past, included a glass of wine and a choice of either a fresh and tasty mixed green salad with balsamic honey vinaigrette, chowder or soup. We chose the former and each chose pan roasted salmon with tomato, caper, kale, and chive orzo with an herb beurre blanc sauce as our entrees. The salmon was slightly crisp on the top and melt in your mouth deliciousness in the middle. Our server, I believe to be Jessica, was kept busy given the number of tables assigned to her, but managed to provide excellent service to one and all.

    Fish & Chips
    Rolando N.

    Excellent dining experience. The food and service were outstanding! They also have Vegan options which is a nice plus The local Calamari was some of the best I've ever had. Locally sourced, tender, with a light crust batter. Just perfect! The Lobster Carbonara was also the other standout. Flavorful with lots of Lobster meat. The little neck Steamed clams were also great Service was fantastic!

    Burger
    Lynn M.

    Really enjoyed the meal and service! The waitress was very helpful, and every dish was good. Scallops were fresh, cod was well seasoned and tender, and the short rib burger (competition submission for Burger Week) was exceptional! We were surprised that the fries were made in-house. Just note that if you bring a stroller, it will need to be kept at the front, as the tables/aisles are too narrow to navigate with it.

    Anniversary dinner time
    Tonya K.

    We loved our experience here! Had a relaxing and romantic vacation/anniversary dinner. Very nice & thorough from the hostess/host to our server. My salmon dinner was moist and tasty with a good portion. My husband's hanger steak was full of flavor. We got the prix-fixe option with the soup; our chowder was warm and comforting. The Pinot noir was a nice pairing. The Italian olive cake was delicious in flavor and texture. We had such a lovely experience and recommend this gem to all!

    Tommy P.

    Great prix fixe deals - you're gonna get a heftier portion than you'd expect for the tariff, and it'll be masterly. Good drinks, nice but not-stuffy atmosphere. Fantastic service from everyone, but Darius really went out of his way to make sure our visit was outstanding. Went here on a tip from the innkeeper at our hotel despite having plans at a different place, and boy did he steer us right! (Everyone carries on about the burgers here, too - I'll have to go back and try one out.)

    New England Clam Chowder
    Madison K.

    The clam chowder was great! So glad I ordered it. The potatoes weren't too much as they can sometimes be, and there was a good amount of clams in there. For my entree I ordered the butternut squash agnolotti. So good! It was the reason why I picked the restaurant for Valentine's Day in the first place and it met my (high!) expectations. The sage cream sauce and carmelized onions were perfect. What wasn't perfect was the chicken I ordered with it. I was pretty disappointed in it, it was flavorless and dry. For like, $8 extra I'd like my chicken to be edible! Neither my boyfriend or I could bring us ourselves to choke it down. But I devoured the rest of my agnolotti, rest assured. Also pictured is the lobster carbonara, which was really good too. Very generous proportion of lobster. For the prices, menu offering, and atmosphere (dark, white napkins, prime location) I'd think of this as more than a "casual" establishment. If they want to be considered casual, then I'd prefer a much larger portion, one that I wouldn't be able to finish in one sitting and save for lunch the next day. So the portions and price combined gives it a fancy feel I'd say... do imagine my surprise when the bread rolls were served in a paper bag! Why they couldn't be on a plate I don't know, but it cheapened the experience. I mean, if you have a prix fixe menu, I'd think you're a little upscale but maybe that's just me. The service was really good, very fast and friendly. All of the waiters wished us a nice day when we left. There was also a special Valentine's prix fixe menu (they offer a regular one on weekends I believe) for $65 that included a starter, entree, and dessert- but I didn't opt for it as I was excited about the agnolotti. The parking situation- good luck! There's a lot nearby (across from the tennis hall of fame) but there's a heft fee for parking there.

    Fried Fish Sandwich
    Jim S.

    First time trying Joe's and our waiter and service were great. The burger week special burger was good. The lobster and duck quesadillas were not my favorite combination. The hanger steak and fish sandwich were pretty good.

    Peach bread pudding
    Jenn H.

    My mom came to celebrate her birthday week and I was determined to find a spot to have dinner in Newport. We immediately liked the warm and quiet atmosphere. Our server was excellent and refilled our water often and answered questions we had about the menu. There were a lot of options on the menu that looked good. I decided to try the Sausage & Orecchiette Pasta and my mom picked the Butternut Squash Agnolotti. The portions were average sized with incredible flavors. We splurged and each got a dessert. She had the olive oil cake with berries. It was a touch in the dry side but the flavor and the fruit were perfect. I had the peach bread pudding which was so delicious and perfect for a cold winter evening. This will definitely be a place plan to eat at every time she visits in the future. Thanks for helping to make her birthday special. The first thing she said the next morning was how much she liked the restaurant.

    Lobster Carbonara
    Nellie C.

    I called closer to closing time but I had just landed in RI and the girl taking my order was very nice and said she would put my order through! The lobster carbonara while be pricy was very very good. It ended up being 2 meals for me so worth it in the end.

    New England Clam Chowder
    Jeff D.

    My wife and I visited Newport for our 'babymoon' during the holidays. Jo's popped up as a dinner option and we decided to pay them a visit. I remember commenting while I was here that I loved the food and dining experiences in Newport and this was one of the reasons why. The service was friendly, attentive, and top notch. The upstairs dining room was romantic and the perfect volume. As for the food, it was delectable. The bread arrived piping hot and tasted like it was freshly basked. The NE clam chowder was the perfect consistency with a healthy dose of clams. The fish and chips were some of the best I've ever had. Crispy, flaky, meaty - I wish I could have it again right now. If you find yourself in town, Jo's should not be missed for an incredible dining experience.

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    2 months ago

    Nice atmosphere good quality food. Apologized profusely for error and removed charge from bill without my asking for it.

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    1 year ago

    Great food, many GF options, delicious award winning burger. Never had a bad meal there..

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    Page 1 of 16

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    4.2(1.9k reviews)
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    For dinner my friends and I chose a sure thing. This pub is one of the best places in Newport, RI…read moreto get a great meal. The entire venue is filled with unique memorabilia. Waitstaff is kind and dutiful. Food is beyond delicious. I started off with their onion rings, which were one of their specials today. Perfectly crispy and tasty without excess grease. It came with a special "Outback" sauce, which tasted like a spicy version of thousand island dressing sans pickles; it was quite delicious. Rings were good with or without the sauce. For my main course, I got the Plumby's Crispy Chicken BLT. This sandwich is full of flavor. Like the onion rings, the chicken was fried to perfection and not overly greasy. Vermont cheddar and bacon add a savory richness and the chipotle mayo had just the right amount of spice. I couldn't taste the tomato and arugula much so this sandwich is a good way to help you eat your veggies. I also got a side of garlic mashed potatoes which were creamy, garlicky and buttery. This place has been in Newport forever because their food is consistently satisfying. I didn't get the following dish today but I also recommend their baked stuffed shrimp. If you're a daredevil, they also have a hot wing challenge. To put it simply, this pub has something for everyone and you will undoubtedly walk away impressed.

    I loved everything about this restaurant except one thing, which I'll explain, and which caused 5…read morestars to become 4 stars (I wish I could just knock off a half star but that's not how it works, I guess): My next door neighbor Judi has a hobby of catching the Newport ferry from Providence, sometimes spending a few hours and coming back, or just staying on the boat and heading back, just so she can lean back in a seat and soak up the sun. Lately she'd been telling me about a chocolate martini from The Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant, and being the martini and chocolate fan that I am, I simply had to experience it. So I finally got a day when I could join her on a trip, and so we went there on Labor Day. Once there, we walked right in at 11:30 am, and were seated immediately. The interior is fun and interesting -- antique this and that, including a huge iron door that looks like it went to a furnace, and had embossed lettering, I believe it was Newport Highschool. Perhaps the restaurant location is where the HS coal room was originally??? Anyway, one the way to the table, the hostess said something about the soup and salad bar being over there to my right, and so I went to check it out, and once I took a gander inside the two soup containers, I grabbed a bowl of Portuguese Kale Soup and brought it to the table. Judi said "That's all you're gonna get?" And I said "Of course not, I'll grab some salad and maybe get a sandwich or something." "Oh" she said, and then got up to check out the soup and salad bar herself. Meanwhile as I'm slurping the delicious, heart y soup, loaded with chourico, potatoes, carrots, kale, beans, etc., I'm perusing the menu and I notice that it says that if you purchase a sandwich of $9 or more then you get the soup and salad bar for $10, and then the soup and salad bar alone was $18. Okay, so perhaps I just wasn't thinking about the world in which I now live that basically has you paying for the bread basket you might get served. But again, the hostess just basically slurred out something about the soup and salad bar and my brain heard that it was complimentary. I honestly have to wonder if that's part of the trick(?) to get you to go for it, and not realize that it's considered a meal in itself, and then you order a sandwich or whatever, and now you're paying twice the amount you thought you'd be paying, but hey, it's Newport and people are spending $40 on a stupid baseball cap. And so, you know, if you end up having to pay a bit too much at a restaurant, you don't make a scene, you just say "Yeah, I meant to do that". Okay, I'm trying not to be sardonic here, trying not to sound like one of those "everybody's out to get me" kind of folks, so I'll just shut up at this point, on this particular point. I just hope that the owners and/or managers will inform the hostess to be a bit more clear on what the soup and salad bar actually means. That'd be nice. So there was no way I was buying a sandwich to go along with the soup and salad bar -- I simply cannot eat as much as I did when I was in my 20's and couldn't gain a pound if I ate all day long. I was able to (slightly) save face once Judi went for the soup and salad bar herself and was satisfied with the freshness and deliciousness thereof. But the piece de resistance, the very reason we both came to this establishment in the first place ... the chocolate martini! So this martini looks nothing like you'd expect as clear as water. I believe it's got a vodka base, and then some creme de cocoa, and is showered in grated chocolate flakes. It was absolutely splendid! Nice and boozy without being overpowering, and the flavor was amazing. And then for some strange reason, Judi is looking at the dessert menu. She reads of a few of them, asking me if I'd like something like that. I keep saying "I'm pretty full Jude", but she was persistent. She especially was taken with the Ghirardelli Fudge Brownie with 4 Scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream. She said "What if we can get them to split it in half on two separate plates?" I said "Ohhhhkaayyyyy..." And our waitress said "Absolutely!" She came back with two large portions (see attached photo ... just remember, that's a picture of HALF of the dessert serving!). Oh my word! It was large and quite yummy. A nice, crunchy and soft brownie made with Ghirardelli chocolate, with plenty of walnuts therein, two lovely scoops of ice cream, all drizzled with chocolate sauce. A splendid way to cap it all off. So I'd go back again, just with the knowledge that it's EITHER the soup and salad bar OR a sammich, at least for a guy my age and size and appetite. But definitely for that lovely chocolate martini ... and maybe that fudge brownie to make it complete :)

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    Clams were cooked perfectly

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    Jo's American Bistro - newamerican - Updated September 2026

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