Jou Jou

My new favourite haunt near Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. On the healthy side excellent chopped salads, great sandwiches, wraps, and paninis. On the less healthy side a range of pastries to die for.
Sink into a Mississippi Mud Pie and wash it down with a macchiato, or try a baklava oozing honey.
Try the place, you’ll enjoy it but watch out for the rush hour lines. They move efficiently but can be long. Testimony to both the quality and the price.

I’ve been going to Jou Jou for years, more out of necessity than out of choice, since it’s one of the few places offering salads near the Presbyterian hospital. So, over the years I must have bought hundreds of sandwiches and hundreds of salads there, and given them a good source of income.
Still, for some reason they decided to treat me like dirt during my last visit.
They overcharged my salad, arguing that a salad topping that I had been eating for years was subject to an additional fee. Even if that were true, they could have warned me in advance. At the time the place was empty, and there was all the time of the world to just let me know about the surcharge.
After this they then refused to give me the usual piece of bread, which I had been getting also for years with my salad. The argument was that bread is not part of the salad, and sometimes they give it out for free at their own discretion, but that day they didn’t have any. I repeat, a sandwich place supposedly didn’t have any bread in the middle of a day in the middle of the week… I could have gotten a scone instead, but I would have had to pay $ 2.25.
On top of having successfully tricked me into paying $ 9.75 for a salad with a $ 1 surcharge for olives, trying to convince me that the piece of bread I had been getting for years had always been some sort of kind gift bestowed upon me out of compassion seemed way out of line.
So, Jou Jou, if what you do with customers who have been spending their money at your establishment continually for years and years is to trick them into paying for supplements, be disrespectfully passive-​aggressive about the stale bread you give or don’t give out with your salads, and treat them like crap, well, then I don’t want to be your customer anymore.
You probably don’t care, Jou Jou. It’s only one customer. But it’s also all my colleagues and friends around the area whom I will be able to convince that you’re not very considerate to people, and you don’t deserve the neighborhood’s support. So, maybe losing one, two, three clients does not matter… Until it does.

Good for a quick bite to eat but to be honest, their wraps and sandwiches are tiny and cost way too much. But convenience is key up in Washington Heights when we are running to and from class so this is definitely a good, consistent option with yummy sandwiches that won’t disappoint. They try to rush you out of there and tend to yell but it’s super small so makes sense that they want customers in and out of there quickly.
Important: CASH ONLY!

I’m a huge fan of Jou Jou. A hidden gem for delicious, well crafted sandwiches.
My absolute favorite is the caprese sandwich (I add chicken, extra $ 2) on focaccia bread with an almond paste. Delicious.
Another favorite is the grilled cheese with tomatoes, red onions, and chipotle mayo. The only downfall is that the country white bread it comes on can have huge holes in it.
I don’t bother to prefer desserts anymore because it’s always a fail, they tend to send out the wrong items. It adds up fast, a sandwich and a drink can be $ 10+. I’ve only gotten delivery (at least 30 mins).