Jojo's Italian - West Fargo

First time here, not our last. We drive through often and have no problem coming out of our way for good food, service and ambiance.

Amazing food! I am picky with restaurant food and I was so impressed! My husband and I went for our anniversary and I totally recommend trying! I got the chicken caeser wrap with parmesen fries while my husband got the papardelle bolognese with the house salad (house dressing)! We had Josh a very knowledgeable and great server/bartender.

Great Italian food. I had the Fettuccine Bolognese and loved it! Also added a bowl of Minestrone soup, also great!

TLDR: Safe option for a first date. Great option for picky eaters and when you want a good simple flavor. Why not more stars? No real pizzaz, and no real depth. Flavors were what they were, and there was nothing really distinct about the food. Stopped in here for lunch. Overall, a pretty okay experience. It 's worth noting that my general rule is that if I can make it at home, I don 't want to order it at a restaurant, so I tend not to go out for Italian food. That being said, I was invited out here and it was okay. In general, the food is good. I 'm allergic to pine nuts, and I learned they don 't use pine nuts in their dishes so that 's nice to know. I didn 't get sick later like at some Italian places that cross-contaminate. It was a little disappointing to see that their gluten free options have an up charge, so you 'll want to factor that in when picking a restaurant for your gluten sensitive/intolerant friends. We started with the fried ravioli, which was delicious, but not more so than popping a couple in my air fryer and dipping with Prego marinara (which is, admittedly, my favorite store bought sauce). So it 's good! But it 's something I can make at home.Caesar salad was good. They were out of croutons, but that didn 't bother me. What did bother me was the amount of dressing. It wasn 't so heavy that it was bad, but it was toeing the line. Any more and it would have been. I tend to be a light dressing girlie anyways, so next time I 'd ask for only half the dressing. The pasta was pasta. I had the bolognese. It was bolognese. I could probably cook it if I wanted to. I don 't really know how to describe it. It was predictable. It was a little monotonous toward the end. Honestly I wish it would have had like a couple olives or something tangy in there to really bring out the flavor. Or many some chili flakes? Idk. It was fine. I tried my friends dish which was the angel hair. This is a dish I frequently make at home with high end olive oil, garlic powder, and chili flakes. I didn 't try her shrimp. It wasn 't bad! In fact it was great! It 's one of my regular lazy meals at home. I would not pay $18 for it but that 's probably because I don 't like shrimp, and I make this frequently at home for about $10. We also had the Italian sodas. They don 't mix them in advance (probably for the aesthetic presentation). By not mixing it, I had to and after my first attempt was just soda water that had sniffed some cream. Luckily my friend is a waitress and bar tender so she mixed it for me and then it rocked. If you want to present with some flare, I 'd suggest just mixing it at the table. As all of the *ooo* factor and doesn 't run the risk of serving someone soda water that lived next door to some cream. Especially if that someone is an idiot like me. The service was okay. The shouting across the room to customers was a little awkward and uncomfortable. But he was super nice!!! A little abrupt when I said I was allergic to pine nuts, but not rude. A little more training and he will be fabulous at his job. I don 't usually factor Service into my stars. I 'd give him 4 stars. Room for improvement but not a mean guy. Ambiance is super cute. Music is super fun and a comfortable volume so you can talk to your people but not hear the other people. Awesome location for a first date to grab dinner with someone. So why three stars? Food is fairly basic. I can cook this at home if I wanted to. Now the good news for all you daters out there is that this is a VERY SAFE first date location. The news for all of the foodies: meh. It won 't be a restaurant you 're pounding down the door to visit again, but you won 't be mad at your friends for wanting to go there.

Excellent angel hair pasta with Italian meatballs. I am from Los Angeles and go to Jo Jo's every time I visit Fargo. The people that run the place are all very friendly and glad you are there. I will continue to visit Jo Jo's on future trips to Fargo. Michael D.