215 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 (nr. Warren St.) 718-222-3484   

Joya… Oh Boya

March 17, 2011  

While others may eschew empty restaurants assuming that they must be bad if not one else is there, I understand that there are ebbs and flows in most eateries and that this might well be the only reason for the tumbleweeds floating through.

It was a beautiful day just before the official arrival of spring so I took a long stroll for lunch. Joya Asian restaurant on Court Street looked familiar as I passed it but it wasn’t until I was seated inside that I realized that I had not actually been there before but had only ordered delivery from them in the past. Then I remembered being underwhelmed by the food I’d received. No worries. Everyone deserves a second chance - generally. I wasn’t even daunted by the fact that they had no lunch menu since the prices looked somewhat reasonable. The large concrete rectangle of a space had a sleek modern feel to it and a lot of natural light coming in from the backyard, so I gave it a try.

As I read through the menu I had a difficult time making a choice. This wasn’t because everything looked so good. It was because every thing looked exactly the same. On a list of about 20 entrees, all of the general ingredients appeared to be identical except for the choice of basil sauce or ginger sauce. The meat choice seemed to be chicken or chicken. There must have been a beef there somewhere, but I could not discern it in the cluttered menu design and the waiter had no suggestions for me.

I settled on an item from the specials menu, a curry chicken dish with wide noodles and broccoli. The food didn’t take long to appear but I was taken aback by the pasty beigeness of the entire plate: the sauce was the same color as the noodles were the same color as the chicken was almost the same color as the serving dish – all beige. Thank goodness for the broccoli florets that were set off in the corner. As I feared, the dish tasted like it looked… beige. The curry flavor was there but it was incredibly mild. I wanted to ask for condiments in order to add some flavor to my plate but my server decided that it was time for him to eat his own meal. That’s when I recalled the other problem with slow restaurants. The staff often feels like they don’t have to try that hard.

The open kitchen was directly in front of me and my waiter was facing the chefs with his back to the entire room as he munched away on something from a small bowl. Three other diners had entered, so the chefs had their heads down in their work. Looking around the room I noticed three other employees who also appeared to be on break as they were sitting at the end of the kitchen bar area chatting amicably, with their backs to the room as well. After several minutes of this I realized my food would soon be cold, so I had to be assertive if I wanted to add some flavor to my plate. I waved down and finally got the attention of a chef, who in turn got the attention of the lone waiter. My server looked a little put out at having his break interrupted but after taking a last bite and tidying up his mouth with a napkin he came over. This was my big chance so I made sure to ask for water too!

No one ever came by to check on whether the right dish was delivered or if I wanted to hand over any more of my hard-earned money by splurging on more items – like those at their full bar. At the end of my visit, I was actually surprised when the server eventually noticed that I had been sitting for several minutes with my plate pushed away from me in the middle of the table and decided to stop by to ask if I wanted to wrap up my leftovers and get the check. He did bring the check promptly, but sadly, I never saw him again. After several minutes I eventually took the check up to the bar and paid my bill. I hope he made it back OK.

On my way out I noticed a DJ turn table next to the bar. So maybe that’s Joya’s focus. They are a night club that happens to have food around if you get hungry. Fair enough. And if you want to have lunch while being left alone with your thoughts or your reading you can’t find a better place – except that the lighting is really low, so forget the reading.

Cheers!

Tanya ~ Vino Noir NYC