New Jarfi's Bistro to replace Lentini's April 1

[Robin Garr]

Jeff Jarfi just phoned to break a little news: He has signed a lease today to take over the property at Lentini's Little Italy, a longtime Louisville standard that has seen its ups and downs over the past few years.

The new restaurant will be called Jarfi's Bistro, taking the old Lentini name off the property after nearly 50 years.

It is set to open well in advance of Derby on April 1 (a firm deadline, Jarfi hopes, as he has a scheduled event there on April 4). In addition to letting go of the Lentini name, he will deep-six the old red-velvet curtains and fustian Italian-American decor in favor of what he describes as a cooler "french contemporary bistro look," with glass-topped tables, wine racking and French-style art.

"We'll do a lot of the same things we were doing at the Kentucky Center," he said. "The sushi bar and a similar menu, but we'll add a little more light fare for the Highlands: sandwiches, a Hot Brown and burgers."

In other development news, Jarfi said he will open the Ali Cafe, a small, lunch-only cafe, on the second floor of the Muhammad Ali Center, by the end of March. Much like Jarfi's @ Mellwood in the Mellwood arts center, it will feature soups, salads and sandwiches. This operation has been ready to launch for a while, he said, but held up awaiting completion of the center's public plaza.

Meanwhile, the Mellwood Cafe has now added dinner hours on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with the same menu at night as at lunch time, with soups, salads and sandwichs and a small buffet that will carry into the evening hours. It will also offer paella and sangria as a special treat on first Friday Trolley Hop nights.

I'm a HUGE fan of Jeff's, so this is great news. Congratulations Jeff, hubby and I can't wait to try the new place!

damn, I was hoping he was going to replace the DaVinci by Lentini's that is accross the street from my house. I can't believe I'm saying this but, "I actually miss the 'Buckheads' that use to be there".

Wow. I cut some teeth coming up through the ranks at Lentini's back when Sonny still owned it. It has been hard to see that place go through so many ups and downs. So I guess it is nice to see something else going in there. Have not been to Jarfi's yet, but with all the praise a trip is due.

It will be weird not seeing Lentini's in that spot, but here's hoping Jarfi's can lift the curse!

thank god, that place is in a great location and food is awful..

I noticed on the way home from work that they had opened- seemedto have done a nice job lighening up the interior (from what I could see driving by and peering in)...nice colors and some cool deco. Pretty decent crowd for 9:00 aon a Friday night. I hope he does well in the new spot, and we're looking forward to eating there soon. Curious if anyone has been in yet?

We dined at the new Jarfi's Saturday evening and am happy to report a really excellent experience.

One of our close couple friends had a rare, last-minute opportunity to leave the kids with a sitter and join us in the 'hood for dinner. We were trying to decide where to eat when my husband remembered that he had noticed that Jarfi's appeared to be open for business the night before. We were a little concerned that they may still be working out the kinks, but hoped for the best since it was more of a location move than a new opening.

I actually made our 8pm reservation request on OpenTable.com at around 6:30pm with a special request for a window table if possible. When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the hostess who told us that they had our window table ready. The restaurant was probably only 30% full at that time. However, I noticed that they did have a good crowd by the time we left at around 9:30pm.

The decor in the restaurant appears to have been completely updated and the old, heavy red velvet stuff that's been there since forever has been removed. The bar as you enter looked to be fully stocked and would be a comfy spot hang out even if you weren't dining.

When my friend and I decided to do a walk-through to check out the whole restaurant, we were excited to find that they are opening a sushi bar in the back section (up the stairs from the main dining room). We were told that it wouldn't be open until Monday, but it appeared to be all ready with the various types of Sake available already on display. I counted at least 6 different types. Behind the sushi bar room, they also had another dining room available for private functions.

Although I had downloaded the Jarfi's menu off the net for everyone to preview, we were pleasantly surprised to find some new additions to the old menu. They have added a hamburger, chicken limone, a "portabella steak" and a Hot Brown to the entree list. I believe they have removed the Asian Pork Chop.

On to the food...........

My husband and I started off with the Bistro Carpaccio and the Ahi Tuna (also a new addition). Both were really good. The Carpaccio comes drizzled with some sort of horseradishy sauce. One of our friends, who had never tried Carpaccio before, sampled ours and became a fan. Our friends skipped the apps and went straight to salads. She had the Fried Green Tomato Salad and said that it was very good. He had the Spinich Salad and said that it was fine -- no strong feelings one way or another about it.

My husband ordered the Sea Bass for his entree. We decided that it was probably the best entree of the bunch. Perfectly cooked and plated on top of couscous. I had the Chicken Lemone which was excellent. It came with garlic mashed potatoes and aparagus. I only managed to eat about half of it. Our friends had the burger and the Portabella Mushroom Steak. She really liked her Portabella. He thought the burger may have been a bit bready and ended up removing the top bun. It was on some sort of roll. He said that the meat was very good though.

Finally, the service....
I wish I could remember our server's names. They did such a great job. Our team consisted of two female servers who never missed a beat, but didn't hover. We had had a couple of glasses of wine prior to our arrival at the restaurant (and several more drinks while we were there), so we were doing a lot of laughing and joking among ourselves. Several jokes revolved around my OCD tendencies because I had pre-printed out the menu for everyone. Rather than being bothered, our servers seemed to enjoy the banter and kept pace with us -- without seeming forced or fake. Hopefully, they enjoyed us at least have as much as we enjoyed them. They made our dinner a lot of fun.

We were told that this past weekend was their soft opening and that the hard opening was to be today (Monday). All in all, I'm really excited about the new addition to Bardstown Rd. Also, can't wait to check out the sushi bar.

My advice, get in quickly before everyone else discovers that they are there.

I also wnt to Jarfi's this weeked, twice actually. Once on friday for the grand opening and was so impressed that i went back on saturday for drinks. The food was fantastic! i had the Portobello Steak, the best thing i have eaten in a long time, and my dining partner had the hotbrown. Our calamari apaetizer was fantasic, and the chocolate Mousse Torte for dessert was a must try! I had not eaten at Jarfi's before, but i will be sure to come back!!!

The service was great, they appeared to have everything in order, and you would never have known it was a new restaraunt! Our waitress was fantastic. The decor was great. the manager gave us a tour and the building didn't seem to stop. It was so much begger and each room was a something different and tasetfully decorated to meet a different theme. I was told the Sushi bar would open monday, and you will be sure that i will be back to try that!

I would recomend Jarfi's to everyone in Louisville it is a great, original spot to eat with fantastic food and reasonable prices!

I heard about Jeff's restuarant from one of my distributor sales reps, but I didn't know exactly where it was at the time (I currently commute from Chicago to Louisville each week). When my co-worker (who was visiting from Ohio), suggested that we go to Lentini's, I told him that, per this message board, I heard that Jeff's new restaurant was actually in the old Lentini's restuarant location.

I figured, what a great time to try out a restaurant owned by a man with such a great reputation -- plus, a great chance for me to get to know the Louisville restuarant scene better (since I'm moving here in July).

Well, what a great experience -- my co-worker ordered the Awesome Sea Bass -- said it was absolutely fantastic and would definitely return. I had the Piccatta Chicken -- best chicken dish I've ever had. Tender, juicy, and just great flavor. And of course my dish came with Garlic Mashed potatoes, which are one of my favorite sides. The wait staff was very friendly, VERY knowledgeable, and prompt to our needs.

To those of you who haven't tried it, I HIGHLY recommend it. Next time I'm there, I'm going to try the sushi bar!

***edited to add: My visit to Jarfi's was this past Thursday evening, 4/10.

Their awesome sea bass, IS awesome! For sure. I can't wait to go check it out in the new location.

The Sushi is fantastic! best i have had in Louisville, and at a really good price! They have a great Sushi bar that you can sit at and watch the chef's as they make your shushi, or you can order from the table. I really liked it because my friends who don't like Sushi could come and eat at the same restaurant and find great food to eat too!