Jasmine Bistro

Friendly owner and staff, this chinese/​japanese restaurant really has some great food. Their lunch plates are affordable, healthy portions (by healthy big, not calorie counting ;-), and delicious! Their sushi is always fresh, and they do dim sum at lunch time (before 3: pm), which is a nice treat!
All in all, worth a visit. If you miss the lunch hour, the prices become a bit pricey ($ 12 — $ 18 a plate or so), but during lunch you get salad, an entrée, and soup for a great price!

This restaurant is located inside the Parkway Plaza mall.
This is my secret guilty pleasure after a long day of shopping. I go here for 2 items. I LOVE the Vietnamese rice paper roll. There’s chicken breast in it. There are some herbs and greens. The best part of this dish is the mango! It’s served on top of greens with a side of peanut sauce. And the second item I always order is the spider roll. I like the crunchiness of the tempura in it and I like the different sauces that are used to garnish it.
Every time I’ve dined here, we are the only customers. We must go at odd times (in between dinner rush). I like the décor and the menu options but I am only there for appetizers. I haven’t had problems with cleanliness here, except one time our booth had crumbs on the seat.

Been there a couple times w/​family and always found the food and service very good. They have a full bar which is nice and lots of space. Good for kids too.

Worst service ever! Ordered edamame, 4 rolls, egg flower soup and orange chicken for kids to spilt because the children’s menu is very limited. Our server was the only one working. Edamame never came, rolls sat on counter for more then 10 minutes, egg flour soup didn’t smell or taste well and Orange chicken finally made it to the table after 30 minutes. I tried to cancel the order but they refused to do so but was able to cancel edamame since we never received it. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

My wife and I tried this place after buying a reader steals coupon. It was far from our house in PB, but we thought we would give it try.
I can honestly say it was the worst asian food I have ever had, and one of the worst meals ever. I ordered the spicy tuna roll and tom yum soup.
The tuna in the tuna roll was like a paste, not a fresh, whole piece of fish. The consistency was gross and I had a hard time finishing the 8 pieces. That is the first time I have ever had bad sushi.
I have had tom yum soup before and this was not even close. It was a joke. The soup base did not even have coconut in it. They used table mushrooms instead of shiitake mushrooms and it had undercooked chunks of green peppers in it.
My wife ordered an eggplant dish. It was just more of the same crap. The predominant taste in the sauce was cooking oil. The eggplant was slimy. We ate about 3 bites and just wanted to leave as fast as possible.
The waiter was nice and the only good thing about the restaurant. I guess its possible that we ordered the 3 worst things on the menu, but I have a feeling that the rest of the items would be just as bad. I am shocked this place is even in business. I guess people in El Cajon don’t have anywhere else better to eat in the area.

This place is OK, def. not the best or freshest sushi that i’ve ever had… but the sushi is good. I’ve never gotten sick or anything from it so bonus points for them LOL.
I don’t think i’ve ever seen more then 3 tables sat at a time. This place is always pretty empty, at least every time that i have been, and the service is ok, some of the servers are better then others. The restaurant is clean and they have some cool fish tanks… the bathrooms are kind of scary though, dimly lit and always kind of dirty.
They have some good rolls that are marked 50% off, pretty simple rolls but still really good, like the Philadelphia, spicy tuna, and California roll.
I come back here because the sushi is decent, its fairly cheap for sushi, and the service is OK. I wouldn’t come here for any special occasion or anything but its a good place to go to for lunch with a friend or whatnot.

Seen this place many times in the last several years but just decided to try it a few days ago. Went on a random weekday afternoon. Really nice inside. Great décor. Typical sushi place atmosphere.
Probably the only irritating part of this place is that it has been advertising «50% off Sushi» since I can remember but when you go to order, you realise the 50% off is for about 6 rolls. Oh well, ordered some tempura and a couple of rolls. Rolls came out first. They were good. Same with the tempura, when it finally came. You get a lot of tempura in one order, which was nice.
Liked this place and will return but I’ll look for a coupon first.

Who would have thought sushi from a mall restaurant could be amazing? I didn’t expect much when I came here. I was hungry and didn’t want to eat at the food court, so mall sushi it was.
Both my husband and I were totally blown away by their delicious food. I have been here several times and have had: California rolls, tempura platter, Thai food and my favorite, the sushi that is a jalapeño stuffed with cream cheese, ahi, cilantro and more delicious ingredients. That stuffed jalapeño was the best sushi I’ve ever eaten! I’m not crazy about the side salad that comes with the lunch special or the soup for that matter, but their prices for lunch were very reasonable.
I like to see the sushi chef prepare my order fresh on the sushi bar. I like knowing it isn’t pre-​made. The servers are not the friendliest. I don’t know if it’s because they hate their job, or what, but service has never been this place’s strong suit.
Regardless of service, I will definitely go back to Jasmine Bistro. It’s great Asian food, especially sushi. Leave your expectations at the door and try sushi at this mall restaurant!

I am SO disappointed with Jasmine. When my fiancée and I first found them in October, we were pleased. We were looking for a venue to host our rehearsal dinner this upcoming February and the manager was more than attentive. It seemed as though they’d be able to accommodate our party and give us plenty of dining options. They had scheduled a wedding for the same evening we were looking to have our event, but the manager assured us that it wouldn’t pose a problem. We’d be paid as much attention as the wedding. Great!
We came back today to do tastings with my future in-law’s. UGH. The place was busy — it’s a Saturday morning — it’s dim sum — I get it. BUT when you tell the manager we’re interested in hosting a banquet there and he pays you ZERO attention, no good. Now, I’m not looking for the manager to be up our you know what’s, but give us a little extra TLC. We’re looking to spend money after all!
It took almost 15 minutes for a server to take our order. We didn’t want to do dim sum since we were looking to create our menu for the rehearsal dinner. But in that 15 minutes of waiting, we decided we weren’t going to host the event there and went with dim sum instead. Why you ask? Let me tell you.
The service was atrocious. With it being as busy as it was, I understand a little lag time. BUT if there’s going to be a wedding the same night as our event, we’d easily be thrown to the wayside. The manager was all about business business business. I’ve never heard someone speak so fast as the manager did today. We were left with our jaws on the floor. On top of that, the volume of the room was crazy. It was SO LOUD. Imagine having a wedding and a rehearsal dinner? We wouldn’t be able to hear.
Now the dim sum, it was delicious. The food was quite tasty. But the lack of service really turned us off.
I’d come back for dim sum and someone I wasn’t interested in having a conversation with… but a rehearsal dinner? Oh hell no. If you want to have an event here, make sure you’re the only ones. Otherwise, you’ll stare at each other unable to speak because you can’t hear.

The Snow Lemon roll just bumped this place up to 5 stars.
Inside is snow crab, cucumber, and that egg stuff… on top is white tuna and the most delicately thin sliced lemon with a little ponzu.
Holy shneiky… try it! It’s like sushi dessert!

I come here to get Dimsum! They have a ton of unique dishes and my it has earned a place in my parent’s hearts, so much so that when we get dimsum in LA they say «Jasmines is much better!» The one thing I don’t like is the parking lot… it can get sooo full especially on the weekends during lunch time: P

Jasmine’s Bistro, perhaps unfortunately located in Parkway Plaza, is the Jasmine version of Pei Wei. Actually, that’s doing a disservice to Pei Wei. I’ve gone back there.
I’m not the largest fan of non-​bistro Jasmine, but I can’t deny that specialization helps its quality. A lot.
The Bistro doesn’t bother with authenticity nor a deep bench. It throws itself into a «Pan-​Asian» concept, with offerings centering on American-​Chinese and Thai. I had a lunch special that was nearly a combination plate from the Panda Express in the food court; it was very unsettling given the Jasmine name and that my waiter hovered expectantly over me, hoping I would give my lunch high marks. While technically a sound meal, it was an empty dining experience.
Visible from the north side of Parkway, it’s tucked into an end of a corridor from anywhere else. Unless you happen to have business over there, you’ll miss it: apparently the Bistro had been open for years before I even knew it was there.

I first came here to try out the entrée’s… yea, not such a good idea.
Their sushi on the other hand is fantastic!.. especially their 50% off sushi (dine in only).
My GF and I get 4 different rolls on the 50% off list, and the check comes out to about $ 20! I go back but only for the sushi. The entrees are subpar… most of the staff is friendly and quick. But the asian guy with the glasses doesn’t have much customer service skills. The only time he ever said a word to us, was when he needed to see ID for paying with a Credit Card… other than that, there was no «how is everything, or can i get you something else? etc.».

When most people think dim sum, I highly doubt East County comes to mind. Yet, if you want to avoid the insanity on Convoy or the questionable cleanliness standards of the joints in University Heights, then make the haul (hopefully in your lifted Ford 350) out to El Cajon’s Parkway Plaza.
There is never a line! You have the traditional option of waiting for the server to push around the carte and select the dumplings, steamed buns, or chow fun rolls. The other option is checking off a list — this may be better b/​c the list shows color photos of the items with the prices.
They’ve got everything — including the hard-​core items like the chicken feet, tripe, etc… I like to stick to the bastardized versions — shrimp dumplings, pork shui mai.
Prices are reasonable from $ 2 – 4 for each item. Be careful with the «specials.» I ordered the salt and pepper calamari and the chinese broccoli — which were $ 7.99 each! It’s worth the trip!

Dim Sum on a Sunday in Convoy is a headache for sure, however Jasmine Bistro on Sunday Easter was nothing but an easy bite to eat that hit the dim sum craving.
The quality of food is decent for the convenience of no line and quick service on a Sunday! We had the Shrimp Fun Roll, which is really more noodle product than the actually shrimp. The Chive dumplings were definitely a bit greasy. However, the salt and pepper calamari was light and delicious, and well seasoned. I would stick to ordering more basic dim sum, but for this El Cajon location, it works.

I like to go there for their half-​off sushi specials. Fresh and tasty, you can’t go wrong with their sushi.
Quality of food overall is good and service is quick. We like their chicken lettuce wraps, honey walnut shrimp and noodle dishes. Very nice ambience and upscale décor, to me, it beats out Jasmine’s off of Convoy any day service wise, even when they have a full house. Jasmine’s off of Convoy was great when it was ran by the sweet old man that used to own it. Food was fantastic as was service. Then it went downhill. I heard it’s under new ownership but I’ll save that for another review.
Anyways, I always have a good experience dining here so check it out if you’re in the area.

Ugh. Went here for Sushi last night with my mom. I’ve been here a few times and wasn’t impressed… but we were at Parkway Plaza and mom wanted to go here sooo.
We shared the hot and sour soup. It’s usually better but I think it was old. There was no tofu or it had sat so long it was unrecognizable. We told the server that we were sharing but he didn’t put a serving spoon in the soup so we had to slowly spoon it out. On the bottom of my spoon was also part of a sticker which I had to peel off.
They’ve got half price Sushi so I asked the server what the special was. He ended up still charging us full price even though I asked him and he said it was half price for the roll that we ordered. The Sushi is no good here!
Yuck I wouldn’t ever go he again if my mom didn’t like it. She doesn’t have the best taste in Sushi. She’s only been eating it for a year. She don’t know better.
DON’T GO HERE IT SUCKS MAJORLY. IT’S REPULSIVE.

Since I moved to San Diego, the one thing I have had so much trouble finding is a good place to get some tasty Chinese food (besides PF Changs). Well, I shall look no further than El Cajon (who knew??).
This is a great place to go before catching a late movie (which is what we did one night). Granted, the «50% off select sushi» caused me to hesitate, but I had no reason to be frightened.
Nate and I ordered one of their sushi rolls (the spicy tuna roll, I think) and the General Tso’s Chicken. The Chicken was perfect — the right amount of spice, sweet and tangy, and it was very lightly fried. Yum. The Sushi Roll was also tasty, though it didn’t even compare to the chicken. But, it was one of the ½ off ones, so it was a good deal.
Our server was super attentive, polite, and kept our water glasses full. The fish tank was fun to look at afterwards.
I would have never expected such a great little Asian bistro in a mall. Definitely a new favorite.
Added bonus/​oddity: the music being played in the restaurant was early 90s high school/​junior high slow dance songs. Mariah Carey, Savage Garden. Wow.

Jasmine’s is surprisingly good and not what you would expect to find connected to a mall in El Cajon. I like the clean simple décor and the fish tank bar is fun to watch. Good outside dining as well with lots of lush plants and a few trickling water features, as long as the mall teens aren’t causing a ruckus on the street.
The sushi here is also pretty good and they always have 50% deals off on select rolls for dine-​in which is a super deal. Since they serve both Japanese and Thai, my favorite mix is sushi for an appetizer, then Thai for the main course. The last time I ate here I had a special spicy tuna roll (50% off and huge!) with an Asahi to start, then on to yellow coconut chicken curry and an order of mixed seafood spicy Thai rice noodles. Really good combo and my date and I left stuffed as hell with plenty of food in a bag for lunch the next day.
Everyone I’ve brought here really enjoys this place. Sure you can get better sushi or just plain Thai food on their own, but being able to sit in the same location and pick and choose between the two is great and elevates this place to a solid 4 stars for me. Had the dim sum once and it was lack luster to say the least, but if I want that I go to a specific dim sum place…
For convenience of location, good atmosphere, good sushi, good Thai, reasonable price, and a nice mix of Asian fare in all, I highly recommend this place when you are in the El Cajon area. Certainly not the best, but very good all around.

4 stars for the sushi, 3 for the menu food. Menu is eclectic asian fare: sort of Thai + Chinese. Tried the dim sum at lunch — it was aiight. Too many fried options for my taste. The service is eeehhh but the owner/​manager? is friendly and even came by to introduce himself.
I like the fried rice and the presentation is cool. Best bet: try the won-​ton soup and fill up on sushi. They have select rolls that are half-​price and are an excellent value. Sushi is rolled fresh — love the spicy tuna rolls.