Jay’s Southern Cafe

Pulled pork, ribs, sausage, fries… awesome. Ranch dressing side has a spice mixture that’s yum, corn bread is sweet and moist, BBQ beans have a hint of cinnamon and maple OMG!!! BBQ sauce is super yum too. Staff friendly and took the time to come over and ask where we were from etc., definitely be going back

The STAR 224 chapter motorcycle cub stopped here yesterday on our way back from The Desert Tower. Excellent food and the staff were wonderful people! Fun place to stop and have some really good food. My wife and I will be making this a mandatory stop from now on every time we pass through. :-D

This place is great. I had breakfast there and the food and staff were outstanding. Felt like Family! I highly recommend this café.

This place is a gem in the middle of nowhere !! Some good food ! Breakfast and especially the bbq! Orders the small ribs plate! With potato salad and coleslaw, this plate wasn’t small at all! It had about 9 delicious ribs! And the potato salad and slaw where great !! Service was great, a small family owed spot! These are the best, I would highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in jacumba, and will be back if ever In the area!

If you are nearby on highway 80 or driving by on I8, you have got to stop in here and grab some food. We stopped for supper and went back the next morning for breakfast because the food is so good.
I had the ribs and they were excellent. Some of the best I have ever had. Breakfast items were equally impressive. Great family run operation. Great service. Great prices. Go here already.

We were on our bikes touring route 80. We rode by this place and boy did it smell good. We pulled over a few miles down the road and took a vote, go on to Ocotillo or back trace to Jacumba. We back traced and boy are we all glad we did. The food is excellent. Close to or the best pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever eaten. (And I eaten a lot of them) I’m not sure where the bun came from, not real appetizing to look at, but also very, very good. The couple who started it are very hospitable. Hope the new place makes it. It is worth the short diversion from I8 if you are looking for lunch.

Delicious BBQ on the way home from coyote mountains! Thank you Unilocalers! Awesome, friendly service! We had the smoked chicken, and the pulled pork sandwich with potato salad.. Amazing!

Heading east or west on 8? Hungry? Take the Jacumba exit and drive into this «blink and you might miss it little town» for some of the best food going! Jay’s Southern does it so well! Jay, super friendly, super competent has a deft hand with his seasonings, turning my fried cabbage into mouthfuls of green deliciousness! And his short ribs wowed me. My husband was equally impressed with his fried fish dinner. My son’s fish sandwich was a succulent slab of fish on a bun served with coleslaw he pronounced «very good” — high praise!
Details: the restaurant is clean, the service was good. They are open Tuesday — Saturday. They are a bit of a hike off the highway but they are OH SO WORTH IT!

My husband and I and another couple took a motorcycle ride through San Diego’s East County. We found ourselves in Jacumba for lunch. The service and the food were SUPER! The ladies enjoyed the fish tacos… very fresh and flavorful. They guys enjoyed there hearty pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches. We’re definitely making Jacumba and Jays a destination for future rides.

Jay’s is the kind of place that deserves several return visits. The décor isn’t perfect, and it is in a unique and quirky town. If you want tasteless cookie cutter food — go somewhere else. BUT — if you want outstanding food prepared with care, Jay’s is where to go. Take my advice — ORDER THE GRITS!

Very good food and the owners are very nice and always make me feel welcome. I’m so glad I’m only 4 blocks away.

We took a nice motorcycle ride and ended up passing through this place. Side note: never realized how incredible close it is to the border!!! The fence was literally right next to the road. Anyways, we were looking for a nice place to sit and get a cold drink and a snack. Boy did we find the right place!!! We walked in and it was actually kind of busy (considering the area is so deserted), and the staff was INCREDIBLY friendly and welcoming! I felt like I stepped into their home because of the level of hospitality. My husband ordered the fish taco special and I ordered a custom dish, pulled pork over french fries. Holy hell, the pork!!! The smoky flavor was so on point! We sat and relaxed and enjoyed our food completely. The staff came to check on us a couple times and we small talked with them a bit. Seriously what a bunch of genuinely kind hearted people!!! We will absolutely go back here during our next trip in that area. I will be ordering pulled pork fries again, obviously!!!

What an wonderful experience to see a whole family working together. We rode our motorcycles out and had a great lunch the ribs were delicious.

This place is a hidden gem! my fiancé and i stayed at the jacumba spa and heard great things from the locals about their bbq. I have never took the time to write a review on Unilocal (yep, first time review) but I couldn’t help but want to share my thoughts about this place. It’s a family owned business and it was so sweet to see their children helping around in the restaurant. They were so professional and kind hearted, genuine business owners. And the food?! We ordered their ribs with yams and slaw – it was delicious! It was tender, juicy, flavorful and their Yams were perfection. Thank you thank you for you hospitality and for welcoming us into your space. I hope to see your business in san diego!

Traveling thru town and was fortunate to have found this place last night for dinner. You know a restaurant serves fresh food when they’ve run out of several items near closing time. I’d rather have that than serve me frozen or processed food.
The beef links sandwich and coleslaw were amazing. Ended my meal with freshly made sweet potato cake and i was very happy.
So, I decided to return for breakfast! Pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. All quite yummy and just what i wanted. Only suggestion would be to have creamers for coffee rather than powdered cream.
Owners were there and super friendly. Like if I lived here, we’d probably be friends!
Anyone in town has to come here for great food and service!

Great place to unwind and experience southern soul food carefully prepared freshly. Owner Jay and his wife Ashley will cook to order, so if you have any special orders you will find them more than willing to comply. The menu is surprisingly large, and if you like southern food, this place is worth the drive.