The J Soho Restaurant & Lounge

The decor is ok; our food was mediocre and our waiter seemed to be actively trying to suck. From best to worst, risotto OK; Kosher Nostra cocktail watery; hanger steak pedestrian; they brought the wrong (hot, red) soup before the (cold, green, edible) soup we ordered; $35 "wagyu" burger ordered medium rare, came the wrong side of rare (otherwise almost as good as a George Foreman burger); halibut dry. Our waiter all but gave us the finger. The highlights of our meal (group of 5) were the attentive busboy and the walk home.

Very lovely venue in a trendy part of town.   Kosher.  Small lounge area on first floor and upstairs a much more substantial restaurant area.  It was probably very expensive to put this all together.

PROBLEM: they insist on blasting music at volumes too high for talking - essentially dance volumes - when it is lounge time and people want to talk.   I ask them to lower the volume and they shrug.  

Nothing else matters - location, decor, food - if you cannot hear the person next to you.

The "J"

formerly the Jezebel- but apparently the rabbi's had an issue with the name so they took it down to a "J"... cute but it works.

Met some friends here for cocktails which turned into dinner.  The place caters to the kosher crowd.  Bartender was spot-on and it happened to be happy hour so bully for us.

We snagged a table upstairs and firstly it was freezing in there.  Holy crap, they could really use a good thermostat or something.  Aside from that, the decor was very nice- a little in the dark side with nice linens etc.. really well done in there.

My friends ordered a bunch of apps- I picked at those, except the sweet breads which are not to my liking ever.  Menu was all kosher and i went with a steak and some green beans.  The steak was adequate but nothing mind blowing.  Cooked properly at least.  Veggies were good as were apps.

I think there were a few desserts but I did not partake and we rolled out of there fat and happy.

Overall good- service was good.  The table placement is a bit tight so there is some wiggling going on as people try to pass your table, but that is NYC for you.

Parking:  good luck with that.