The Early Word on JoJo Eating House & Bar

Veteran chef Laurent Poupart opened his first Dallas restaurant, JoJo Eating House & Bar, to much fanfare back in mid-November. The impressively pedigreed chef/owner hails from France, where he worked at a number of Michelin-starred restaurants before coming to America and working as a private chef to the stars. Although it's still too early for the big critics to weigh in on JoJo, the initial blogosphere buzz has calmed down and diner reviews are beginning to pour in. So what are the people—the people with a penchant for voicing their opinions via the Internet, at least—saying about the food, service, and atmosphere at JoJo?

The Impressive Space News:
CultureMap is impressed with the space's transformation, noting "Really, the thing to do at JoJo is marvel at the amazing makeover of the old Tin Star space." Local design firm Plan B Group handled the interior, and CraveDFW describes it thusly: "The restaurant itself is modern and sleek, with some nooks even a bit curvy and sexy. The doors are open wide in order to be more alluring and emanate a bistro feel." [CultureMap/CraveDFW]

The Sketchy Service, But Maybe It's Improving News:
A Yelper has serious beef with the service, but at least the server's French was good: "The waiter was nice enough, and I will say I felt he had nice pronunciations of the names of the dishes, but it was either his first week or he should perhaps look into a different profession. We were literally sitting at the table eating from 9pm til almost 12:30 am." Perhaps service is on the upswing, though; another review posted just last week notes, "Perhaps all the negative reviews inspired a 'Come to Jesus' talk between the owner and the wait staff, or maybe we just got one of the better waiters, but service was spot-on. ... I like to occasionally indulge in high end restaurants, and this service was on par with some of the top places in Dallas." [Yelp]

The Delicious Food News:
An Opentable diner has high praise for the food: "The asparagus/deviled egg salad is worth a trip by itself. Beautifully composed, it's like 3 salads in one. A dish of greens and nuts, a dish with the eggs, and sliced asparagus in front fill out the plate. All the food was creative and flavorful." Another concurs, saying "The food was delicious - great authentic Andalusian gazpacho, wood fire cooked branzino and prefectly [sic] moist chocolate cake." Meanwhile, a local designer blogs that everything is fantastic: "The food is top quality, beautifully presented, every ingredient fresh and every item on the menu from scratch. Fantastic dinner, lunch, brunch, desserts (the pastry chef is also fantastic), impressive wine selection, even a separate pizza menu (we're talking wood burning pizza oven?.)." [Opentable/Courtney Price Design]

The Too-Small Portions News:
A Yelp reviewer had this to say on portion size: "Cheese board arrives.. it's tiny! The board is thin and unstable, unnecessarily mounted on a pizza stand. One person could eat the entirety of this thing and still have enough room to eat a salad and an entree. ? Her $23 snapper was served skin side up and was about 4 ounces." A lone Urbanspoon reviewer finds the food habit-forming, but wishes portions were larger: "I had the Linguini & chicken meatball pasta in vodka sauce. OMG it was so good I went back the next day & ordered it again as take out. My only con is that the portion could've been a little bigger for the money. The take out portion seemed even smaller, which was disappointing to discover when I got home & started to eat. The dish is $18." [Yelp/Urbanspoon]