Indulge Your Sweet Tooth at J-Petal

Montana Mitchell, staff writer

Starting with one store in Brooklyn, New York, J-Petal has become a popular Japanese crepe and Thai ice cream shop all over the East Coast. Now people in Charlottesville can enjoy it too.

J-Petal specializes in fresh and healthy foods. They offer fresh fruit, meat, and vegetables in their crepes. Every option also includes gluten-free ingredients and rice flour.

“We say choosing J-Petal is choosing health because it’s true!” says employee Megan.

J-Petal is near the center of the Barracks Road Shopping Center. When first walking into the shop, people smell the sweet aroma of fruit and ice cream. Along with the sugary smells, J-Petal has an aesthetically pleasing look. Glowing neon lights, marble designed tile floors, and a giant art piece of angels and the moon are some of the décor that makes J-Petal unique in design.

Deciding what to order can be the hardest part. Choosing between their rolled ice cream, sweet crepes, savory crepes, light bulb drinks, and specialty drinks can be tricky. People can be overwhelmed with all of the pictures they provide of their yummy foods and drinks. After choosing what to order, people can also modify the dishes to be exactly what they want.

Jessica Knight, a customer of J-Petal said, “This is like a Chipotle of desserts and food. There is so much to choose from and so much to add to them.”

I chose the Matcha Chocolate Truffle. Just like this sweet crepe, every crepe they offer has some kind of fruit in them. The Matcha Chocolate Truffle ($8.75) consists of strawberries, bananas, homemade chocolate truffles, almonds, vanilla ice cream, whipped yogurt, matcha custard cream, and two chocolate Pocky sticks.

Once the food is chosen, people get to watch the cooks make their food right in front of them. The techniques they use are performed like in a high-end Sakura Japanese restaurant.

J-Petal serves their crepes in a metal stand so customers do not have to hold them while they eat. It is helpful and makes the crepe easier to observe, as they are beautiful. Aside from the appearance, they taste as good as they look. The crepes are soft, the fruit tastes fresh and the ice cream included tastes great.

J-Petal is open seven days a week. 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.