Jo's Modern Thai

Reviews

• JP

  Joan Pagaduan

  1 day ago
  3.0
  Service is awesome. Flavors are great but everything is too salty esp the pork jowl...and I'm southeast Asian. We needed more vinegar or lime on the side.
• HH

  Hailey Hadley

  Dec 25, 2025
  3.0
  Quite honestly one of the most miserable Christmas Eve dinners I've ever had in my life. The place was quite well reviewed and was actually completely packed the night we went, we had to get a reservation to get a table. I had really high hopes for the place as everything down to the bathrooms was beautiful, but the restaurant itself is lacking management. Not once did I see anyone but the two servers and single bartender on the floor. For a Christmas Eve dinner, that's crazy. I really feel for the staff as the stress in the air was palpable. I saw the servers running around from table to table, half the time they were offering refunds and the other half they spent apologizing for mistakes that weren't theirs. First off we sat at our table for about 15 minutes before anyone came to check on us after we were seated and then another 10 minutes for someone to come and take our order. After our orders were taken my boyfriend's food came out 20 minutes before mine to the point where his noodles and lobster tail were cold and congealed because he didn't want to be rude and eat without me, and to be frank I'm glad he didn't because he would have finished by the time I got my food had he started eating when he got his. Somehow my food arrived only just warm, very far from hot or steaming. By the time I got my food the night was closing and the atmosphere was winding down and most everyone had left and the servers were clearly cleaning up it was very awkward and quite sad. I'm not sure why the Chef sent out one dish for a table of two so far before the second dish was ready. I felt very bad for the server as this clearly stressed her but there wasnt much she could do. Of course we still tipped her because it wasn't her fault and she was quite pleasant (shorter woman with a blond pixi cut) but the kitchen should be aware the issues like this normaly impact the servers. Overall I'd never come back here. I feel like something has recently changed as most reviews for this place are very good but for a Christmas Eve dinner, I've never seen a more unorganized restaurant.
• SF

  Samar Fouda

  Dec 7, 2025
  3.0
  This was an interesting experience that started with a rude waitress/hostess who literally interrupted me with a loud voice stating “i am not trying to be rude” while having an intense stare (this is in the context of seating confusion inside vs. patio). We asked for another server just because we wanted to get on with the night, however she again showed up with the drinks. Did have a conversation with the manager, who was very kind in explaining why she brought the drinks. Also offered an apology and a discount which was nice of him. Otherwise, the food is good. Atmosphere was not great just because how cold the patio was. I am sharing this here so expectations are set as to what this restaurant could be like.
• PK

  Prashant Kumar

  Nov 30, 2025
  2.0
  I chose this restaurant as it's part of the saffire reserve dining experience. Booked it for Sunday at 2pm. We were delayed by 10 mins. Got a call from restaurant at 1:50 that they close at 2:30 and last order is 2:15. (Why did they take reservation at 2 then?). There is no TomYum soup in the menu. More than half of the dishes from the menu is not available, and they are extremely inflexible with the additions/substitutions. Anyway, we ordered chicken wings, egg fried rice and another item similar to pad Thai over the phone for dine-in. Called again to add an item and they mentioned that it's made to-go!! Cleared the confusion with them that we would dine-in. Parking is not an issue as there is street parking. The restaurant was empty with just us and a couple of guys by the bar. We asked for 8/10 spice level but that gave chilli in the side and made the food bland. Taste is 4/10. Asked for drinks, and even when they claim a full bar, there is no mojito or Moscow mule. Anyway, we settled for wine. The waitress was very rude, brought the check while we were still eating. Said thank you and "have a nice day" while we had not finished yet and it was just 2:30pm I never had such bad experience in any restaurant so far. Just avoid this place. I am wondering that this premium experience of chase choices are either extremely expensive place or expensive and bad places. I wonder how they have 4.7 rating.
• GF

  Gabriela Fischer

  Nov 27, 2025
  3.0
  I live in the Millsmont neighborhood and had heard great things about Jo's so we finally went to try it tonight. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed. They were understaffed but the service was actually pretty good. The food; however, was so disappointing. We ordered the Lobster pad thai, the charcoal clay pot and jo's famous wings as an appetizer. I think the wings were the only thing i actually enjoyed. The pad thai was OK, but I've tried much better pad thais in other thai restaurants in the area. The dish that was almost not edible was the clay pot. The cook had put so much fish sauce that all you could taste was the fish sauce. All dishes were on the saltier side. I really wanted to like this restaurant, but there are much better alternatives in Oakland, and less pricey. I will not be going back.

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