Jack’s Wife Freda

We were seated pretty quickly for brunch on a Saturday afternoon. We were quoted a 30 – 40 min wait time, but I think it was only 20-​ish mins.
The eggs Benedict were quite small, but the orange blossom pancakes were big and fluffy. The pancakes sounded more interesting than they were. Pancakes with orange marmalade and honey, instead of syrup. Filling, but not amazing.

Staff were super nice and helpful, very attentive and kept filling up my water as soon as I finish — yes I drink lots of water. Food is very yummy, I love the orange pancakes. Just that it’s a bit crowded and noisy, people talk loudly.

Its a good cozy place to be for a brunch. Been there twice and thought of giving them a review.
1^st time I had their red snapper which was done great. Done properly and not charring it.
2^nd time I had their chicken burger. I was iffy between Kebab and the burger and went with the waitress suggestion for burger. She took good time to explain things on menu and was very courteous.
The drinks, ehh! They were good but the quantities are miniscule. I had 2 Manhattans just cause one wasnt enough to enjoy the sunny NYC. (my reason to give the place 4 stars)
Overall a very busy place, you gotta wait for like 10 – 30 mins to get a spot. Seating is congested…
I would go again to try their peri peri chicken as there is no Nandos in NYC (which sucks)
Recommended!

Jack’s Wife Freda is a smokin’ 10 compared to all the other basic brunches out there. Its Mediterranean dishes are on a league of their own. The fish a la plancha came with a delicious grilled salmon atop a bed of tasty kale salad. I’m not a kale person. I think kale is dumb. But this salad made a believer out of me. The real star here should be the chicken kebab – the moistest chicken kebab I’ve ever had. It teeters on the thin line between overly dry white meat and undercooked white meat – it’s perfect. The only time I ever get chicken breast this moist is if I sous vide it myself for three days, but this is even better because someone else is doing it for me and I get it in 20 mins. The couscous it comes with is so fluffy and flavorful, while the green sauce is spicy but SO DARN ADDICTIVE.
If breakfast food is more of your thing, no worries. The avocado toast and pretty much any dish featuring eggs – like the Eggs Benedict with Beets are solid here. Yes, the wait is long and it can get very crowded, but if you try going on off-​peak hours – I’ve never had a problem getting a table!

TASTY!!!
We came on a Friday at noon, and got seated immediately. Mindblown! Every time I’ve come to Jack’s Wife Freda (only on weekends), there’s been a crazy wait.
We got the Chicken kebab + couscous — light, healthy, and yummy. The chicken was a little dry, but so nicely seasoned/​flavored. And I loveddddddd the green sauce that it came with. I’m a sucker for avocados and there was definitely an avocado party going on in that sauce!
But my fave was the Madame Frida. Delicious melted cheese + duck prosciutto, topped with a perfectly overeasy egg. Plus a side salad to make me feel somewhat healthy. Super solid dish.
Great service. Food came out fast and glad that it did because we were SUPER hungry.
Next time, I NEED to get the famous Shakshuka. I think that will push the 4 stars to 5. Overall, solid meal. If you can, come on a weekday!

Quaint little place for brunch. We arrived at 12:30 prime brunch time on Sunday over Memorial Day wknd and the place was packed. We were aware of the horrendous waits but surprisingly there was no wait for two.
We had the Mediterranean breakfast, love the labneh cheese with pita bread although I wish the pita portions were bigger. Scrambled eggs were a-​okay and the salad was very refreshing. Also tried the Orange blossom pancakes which were stacked three high and also very tasty. Would come back I were in the area!

Love this place! This is the spot to be on a Sunday if you are looking for a beautiful and upbeat place. The energy is awesome and the food is just beyond delicious. I usually try and avoid breakfast foods like eggs due to having a sensitive stomach but I really felt great after eating my meal. Duck prosciutto is everything and the mint lemonade too! Love it.

Came here for dinner on a Saturday night around 7pm. The place is super tiny and tight, not exactly kid friendly. We were told it’d be a 15 to 20 minute wait for a table of three. Somehow we ended up waiting for over an hour. It wasn’t too bad since there were available seats at the bar for a pre-​dinner drink.
The service is average and so was the Peri Peri Chicken Wings we shared. The Prego Roll– Portuguese skirt steak sandwich with garlic butter– was better. The steak was juicy and flavorful, could have been a little more tender but still good. The garlic butter was light but rich enough to where you didn’t need sauce. The fries were perfectly salted, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The cantaloupe mimosa was a great compliment to the meal. Food pricing is average but drinks are expensive, about $ 10 give or take. I’d definitely come back to try their much raved about brunch but the dinner was just so-​so.

I’ve wanted to eat at one of the 2 locations because the menu was quite different and unusual. Not huge but varied enough.
If you are looking for an intimate and quiet spot, this isn’t your place. We were only 2 people and it was still hard to hear each other. The acoustics are quite rough on the ears!!! A whole
Roasted garlic and crustini was delicious. That was my attempt at a healthy contribution to my meal! Chicken wings were huge and had a very interesting sauce. I highly recommend those.
My friend had the curry hot pot which she said was great. Nice portion. With couscous. I didn’t taste because I don’t like curry.
My main was the skirt steak on a bun with garlic butter. It was very tasty but the steak was a bit chewy but I guess that’s the nature of flank steak.
Oh yea– nice clean lady’s room

Pro tip: if you come before 10am you will not wait.
Came in at 8:30am on a rainy Sunday and walked right in. The atmosphere is super cute, very nice and classic. They serve great (bottomless!) stump town coffee.
Service was great! So nice and they all wore what looked like anthropologie inspired outfits.
I ordered the shakshuka and did not disappoint, the challah toast was so good. However, Mediterranean breakfast maybe the way to go… Super good cucumber/​tomatoes salad and tastes like homemade pita.
Overall, a perfect place for brunch, not overly expensive either! Left paying under $ 20 for quite a nice brunch! Can’t wait to wake up early and come back again with my brunch babe :)

I felt so current and millennial sitting in this very happening spot for lunch. This place was bustling at 12:30 on a Friday and not with your typical business casual work crowd. Take note, they don’t seat you until your whole party is intact even if you’re just two people. The ambiance is that of a casual unpretentious neighborhood spot.
The menu is very brunch food heavy, with lots of dishes with eggs. When did eggs become a thing? I find myself ordering eggs all the time now, spending $$$$ on silly ol’ eggs. I do like how I can have brunch on a weekday.
So of course I ordered the Green Shakshuka, two eggs baked sunny side style, in a green salsa like sauce that had a little heat. The presentation was unique which was really the reason I ordered it. It came with a side of yummy challah toast, great for dipping. I was afraid i would still be hungry (which has been happening lately in these West Village restaurants) so I ordered a side of chopped salad. The salad included tomato, cucumber and mint which was refreshing. It would have been nice if a side salad was included.
Service was fairly quick and standard. There’s a kids’ menu so it’s nice to know they’re kid friendly.
Overall I would recommend for brunch and I’m intrigued enough with their food to come back.

Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon with brunch and booze. And of course, with a bunch of good buddies! Ever since the popular restaurant Jack’s Wife Freda started emerging on our Instagram feed, we wanted to try it out to see what the hype was all about. Before we made it to the original restaurant, they already opened a new one in West Village, which we ended up visiting. In the meantime, we did a little research and learned about the history and love story of Jack’s Wife Freda.
Simply hearing the name «Jack’s Wife Freda» captured my attention as it all started with Maya and Dean Jankelowitz, both co-​owners and a married couple, in SoHo. The two based the name on their grandparents and used them as their main inspiration for the restaurant. Not only do they serve a compilation of cuisines, including a mixture of Maya’s Israeli culture and Dean’s South African background, but they also incorporate Freda’s hospitality, warmth, and graciousness giving each customer «a memory of home, of soul, of being, of welcoming.»
Recently, family-​style is how we like it, so we ordered five dishes among the four of us and a cocktail each. Brunch never seems right without — at least — a drink. To start off, we ordered the insta-​famous dish that attracted us over: the green shakshuka! The two baked eggs submerged in a green shakshuka served with challah toast was very light and clean to the taste with a tad of spiciness. The freshness of the shakshuka sauce and the crisp toast created a nice harmony of softness and crispiness. The two eggs and grilled skirt steak were cooked exactly the way we wanted them. Eggs over easy and tender, medium steak. I loved eating the egg with the bread as the yolk oozed out onto my sourdough bread adding more flavors and textures to the entire bite!
Nowadays, avocado toast is like a must-​have item on every menu. Some are made traditional-​style while some — like this one at JWF — has a nice twist. The lightly toasted seeded bread is topped with the usual mashed avocado with a dash of homemade cherry tomato jam and pickled julienne carrot slaw and lastly sprinkled with zaatar. The tartness of the tomato jam and the freshness carrot slaw give the avo toast a refreshing, healthy taste. But, of course, we paired it with french fries. We can’t be healthy all the time — gotta take a break and treat yourself!
What I noticed that stood out in all the dishes was the consistency. Never overcooked or undercooked. The Peri-​Peri marinated chicken was grilled with fragrant spices retaining its juiciness and tenderness. The couscous was moist and fluffy while the chopped salad was fresh. Another light and healthy dish!
My favorite was probably the Madame Freda. It’s a popular brunch item, but JWF changes it up by opting for duck prosciutto, cheddar béchamel, Gruyère cheese to press into a sandwich with a sunny side up egg on top. Each bite was rich and compact with a delicious amount of flavors and textures.
As JWF serves breakfast all day, I would recommend to stay away from brunch hours on the weekend unless you don’t mind an hour-​long wait. Nonetheless, the ambiance was nothing but lively and upbeat, and the service was excellent and efficient despite of the constant flow of customers.

Came here for a Sunday brunch. Surprisingly the wait isn’t that long. The only caveat is that your whole party has to be here before you can be seated. Helpful hint– the people who work here may be wearing gym clothes… I couldn’t even distinguish who worked here. The greeter wore a full out adidas running gear. They made me feel a bit self conscious on what I was about to order but once I saw someone nibbling on some fried chicken next to me, my healthy doubts left. Here’s what I ordered:
— Duck bacon: Must get this! I hope this is healthier than pig bacon cause it sure does taste good. Plus not as much as fat (plus!). One order comes with 4 so order more for a crowd.
— Fried Chicken: Suppose to have a kick to it in terms of spice. Wasn’t fond of this as my first fried chicken in 5+ years. I tasted mostly breading.
— Jacks breakfast: Comes with steak, egg and toast. Pretty solid meal. Not disappointed or amazed.
— Nana Tea: Looked cool in pictures. Tastes like mint tea with fresh mint. I just learned of this when I googled it at the restaurant.
— Madame Freda: Okay, this open face sandwich is awesome. Melted cheese, toasty bread and topped with a runny sunny side egg. Sign me up! They throw in some arugula on the side to make you feel better.
— Orange Blossom Pancakes: Pass. The marmalade has all the flavor while the pancakes were plain janes.
Decent brunch spot. Probably won’t be back.

After two years of living in New York, my Instagram feed has steadily been taken over by various food bloggers and instagrammers who seem to have nothing else to do but take beautifully composed pictures of their avocado toasts. These same bloggers have taught me that brunch is perhaps the most important meal of the week, particularly in trendy restaurants (after all, did brunch really happen if you didn’t take a picture of it?).
Since I’m not interested in fighting the brunch crowd or waiting 3 hours for a table, I went to Jack’s Wife Freda on a gloriously rainy weekday and didn’t have to wait at all– I highly recommend this approach. The space on Carmine Street is super trendy, bright, and airy, although you’ll still sit at tiny tables precariously close to your neighbors.
As for the food? It follows the same aesthetics with simple ingredients and clean, bright flavors. I had the Mediterranean breakfast, with two poached eggs, labne, chopped salad, avocado and pita. Nothing out of this world, but still delicious; it was a decent portion, the eggs were cooked perfectly, and the tangy labne was particularly good. We also received a side of green hot sauce, which was incredibly complex; it started with a taste of bright herbs and cilantro and ended with fiery heat. The mint lemonade was also particularly refreshing; it’s not too sweet and uses sparkling water for a base, which was an unusual take.
And no, you don’t need a professional food stylist for your perfect instagrams; it really is that pretty. An avocado toast arrived at the table next to mine, and I was sorely tempted to order one of my own. Perhaps next time I’m in the area (although I’m still not willing to wait for brunch on weekends).

This is a haven for the hipster-​chic with its old-​school diner look.
I thought most of the food was delicious and definitely recommend it, but I do feel the hype led to it being a bit over rated.
The curry vegetable was delicious! It is super filling, I’d recommend splitting it with someone and adding an app or another lighter dish.
The mussels were also splendid, well cooked and seasoned.
The salmon was cooked well, maybe too well and the kale was incredibly salty. It’s a dish that I would expect more of from a restaurant.

Definitely skip the line on the weekend and try to come here on a weekday. All the basic b* brunch fanatics clamoring to come here for a cute Instagram photo will have you waiting for an hour plus on the weekends. And if I had to wait that long I would have been disappointed.
Although the menu here is not for me I can appreciate it’s simplicity. Definitely for a diner with a lighter palate.
I ordered the eggs Benedict. I substituted the salmon it’s usually served with for duck Bacon.
Potato pancake, was crispy, egg perfectly cooked, bacon was amazing, and the beet hollandaise was delicious and Interesting, made the whole dish.
Down side the dish is pretty small and comes with no side or anything, so if you are a big eater this is more like a before meal snack.
My friend ordered the Greek Salad and I ordered the house salad with chicken. Honestly I’d skip the salads, nothing special. Very simple, not really packing flavor. A bit underwhelming. However all the ingredients were so fresh like they were just picked from the garden which was nice.
Also had the soft boiled eggs. Cooked just right, and the soldiers they are served with are amazing. Soft airy toasted lightly. Perfect.
Overall I can see the allure of this cute cozy nook and the light fresh menu. I wouldn’t go back but definitely recommend it for someone who likes simplicity and comfort.
Side note it’s west village so expect to spend some money.

This is the second location of their hugely popular brunch restaurant and I thought this place was great. The staff was very friendly, the atmosphere was very lively or loud depending who you ask and I thought the food was great. I think my group of three lucked out on Sunday at noon since our party of three only waited 10 mins. The one thing that was kinda sucky was the seating, it was über tight, über tight like if you were expecting to breath you would be sorely disappointed. lol
The food:
Smoked Salmon and Avocado Toast– This is sold at this location only, the other location sells just plain avocado toast. I thought this dish was great, it’s basically a must order since it looks great and it tastes even better. I really thought everything worked from the greens, to the smoked salmon to the bread to the avocado, everything worked off of each other and created a flavor profile that really came together nicely. The second time I came, I tried it with a poached egg, it was a nice addition but I wouldn’t say it was a must.
Poached Eggs with Grilled tomato and Haloumi– I was really expecting this dish to blow me away since I love poached eggs, grilled tomatoes and melty cheese but the one here, while well thought out, could have been tweaked. I thought the flavors were great but the dish came off salty, the bread was way too crusty and hard but my biggest pet peeve was the poached egg, the poached egg didn’t have a runny yolk? WTF!!! How does a poached egg not have a runny yolk??? Was this supposed to be a bizarro poached egg? The yolk was basically soft boiled and when I cut into it, nothing oozed out. #sadness #whatatease
French Fries– I went through a couple of Unilocal reviews and people were raving about the fries, I thought they were just OK. They didn’t really leave an impression, I honestly forgot I ordered them until I saw a photo of a friend who posted a pic of them.

This spot is an excellent choice for weekend brunch! I was pretty amazed but how brightly lit it was. There is bar seating, table seating, and a long bench seating. I was greeted by a friendly waitress and was quoted a 20 minutes wait but it was actually shorter. My party of three was seated at the booth. Space was tight but do-​able.
I started with the Bottomless Drip Coffee which refills kept coming. I also got the Cantaloupe Mimosa to complete our brunch meal. It was sweet, refreshing, and they were quite generous with the champagne. I had a taste of the Mint Lemonade, it was fresh squeezed lemon juice that was sour enough to tingle my teeth with just a hint of minty. For my meal, I got the Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast. It was a smashed layer of fresh avocado on toast with a huge slice of smoked salmon topped with a field of greens and grape tomatoes. Everything was very fresh and flavors complement each other.
Atmosphere was lively but a bit loud with music playing in the background and different conversations going around. Food was served quickly and staff was very attentive to refilling our coffee. Definitely coming back!

Breakfast for five — 20 min wait with reservation — buckle up. Tried the min team with cinnamon while waiting — very warming and refreshing on a cold morning. ‘Simple’ diner décor. Staff was very helpful.
The duck bacon was simply amazing. Portuguese sandwich was flavorful (and probably heat stopping as well). Eggs benedict were over cooked. Not the four-​five star that I expected in NYC — but very solid place.
This place was a curiosity to visit due to its longevity, strong reviews and interesting dishes — but needs a bit of polish.

Only good things to say about this place. Lattes and cappuccinos are great. The Mediterranean Breakfast and Madame Freda are delicious and will leave you full. And if you’re into fries, the ones here are very good too.
Tip: it gets crowded and you have to wait for a table, so go at an off hour!