J & R's Caribbean Hut

Today was my first visit. I called on Saturday to place a takeout order but ended up canceling because they were out of plantains. I order the lunch special oxtails but they didnt have any. I ordered a small gumbo which was actually bigger than i expected for $5 and a small plantain. Both were EXCELLENT.

So this is actually a review for their spot on 53rd and State but the owner is the same because I talked to him on the phone, more on that later.

They have a good variety on the menu and your standard Jamaican options with some more traditional American grilled options like Rib Tips and such.

You get a ton of food for the price and everything was decent although not amazing.  I got Brown Stew Chicken, which was heavy on the chicken and light on the stew.  It comes with beans and rice which were sort of over cooked and steamed cabbage which was awesome.  The Lady got mixed Jerk, which suits her, and it wasn't spicy at all.  She got beans and rice too and Mac'n'Cheese, which was o.k. but pretty standard.  Would like to go back and try a few other things before I really decide on this place.

So, now to the interesting part and why I spoke with the owner on the phone yesterday.  We were short a couple of bucks so the Lady went to the car to get a few more.  The guy at the window stepped away to get our food and there were two teenage kids behind us in line.  She came back in and when I went to slide the money under the window one of the teens tried to grab it.  I pushed him back, slide the money all the way under so they couldn't get it and tuned to make sure they weren't messing with my girl or anything.  In the process of doing that I got punched in the face, which if I hadn't actually seen the guy do it would have thought it came from Mea because of how weak it was.  Before I could counter they were both out the door and gone.

They tried to give us our food for free but we weren't having it, as it wasn't their fault at all.  The guy behind the counter called the owner just to let him know and he was extremely nice and very angry that had happened to us.  He wanted us to come to this location on Ashland to eat and discuss we were pretty hungry and just went on our way.  

The things you do for a bottle of Ting!.

RrL