Jasmine Bistro

Jasmine Bistro is undeniably a total date night destination. While the food itself is what I'd consider middling-to-good, the experience of being waited on and having a wonderful dialogue with the chef/owner is marvelous.

First-off, I don't get why it was completely dead on a Friday evening, but the joint was pretty dead. Our dinner ran easily 2.5 hours, and we witnessed -perhaps- five tables during that time... and we closed the place down. If it's available, the window seat is super cute and let's you observe the street as a pleasant respite from gazing adoringly into the eyes of your dining companion.

Although the menu's already pretty extensive, offering a curious medley of French and Hungarian cuisine, we opted primarily for the specials of the day: a lobster bisque starter, the lamb dish with rice pilaf and veggies, and an on-menu standard chicken gulyas (ohhh, -that's- what goulash is!) on homemade gnocchi-like pasta.

We also asked for a recommendation on a nice wine (reasonably priced at around $30 for the bottle) and ended up with a delightfully bright NInety+ Cellars Astralian blend. Great by itself, better with meat.

In my opinion, the bisque won hands-down, with a great spicy kick and a lighter consistency than I'm used to. The flavors on both lamb and chicken dishes were so rich, but I found the lamb a smidge on the tough side and the chicken pretty dry.

And although we deliberated on whether or not to get dessert, by the time we'd finished our extra half-glasses of Malbec (on the house!), we were presented with two completely different sweets (yet charged for one). Way to save us the trouble of having to choose!

Regardless of the less-than-amazing proteins, dollar-for-dollar, the service, ambiance, and food are superb values. This isn't a dash-in-and-dash-out joint, but a memorable experience.

Extremely pleasant host and chef. Unfortunately, the food only partially stood up, and was a little disappointing.

$8 for a cold cherry soup (as an appetizer?...would have been much better as dessert, it was, in fact good) The menu said $5 for soup of the day....so I wasn't happy to see $8 on the bill.....

Spaetzle was extremely disappointing. flavorless and poorly shaped.... I thought it's supposed to be ball-like? (Served with chicken paprikas). The veggies with the beef could have been cooked by myself at home... just lots of pepper...

4 stars for the amazing bread and impeccable service, and variety on the menu. It is a memorable dining experience though, and I would be interested in coming back. We visited on 7/23/11, so obv it was memorable.

See my photos
Cherry soup, chicken paprikas (I think), beef stronganoff

This is my favorite place for a date.

It's small, with maybe 7 tables. The staff is all family and remember me every time (which is not as often as I would like).

The menu is Middle Eastern, French, and Hungarian. Yes, an odd mix, but it is all excellent. Personally, I go for the Hungarian.

The menu doesnt change much, if at all, but the specials are always fantastic.

For a small neighborhood place, it is just upscale enough to make you feel like you are Dining Out (note capitals).

An excellent wine list as well, and the prices are reasonable by the bottle. Not the usual 200% mark ups.

I love the Jasmine Bistro....if I had more time I'd go on and on.

Not sure why this restaurant has four stars. The restaurant owner/server was very friendly, other than that he just wanted to make an extra dollar. We asked him to recommend a bottle of wine and he brings out a bottle which was already opened before being served to us. I looked up the price of the recommended bottle and he charged us 9 times more than the selling price. There is no wine menu, the lamb kebob i ordered had no flavor and considering the food wasn't that great, the menu is well over priced. I can't speak for the rest of the menu, but the already opened and overpriced wine incident is a deal breaker. I do not recommend this restaurant for a date or a place to try French/Hungarian cuisine.

What can I say but "WOW"

This is my new favorite place.

My wife and I decided to go to Brighton for a change of pace to see if we could find something new. We happened on Jasmine Bistro at around 6pm on Friday night and we joked we were the early birds. We were greeted by the owner, Naz, and his son, Ray, and they told us we could sit anywhere. Were we in for an experience.....

Everything looked great on the menu and we asked Naz for guidance on what he suggested for dinner. He took great care in making recommendations based on our interests. I was interested in Veal and my wife asked for Lamb - so Naz suggested the Veal Paprikash and for my wife the Lamb pomegranate - we asked for an accompanying appetizer - he suggested a cucumber salad for me and an eggplant dish for my wife. No wine list here - Naz buys for pairings and what he sees fit. Then he suggested a bottle of Layer Cake Shiraz to compliment our meal.

Wow, wow and wow... the cucumber salad was refreshing and the Veal Paprikash was tender and oh so yummy. My wife was just as pleased with her dishes - the eggplant/paprika combo was delicious. The lamb was cooked to perfection (medium rare as requested).

For dessert we had a homemade cardamom ice cream with crushed pistachios and a homemade Belgian chocolate cake with two espressos. What an ending.

Finally, Naz and Ray have a terrific hospitality and make you feel as if you have entered their home and have been friends for years.

Perfect nite.

Why is this called Mediterranean and French? it is HUNGARIAN! And also quite weird. But, if you want some decent paprika soaked cuisine, you'll put up with it. I've eaten a lot of Hungarian food, and this is the real deal. That said, the atmosphere is a bit...odd. It is a fancy looking restaurant that has very high prices, but then the last time we were there the owner and his family sat around the large table by the kitchen and talked and watched TV. This was all about 6' from our table! And it is often quite empty, yet every place is set. I think if I lived nearby I'd go here all the time to the point that I was sitting around the big family watching TV, too. As it is, if you're not a family friend you may feel a little isolated. Just relax and enjoy the food, it is worth it.

This had to be one of the worst dining experiences I've had in Boston since I moved here two years ago.

I was set to meet someone here for dinner at 6. The restaurant is open most evenings from 5pm to 11pm, but when I arrived on a Thursday night at 5 minutes to 6, the place was locked up tight, dark and empty. Fortunately, my date was late, so I sat on the steps and waited a good 15 minutes.

I was about to leave, feeling stood up by my dinner AND my date at this point, when both the owners and my date arrived at once, from opposite directions. I should have taken this as a sign to just end the night, but against my better judgement, I went ahead with the evening.

We entered what seemed to be a time-stamped version of a kitsch restaurant out of the 1970s, with textured walls, heavy curtains in floral prints, musky tablecloths that were actually flattened pillow covers and the most uncomfortable chairs ever. The tablewear and glasswear was all mismatched, and the decorative plates and napkins seemed to have been in place for days.

Thank goodness I took a Zyrtec before I got there. The dust and mold would have ended the night before we could order...

This place carries water and wine. No tea, no soda, no beer or anything else. The menu is overpriced and very limited, with the same "specials" printed out and inserted clumsily into the hefty, oversized menus on the same paper as the actual menu cards. It's like they just ran out of space or extra folds and just threw it in haphazardly.

Apart from the lengthy wait and inattentive service, the bread basket was the best part. Lightly buttered with a hint of garlic, it was the star of the night.

My shrimp curry was incredibly unimpressive. The shrimp were rubber and tasteless while the curry was far too oily and runny. My date's lamb curry was a bit on the chewy, gamy side as well, and I've had fresh lamb before. This stuff was either old or just really, really cheap. The rice was the best part of both dishes, with a nice, slightly-sticky texture and just the right portion to make up for most of the slick that comprised the curry.

Overall, our own company was the best treat of the evening. There were no other guests in the three hours we were there, and due to the lack of music in the restaurant for most of our conversation, I'm sure the owner and his wife got quite the earful of our colorful banter. Oh, and by the way, if your chef is sick, send him home. I don't want to listen to him hawking up loogies in the kitchen throughout my meal. Totally disgusting.

While I will definitely try a second date with that guy, I will not be visiting Jasmine Bistro ever again.

One of the most unique and special dining experiences I've ever had anywhere. (And all thanks to Yelp! Hooray!)

My mom and dad were here last weekend, and my dad and I wanted to take my mom out somewhere nice for Mother's Day. My dad reccommended the Cafe Budapest, but when I yelped it, I saw it was closed but the chef had opened his own place!

So, we reserved a table and came here on a Saturday night. The Chef was our waiter, giving us all the details of the specials, his cooking process, and helping us pair our dinner with the perfect wine. As someone who's learning how to cook, it was a wonderful chance for me to get a lesson in flavor mix-ology. Educational and delicious!

The menu itself is a combination of Hungarian, French, and Middle-Eastern cuisine, each with its own section of the menu. The descriptions of the food are quite detailed. Each item we ordered was skillfully prepared with great attention to detail.

We began with a cucumber salad; gently sweet-pickled cucumber slices with a sour cream and paprika garnish. The tastes perfectly balanced each other in this simple dish.

We followed with the soup of the day; a corn and shrimp bisque that was so good we sopped the bowl clean with our table's complimentary garlic bread.

Our entrees continued the winning streak. I ordered a lamb special with sweet fig and pear garnish. My dad ordered the chicken paprikas on soft spetzel noodles. My mom picked the outstanding salmon filet special.

And we had room for desert! We shared a FANTASTIC marscapone/chocolate mousse and kulfi (cardamon-flavored) ice cream.

Basically, you're getting five-star dining in an intimate and casual setting. It's an incredible meal and incredible experience. This place is such a blessing for Brighton and is worth the trip from anywhere in the Boston Metro area.

I live in the Brighton area and my wife and I wanted to check out this small and quaint restaurant. However our experience was not all great. We were impressed with the atmosphere of the place but that's where the compliments end.

First the waiter kept pushing us to buy an alcoholic beverage. But when we asked to see their wine list they could not provide one.

Then the food came out and it looked good but tasted horrible. My wife ordered the shrimp curry and I ordered the steak cubes. The shrimp tasted like it was sitting there for a long time. It had a strong gamy taste and smell. I tasted it and spit it right out. They were kind enough to make another dish but the same result occurred. I then tried the steak cubes which I ordered medium rare. The steak then came out close to well done and was tough to chew. The vegetables that came with the dish looked like it came right out of a green giant can. Not too creative there. The price for entrees starts around $13 and you don't get very big portions. Thank goodness because I could not stomach eating a full plate of their food.

I'm really not sure how this restaurant received so many positive reviews because if this website allowed zero stars then this is what this restaurant would receive.

I live down the street from this Jasmine Bistro. It's *NOT* Hungarian food at all! Just because you add paprika to cucumbers does *NOT* equate to Hungarian food! I have a Romanian friend who's lived in Budapest for many years, and she told me that Jasmine Bistro's food is *NOT* authentic at all.

Moreover, the owner, although he's polite, doesn't know anything about the Hungarian language or that much of the culture. The owner is from Pakistan who disparages Indians to us. His food is more Indian/Pakistani than Hungarian. What kind of gimmick is this?