Irie Cafe

Hmm, where shall I begin with this one? Well how about upon walking in the door we were greeted by absolutely no one, although there were absolutely zero patrons in the restaurant. There was a sullen-looking girl behind the counter, and a man who turned out to be the cook sitting at a table eating and watching television. We quickly perused the menu on the wall and decided to go with two basics: a jerk chicken sandwich and curry chicken. We also each ordered one of their "specialty" lemonades.

The girl indicated to the cook that he needed to get off his bum and actually do some work, and then we sat down for quite a long wait for our (to-go) meal. At this point I was in a state of mild shock after paying the bill, which was just under $30. You read correctly: jerk sandwich, curry chicken, two lemonades...supposedly cozy lil homestyle Jamaican joint=thirty smackers. Then my companion noticed a poster on the door advertising a current special, which was $5.95 for curry chicken, rice and peas. Precisely what he had ordered, for which I had been charged $8.95. He approached the girl at the counter about this discrepancy, and she sleepily noted that we didn't mention we wanted "the special." Alllllll-righty then. Oh and those two precious lemonades? $2.50 and $3.50 (small and medium respectively). But let's not obsess over hard-earned nickels and dimes here, maybe the food would be super tasty??

It wasn't. My jerk chicken was the oddest texture I've ever encountered, basically minced up indistinguishable bits of meat. It was reasonably spicy, but like another yelper noted, much more mall food court "bourbon chicken"-ishy spicy than Jamaica spicy. The coco bread on which it was served was decent, but a poor choice for such a sandwich. You are left holding a big soft pile of mystery mush. My companion described his curry as bland and the rice and peas were likewise bland and overcooked. However the worst part of the meal by far were the fried plantains, which were cut far too thick, underdone, and yet so greasy that OIL LITERALLY OOZED AND BUBBLED OUT OF EVERY ONE!! pardon the caps but in all my years of dining in the diviest of dives, i have never ever EVER encountered anything so greasy.

So, to sum...unauthentic, uninspired food at best, unwelcoming staff, prices far exceeding anything offered. Please avoid this place. You will sadly do much better with the Panda Express across the way. 1.5 stars is my true rating, for the general cleanliness of the restaurant and the coco bread.

Hubby and I were doing some shopping in the area and thought we'd stop in. Of course I yelped it real quick, to see what people were saying.  Overall, pretty good reviews, so why not?  I had the oxtails with rice and peas and cabbage, and he had beef patties.  Even though the beef patties were "mild", they were spicy to him.  The oxtails did not disappoint.  Very tasty!   The sauce is what did it.  The meat was not as tender as I expected, but I would definitely get it again.

Love the cucumber juice.