I must admit I was excited that a Jamaican restaurant opened in my community. Having moved from Jamaica quite sometime ago, it is very nice to see a local business open up that is reminiscent of my home country. I cook Jamaican food regularly, but I am an RN and it is nice to be able to have a place where I can get this delicious food after putting in a 14 hour shift. It is also nice to experience the flavor of another Jamaican's cookery as we all know everyone has their own special flair to add to the food. I ordered take-out for my whole family. I ordered jerk chicken, red pea soup, oxtail, and escoveitch fish. When I got home and opened what I was anxiously awaiting to devour, I was taken aback by what I saw. The escoveitch fish was coated in soggy flour and was ice cold in the middle. It did not taste as if it had been seasoned overnight as I feel authentic Jamaican escoveitch fish would be. My daughter enjoyed the oxtail thouroughly, however. The rice and peas were average; very dry and lacked the scotch bonnet flavoring that is achieved by tossing an uncut pepper in the pot while cooking. My biggest dissatisfaction came with the jerk chicken. For this place to be named a jerk cafe, I was really expecting some spectacular jerk. However, what I got was dry, roasted chicken with about an inch of a jerk flavored barbeque sauce poured over top. The sauce was atop the skin of the chicken and absolutely none of the flavoring was actually on the chicken. This is not how jerk chicken is to be represented. I feel sad to have to write this review because the owner, Villette, seems so nice and puts off the vibe like she wants to do good business. I really think she needs to re-evaluate what her cook is giving to people to eat, because the meal I received last night was unacceptable as an authentic jamaican meal.
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