Fromage Brasserie — Restaurant in Jamaica

The cashier at the takeout area, Alicia, she gives awesome customer service. She is knowledgeable and she is patient. The food was delicious and they had sanitizer at the takeout area. One of the head chefs came around and was telling us about the menu, I believe his name was Craig. He was professional, welcoming and funny.

This trip we only made a lunch stop and had the bistro burger, the crispy chicken lunch special and their frozen mango lemonade.

I've gone before and dined, my husband really loves the bistro burger with the caramelized onions on the side. I've had their ribs, they didnt have the correct ribs on that day so it wasnt awesome but it was ok enough. I love their tacos and pizza and their chicken power salad and salmon power salad are to die for. They also have delicious frozen mango lemonade. I've only had the mango lemonade and the regular lemonade and they're both refreshing and delicious.

On their lunch specials I've had the jambalaya pasta, the coconut chicken pasta, the crispy chicken and yellow rice. I like the jambalaya pasta and the crispy chicken with yellow rice. I'm not a fan of the coconut cchicken past, I've only had it once. But to be honest I think they have the best salads. Always filling and delicious and they have a variety of options.

The ambiance is good. You can take your family and children there or you can go and have a romantic meal. It's a nice restaurant. It's not cheap but it's not excessively expensive. The...

Short version: While the wait time for the food was atrocious and my meal was actually my 3rd choice after finding out that other items were unavailable, the choice (chicken and waffles) was serendipitous. The people at my table all wanted to order the it on their next visit.

Full version: It started out with “we nuh have that” said in the kindest way possible (please refer to YouTube skits on Jamaican restaurants). Portions of the menu were not available to us due to a issue. We waited for over an hour before the meal was served. After a very dispiriting sample of their soup, we had very low hopes. I decided, to reduce my disappointment, that my meal would be atrocious and that I should simply prepare for this outcome. A pleasant surprise would be an understatement to the culinary delight that I was presented with. I had the chicken and waffles. The sauces, both on the waffles and chicken, wonderfully complimented the meal. It was hands down the best chicken and waffles I have had between here and Boston (USA).

The other dishes at my table were also tasty in their own way. The “Korean BBQ Ribs” had more of a Chinese five spice flavor offering but were tender and well prepared though sauce heavy. The truffle fries served with it were so-so. The others at my table had pasta dishes which were quite yummy. Portion sizes were generous. Staff did their best to help...

I consider this place and the food to be average, especially considering the cost. To cap it all, when our bill came, a gratuity of J$4140 was added. I have travelled fairly widely and usually a gratuity is either optional and/or covers all staff. I should be able to pay the gratuity I want to pay, to the person(s) I think is deserving of it. Our waiter explained that the gratuity was for the bar and kitchen staff, not waiting staff. It raises the question, don't the staff get paid sufficiently? Who owns this establishment and thinks that it's OK to automatically add a gratuity? I would prefer a top notch service and menu at a higher price with no added costs when the bill arrived. As it stands now, patrons could be paying 2 sets of gratuity - one added automatically, but optional for front of house staff. Why leave your waiting staff in this embarrassing situation where they must explain that they don't get any of the gratuity already charged. In addition, the result could be that the waiter winds up with less. How is that fair when they take all the demands from diners?

I consider myself to be a generous tipper. Credit where it's due. However, this is not the way tipping should be done.

Hope management responds to this. I won't go back to Fromage and will spread the word about this...