J Marie’s

This place was SUCH a nice restaraunt way too nice of a place to be in lake forest mall… the food was so good and the service and atmosphere outstanding! The chef even came out to personally greet us. Best Cajun food in the area. However I am extremely disappointed that this place has closed down. I called and was told they were opening in a new location. I hope it is nowhere near lake forest because this place has the potential to be a super busy successful restaraunt! Hope to be there for a re-​opening!

J Marie’s really needs to step it up to be good. We went there tonight to celebrate Mardi Gras. I asked what was on draught and they only had bottles. Okay, I ordered a Bud Light. It was $ 5. I then ordered the shrimp and grits. Andouille sausage was .99 cents extra. I asked for them to add the andouille sausage but they were out of it. On Mardi Gras. My wife ordered the jambalaya and it was supposed to have andouille sausage. It didn’t. Also, her jambalaya was so spicy she couldn’t finish it. She lived in New Orleans for years, knows good New Orleans food and likes spices. My shrimp and grits was a pancake-​sized slab of cheesy grits surrounded by roux with five shrimp on top. For $ 13,99. Just five shrimp. The roux was okay — just a litttle too much salt.
I will go to Louisiana Kitchen in Bethesda or RT’s in Alexandria (our favorite) before ever going back to J Marie’s.

I’ve been to this place many times. When I first started going when they first opened, it was a joy. The food was so good and unusual. And the people that worked there were so personable. In the last 6 months I“m not sure what’s happened. Each time I go it gets worse. The owner is nice enough. And I believe she really tries. But the service just gets worse and worse. You wait hours for food with no apology. Orders are wrong.
The food is still good, if you’re willing to wait that long. I’ve had so many items on the menu and they are always good. Even the okra.
They have great entertainment, but unfortunately I suggest you not go hungry if you go during prime time. And don’t go thirsty. If you go in off hours, you might have better luck.
The owner didn’t even come to our table to apologize. The staff is super apologetic and tried really hard to fix it. But it was too late. It’s happened way too many times at this point.

We actually were going to a show here and decided to have dinner there first. What a mistake. My partner liked his Jambalaya (it was good, I tasted it). I ordered a New York strip steak., Cajun style. It looked like a minute steak, it was so thin. It and or the sauce was spoiled. You can tell when a kitchen tries to cover up a bad steak when they soak it in vinegar. I worked in a restaurant when I was a kid and they did that. And I didn’t even get the salad that comes with the meal. He was a nice waiter but did absolutely nothing about the bad steak — just took the plate away and charged me for it. And since the food was so bad, we figured the show would be too and we left. Too bad, we won’t go again.

What a pleasant surprise! I was about to go into the Ruby Tuesday’s (I think someone else said this), but then I thought I’d give J Marie’s a try instead of the predictable fare at Ruby’s. Great choice! I had calamari as an appetizer, a salad, catfish, and substituted rice and beans for one of the veggies. Washed it all down with a Heineken. Great meal. Live music. Good change of pace.

This side of New Orleans has finaly produced a worthy restaurant the food is as authentic as can be expected while using the freshest local ingredients, the fried green tomatoes were delightful with a light cornmeal crunch, the seafood gumbo is comparable to anything on and around bourbon street.

I really want this place to be great, however J maries was far from great. We went for the jazz brunch on Sunday. The music and French bread was great, everything else need alot of work. Tables and menus were sticky. My waiter recommend the chicken and waffles. I asked how the chicken was prepared and what I was told was completely different from what I received. I got a luke warm waffle with over cooked chicken strips, even the strawberry tasted old. Service started off strong and then our waiter disappeared. The food came out late and when it did our waiter apologize for his disappearance and made excuses for his wearabouts. 2 of the 5 meals where horrible and 1 was prepared completely wrong. When I first saw the menu I was thinking about coming back later in the week to try lunch, but after my experience today I don’t think I will be coming back.

I have been back twice hoping that things would improve. I stopped in on a Saturday for lunch the SERVICE wasn’t bad but the shrimp po’boy was some frozen packaged shrimp on a nice bun. Anytime I walk into an establishment with a host stand, I don’t expect to eat SeaPak shrimp. If not for the bun, this would have been a shrimp sandwich from any DC carry-​out, just double the price. They had a supposedly new manager that seemed genuinely interested in training the staff. Since I was the only patron there for lunch he had time to ask what I thought about the place. We had a nice conversation and I hope he can work it out.

My husband and I tried J. Maries restaurant last evening. I had the WORST meal I have ever experienced in a restaurant that is purported to be so good. I am seeing the images on your Facebook page and I can tell neither my meal nor my husband’s came anywhere near these standards. FIRST… we did tell the person that seated us it was our First visit. We also told the server the same thing. The menu was very difficult to read and made no mention of what was included OR NOT included in entrée. The server told us NOTHING about the menu nor did she mention any special dish. I, Personally do not feel that I am getting an entrée that has NO vegetable included in some way.
So we ordered a bottle of white wine, there was a very limited selection, an appetizer to share Calamari, I ordered Shrimp & Grits and my husband ordered the Jambalaya. The calamari was under cooked, but at least we could eat it. We had to ASK for a dipping sauce.
My meal came and the plating was UGLY and messy. The Shrimps (few) were OVER COOKED and I mean they were Hard. The Grits were tasteless and gritty. Not smooth or creamy. There was no vegetable and no salad came with this order. I could NOT eat this meal so they replaced with an equally tasteless salad that had some kind of watery chicken on it. That did it for me.
My husband’s meal was equally tasteless and also plated ugly. We paid for our meal and left. It was apparent that NOT one single person in that restaurant CARED that we were NOT happy and are NEVER returning, but we WILL tell at least 24 (12 each) people NEVER to go to this restaurant.
There are LOTS of options in the Gaithersburg area so we don’t have to be forced to tolerate bad service and awful food.

This is one of those places you ultimately cheer for.
It’s not a chain restaurant (+ 1 star off the bat!) despite its Lakeforest Mall location across from Ruby Tuesday. But you do kinda get the feeling you’re walking into a place that’s searching for its identity with a staff of amateurs.
The restaurant is nicely done but waaaay too dark (- 1 star). That should be an easy fix. You enter from the mall (no outside entrance) and stand there waiting to be greeted. A little awkward (- ½ star). A hostess station perhaps? Another quick fix. Smiling faces… ok, that’s good to see. Folks are looking busy, moving about. Feels like it should be a happening place (let’s give that ½ star back).
A few minutes later I’m seated and ask what IPAs are on tap. No IPAs, no taps (- 2 stars — the double whammy ouch). I settle for bottled Heineken with a glass. Again, there are doable fixes here. Draft beer and frosted mugs perhaps?
Onion Rings appetizer. Nice portion. A little too greasy — fixable. Tasty. Nice dipping sauce. Good stuff. + 1 star. Looking forward to a nice dinner.
BTW, I was served by Tommy, the new manager, so I didn’t experience the inexperience of the new waiting staff other reviewers have written about. In time though, obviously even that is word-​of-​the-​day fixable. (+ 1 star for service)
Ordered the Blackened Chicken & Mushroom Pasta. OMG. Awesome. Sublime. Delicious. Loved it. Mrs. ordered some Grits and Cheese and something or other — whatever — said it was delicious — couldn’t concentrate — I was in cajun heaven. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. (+ 3 stars)
Skipped dessert. But the menu showed promise.
The excellent food will keep people coming back until they can get their staff some experience. I look forward to trying them again some time soon. With Growler’s in and out of commision from month to month, it’s nice to have an alternative to the over-​priced Dogfish Alehouse. J Marie’s might just be the ticket.
So what was our final tally? 3 + 1 + 1 — 2 + ½ — ½ + 1 = 4 stars. That sounds about right. Looking forward to hitting 5!!!

I had a great experience at J Marie’s. I went on a Saturday afternoon and the place was virtually empty. We were promptly greeted and seated. Everyone was wonderful and the service was great. The chef came out and chatted w/​us for a few minutes as well. The food: we ordered fried okra for appetizer. I do not like okra, but actually thought these were pretty good. I loved the dipping sauce and the texture was perfect. The main dishes were crawfish étouffée and jambalaya. The étouffée was good but the jambalaya was really good IMHO. I do not like spicy foods and it had a little kick but nothing extreme.
Finally, dessert… we ordered the crème brulee and the carrot ice cream. First, the crème brulee was sooo good! It was thick and rich with a nicely torched top. I thought it was a bit pricey at $ 8.99 but I would definitely order it again because it was worth it. The carrot ice cream was pretty decent. There were four flavors to choose from: carrot, spinach, red tomato, and green tomato. Yes, I know… but they were OK. Get the carrot if you want to try this concoction. Personally, I prefer some rocky road or praline in keeping w/​the New Orleans theme but none of those are offered. The wait staff allowed us to taste test all of them first so you may want to ask about that before deciding. All in all, a wonderful dining experience.

This restaurant is located in Lake Forest Mall. I was there perusing H&M for some new finds and noticed a sign advertising the restaurant. So I decided to take my chances. When I walked in it was very dark and there wasn’t a hostess anywhere around. However, there were only two other people in the restaurant other than myself so I guess having a hostess was unnecessary? I don’t know. In any event, when I walked over to the bar and sat my purse down, the bartender promptly came out and gave me a menu and a glass of water.
I decided on the Fried chicken with Peach Bourbon BBQ sauce (couldn’t taste any hint of either). The chicken was decent. It was crispy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside, like any good piece of fried chicken should be. However, it was devoid of «flavor.» I got two sides, the mashed potatoes and the mac and cheese. The mashed potatoes were good, nothing to write home about and I really enjoyed the mac and cheese.
I had a drink. The name escapes me but it was on the bar menu. It was made from SoCo, Peach Schnapps, and Grenadine. That was actually my favorite part of the meal.
I don’t know that I’d go out of my way to go here, but I definitely do want to try their shrimp and grits and to check them out for happy hour.

Anticipating the savory flavors of a Muffuletta as soon as I was told about this place by a friend earlier in the day, imagine my disappointment when my intense perusal of the menu, yielded… no Muffuletta. And I really got discouraged when I tried to explain this historic, New Orleans specialty sandwich to the waiter and he didn’t have a clue.
The Fried Green Tomatoes were more white than green. Some would say as a result they held their crispness under the pressure of the deep frying, or baking, as I taste back now. That could be a plus.
I am looking for any sign of hope here. I really, really want this establishment to get it’s act together.
I agree with the idea that there appeared to be a heavy brown gravy on the Gumbo that didn’t meld well with the other flavors and created more of a stew-​like entrée rather than a soup. As to the dessert, I ordered the Bread Pudding which was mainly comprised of very soggy bread cubes which occasionally offered a hint of a pleasant crusty texture. Maybe a minute more under the broiler… I did find evidence of golden raisins? and apples which paired well with the Caramel Sauce which I enjoyed. Though bland looking, the flavors were good.
Another hint of hope: The menu concentrates on somewhat limited offerings. This should give J Marie’s Chef opportunities for refining a couple of the selections that need work.
I often judge a restaurant by the cleanliness of the restroom. Walking into this one, I just felt unclean. As the bathrooms have direct access to the mall parking lot, unless J Marie’s is able to restrict usage to their patrons, the problem of an unacceptable bathroom may continue to exist.
Taking all this into consideration, I will return for a future visit, giving J Marie’s another opportunity to ‘get it right’ and allowing me to witness improvements, maybe even enjoying that Muffuletta!

I am basing this solely on my experience from the bar section. Came here Saturday night after finding out Growlers was closed due to water damage (again???), we were originally going to go to Ruby Tuesday’s but heard the band playing from inside so we checked it out. I was accompanied by my fiancée and our friend. We chose to sit at a table in the bar, as soon as we walked in we saw a bartender we were familiar with at JJ Muldoons and Lounge 555 so we knew we were in good hands.
We were handed a menu and after a couple page turns I realized I was looking at the same menu. When the server came to take our order I kept flipping and said out loud «I keep turning out of habit» and the server explained that when they printed the menu one of the sides is an error. I can understand that they are a new restaurant and wanting to save money but for others who are less understanding I can imagine them throwing a fit. I ordered a glass of the Riesling, I was slightly annoyed that they didn’t list their beer options. My fiancée ordered a Yuengling and a Voodoo shooter and our friend ordered an Angry Orchard and a Voodoo shooter as well. We thought they were just shots but were mistaken they were actual drinks. I tried them it was a mix of caracao, rum, pineapple juice. it was too sweet for me IMO.
To nibble at we ordered wings and calamari. The wings came with sliced cooked carrots that were soaked in vinegar and rosemary, I hate the taste of rosemary so this was not my «cup of tea» but the boys found it interesting. I noticed the wings didn’t come with bleu cheese or ranch, not that I minded because I don’t see the point of dipping wings when it already comes with a sauce. I enjoyed the wings, they were crispy yet coated with just the right amount of sauce and had a good heat to it. The calamari was good, it’s hard to mess up calamari but I found these satisfying and would order again. It tasted like they were coated with a corn meal breading which added that crunchy texture. Instead of marinara sauce, it came with a raumolaude (sp?) sauce, very yummy but would have preferred it come in a container instead of just pour next to the calamari.
We will definitely come back for a main course and dessert.

Was at the mall and decided to try something new, needless to say, I left very disappointed. There were 3 of us and we ordered shrimp and grits, blackened salmon and fried chicken. It was barely lunch hour when we went, so I figured we would beat the rush and take in the experience. Disappointed.
The food came with complimentary salad, and the green were old, wilting and rotting, complained to the server, and her response was, ‘I know, I noticed that when I grabbed them’. Then why wouldn’t you ask for a replacement before serving it?
The grits came out lumpy, the fries were soggy and only the salmon was salvageable. Wasted experience and I would not be returning. No manager on duty to complain to, and the server was not of much help to get things sorted.

Came here based on raving reviews from my little sister. We arrived around 9pm. After being seated, our waitress informs us that it is Happy Hour and that all beers and mixed drinks are $ 5. While that is certainly reasonable for mixed drinks, I found it pretty crazy for a 12 ounce domestic beer during «Happy Hour». Another problem with that, it was happy hour? After 9pm? Is it always happy hour?
But enough with the drinks. My sister ordered the gumbo, I went with the shrimp tasso pasta dish, and my brother ordered light and decided on the «hand cut» fries. The gumbo was extremely bland and runny, and only had 2 pieces of overdone shrimp in it. At $ 11.99 for a bowl of soup which wasn’t very big, I found this kind of unacceptable. My sister did assure me it was much better the previous time. As for mine, it was just okay. I had to reach in and peel the shrimp a bit before I could enjoy my meal. Once again, the shrimp was slightly overcooked. My brothers fries appeared far from «hand cut» standards. We are all big potato lovers, and we know a good french fry, but these looked and tasted like something you’d find in the frozen food department. Also, there was no bar menu! I’m still unsure to this day what there is to order.
The place is very pricey for what it is, but the ambiance, location, and live creole music was definitely a plus.
All in all, come to this place for the ambiance, not the food. I plan on giving this place another try because I know they are new and the possibility I came on an off night based on the previous reviews given to me by my sister.

Visited this place during happy hour with a group of about 40 folks, so this review is for that period only. Entrance to the restaurant is located inside Lakeforest Mall (between Ruby Tuesday’s and Sears). Parking is in the mall lot so it is free. Ordered items from the Happy Hour menu — Wings, Fries, Beignets (dessert) and a drink — to me everything tasted good. The servers were quick; The service on point — thank you Tomy and Aleja (you were both great). At around 7pm, a live jazz band plays music. Overall, a nice place to chill.

3 small crab ball appetizer? 10 bucks.
Rice and sausage? 3 paper thin shavings of a sausage — delicious tasting, but the dish needed so much more
Crab bisque? Rocked!
Server didn’t know how drinks were mixed, room too dark, band fiddled with instruments for 40 minutes but never played.
Did I mention the bisque?

When I saw that J Marie’s was opening up near our house, I asked a friend who has lived in the DMV area about it. She said that she was familiar with an old location (which is now gone). She remembered it having good food, but less than great service. Good cajun/​creole? That’s good enough for me to try it at least once.
After trying it once, that’s probably about all we’ll do.
Walking into J Marie’s, I liked the concept. Full bar, happy hour, a small setup for live music and a nice ambiance in the dining room. Nice, but aside from some terrible art on the windows, there is absolutely nothing about this place that feels cajun or creole. It feels more like a lounge or steakhouse.
The place has only been open for about two weeks, so I won’t ding them too harshly on service, but our waitress did not know what wines or beers they served, and had to go check since there are no drink menus on the tables. Beyond that, service was acceptable — friendly, apologetic (we’ll get to that) — just needing to brush up on their menus.
The menu is a little confusing. At first glance, it looks like both sides of the single sheet of thin paper are identical. Both sides list the appetizers, sodas, sides and salads. But some items, like the pasta are only on one side. It’s like they needed to fill up the second side of the page and duplicated some items.
We ordered a glass of house cabernet (the waitress’s comment made it sound as though you may be able to order a carafe or bottle, but did not specifically mention the option) and a soft drink. My wife described the wine as «a little bland» and tasting «almost like grape juice», but conceded that it was «fine for a $ 5 glass of wine» (to be fair, it was only $ 5 because it was happy hour — I have no clue how much it normally is. The soft drink was $ 2.50 and only includes one refill according to the menu — and it’s not a big glass.
We ordered an appetizer plate of onion rings while we decided on our main entrees. The place wasn’t busy, but the appetizer still hadn’t come by the time we ordered — which was a few minutes later. In fact, the onion rings came only about one minute before the entrees actually came out. Even spacing our order out for them, they still timed things poorly. We had barely tasted the onion rings before our entrees arrived.
The onion rings were a little disappointing. Overpriced at roughly $ 1 per ring, and they were pretty thin — with bland seasoning (if there even was any) and cooked unevenly. My first one was almost soggy. The next few were a little bit crunchier.
For our entrees, we ordered the jambalaya and crawfish etoufee. Upon receiving our dishes, my wife immediately commented that they looked small for the price, but I reminded her that dishes like these tend to be a little heavier than they look.
Well, her crawfish etoufee didn’t fill her up because she took about 2 bites and pushed it away. That’s how bad it was. To call it a bland bowl of mush would be an offense to bland bowls of mush. No seasoning, no heat, no flavor — just a bowl of soggy rice with a crawfish shell sitting on the edge of the bowl. My jambalaya wasn’t much better, but with an addition of some hot sauce, decent enough to at least eat most of it before I decided that I couldn’t deal with the disappointment anymore. Like the etoufee, the jambalaya was devoid of any flavor. The shrimp was overcooked, just short of rubbery. Despite being billed as «spicy», my glass of water probably had more heat to it. The menu didn’t mention it, but there was chicken in this jambalaya. It was a little dry, not overcooked.
The staff apologized for my wife’s disappointment and offered to get her something else, but she decided she’d rather just not bother. To their credit, they removed the dish from the check without prompting or argument.
To add to all this disappointment, we didn’t get to hear any jazz. Some musicians came in and tinkered with their setups but then sat there messing with their phones instead of playing. We may have just been too early.
J Marie’s is a decent enough concept but without the food or quality to back it up.

Being from Louisiana myself, I was excited to try something in this area that was really southern. We peeked inside of JMarie’s about two weeks ago when it had just opened. It was pretty empty. We looked at the menu outside. We decided to wait a bit before giving it a try and based on the sole Unilocal review.
Well here we are again. We kept it simple this evening with our meal but it didn’t fail. We ordered the shrimp poboy and the catfish nuggets and sweet potato fries (appetizer as entrée for me). The fries were a bit oily, but not so bad that I couldn’t enjoy them.
The service was great. It wasn’t full to capacity, but it was moderately full. We did not have to wait to be seated. We were served quickly and checked on regularly with our server. She was super friendly. I briefly spoke with one of the partners trying to figure out where the southern roots were from.
The jazz band was phenomenal!
Overall, a nice dinner with entertainment. For the area, it’s on track for southern food. We will definitely come back and try an entrée next time. I’ll keep you updated.