Jo Jo’s

So this is like this big food court type setup, with different counters to order from, and different bars. The wrrap around balcony is great for a) being outside and b) people watchihng in the malls down below.
This place had such a food vibe that we ate a late lunch and cocktails here then returned to meet up with friends for a late dinner and more drinks later in the evening.
Not cheap, not over-​priced. Coming from Perth, this was a hit.

Well you can tell that Stefan the guy that owns those hair salons owns this place. Not just from his massive picture, but there are some similar décor features. The interior is a bit tacky and confusing. The images (especially the one of Albury Hepburn) have not been purchased properly as they are extremely pixelated adding to the tackiness.
All that said, there is a great selection of food and drinks to choose from and at a reasonable price. Its a big area and you can sit inside or outside on the balcony looking over Queen or Albert Streets. Great for people watching.
Though I didn’t really like the interior furnishings, everyone enjoyed their meal. If you want a place to sit, have a nice meal and conversation with out breaking the bank or screaming at each other, this is a good start.
I am sure it would have gotten a lot rowdier later.

What can I say… Jo Jo’s sure ain’t what it used to be.
When I first moved to Brisbane many years ago this is one of the first places I was taken. Loved it. $ 30 for a massive steak that barely fit on the plate, a side of chips and a choice of three salads. And no, I don’t mean you choose one from three salads, I mean they had a huge range of salads and you got three with your meal. Huzzah!
Now the steak is $ 30, did not look remotely like the 400 grams it was meant to be, and all you get is a side of chips. In their defence, the chips appeared to be from fresh potatoes, not frozen chips.
Over all, it’s got a tacky feel I love. The staff are friendly and helpful, and it’s great to come with fussy eaters or a big group because you just order your own meal and pay, so no worries on split bills, and they have food from the grill, pizza, pasta, and asian meals. Everyone will find something they’ll enjoy.
They also have a full bar, and if you’re lucky you’ll even run into Stefan.
I wish I was giving it a 5, but it’s fallen so far, and if I was just basing it on the food I’d probably have dipped below 3 stars.

Lunch special was good. $ 10 ham, mushrooms and olives pizza does its job.
There is a few more choice for lunch specials. The atmosphere was good, great location, friendly staff.
On the other hand, the alcohol is a little bit pricey, but the restaurant is located in the middle of the CBD so that’s what come with the good location.

Nice food, Nice People, Nice place. My Family and I got a seat on the balcony with have us a pretty nice view of Queens Street. ½ of the food was an OK price but the other half was crazy $ 20-​$ 28. I had a Hawaiian Pizza for $ 17 and it was ok. Filled me up and defiantly wasn’t a personal pan Pizza. My Dad ordered some XXXX Beer but the tap was broken. Got a mango smoothie and that was amazing but not for $ 9. All in all it was a nice place to finish up our day shopping in Brisbane.

It was okay but I don’t know if I’ll go again.
Wait time for a table was about 20 minutes then wait for food was even longer. I got prawn fried rice and I hated that they leave the shells in, and only gave like 5 prawns.
Alcohol is a fair price but bartenders are probably the worst I’ve ever been served by. No smiles, completely dead. Looks like they hate their job or just hate people in general.

It looked like things would work out well. As a fluke, we arrived at Jo Jos to have dinner. We had time to kill waiting for our daughter. I ordered at the counter for the family. We are still waiting for two items almost an hour later. In the end they refunded the two items and made sure they eventually arrived.

Probably unfair to write a review from what was a near black-​out drunk but from the hazy snapshot memories it was fantastic. If this was indeed the place we ate.
I’d be drinking since 2 p.m. during an interview with the… Brisbane Times? That segued into a very awkward radio appearance with some drive-​time radio people that went slowly down-​hill with each segment, finally dying with an «back-​alley abortion on the ferris wheel» reference. It seemed funny at the time but nobody talked to me afterwards.
Two bars were involved between radio and Jo Jo’s. They sucked but Jo Jo’s — from the best of my recollection — was beautiful.
It was some sort of food court but with high-​caliber cuisine.
We fucked up the the whole «take the number to your table» thing but somehow eventually got the food despite our condition. I was splitting the steak and the soft-​shell crab with Hennigan. The crab was outrageously good so I saved the most of it for last.
We were seated above the Queen Street Mall with some garbage street performer below us stealing my attention so by the time I’d finished the steak, I realized Brian fucking Hennigan had eaten my fucking crab off my plate.
You think because it’s busy I wont make him go order more crab? Not a fucking chance. He has a history of this type of behavior. Fuck that guy. Go get another order of crab, you shit-​weasel.
He did and it was incredible. They had some 5 dollar wine that was fantastic as well. I woke up at 430 a.m. thinking I might still be drunk from it. Rather than guessing, I insured I was still drunk by making morning cocktails.
I just hope I am reviewing the right place because I am going back for more of the same. If I can find it.

Meh! That’s all I can really say about this place
My friend and I decided to come here for lunch around 11.30 to catch up with each other and thought that we should give Jo Jo’s a try. When you first get there, your greeted by a really friendly hostess who took us to our tables and gave us our menu’s. When your ready you go up to the counter and place your order. The lady who was working behind the counter was also pretty friendly as well.
We both decided to order two pizzas and when they came out we were shocked at how absolutely huge they were. They would of been good if was between a few people but for one person, it was FAR too much! Plus I found wait staff weren’t very enthusiastic about their job and looked like they didn’t want to be there which I can’t blame them.
I don’t plan on ever coming back again

Giving it the label of a ‘Brisbane Institution’ doesn’t make it any good.
We were in the city at around 11:30 this morning and thought we would give Jo Jo’s a try. The hostess was really cute and friendly, we were off to a good start.
On first impression the restaurant was really white and tacky, there’s lot’s of tables both outside and inside and they definitely cater to bigger groups. You’re given a menu and when you are ready you order at the counter. The waitstaff were pretty unenthused to be at work which was a shame.
The meals are pretty expensive $ 19 – 35 and there’s so many options that you can pretty much expect that they’re not going to be good at any of them. We ordered two pizzas and they were absolutely huge, which is good if you’re splitting the cost between a few people but for one person it was just one giant mess.
I wouldn’t bother coming back

I was very disappointed by this place. The menu seemed very large and broad, which should have been a sign to not go. We went with friends and got steak, chicken sandwich and pasta. The food was disappointing.
We also ordered a mojito jug which was just okay. Tourist trap, do not recommend.

Bread dips not bad but the caramelised onion on prosciutto pizza makes no sense to me. Onion overpowers everything. The dough is tough and seems precooked and freezed. A step behind in comparison to last time I’ve been here. Dreadful.

I hate to say it, but I was overly disappointed by Jojo’s. Terrible service, average meals. The set up is a little bit strange as well, overwhelmingly white, one word: tacky. I had a Pad-​Thai, it was nice, but there was nothing spectacular about anything.
If you need to pop in somewhere to meet up with friends, this might be good once off place where you can nab a cheap beer (about $ 5).

After doing my bridge climb at Story Bridge, my Auntie and I were getting very hungry. Before I had arrived in Australia, I wanted to visit Queen Street Mall which is very close to where I had climbed. We were going to meet with her son and have lunch at Jo Jo’s Restaurant in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall.
When you walk through the life of Queen Street Mall, don’t forget to look up. You’ll find some restaurants on the second floor. Jo Jo’s is located on the second floor and is very big! When you take the escalator up, you’ll think right away that Jo Jo’s is a food court. Actually, its a very stylish restaurant. You are seated, but you order your food at the counter with your table number. We were seated near the balcony with a wonderful view of Queen Street Mall and all the people running from the rain.
Since we were having lunch on a Thursday, there were some great lunch specials that Jo Jo’s offer. Of course, I had to take a picture with the lunch special. I saw one dish that already caught my eye. I don’t remember what my relatives ordered (Of course, because I think of myself… lol). I saw the Fettuccine Carbonara ($ 20 AUD). While I was prepping my taste buds, I didn’t notice that it came with either wine or beer. Oh my… I didn’t realize I was going to drink more often. So, I got the house beer… Pure Blonde!
It was extremely busy, but at the same time, the vibe was very settling. I had a great feeling from this place and I wish we had couple places like this in Los Angeles. Not full-​service, but like a food-​court type restaurant, but owned by the same owner. We waited for about 15 minutes, but the conversation with the family made time fly by fast. The view of the other businesses as well as the other guests made the restaurant a very unique place to eat.
When the food came, I saw greatness in my Fettuccine Carbonara. It was B-​E-​A-​UTIFUL! Yeah, I had to take a photo of it. It was delicious creamy. The shaved vegetables added some crisp to the meal. It had some bacon and mushroom that made the meal beyond orgasmic. Every slurp of the fettuccine was one step to an end to the meal. I was sad when the meal ended. Perhaps the beer was the main factor of why I was sad. Yeah, Sad Drunk… lol!
Jo Jo’s caught me by surprise. Actually, my Auntie caught me by surprise by taking me here. I loved that I researched Queen Street Mall, but family took it further by having lunch here. I love this place and wish this place many more wonderful memories. If I had more time, I’d visit more often and try every dish that they had to offer… that comes with beer.
You think I write too much? Well, you can call me a Unilocal-​O-​Holic!

My friends and I had dinner at Jo Jo’s and ordered Quiche of the day, Thai fried rice and more. All of them were tasty and I liked the quiche was served with 3 different salads.
The prices are a bit expensive for uni students and the place is quite noisy though.

Stars for outdoor veranda seating, and easy location. Good for afternoon drink and bite to eat. The food itself tastes as expected.
Looses for no table service (so you feel like someone has to stay at your table while others go order), and menu is pretty average — there’s variety but it’s all same same that you could get anywhere.
Prices are comparable to other places in CBD, in other words not great value but not offensive.

I always like Jojo’s for many reason:
— perfect location in the middle of city and its not just next to the road like other restaurants and café
— it has the huge variety of food. It’s perfect place to bring my family or friends. Everybody can have any food they want. It has Asian, Italian, pizza, steak, fish, dessert, wine, cocktails, you named it.
— The most important thing is decent price for big size.
My favorite:
BBQ chicken with chips
Seafood Fried rice
Fettuccini seafood marinara
Pad Thai noodle
Chicken Cesar salad
Basil chili stir fried
Ice tea peach
Black Forest cake
Triple choco

Always like Jojo’s. I’ve been coming here for years, and although the menu rarely changes, they offer a good menu range with 3 kitchens — Mediterranean, Thai and the Grill. Service is always usually good — table service for drinks, counter service to order — and meals are delivered quite quickly. Meals are priced averagely, and decent portion sizes. Never yet sent back a meal yet in the many years I’ve been going to Jojo’s.
It’s definitely a Brisbane institution :)

Having found out that this joint was run by the (in)famous hairdresser Stefan I must say that I was a little put off. (He owns a hot pink speedboat and an old expo 88 symbol the sky needle)
I steadily recovered when I discovered that there was a big ass caramel tart for me to consume helped nurse the score back up to an A-​OK status.
After waddling out of the place after scoffing the tart and a huge pot of tea to myself I thought «geez that Stefan is a bit of an alright». LOL

So, I’m still working on my list of «tacky things to do in Brisbane», and I’ve just made a new entry. Jo Jo’s! I can’t believe it had been overlooked for this long. Jo Jo’s is one of Brisbane’s great tacky restaurants. I should add a disclaimer: I LOVE all things tacky, and so I want you to understand that this review is written in fondness.
Let’s start at the beginning. Jo Jo’s began in the 1980’s as a place for Stefan’s hairdressers to eat. That’s right. Not only does Stefan own the Needle (located in South Brisbane) and a huge chain of hair salons; he is also responsible for Jo Jo’s. It’s not hard to guess that Stefan in some way is associated with Jo Jo’s. The first clue is the neon rainbow logo for Jo Jo’s on Queen Street Mall. The second, harder to miss sign is the big photo of Stefan’s mug at the bottom of the escalators that welcomes you to the restaurant.
If you go up the escalators, you’ll pass the foyer, yes, foyer, and you’ll enter into a fake marble open space dining establishment. It looks something like a sort of upmarket food court. When you’re settled in at one of the tables, either on the verandah or inside, you have the option to choose from four menus: breakfast (Saturday and Sunday only), grill, oriental, or mediterranean. Do you see, more of this ‘food court’ idea coming through? The food, suprisingly isn’t bad. You’ve got your more sophisticated pub food choices (go the Wagyu rib fillet for $ 39), or you can choose to be a little fancy, and go for something like the Prawn Gnocchi ($ 25). My personal favourite is the Moreton Bay Bug Fettucini for $ 26.
Jo Jo’s gets the thumbs up because it meshes food court with some version of fine dining in a really interesting way. The food is a bit on the expensive side, but it’s good, and the servings are large. They do functions and I’ve been to some birthday lunches here which have been great, even though when I received the invitations, I balked. Do come here at least once and give it a shot. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.