Esmies Caribbean Fusion — Restaurant in Coventry

Great food but I cannot recommend this as a place to try. Avoid at all costs! (Read my edit lower down as well)

The server was lovely but she was literally the only person in the restaurant taking all the orders, making drinks, serving the food, clearing the tables. That was clearly a sign of what was to come.

We ended up waiting for 1.5 hours exactly before our food was served - this is by far the longest I have ever waited for food anywhere in my life! Communication during this wait was nonexistent and any time we tried to ask, the poor server was too busy to get an answer for us from the kitchen.

It looked like the restaurant was clearly prioritising takeaway orders as there was a nonstop stream of takeaway bags and drivers making their way out of the restaurant. I still don't understand why they continued to sit people down. They should've either closed the restaurant for those wanting to dine in or started rejecting takeaway orders (something a lot of restaurants do when they don't have the capacity).

After 1 hour 30 minutes the food finally arrived. It was quite tasty, though maybe it was the hunger making us think that.

Having looked at some other reviews since our visit we clearly haven't been the only ones in this situation before, and it's something that seems to keep happening. I would not risk the crazy potential wait times for food that could be a 4 out of 5 if everything else had been perfect (which it wasn't!).

Edit: In reply to the message below, this happened on Saturday 13 August. By the type of reply below, it is evident of what you can expect. I hope people really see what type of business this is.

I gave some accurate feedback based on exactly what we experienced and the response is essentially that I'm apparently giving an unsubstantiated claim and that I should have raised my concerns to them directly. During the night we mentioned our wait for food, but as already written it was out of the hands of the poor staff member. I actually praised the taste of the food and have been very sympathetic about the situation with the restaurant only having one server.

This review is more a review of the business owner/manager at this stage. These types of replies attacking customers as if they're making it up or are to blame for the situation is not...

Leave it to Esmies? I’ll say ‘don’t bother’!!

I booked a table for 12 people as a get together..When we got there, we were told our table had been given away because we were late! Even though I had booked it for 7:30 and we were there by 7:15. After speaking to the manager, we were sat down. Now, typically a waitress will appear and take drink orders..a waitress didn’t appear at our table until 8:20pm. A whole hour has gone by and somehow they had forgotten about the big table of 12 in the middle of the restaurant! After we order our drinks, it takes another 30mins before we receive them..by this time we were beginning to wonder about our food. Another 30mins goes by and after going to request about our orders, the manager apologises and tells me that the food is coming...20mins goes by and still nothing!! By this time everyone at the table is looking worn out and beginning to question whether it was best to line our stomachs with food before coming out to eat at this ‘restaurant’! Eventually the food comes..but by this time, we have waited 2 hours 10mins for a meal. Is it worth it? No!

After the meal, I asked the manager whether it is possible to get a discount to compensate for the inconvenience of waiting and being ignored for 2hrs. Her response was that she’s not going to give us a discount because she did us a favour by having 12 people at the restaurant, implying that our money and patronage was not welcome. She said they did the best they could because it was a busy day for them...but I disagree. They had time to prep for a big table because i had taken my time to personally go the day before to make sure the manager was aware we were coming.

I must say, it was a huge disappointment to be treated so shabbily and hint that our money was not welcome because it was an inconvenience for them. I am a huge believer in supporting black companies but after the way I have been treated, I would definitely go elsewhere...

We tried Esmie's at Fargo Market on a Saturday night.

We had heard very good things about Esmie's food, which left us excited to try. Unfortunately, that's where the excitement ended 🥲

We ordered 2 jerk chicken skewers with rice n peas along with a bake, plantain, and salad. We also enquired about the wings and fries to see if we could get a portion of just wings, which they happily obliged. However, wings and fries were £10 and they charged us £8 for a portion of wings - not the worst price in the world, but when I say, we got FOUR wings for £8 😭😭😭

£13 for each portion of Jerk and £8 for 4 wings 😭

Now, the wings were actually really nice. Lovely flavour, succulent, and very well cooked. It was just the price, which was extremely disappointing.

The jerk chicken skewers were very, very bland. Although I must admit, you get a large serving of chicken but chicken that has no flavour other than the burnt coals it's cooked on - a shame, really.

The rice n peas 🥴 We've never had anything so bland. Zero flavour, we counted 3 kidney beans in one portion. The rice had clearly not had any seasonings added as it was as white as the inside of our chicken. I don't get how you can make long grain rice taste like this and claim to be rice n peas.

The salad wasn't anything to write home about, either, unfortunately. Diced cucumber & tomatoes and not a hint of coleslaw in sight 🥲

The bake was very good in all fairness. A large serving on the side, which was nice to dip into the best sauce they had - a bottle of Siracha on the side. The platain was tasty, too. Cooked very well and had a great consistency.

To sumamrise, we paid £34 for 2 servings of jerk skewers with 'rice n peas', salad, a single dumpling, and a single cut of plantain. And an additional 4 wings.

It's very underwhelming, and maybe an experience in the restaurant will prove different, but I wouldn't be...