We always love trying new restaurants and we’re confident you do, too. Here’s the rundown on who has opened recently and who to expect soon. We’ll have reviews for some of these spots on the way. If we missed a restaurant that just opened or is coming soon please shoot us an email to jerry(at)jaxrestaurantreviews(dot)com or leave us a comment. Happy Dining!
River and Post Rooftop View
Coming Soon:
L and L Hawaiian Barbecue
Address: 6001 Argyle Forest Blvd.
This chain originating in Hawaii will open its first Jacksonville area location in Argyle Forest within the next couple of months. Look for Hawaiian plate lunches featuring a variety of meats plus macaroni salad and rice. There will also be a handful of options involving spam for those hankering for a taste of the salty canned slices of processed meat.
South Kitchen + Spirits Nocatee
Location: Nocatee Town Center
South Kitchen + Spirits opened in Avondale in 2016, serving up southern classic and American standard fare. Their second location is coming to Nocatee this winter. Expect everything you love about South Kitchen, except transported out of Avondale and into Nocatee.
El Jefe Tex Mex
Address: 947 Edgewood Ave. S.
Acclaimed chef/owner of 29 South Restaurant in Fernandina Beach, Scotty Schwartz brings this Tex Mex spot to the Murray Hill neighborhood this fall. El Jefe will be an affordable and casual Tex-Mex concept dedicated to celebrating the diverse cuisines of America’s Southern borderlands. The menu will include classics like wood grilled skirt steak fajitas, cheese enchiladas with red chili gravy, San Antonio puffy tacos, Texas-style chili con queso, queso fundido with hot homemade flour tortillas, and traditional tamales. The restaurant will also have a full bar with a focus on traditional margaritas, tequila and mescal.
River & Post Restaurant and Rooftop Bar
Address: 1000 Riverside Ave.
This restaurant is quite the ambitious undertaking. With a planned total of 387 seats between indoor and outdoor dining River and Post will be one of Jacksonville’s largest locally owned restaurants. This upscale casual restaurant will bring a trendy environment, great food and breathtaking river city views to the growing area of Riverside.
Fish & Grits from South Kitchen + Spirits – Available in Nocatee this Winter
Recently Opened:
B Street Eats
Address:1179 Edgewood Ave S.
From the creators of Jacksonville’s favorite biscuit shops, Maple Street Biscuit Company comes this fast casual Latin and South American concept located in Murray Hill. Dine on tortas (sandwiches), salads, or the ever popular box which includes a choice of meat or jackfruit, served with roasted sweet onions, lime rice, spicy citrus black beans, and caramelized sweet plantains. Since opening a couple of months ago B Street Eats has gotten rave reviews.
Bellwether
Address: 100 N Laura St., Suite 100
Timeless American fare takes a modern turn at Bellwether, a casual restaurant brought to you by the pioneers behind Orsay, Black Sheep, and BLK SHP at Intuition. Start with arancini or chili pepper boiled peanuts, then have a cup of broccoli and pimento cheese soup, after that take a bite out of a dill pickle brined fried chicken thigh sandwich or get a fork full of a classic like chicken and dumplings. Bellwether has American fare for the foodie or shrimp and grits for the less adventurous eater. This restaurant seems like a heck of an addition to downtown.
Good Dough
Address: 1636 Hendricks Ave
Opened in San Marco in April Good Dough is Jacksonville’s first artisanal donut shop. Expect crazy flavors, throwbacks to classic donut styles and ideas that push the envelope. These guys had 30+ minute lines for a week straight when they opened. Check them out and tell us what you think.
Timwah Dim Sum
Address: 8358 Point Meadows Dr.
Located just off of Baymeadows road on the Southside, Timwah Dim Sum restaurant brings the Chinese dim sum craze to Jax. When word got out that Timwah was running a soft opening people went bananas. There was a line out the door and the simply couldn’t make enough dim sum to keep up with demand. After a rocky start due to this overwhelming demand Timwah is pushing the dim sum carts of deliciousness on a daily basis. If you’re a dim sum fan we’re pretty confident you’re going to enjoy Timwah Dim Sum. Note that Timwah is just open for lunch at this time, adding dinner service 6-9pm Thursday through Sunday the week of August 14th.
Taro and Sesame Balls from Timwah Dim Sum
Celestia’s Coastal Cuisine
Address: 6765 Dunn Ave
It’s not often a restaurant opens on the Northside of Jacksonville that merits a trip from the city’s foodie community. However, when Chef Celestia Mobley, the chef behind the city’s most popular soul food restaurant Soul Food Bistro, opens a new restaurant on the Northside, foodies across Jacksonville should plan to make the trip. Opened just a few weeks ago Celestia’s Coastal Cuisine offers up the soul food you love plus snow crab, Dungeness crab, and chargrilled oysters.
Food Addictz Grill
Address: 1044 Edgewood Ave S
Opened at the end of April Food Addictz Grill in Murray Hill serves up breakfast, a variety of sandwiches and what seems to be the new staples popping up on every Jax menu: shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles.
The Local
Address: 4578 San Jose Blvd.
This new breakfast and lunch spot opened on San Jose Boulevard in San Marco July 1st. The Local offers fun and creative gourmet breakfast and lunch options. For breakfast, try their housemade sausage sandwich, create your own hash brown bowl, or enjoy the wonderfully indulgent egg in a hole on sourdough bread. For lunch grab a bite of a hot Italian beef sandwich or keep it simple with chicken nuggets sold in quantities of 10 or 20. For dessert grab an ice cream sandwich.
Lechonera El Coqui
Address: 3620 Blanding Blvd.
The Santanas first opened Lechonera El Coqui in Fernandina and always hoped to open a Jacksonville location. When the right location became available they jumped on it. Opened within the last month or so, Lechonera El Coqui brings a taste of Puerto Rico to Jacksonville’s westside. The restaurant offers up authentic family style Puerto Rican food at a very affordable price.
Rue Saint Marc
Address: 2103 San Marco Blvd
Chef Scott Alters moved from his job creating fine dining masterpieces at Matthew’s right across the street to open his first restaurant Rue Saint Marc. This French restaurant offers up inspired and creative cuisine to San Marco diners. The food is fabulous and the prices are reasonable for the quality the team at Rue puts on a plate. The big question is will the Jax dining community revolt over the small portions. You can count us as fans of Rue.
Rue Saint-Marc – Eggplant Beignets
Slewfoot’s Cafe and BBQ
Address: 6315 San Juan Ave.
Opened on the Westside in May, Slew Foot Cafe and BBQ serves up home cooking and BBQ with everything made from scratch in house. We hear the ribs are definitely worth a try.
Kim’s Korean BBQ
Address: 9825 San Jose Blvd.
Kim’s Korean BBQ joins the Jacksonville food scene as the 3rd Korean BBQ restaurant in town. They offer a smaller menu than the others but based on what we’ve tasted of their food and what we’ve heard around town Kim’s looks to be a positive addition to the restaurant options in the mandarin area.
Foo Dog Curry Traders
Address: 869 Stockton St.
Chef Howard Kirk recently opened this small curry focused eatery in the space previously occupied by Tres Leches. You may recognize Chef Howard from his beloved tapas restaurant, 13 Gypsies, located on the other end of the same building. This new focuses cuisines from across Asia but primarily curry. The entire restaurant is naturally gluten free.
Spicy and Juicy Crawfish
Address: 1704 3rd Street North
Spicy and Juicy Crawfish brings the crawfish boil to Jax. They offer nearly every type of seafood you’d want prepared either boiled or steamed. Blue crab, snow crab, crawfish, shrimp, lobster, mussels and more. The menu instructs you “How to juicy”: Choose the seafood, choose the seasoning, choose the spice level. Do those three things and ypou should be all set to get your eat on!
Marco’s Pizza
Address: 2550 Race Track Rd Suite C
Marco’s Pizza is a national chain, opened June 11th just South of Mandarin on Racetrack road. It is known for it’s “Ah!thentic Italian” pizza where the dough is made fresh in the store daily, never frozen. Marco’s offers counter service, carryout, and delivery for pizzas, subs, and the like.
Hyperion Brewing Co.
Address: 1740 North Main St.
Hyperion Brewing Company makes another addition to Jacksonville’s fast growing craft beer scene. Hyperion is Jacksonville’s first self declared nanobrewery. What is a nanobrewery? Essentially nanobreweries produce no more than 3 barrels of each batch of beer. Located on Main Street in Springfield, Hyperion aims to serves an endlessly rotating lineup of beers and provide a unique and refreshing taproom experience.
Fresh Mex and Co.
Address: 7111 Bonneval Road
Fresh Mex and Co. serves whole foods with no artificial colors or flavors. The restaurant focuses on healthy eats which still pack plenty of flavor. They serve all natural antibiotic free beef with no added hormones. Their seafood is fresh caught sustainable fish.
There you have it! Go forth and support your local community by eating delicious food!