Jake Moon Restaurant and Cafe

Very good, with some misses in between.
Recently had the Ploughman’s skillet, which was supposed to feed 2 – 3 people. Well, was served in a very small cast iron skillet with only ONE BISCUIT.
Sausage (Homemade) was very good, but with a hot spicy aftertaste. Nice, crispy bacon, as well as plenty of toast.
Unfortunately, meal was cool, not hot or even warm.
Waitress is familiar with us, as we usually stop by heading home from Albany, and she lives in Middleburgh.
Most is local, fresh, home-​grown, or locally sourced.
Unfortunately, prices have increased, like the rest of other restaurants, and the world in general.
You can ALWAYS get a very good meal here, sometimes at a very good price.

The food is fresh, local and delicious. There are multiple original dishes, and the atmosphere is welcoming and relaxed. I’ve never had a negative experience or problem with any part of my meal, including breakfast, lunch or dinner. My daughter’s boyfriend is a chef, and insists on eating here when in town. And the coffee is excellent, and that is critical to a good breakfast.

Jake Moon has the best breakfast in the Capital Region. I can say this without hesitation, nor reservation. Honestly, I cannot think of another local breakfast spot that even approaches the level that Jake Moon is on. The bread is homemade and is offered in several different varieties. My favorite is the onion dill, which pairs perfectly with my favorite breakfast dish, the Clarksville Scramble (farm-​fresh eggs, homemade sausage, onions, potato, and cheddar). Other favorites include the huevos rancheros, red flannel hash, and french toast. Remember to pay attention to the specials too, as you’re likely to find something interesting to try. Perhaps my favorite Jake Moon treat is the homemade apple butter, which finds its way onto every conceivable inch of toast on my plate. If you come to Jake Moon on a Sunday, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy some perfectly appropriate live music, with a banjo and fiddle player filling the air with tunes.
As I recently learned, Jake Moon is also an excellent spot to stop for dinner. I visited on a Friday and found the dinner menu to be heavy on comfort foods, perfect as we go deeper into the autumn. The dinner was quite a bit more expensive than the breakfast menu, but I’m always happy to patronize such an honest operation. Jake Moon is one of my absolute favorite places in the Capital Region.

In the past, the food has been good, imaginative, and well-​executed. Today’s Sunday brunch was the opposite. The service was slow; the waitress barely refilled our cups once, and never came back to check on how our food tasted. This was unfortunate, because my Blue Benn special (eggs, black beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole) tasted unaccountably rancid, and was swimming in cooking grease. Since I was being treated to breakfast, I ate half of it, to be polite. When the waitress finally came back to tally up our tab, I told her it had been terrible, and she took it in to show the chef. She came back and reported he had authorized her to discount the price of the dish by half, since I had eaten half of it! What kind of customer relations is that? If I had had the chance to tell her it was a bad meal, I would have sent back the whole dish minus a taste… This is the second so-​so meal there, and I’m never going back.

Cute little diner. We had very good service from our waitress. My eggs benedict was very good. My daughters vege omlett was less successful. The plate was just swimming in grease or butter. Made it difficult to enjoy.

One day, 7 years ago, I ordered Biscuits and Gravy from a Diner. What was served to me that day turned me off to the dish for years… Until today.
So yeah, try the biscuits and gravy. It’s pretty great. In fact, everything here looks great. The place has the great small town diner vibe, and they back it up with great, cheap food. I can’t wait to come back.

Food was great. I hit the ched-​alive. Fantastic taste, tortilla chips, cheese and hot sauce for a little spice. Would get it again.

What a horrible Mother’s Day experience.
First, what little hole in the wall diner requires a reservation, even on Mother’s Day? We were lucky enough that some old man got stood up by his family so we got his table. We watched them turn away five families because they had reservations for the seven open tables IN 45 MINUTES! I’ve never seen a business owner actually tell customers to go somewhere else. Then, when people did start to arrive, they were so disorganized, it was embarassing. Seems to me that taking reservations cost them a lot of business today and possibly a number of repeat customers. People expect to wait for a table during busy times.
Second, the food was mediocre at best. We had runny, undercooked eggs (the Clarksville Scramble) that tasted only like the oil they were cooked in. The canadian bacon was dry as it possibly could be. The buckwheat pancakes tasted more awful than they normally do (although they made that right by giving us a different meal). The basics (over-​medium eggs, pancakes, and sourdough toast) were all very good, to be fair.
The short of it is that the place is too small, the tables do not seat four comfortably, and they do not seem capable of managing a restaurant that has a lot of customers at the same time. This was our second visit and will be our last.

Jake Moon has become a disappointment. The quality of the food decreases with each visit. We routinely find hairs in our food. They let you sub home fries for arugala salad, and this past weekend they just gave some spring mix that was turning brown. When we asked the waitress, she said, «Dats what we got today.» We’ve also noticed things look a little dirtier there than usual. We love a good dive, but this is turning into a true dive, for all the wrong reasons. I’m not saying to stay away. I’ll always support local business. But we’ve just experienced a severe decline in service and food quality.

Just a great place for breakfast. The coffee was good, the food was spectacular, the conversation was great, and the price is reasonable. What’s not to like about this place? The only reason anyone would give this place less than 4 stars is because they went into it with low expectation or were already having a bad day when they walked in. The red flannel hash was spectacular. Love the wide selection of breads for your toast. I chose the onion dill bread, and it was a perfect complement to a great breakfast. I will have to go back on a weekend when they offer benedict though. That was my only disappointment — That I couldn’t get a benedict on Wednesday! All good though. It was still over the top good!

I was asked what kind of bread I wanted and then when I inquired about it not arriving, I was told by the same waitress that my breakfast doesn’t come with bread. Many items didn’t arrive on the table – we had to inquire after them and they took eons to come – long after others at the table had finished their meals. My entrée was so greasy I couldn’t eat it. It sounded like they have problems in the kitchen. They need to fix those because they are killing business. They are getting two stars because my friends like their meals. Overall very disappointing – I will not be going back.

I’ll be honest and say that we didn’t set out to visit Jake Moon’s. Instead, we were heading to The Hofbrau, an old time favorite German restaurant on Warner Lake. They were inexplicably closed on a Saturday at 7:30pm, so we started back down the Heldebergs, on the 20 minute ride of shame. However, on the way up the hills, we had noticed a warmly lit cottage restaurant, so it was the perfect opportunity to pull out the trusted Unilocal app. It passed the Unilocal sniff test and then reading about the chef/owner’s impressive culinary background, our mouths started to water. We walked in and we were promptly greeted. Just like other Unilocalers said, this place seems to attract an eclectic/​mature clientele, although there were plenty of open tables for a Saturday night. We asked for wine and we were told that it’s a bring your own booze establishment (with a corkage fee). The wine gods were on our side because we had purchased a bottle for home earlier that evening, so it was still in the car. We ordered salad appetizers, the meat loaf and the pasta fagiole (only vegetarian entrée). The food was okay but a little disappointing considering how high our expectations had been set. Most other tables were ordering the lobster/​clam bake menu item, so maybe that’s their specialty and we just didn’t order the right thing. At any rate, the ambiance and the service were very pleasant so overall a 3-​star, although I wouldn’t drive up the hills just to visit this restaurant.

There is no question… Jake Moon is THE place to have breakfast, brunch, lunch, whatever your daytime fancy. Diverse menu with yummy touches like fresh sprouts on the veggie burger and a cool, laid back arty ambiance that relaxes you the moment you slide into one of their cozy booths.

Jake Moon’s offers many locally produced items including dairy, meat, maple syrup. The cinderblock building from the outside is not inspiring but the food inside will make you forget that. The offerings are more upscale, not down home diner food but you can get basic eggs, pancakes, etc. As a local, I enjoy coming here a few times a year and always enjoy myself.

Absolutely my favorite place for breakfast. Each dish I try is more delicious than the last. I have had a few different versions of their Eggs Benedict from the basic to the house smoked salmon version and they were all delicious I love the huevos rancheros and the cheddar frittata (I think that’s what it’s called) the best thing about it though are the homemade jams to go with the fresh baked breads I can’t decide if I love the apple butter jam or orange marmalade better but they are sooo good
It is a smaller place in the middle of nowhere, but wow is the food good

Easily one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. IF all of the food was below average, I would still give 4 stars just because of the homemade orange marmalade and apple butter on the table. However the food was awesome.
Eggs Benedict was great.
Red flannel hash was awesome.
Biscuits and sausage gravy was very rich and herby, but also delicious.
Will be going into the rotation of restaurants we visit regularly.

I come home to visit my mother once a month and we ALWAYS make sure to take the drive out to Clarksville for the BEST breakfast in the 518. The consistency of quality and presentation is unmatched and the prices simply can not be beat. Friendly staff and good coffee to boot.

I had a really great breakfast here. Sure it’s out in the middle of practically nowhere, but that is no mistake. I spoke with the chef, and he was looking to slow things down a bit to spend more time with his family and a little less at work. Open Thursday-​Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then Sunday for Brunch. Sounds like a lot of work to slow things down. Probably 50 hours per week in 3.5 days. Chefs work hard.
Anyways, the food was creative and fun. Nothing pretentious here. Flavor focused and not taking himself too seriously, the chef presents nicely portioned, prefectly seasoned food at a very modest price. Ingredients are sourced locally, and their origin is often right there on the menu. I had the beef hash with potatoes, beets and onions with 2 perfectly poached soft eggs. Beef was tender. Everything was bright beet red. Toast was thick cut and delicious.
Cheers to something great to eat!

I so wanted to love this place but I just can’t. Husband, daughter and I went for lunch. We were greeted pretty promptly and decided to eat outside on the beautiful Sept. day. The road had washed out and there was a lot of construction noise but it was our choice to sit there so the lack of stars had nothing to do with it.
My husband ordered the steak sandwich special, I had the clarksville scramble omelet and my daughter had a cheeseburger and fries. I get that everything was made to order and it was all delicious but there were only 2 other tables in the restaurant and it took over 30 minutes to get our meals from the time we ordered them and when they came out my daughter’s fries were still not done. She didn’t get them for another 7 minutes (yes I timed it). I’ve worked in restaurants and good food takes time but I think it’s highly impractical if they’re waiting for an order before they cut the onions for the omelet or make the coleslaw. I don’t know why it took that long.
While everything was delicious I don’t see me going out of my way to eat here again.

Finally got to try this place. We went there for breakfast last week and really enjoyed it. She ordered the gravy and biscuits with over easy eggs. We both really liked the dish. The sausage in the gravy is home made. They also smoke their own bacon (which is very good) and other products on premise.
I had the hash with poached eggs, bacon and dill onion toast. No complaints at all. I like how the hash wasn’t super greasy. The beets in it are different but add a great flavor.
I think the complaints received here must have been just been an off day (for customer or cook). We can’t wait to go back and try the dinners.