Café Caribbean — Restaurant in Epping Forest

So for a while now I’ve been seeing several social media posts about Cafe Caribbean in Loughton and thought I’d give it a try for my self. I really had high hopes based on what I’ve heard and seen on social media but from the offset I wasn’t impressed. On entering the restaurant it was busy with customers eating, being a Sunday “naturally” I appreciate it was gonna be busy and I noticed one or two tables empty. The staff were not very attentive and when I asked if I could grab the only available two seater table at the time I was told it was reserved. I was however informed that a table outside would Become available shortly therefore having no other option I agreed. I placed my order and decided to go for the Sunday roast which comes with three meats a mac and cheese and a can of Coke total bill £27.50p

I went outside and waited almost 25 mins. During this time staff who kept going in and out just kept looking at me. The tables had not been cleaned after the last customers had finished and I had to ask one of the members of staff if they can clean and wipe down the table I was sitting on. Eventually a tall black gentleman who I’m assuming was the manager/owner asked me if I had been served and I explained to him that I’d been waiting now for almost 25 mins with no food at my table. This gentleman who was very polite and friendly then swiftly had the food brought out to me and I must say on first impressions I wasn’t impressed. I’ve left a photo so you can judge for your selves . First and foremost you’ll notice there is no Yorkshire pudding on my plate and other than two pieces of Brussels sprouts ,two potato’s a few strips of what appeared to be cabbage and one fresh garden pea I was very disappointed to say the least. Even more disappointing was the portion of meat on my plate which consisted of a small cut of lamb which was very chewy, a piece of chicken I could only describe as a small thigh and some beef I was struggling to find on my plate. If I had to guess there wasn’t even 200grams worth of meat on my plate. At £19.50p a plate I expected to see a lot more meat on my plate!

I did point this out to the gentleman but clearly we shared different opinions. Once again I’ve attached a photo so you can make your own judgments. On first mouthful of food I must say there was a lot of flavour and spices and overall for me it was a tad too spicy for my liking especially for a roast.

The Brussel sprouts were hard and not cooked properly, again I did point this out to the gentlemen. The overall taste was ok however definitely not worth £19.50 sorry but I expected to see more meat and veg on my plate. And I thought Toby’s was bad I owe Toby’s carvery and apology

Moving onto the Mac and cheese, nice taste but too dry for my liking. The manager did point out that he noticed I’d scoffed up the food pretty quick….. to be honest at £27.50p it was either leave hungry or just take it on the chin as a bad experience.

Needles to say I won’t be hurrying to go back to Cafe Caribbean anytime soon.👎🏻

29/09/25 update….. I was expecting that typical response lol ….. I invite any other customers to read the previous other negative reviews from customers with simalar experiences During my time at this restaurant it didn’t help that the owner hovered over me watching me eat the entire time which I found a intimidating….. As I stated it was either leave hungry or take it on the chin as a bad experience which this most definitely was! To begin with any decent business owner would have the decency to apologise…… At £19.50p for a roast I think what I was served was pathetic! You’d think it was left overs from the the night before! The photo speaks for its self.

Also As a paying customer I’m entitled to have an opinion and the only attitude on display here is your rude response as a business owner that shows you’re not open to...

Not sure about the hype over this place. They must be leaving their own reviews. I came for the ‘jerk’ roast which was horrendous first of all I had no jerk on my plate and had about 2 slithery pieces of meat, the gravy was like sink water and the whole meal had no Caribbean flavour what so ever. The restaurant is crammed to the point you feel like you’re sitting at a table with strangers and sitting on peoples laps they clearly want to cram as many people in as possible which just ruins the atmosphere completely as you can’t hear yourself think and there’s hardly any room to swing a cat in there. They clearly over book as when I arrived they looked confused and told me ‘I can sit here for now’ as if I’m going to be moved mid meal. The service is terrible I ordered a mac and cheese that didn’t arrive till after I had finished my meal and was expected to eat it after they clearly forgot to bring it out as it was cold by the time it had come out to me, each time I asked where the mac and cheese was I was told 1 second and then I could hear the daughter getting shirty to warren about. Warren is also in his own world rather than cooking and making sure all meals are sent out correctly and on time he comes out every 2 mins and just stares across the room smiling, the son is also very arrogant and shouldn’t be greeting guest on arrival. If you want a good Caribbean local to this area I would certainly avoid and go to PALM...

Went here a couple months ago. First time I went was on a Saturday about 6-7pm and before I even tried to order anything I was told that they have no food available and I need to come back in an hour. Found that odd that they literally had not one piece of food ready or available especially at that time of evening.

Ended up going back the next day and ordered ackee & salt fish and stew chicken… yeahhh it was a very strange meal. Both meals were very very oily. So much oil on top of the surface. In the ackee & salt fish there were big chunks of tomatoes and slices of lemon. In all my ackee & salt fishing years I have never seen this before. 100% it was more like a really bad Indian take away curry. The stew chicken was exactly the same, just a really bad stew chicken Bhuna or something. Honestly I found it just really strange. Never seen anything like this before. The rice tasted like a really cheap microwave packet rice. I’m sure it wasn’t packet rice but it just was hard and didn’t seem right.

Also they don’t sell fried chicken or hard-food and when I asked if they do soup the lady at the front seemed really puzzled lol like I was asking for a tin of tomato soup.

The menu and the whole shop is about being 100% Authentic Caribbean food but I was hugely disappointed. From my experience that was definitely not 100% authentic. What Caribbean shop doesn’t do hard-food, fried chicken or some...