Jade Eatery and Lounge

Jade Eatery and Lounge
1 Station Sq., Queens, NY 11375
at Continental Ave. 
718-793-2203 

Food 7

Ambiance 7

Service 5

Overall 19
Good for groups and pairs who like cool vibes and asian tapas and cheap sushi


So my husband found Jade when we were looking for a cool lounge in Queens to hang in. We ended up going to another place that night but wound up here for dinner last week Saturday night with a 7 pm reservation. Jade is in the pricey Forest Hills Gardens area of Queens. It boasts a large restaurant with a separate Morrocan lounge and focuses on pain asian cuisine. The interior is modern  and sleek with a dash of Asian provided by the multiple Buddha statues throughout.  Low white chairs and wooden banquets. Dim lights and clubby music combine to make it a funky place for groups. When we arrived the place was virtually empty and quiet.As the night progressed and more people arrived, the heavily windowed space maintained a quiet noise level. We were seated promptly and were somewhat overwhelmed by the expansive menu which was everywhere in terms of price.
Tapas start at 6 and go up to 15. Mains were usually starting at 12-20 dollars. Sushi was generally 3 dollars a piece with rolls only 4 dollars, except for signature rolls which were 20 dollars. The menu is primarily chinese and japanese, with a few indian and thai inspired entrees. They also have a  good  size dselection of sakes , white and red wines at reasonable prices. We decided to chow on tapas and cheap sushi, as the main entrees sounded fairly standard , without any compelling taste combiantions. We sampled 3 sakes, the ozeki unfiltered , a asian pear flavored one, and a more basic clear sake. All were pretty tasty and complemented our foods very well.They also have a standard martini menu but surprisingly NO sake inspired cocktails which I though was very odd and a missed opportunity for some creative bartending.
For tapas, we had scallion pancakes, red snapper tacos, tuna  tataki, grilled shrimp skewers,  dim sum  dumplings and a special broiled scallop appetizer. We also ordered salmon and yellowtail sushi, a shrimp tempura roll and a crunchy spicy tuna roll. Of the tapas menu, the stars were the tuna tataki , the dim sum dumplings and the shrimp. Although the tataki was a very small portion and somewhat drowing in the sauce it was served with, it was perfectly cooked and seasoned with an interesting combination of soy, ginger, sugar and maybe cilantro. The dim sum dumplings were my husband's favorite, thin doughed dumplings filled with a ginger garlic mash of chicken or beef. I found them tasty but not extremely original in flavoring or presentation.  My favorite of the tapas was the grilled shrimp, a lovingly charred sizable order of 5  mildy spicy sweet shrimp .The scallion pancakes were of the unfortunate greasy and  doughy variety.The red snapper won for the worst tapas award,with virtually  no snapper they were overfilled with a  peculiarly flavored avocado mash layered in stale tasting corn taco shells. The broiled scallops were a surprisingly good portion of 8-10 medium sized scallops flavored with orange, light soy and some spice. Well cooked but not ultrafresh. As you can tell none of the tapas were very inventive or jaw dropping in taste. When you look at the tapas menu it is basically  standard appetizers from many Asian cuisines with a few variations throw in for dramatic effect.
The  undisputed star of the meal was really the sushi, which came ultra fresh with fairly sizable portions for the price. At the price point and for the ambiance of the space, it is an excellent deal..
Service was very attentive througout. My only issue with the service is that after being seated at our table, I noticed our chair backs  were crazy low providing no back support . Since I have a bad back, I asked  our waitress if we could switch to the banquet sitting. At this point the restaurant was still very empty. She looked at me blankly and just kept repeating "but that is not my section". I persisted and she with an exasperated look stated she needed to speak to the manager for his royal ok. When he comes over, he starts repeating the same mantra that this is not her section but finally relented. It was weird because after we finally moved  she stayed on as our waitress.

So skip the tapas, get your mains at a cheaper authentic Asian restuarant and focus on good bargain price sushi with tasty sake in a chill atmosphere.

The Quest continues.....