Jessos Grill

Jessos grill has literally finished remodeling.
they are now called ARIA.

Jesso’s is CLOSED, people!
I KNEW they wouldn’t open back up after their «expansion» re-​opening kept getting delayed. Was never a fan of their food, but I am going to miss those hush puppies…
There’s a new Mediterranean spot opening up in Jesso’s place (believe its called Aria). Hopefully Aria will be open on weekends, since DT Oakland needs it.

Pros:
— The house fish and chips are really good and have a unique light batter that tastes great.
— The «Jesso sauce» (spicy cajon’ish ranch sauce) is amazing and goes great with the fish.)
— The hushpuppies are delicious.
— The service with either Jesso or Kevin has been great; very friendly, greet you as you walk in, happy to help you with any additional services, etc.
— If you call in your order they’ll text you when your order is ready.
Cons:
— They make everything as its ordered so it can take some time to get your food.
— I’m not too impressed with the fries (not a fan of thick soggy fries). I add the cajon flavor to make them better but there is certainly room for improvement.
All in all, I like the place and its my go-​to-​place whenever my stomach feels like fish and chips.

After reading a few of the reviews here, I’d have to say — if you’re going to a fish and chips place, maybe you should order the fish and chips.
A woman at my office suggested the place to me last week — she told me that Jessos is an Oakland establishment, and that she was excited they just relocated to our neighborhood. Based on her recommendation, I decided to check it out.
I thought the portions were good and prices reasonable — I could not eat all of the fries that came with my lunch. I believe I paid $ 9 for a big basket of fries, fried tilapia, and amazing cornmeal hush puppies. For fried food, it was not greasy. Everything they gave me was light and crispy.
The only thing I was not too happy with was the spicy cajun fries. It just seemed like they sprinkled premade cajun seasoning on the fries after they fried them. Just didn’t taste good to me. Next time I’ll get fries with no seasoning.

I really like this place for a late night dinner run… it’s the only place making real, and real tasty, food in this neighborhood past 9pm. The fried chicken is excellent and the sweet potatoes are freaking amazing. Service is friendly. I’m planning to be a regular, since I often end up waiting to grab food until it’s late.

I haven’t written a 1-​star in awhile but after that lunch… here goes:
Jesso’s had one of the worst burgers I’ve ever had. Pre-​frozen, rubbery consistency, Cafeteria-​ish in flavor and quality. If you guys are gonna cut corners please don’t make it so obvious, it’s insulting.
The fat boy inside told me to keep chewing but I had to put it down after two bites. I know Jesso’s is a fish place, but I’m not looking to spend $ 14 on a Tuesday lunch so I went with the burger. In any case, stay away

Came in around 11:30 today hoping to grab lunch with a co-​worker and head back to a 12:00 meeting. We were the only customers so I figured we’d be fine. The lady rang us up and we paid over $ 30 to share their special for the day: fried catfish, fried chicken, hush puppies, fries and a couple of mini pies. We were told it would take about 10 – 15 mins. We sat down and noticed more people starting to come in, lucky we came early…
The cashier came over 15 mins later apologizing that our order was not put in and she just put it in so it would be another 15 mins. She offered to give us 3 more hush puppies for the inconvenience and assured us that our order was put in before anyone else. She came out 10 mins later with 2 bags for another customer. Finally got our food 30 mins later and 45 mins late for our meeting.
The food was okay. The catfish were really small thin pieces of fish, the fried chicken was okay, could have made it myself at home. Hush puppies were good and fries were okay.
Everything was fried and greasy and filling.
1 star for the service and 2 stars for the food.
Will probably not come back.

Awesome fish, the cajun breading is the closest thing to the south you’ll find in the east bay. The owner Jesso is super nice too. Looking forward to when they open up the new spot for music.

Good: Staff was nice, Clean dinning room
Bad: THE FOOD! and the price
Went here for a burger. So total Cheese Burger, Fries, a Can of Coke $ 11.75 (so I’m thinking sure I could go to Rudy’s diner, which I love, around the corner for the same price but this place is new, local, and it could be very good. I was wrong.
Burger came out with mayonnaise which I asked to be excluded but the waitress was very kind and apologetic about it and promised to fix ASAP.
While waiting for the burger I started eating the fries which were OK except the intense fishy taste from the fryer, and very over seasoned.
Then the burger, I bit into it and the whole burger through and through was a dark grey/​black color. It reminded me of the meat from a fast food place (dry, flavorless, and small)
I really wanted to like this place and there fish might be good.

I work nearby and wish I could love this place. Also I believe in supporting local businesses and this place just opened up a few weeks ago and the people seem nice. But I have to honestly say the hamburger I had ($ 8 with fries) was no better than Burger King.
Also the fries weren’t special either, and I was very disappointed that what they called «garlic fries» was just regular fries with some garlic salt sprinkled on them. Sorry, that is NOT garlic fries. Garlic fries means chopped fresh garlic and parsley sauteed in oil with the fries. Charging me .50 extra for 1 cent’s worth of garlic powder on the fries is a ripoff.
Also charging a higher price for cheddar cheese is bogus. (All the cheese should be priced the same). Of course most people will choose cheddar, so this is just price-​gouging.
I don’t eat fish, so maybe their fish is amazing, I don’t know. But I won’t be back for mediocre burgers and bogus fries. Sorry Jessos. I truly hope you have enough other customers to succeed.

Jesso’s food is fantastic!!! I worked for Jess years ago so I know first hand that everything is top quality and he keeps his kitchen A+ clean. The hushpuppies with Jesso’s sauce is my favorite! Chicken wings, yams, greens, mac n cheese, fried catfish, everything is just as tasty and fresh as if it were cooked in your own kitchen. I’m so very happy that Jesso’s has opened back up, definitely an Oakland staple and a go-​to spot when I’m jonesin for some soul food. Definitely check this place out!

Yay, Jessos is back!!! Formerly located across from the Air Lounge, Jessos was closed for some time (there used to be an outdoor patio and jazz on Friday nights… great on summer nights with friends). Now located on 14^th Avenue.
I couldn’t resist ordering the fried chicken which came with a large green salad (one of the choices given) and hush puppies. Everything was hot (freshly made) and delicious.
Although they are in the «just reopening» phase, I definitely will be going back because I am sure great things are in the works!

Update since last review: I have not been back since this incident. But I ordered the snapper, which was the special that day, and the pin bones had not been removed. NOT ONE! Which is dangerous and really is not especially hard to do, it should be a basic.
In the end, I got a meal I could not eat, and could not even give to my cat because of all the bones.
I hope this review does not come off as being too mean, but that the owners and cooks make an effort to serve food that will not end in a lawsuit.
I did have good experiences here, but one experience that really makes me hesitant to return.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
I wasn’t even that hungry when I came here… but I had to eat it all.
Yum.
I love fish ‘n chips. Never actually had catfish before, and I was pleasantly surprised. The hush puppies are good too!
Now. if only I could get an ice cold beer with those fish ‘n chips! :)

I just tried this place out this week. I live just a few blocks away from Jessos and thought I’d try a new local business. Support local!
I had the Salmon entrée. The dinner came with grilled salmon, yams, greens, and hush puppies. I added a small order of fried zucchini.
I really enjoyed the salmon, yams, and hush puppies. The style of greens were cooked to long, for my taste. But a friend told me that it’s traditional. I prefer my greens only slightly cooked. The fried zucchini, by time I walked it home, had lost it’s crisp fried goodness. They had steamed themselves and gotten soft. The flavor was great but I think fried food is best eaten right away.
I’d definitely return for the salmon, yams, and hus puppies though.

I am in grave danger and in need of an intervention. I never could have predicted this happening a block away from my workplace, but here it is none the less. One visit to Jessos today and I am already certain this place will be a problem for my wallet and my waistline. With fried catfish this good, I’m going to have to avoid 14^th Street altogether during lunch hours or I’ll be facing a return to weekly Weight Watchers meetings. I will try to pretend the unfortunate Korean food place is still there, but I don’t know if it will help. So if you pass by this location and happen to see me inside, kindly tap my shoulder, look me in the eye and ask, «are you sure you need to be doing this right now?». I’ll likely thank you for your concern, and try to summon the strength to exit the building. I am also entertaining any other suggestions you might have to get me through this most trying time, and I thank you in advance for the moral support.
«Thank you for being a friend…»

I got a thang for their chicken wangs! Um um good like mama used to make! Hushpuppies perfect & cajun fries were on point. The cute girl behind the counter even called me back to say I was overcharged a $ 1.00. Integrity from the start. I think I will try the farm-​raised cat, no no wait, maybe the prawns, ooh ooh the oysters… damn looks like some serious fat girl moments in my near future.

What’s good: Very friendly people. Savory hush puppies.
What’s not: Fish tastes fishy (frozen?). Yuck! Fries are soggy. Greens are way overdone and drowning in liquid. Yams are super-​ultra-​mega sweet. Takes them a million years get your order together, even though I’ve never seen it crowded.
I gave them three chances. Same experience every time.

Finally — a Sunday spot!
It’s hard to find a comforting bite of food in Downtown Oakland on a Sunday. Heck, sometimes even on weeknights. But I’ve been saved by the recently opened, Jessos, a cool two blocks away from mi casa.
You’ll find a clean and bright interior with picnic style seating (that I overheard) in the summer will spill out onto the side-​walk for quaint outdoor seating on sunny days. The menu is chock-​full of fried seafood delights and burgers which all come out cooked and seasoned surprisingly to perfection with generous portions to boot.
This may seem cheesy, but it just warms my heart to see humble, kind, honest and excited business owners take a leap for this desolate area of Downtown Oakland. It makes me proud to live here. I’ll most definitely be a regular within no time.

I had just finished a business meeting and on my walk back to the car we noticed a new eatery had just opened. We briefly looked at the menu posted on the glass and it sold us to try it. Who’d pass up on fried seafood? When you think fried, you think oily, but this was totally not the case.
We had an order of fried calamari, fried oysters, fried salmon and cole slaw. The batter is cornmeal based and seasoned nicely. The seafood was fresh, we chose to have the oysters cooked crispy vs. medium and they were amazing. I never had fried salmon, figured it would be dry but it wasn’t. The cole slaw was a good source of veggies.
I’ve never been to a fish-​n-​chips type place and it was definitely a good experience. Jesso, the owner is very welcoming. Apparently he’s been in the game for 20+ years and had just opened up shop 3 days ago. The place is clean, 4 tables and bar seating alongside one of the walls. It’s somewhat bare with a bunch of autographed Raiders pictures on the walls, I think I saw Patti Labelle and the Temptations on there also. The place is still a work in progress and Jesso had shared some of his ideas with us. I think it has a very bright future and I’m glad he’s taken the risk to bring some life back to this block of 14^th Street.
I think they’re opened for lunch and dinner. Street metered parking only and prices are reasonable for freshness. It’s not a pretty sight when one eats a bad oyster. I’ll be back again, there are so many things to try!

I walked by two days ago, as an artist was putting the finishing touches on the new sign outside Jessos. The next day, the restaurant was open. The owner Jess came and said hello to me at the door. The inside is very welcoming– gleaming picnic style tables, warm colors– and the menu offerings are pretty much everything you could hope for in in the fish-​n-​chips world.
I went with the farm-​raised catfish. I can’t say one thing I’d change about it. Perectly cooked, and perfect sauce.
Welcome to the neighborhood! Thanks for taking a chance on downtown Oakland!