Pele's Wood Fire - Park and King

[ChriswUfGator]

Chris, After reading your post i can only think: "You don't know what the **** you are talking about."

I have traveled all over this counrty, dined out in every major city, and
never in my life (i'm 48) have I ever gone to urban spoon  to decide where I was going to go for dinner.

I do not know, nor do most people, who the reviewers are for the T U. I guess you do, but 99% of us don't. You describe them as though they are as familiar as Tiger Woods.

Go there this Friday or Saturday night, stand on the bar and shout to the packed crowd, "Didn't you guys check this place out on UrbanSpoon first? What the hell are you doing here?" After they all go back to having a good time, enjoying their food and beverage, you can leave, and just stay the hell away. Try Al's Pizza, right down the street. After all it's been voted Best Pizza in Jax for the past 10 years by Folio Weekly. That out to be good for something.

Well since you've mentioned it, I've eaten at Al's along with everyone else at one time or another. While it is generic, it's still 100X better than anything at Pele's. And I say that with a straight face, and I don't even like Al's. As to the rest of your post, thanks for the double-dose of pretentious bullshit with my morning coffee. It was certainly entertaining, although it does nothing to advance your point, if you even have one.

[tufsu1]

really Chris....100x better than ANYTHING at Pele's?

[ChriswUfGator]

Chris, After reading your post i can only think: "You don't know what the **** you are talking about."

I have traveled all over this counrty, dined out in every major city, and
never in my life (i'm 48) have I ever gone to urban spoon  to decide where I was going to go for dinner.

I do not know, nor do most people, who the reviewers are for the T U. I guess you do, but 99% of us don't. You describe them as though they are as familiar as Tiger Woods.

Go there this Friday or Saturday night, stand on the bar and shout to the packed crowd, "Didn't you guys check this place out on UrbanSpoon first? What the hell are you doing here?" After they all go back to having a good time, enjoying their food and beverage, you can leave, and just stay the hell away. Try Al's Pizza, right down the street. After all it's been voted Best Pizza in Jax for the past 10 years by Folio Weekly. That out to be good for something.

Oh, and speaking of not knowing WTF you're talking about (by which of course I mean you), it's truly a herculean task indeed to figure out who the TU's food reviewers are, isn't it;

https://www.facebook.com/jaxdiningnews

You don't really believe anyone with a restaurant doesn't know this, do you? I thank you again, I appreciate the side order of obnoxious idiocy, it complements your main serving of pretentious B.S. very nicely, the overall palette trends towards obvious bias with undertones of insecurity and overcompensation. (Did you like how I made that sound like a dining review? Pretty snazzy I thought) 

[ChriswUfGator]

really Chris....100x better than ANYTHING at Pele's?

Better than shoe-leather prime rib? Check.

Better than pizza with spots that are burnt to charcoal and other spots with raw dough? Check.

Better service? Check. (And the service at Al's isn't even that good.)

Lack of lectures to any customer who has the nerve to point out their food is burnt/cold/f*cked up that "clearly you know nothing about (insert name of dish)...". Check.

Yeah, I'd have to say 100X may have been an understatement.

[tufsu1]

so they have better beer at Al's too?

[bill]

Al's usually has what they say they have in stock

[coredumped]

I agree, UrbanSpoon is probably the best way to get an idea of the type of restaurant you're going to. There are some exceptions, but the more reviews there are, the more likely the rating is to be accurate. Over 100 reviews and 50% is very bad for urban spoon.
I'm still going to give them a shot though.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I may be critical of Pele's for many things, but there are two things that I have ZERO issue with:  Price & Beer Selection.

When you carry as many as they do, you can't keep a whole bunch of extra kegs unless you have a 10K sqft building with designated, refrigerated keg storage.....  (hmmmmm.... I digress.  Another topic, another time    )and they're only probably carrying 1/2 & 1/4 barrels of a lot of the craft beers they pour, and when you go on a run of a certain beer, they empty quickly and they'll get them restocked when they can.  I have no problem with that.  I, personally, would rather them be out of Jai Alai than be sitting on the same skunked keg for 3-4 months.

As stated previously, I've been for lunch a couple of times and have no problem with their pricing, and their portions are reasonable.  When / If I go for dinner, I'll see what's up then.  Most places I go, I end up carrying food home because I had too much on my plate, so I'm happy being able to eat what's served and feeling full without feeling like I just left Thanksgiving dinner.

See, MM, I'm critical, but fair.

[DavidWilliams]

It's obvious by the posts here that this place is a disaster and doomed to fail. The building should be returned to what it was originally purposed for: a drug store. I am thinking CVS would work.

OK, back to reality. My wife and daughter have been once for lunch and will probably return. The food was pretty good and reasonable for lunch. The server did a good job of entertaining my 9-year old and letting her know they would make most anything she might like. No issues with service. My only mild complaint was that the term "chef" was being hurled (we sat near the kitchen) fast and furious. It was like a bad Food Network episode. Surely, not 6 of the 8 persons in that kitchen were true chefs 

[JaxByDefault]

So we just went and tried it for the first time and I have mixed feelings. Obviously, it's great to see a restaurant in the spot and the place looks nice. I appreciate the wood fired oven, and appreciate a place taking a chance on fresh prepared food (too much a rarity here in JAX). Unlike others, I'm not turned off by a few dark spots on my crust as I appreciate that temps vary within wood fire ovens. I appreciate the often hit, but sometimes miss, of crafting above the consistent mediocrity of chains. Our server was lovely and attentive--even later when problems arose, she worried we wouldn't come back.  (The problems weren't her fault. We paid the whole tab and tipped her well.)

That said, a few things really tarnished the experience. First, the pizza was bland. It wasn't the fault of the oven, but the fault of the tomato sauce. I appreciate a place not over-salting, but I expect some flavor notes (robust olive oil, pungent basil, a slight tang in mozzarella, etc.) on a margarita pizza. Spouse's pasta salad was unimpressive. Our cheese and charcuterie appetizer seemed like the meats were pulled straight from packaging pre-sliced--not terribly impressive overall.

I had a serviceable gin and tonic, spouse had a pint of 1901. OK well; prices within range for JAX but certainly on the higher end of that range. Then I ordered a Compass Box Spice Tree with a splash of water. $22 -- no warning until the bill. No kidding. This is a $60-$70 bottle of scotch. I know this because I keep a pretty substantial collection of Compass Box in my home bar. I've worked in food service--in places that served alcohol--I've even been in charge of pricing for a bar. Even allowing for a 150%-200% mark up, at 14-17 servings per bottle, you're looking at around $12-$15. That price was beyond the pale for that whisky. I don't know if they are trying to market it as super premium to unsuspecting customers, or pricing it as if only three people would ever drink out of the bottle (in that case, don't stock it), but either way, that math isn't right.

Don't even get me started that the drink arrived FULL of ice (even on rocks should be only 2-3 cubes) and that the well tap was used for the added water instead of spring or distilled. Plastic straw bobbing in the glass. If they're going to upmarket their whisky, they should at least serve it nicely.

So...nice location, glad they're taking a chance on some cool ideas; pricing is all over the place, food is not quite there. If they reign in the dinner menu, get their pricing more consistent with their product, concentrate on things that rely on the oven, and pay attention to seasoning, the restaurant could improve dramatically.

[ben says]

That said, a few things really tarnished the experience. First, the pizza was bland. It wasn't the fault of the oven, but the fault of the tomato sauce. I appreciate a place not over-salting, but I expect some flavor notes (robust olive oil, pungent basil, a slight tang in mozzarella, etc.) on a margarita pizza. Spouse's pasta salad was unimpressive. Our cheese and charcuterie appetizer seemed like the meats were pulled straight from packaging pre-sliced--not terribly impressive overall.

Amen...

My problem wasn't with the blackened crust, which a lot of people seem to dislike. My problem is 100% with the bland flavors and watery sauce. The weirdest part is...their sauce at RAM did not taste like that--at all. Nor was their mozzarella so weak. Odd.

[Dog Walker]

Sometimes it's really hard to scale up a business.  From RAM to Pele's at Park and King is a huge jump.

I'm afraid the same thing will happen to Kickback's; that they will get to big and the great experience will go away.

[mtraininjax]

Hey, even Orsay was a trainwreck when Jeffrey and Erica opened it up way back when. Give the owners time to get the things right they can and just be patient with them. Don't treat them like lepers or we will have a repeat of Jackson's.

[cline]

Speaking of Jackson's.  Does anyone know what the time frame is for the opening of the new Taco place in that spot?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Hey, even Orsay was a trainwreck when Jeffrey and Erica opened it up way back when.

Crush?

2 Enitrely different places and people.