by John Cwikla on Jubilee is two entities under the same roof. They have a dancing section which is downstairs on the avenue side, kinda walk down the lil hill, and the restaurant which you enter on the 94th Street side. Both are awesome. Jubilee brings the hottest live acts and has the best DJs I've heard spin spanish music. Kriss on Fridays is a beast!! And I heard DJ Lobo there one Saturday, he's a Heavy Hitter from La Mega, he wasn't as melodic of a mixer but his cut and paste style is great too, especially with reggaeton and merengue. It gets a little full. I've never gone here solo, I always go in a pack of people, but there's tons of pretty girls etc. As a restaurant...it's like gourmet Dominican food, mostly in the presentation aspect. I ordered mofongo (mashed plantains) with chicken. It was excellent, it actually came inside the pilon (mortar and pestle), so that was a cool touch. Next time I went I ordered the churrasco...uh...what is that in English...Roumanian steak? I don't know...I only know what a few uts are in english (Hanger steak YUMMM) the rest in spanish hahah. ANYWAY, here's my point. THE FOOD IS AWESOME THERE!!! The churrasco came with Argentine style chimichurri sauce, and rice & beans. Live band on Sunday nights playing merengue tipico and bachata (think of bachata as spanish danceable country). The band is awesome, sometimes a little loud, but it's always a blast to go. Four stars because...compared to other Dominican places, it's SPENDY. But good. PS...be prepared for some unique decor. They try to go with a "campo" motif, which is kinda, the hicked out, country, bamboo, straw, wood look. IT'S GREAT!
by Shannon P. on I love watching Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers here! The other reviews have already covered how great this place is as a supper club/music venue, but I wanted to add that it's a pretty cool place for private parties too. My husband and I were actually seriously looking into getting married here. The idea of being married in a bar tickled me; the outer room (where the bar is) makes for a great reception area, and the stage area could be pretty easily fixed up into a nice "altar" space with the addition of some fabric and flowers. Apparently they actually do a fair number of weddings. They gave us a quote of $7500, total, for venue, food, and alcohol for 75 people, which would make it a darn good bargain for getting married in the city. In the end we didn't do it because they aren't an accessible space -- the only way to get down there is via their steep, narrow staircase -- and we had grandmas in wheelchairs. We paid a *lot* more for the space we did end up getting (the Regency center, which was $4500 just for the space, with catering and alcohol bringing the total up to about $15,000). So for brides or other event planners who're on a budget and whose tastes run toward red velvet and Victorian gilt, you might want to check them out. There's also the option of getting married in the nearby Swedish American hall and having the reception at Cafe du Nord, although this will raise the cost.
