Montego Bay Authentic Jamaican Cuisine

They have great food...their Jambalaya is good. Pros: Good food Cons: Parking more

we've gone on several occasions and love it everytime (aside from them not having jamaican patty's everytime). we've always had great, fast service and yummy hot food! i wanted to go for my birthday but it seems they've closed down... Pros: yummy authentic food Cons: ? more

The wait staff there were very rude. The lady in charged was yelling at the other pworkers in the kitchen. Will not return. more

The food here was very good. My fiance is from Jamaica and she gave it an 8 out of 10. Very authentic. If you want Jamaican Food in Portland you pretty much had one option and this was it. more

Saturday, May 26 and the restaurant is closed. Could be closed for Memorial Day weekend, but they didn't post a sign. Nothing on their recording machine or website. more

We decided to try Montego Bay for my 25th Birthday dinner, and was very dissapointed. The service was horrible! I have never had a waitress so rude. The food was okay, but very over priced. more

I have to start off with a big Thank you to Montego Bay being an option here in Portland. I have been to Jamaica several times and enjoyed the culture very much along with the food. Montego Bay restaranut is definitely correct when they say they are authentic. I was a little sad to hear that they had no patties for sale =(. That did not stop our excitment about everything else. We had the Bammie and Fish as our appetizer which I must say was better than what we had in Jamaica. For our entrees we had Curry Goat, Oxtials,Jerk Chicken can I say "" EXCELLENT"" all of it including our sides that came with the entrees. I was and still am pleased with all of the our choices. The toto bread which I thought was dessert was to die for. Our server was very helpful with explaining the degree of spice that came with all of the different sauces (curry,jerk,stewd) and she was completely on the ball. I think that Montego Bay is a wonderful place to experience Jamaica if you have gone or have plans on visiting the Island in the future. My family and I have made this now one of our favorite places to eat when visiting Portland. I can not believe that someone would say that is just like a bbq joint that just sounds so blah. Obviously this person has never been to Jamaica and if they have then they obviously thinks that crossing the street from their resort means that they really experienced the Island and the culture which is a farse. Montego Bay is definitely keeping thier word when they say ""AUTHENTIC"" . I hope that close minded individuals would not try to ruin it for others on trying the fantastic food at Montego Bay. Please give this restaraunt a chance to prove you what they have proved to my family and they have this coupon that can be printed off and the deal is buy one and get one free. Pros: AUTHENTIC more

Anyone who has been to Jamaica and traveled outside the whitewashed walls of their Sandals resort would be ashamed of how Montego Bay Jamaican Cuisine is representing. I never paid $8.00 for a rum-punch anywhere, nor should anyone else. And now you can't even get a patty or some akee n salt fish? And another thing too, even at the smallest country stand to the busiest restaurants you would never see such bad service! Never once have I hear someone say ""no"" to anything the customers requested. The items that are present on the menu are almost never available and you often get stuck with curry chicken or something else not unique to the island. Now that the reggae on the weekends stopped the only thing separating this place from your average BBQ joint is the curry goat. Pros: The Curry Goat Cons: Everything Else more

The place has the feel of a family-run restaurant in the Caribbean. It's true that right off the bat, our waitress wasn't exactly warm & fuzzy. But when we didn't react like petulant American tourists, she seemed to warm up to us and the service got very attentive and very friendly. The food is delicious, and the j*rk sauce (apparently this word is considered ""inappropriate on city search because they believe it's mean, or something) is out of this world. It's spicy, but also has great depth of flavor. The curry chicken was tender (not spicy), and the toto bread is yummy (you've got to eat it all as an appetizer, however; for some odd reason they took the basket away before dinner was served). The ambiance is fine -- I think people only expect more because it's downtown, but if you were on Hawthorne, it would be acceptable. Bright yellow walls, lots of pictures of Bob Marley, and reggae music on the stereo. Pros: Flavorful food, large portions Cons: Not good for uptight people more

I chose Montego Bay for a birthday celebration for my mother and made advance reservations for 5 for a Saturday night. Upon arrival we were told by the hostess (?) that they were ""behind"" and not ready for us, they were out of all but one chicken dish including jerk-chicken (a mainstay!) and the main appetizer, the authentic Jamaican pasties. We were told to wait in the bar, and being that this was a birthday party, we thought ""great, a pre-dinner drink""...well, we were never approached by a server in the bar and got nothing! Eventually we were led back into the dining room, where the decor and furnishings are cheap looking and uninviting. However, our waitress was very sweet and attentive, and apologetic about the missing menu items and helped us choose other dishes. About halfway through our dinner, the ""hostess"" began vacuuming in the main dining area about 10 feet away from our dinner party. We asked our waitress if she would ask that the vacuuming stop until the restaurant was closed and our dinner was over, as it was very disruptive and unpleasant. She came back and told us that unfortunately she couldn't do anything about it because the person vacuuming was the owner! This was the same staff person who had ""greeted"" us at the door. Our dinner was at 8:30 pm, the restaurant was open until 11 pm and the vacuuming began at about 9:30 pm! Though the food was flavorful, we will not return to this restaurant as the owner clearly does not appreciate her customers, nor the ambience she provides for them!!! Pros: Tasty food Cons: poor ambience more

I use to be the biggest fan of Montego Bay. It was a warm festive oasis in the city of rainy gray days. It's far from what it used to be. It used to be extra warm in the restaurant and now it's extra cold. The yummy toto bread used to be served warm and now it's cold. I used to be able to get mixed drinks, now there is never anyone around to make the drinks. There use to be the friendly Jamaican waiter transfusing us with his culture and now there are white people from Portland. There used to be live reggae every Friday and Saturday night, but now it happens infrequently. What happened to the Jamaican Bay I loved? It has to be under new management? Please new management, please bring back the warm island get away! These days are depressing me! Pros: Music, Appetizer Bread Cons: Cold, Below Average Service, sometimes you can't get mixed drink more

I have been a regular at Montego Bay now for about a year and I just happen to eat there every Monday night.. Not only because the food is awsome but also for the friendly service. I was a witness to the horrible situation that occured this monday. The guest was very rude and aggressive with the server. He yelled at the server because he said that he could not except his certificate because it did not validate for some reason and the man just yelled that this place is a fraud and your food is horrible and when new customers were coming in he yelled and made a scene saying that this place is horiible and you should leave. The server was not at all rude with at himn at any time during the altercation. I feel that if someone had that bad of an experience at an establishment you would ask to speak with a manager which he did not do but instead attacked the employee. Montego Bay is a wonderful place to eat and experince the culture. Please do not let this slow person's oppinon stop anyone from enjoying it themselves. more

""I have no idea how this restaurant stays in business."" My wife and I went there for dinner at about 6pm. I was a little concerned being in the restaurant as the only customers at the dinner hour. Now I know why we were the only ones there. We were seated promptly, but that is the only good thing I have to say. The service was horribly slow from this point on. I attempted to order one of their island drinks, only to be told the bartender had called in sick and the server was too young to serve spirits. So I ordered a beer, which came warm. We then placed our dinner order and began the waiting game while listening to Jamaican Christmas music that proceeded to skip every so often through out each song. I have no idea where the servers disappeared to, but I couldn't find them. We needed to ask for more bread and water while we waited for them to raise the chicken and beef we ordered. When the food did show up, I couldn't tell which plate was the beef and which plate was the chicken. I am pretty sure the beef dish was not the dish we ordered, but I wasn't going to push my luck any further. There was food and that's about all I could ask for by this time. The chicken was over cooked and more bone then meat, while the beef was better, it was nothing to write home about. It was dry, tough and flavorless. So after picking through the meal, we went looking for our server. When the bill came I attempted to use a certificate that I had got from restaurant dot com. The server informed me that they would not accept it, because I didn't spend enough money. There is nothing on the certificate or website that requires a minimum purchase. I asked to talk to his manager, who was also not in the restaurant and was unavailable. After arguing with the server, which was very unprofessional on his part, he managed to get the manager on the phone, though it did me no good. DO NOT eat at this restaurant, BAD FOOD and they don't honor their agreements! Pros: You don't have to go to this restaurant. Cons: Bad service, bad food and questionable business practices more

We had a party of 14 recently, and not only did they accomodate day of reservations, they had a huge table already set up for us even when we arrived 20 minutes early! Baskets of warm, coconutty sweet bread were waiting, and all the water was already set. I highly recommend the oxtail--succulent, melty, ooh so delicious. It was a tad too salty but so good that I could overlook it. The Mai Tai was great and they had rotating specials that night so we got those and an apple martini for $5 each. Oh, and the portions are HUGE. Pros: Great waitstaff, huge portions, inexpensive Cons: none--it's great! more

We went because it was something different that Portland has to offer. I was a little overwhelmed by the decor...not very inviting and seems a little cold but the colors of everything remind me of being in the Caribbean. The server was fantastic, the food recommendations she made were fantastic and the drinks were great as well. We immediately told all of our friends about it and are planning a trip back with everyone we know! Pros: Great food, service and drinks Cons: ambiance, parking more

the first time i went here, they had just opened, and i was very excited about checking it out. i am from the east coast, and spend a lot of time in the islands, since i was a kid, and i hadn't had a beef pattie in forever. that first day, they were out of beef patties (the flugtag was the day before, and there wasn't much left of anything). i had the curry goat, which made my gf look at me funny, and she had the je rk chicken. the toto bread and plantains were great, and my gf loved my curry goat so much that she orders it every time now. Pros: food, friendly service Cons: can be slow, so don't be in a hurry more

My husband and I would like to start off complimenting the server her name was Asia. She gave us the best service I had recieved in a long time. She was very helpful as far suggesting an entree that suited our tolerence to spicy food. She kept us laughing and she also made us feel very welcomed. The food was AMAZING!. My husband and I were both nervous but the Rasata fish dish was to die for and the beautiful mo bay salad was like a work of art. The whole experince at Montego Bay was priceless and we still had food to take home the experience. more

My party had the pleasure of finding this great Jamaican restaurant in the heart of Portland. Most of my party was or have live in Jamaica had needed the smalls and taste of good Jamaican food. We found the Jerk chicken, Rasta Mon Rundown, and all the many dishes we shared just excellant! The service was very attentive and extremely friendly, like being at home with a good friend. This is the only Jamaican restaurant we could find in Oregon and we absolutely enjoyed it! Pros: Food , Great Value, Great service more

This is actually one of my favorite restaurants in Portland. Everything I have tried so far is great (I love the Curry Goat) and the Limewash is delicious. The price is on par with what you are getting. The only negative is the service. While a laid back ""island"" vibe is cool, being so laid back that servers don't refill drinks or follow up at tables could use improvement. Someone else before me stated that the food is not authentic because it doesn't match the food they had on the east coast. That statement couldn't be more wrong. The owners are from Jamaica, and they brought the chef in directly from Jamaica (really nice guy too). He even prepares a lot of the stuff like he did in Jamaica, machete and all. Even despite the spotty service, it is well worth a try. Pros: Taste, Value, Quality Cons: Service more

Montego bay has it together. The food is out of this world...very authentic and lots of flavor! Try the chicken pasta - its like no other pasta you've ever tasted! Or if you are Ital, check out the stew peas and rice. They are very accommodating to food needs such as allergies, beliefs, etc. The servers are extremely friendly and keep the caribbean vibe coming - most look like they are from the islands! And the bartender...well, there's a reason right there just to come into Montego Bay! The live reggae band on the weekends put on quite a show and the music is IRIE until 1:30! Definitely a place to be if you like island vibes! Pros: authentic food, friendly atmosphere, live music more