Saturday night, Debbie and I went to a Meetup held at Jazzbah, a relatively new

restaurant / club with live music.  Approximately 20 people in our group attended

and some were pleased while some weren’t.  Here’s my take..

The club layout and decor is sorta 90s East Coast-ish semi-casual upscale (my wife’s

comment) with bar seating, 4 person tables of normal and elevated height and a

lounge area with leather sofas arranged near one corner of the stage and down the

exterior wall.  Probably about 80-90 people can be squeezed in.

The jazz band Entourage (*EXCELLENT*) was playing so Jazzbah was packed and a

few service cracks began to show.  The bar was slow getting drinks and even water

to the tables and at our table, one drink was sent back as being almost all ice

despite the diner’s request for very little ice. The amount of ice was so excessive

that it would have been impossible to have gotten a normal drink volume in the glass

so our friend was not being overly picky.

The waiter apologized and immediately took the drink back so score one for having

professional table service.  The problem shouldn’t have occurred, but once it did,

the customer’s complaint was taken seriously and resolved.

My fontina cheese appetizer was excellent (Debbie did not have one) and both our

entrees were very good; Debbie had the roasted chicken and I had the pan seared pork.

My portion size was more than adequate and the sides nicely complemented the pork.

Jazzbah is pricey.. period… end of discussion.  Entrees start in the mid-20s so bring the

card with the high limit…  Without the entertainment, I would say it was overpriced,

but first rate jazz bands don’t play for drinks and overall the combination of meal and

entertainment was reasonably priced.  

A couple others who were there apparently did not get as good a service as we did and

Jazzbah did seem to be slightly understaffed so I’d have to give it a somewhat qualified

recommendation.  The bones are good, but needs some improvement.  An extra waiter

and a barback to assist the bartender might be all that is required to iron out the kinks

we noted.

The same group I was with had brunch there about a month ago and really liked it so I

think Jazzbah has lots of potential and an excellent chance of achieving it with a bit more

effort.  We’ll go back, but not on a regular basis cuz I just can’t cover $100+ dinner tabs as

often as I’d like to pretend I can.

http://jazzbahabq.com/