Ripe Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in City of Mount Vernon

Ripe Kitchen & Bar is described as a “glorified hole in the wall” by its owner. It surely is, and it’s a whole vibe!

Ripe is the vision of chef Nigel Spence, a Jamaican native who complete his degree at the Culinary Institute of America, following with time working at the Food Network, most notably Bobby Flay. In fact, his Jerk ribeye steak beat Bobby on his own show.

On my first visit, I had to try the steak, which according to the menu has sold close to 150,000 plates.

The steak is 16 oz. It’s a mix of lean and fat, and the menu is VERY clear about that. I would say the steak is probably about half and half, or maybe 60/40. I stuck to the lean, but that’s a me thing, not a them thing. The flavor is something I can’t describe, maybe because I’ve never had jerk flavor on a charcoal grilled steak before.

I thought it was delicious—grilled and seared on the outside, medium to medium rare inside. I requested medium, and it might have been a little on the rarer side of that, but it really was just perfect.

It came with tasty rice and beans as well as a refreshing green salad.

I also got a side order of spicy fries, which were hot and seasoned, in a huge portion.

I had the rum punch, which is quite strong. I was surprised, but their mojito is one of the best I’ve had. All of their drinks are simple—nothing fancy—tropical—things that make you feel like you’re on island time.

The decor also makes you feel like you’re on island time—bright reds, plants, photos of Jamaica. Spence has said in his own words that this will never be a white tablecloth establishment; he wants it unpretentious and wants his crowds tipsy and inclined to sing and dance at any moment. This is more than a restaurant, it’s a community!

Prices are super crazy reasonable. The steak meal was 32 dollars. Drinks 13-15.

Service laid back, but welcoming. You could tell they didn’t care who you were or where you came from, they were just glad you were there! The owner/chef himself bussed my table and was there helping his staff, and that means a lot to me.

The menu also has oxtail (only certain days), Rasta pasta, jerk chicken, a jerk chicken quesadilla, various iterations of plantains, shrimp, curry. I think next time I’ll either try to quesadilla or the pasta (which can be served with shrimp, chicken, or vegetarian).

The parking is street parking. The outside is pretty unassuming and you can pass right by if you’re not paying attention. On warm evenings they open their patio and have live music, otherwise they play reggae overhead. I went around six on a Saturday and was seated immediately, though there were already several tables occupied (it’s a fairly small place). I spent a couple hours there and by the time I left, several more people had come to the party.

It was all locals here. And everyone besides me was Black. That tells me I was in the right place. Can’t...

What a disappointment. As a faithful customer for the past year I've always experienced some sort of tension with the waitresses but had excused the behavior because they are young. This time was the worst. It was my birthday and there were 8 people in my party. It was THE most horrific experience with a disrespectful waitress. Not only did we wait over a half hour for water, we waited an hour and a half for our food.....but it gets even worse. While waiting patiently , a friend noticed a HAIR BALL on her napkin, no.. not a hair strand/strands but a hair BALL. Looked as if one of the waitresses racked their weave with her fingers and left it on the napkin. I approached the young lady with the most weave in her hair and pointed out the hair ball, she looked and replied with "ok" while walking away to serve a party in the back yard. By this time, I’m fuming on the inside but still kindly asked her to pick it up. Since it was my birthday and the food is usually awesome ( so i thought) we decided to stay and ask for the manager. HA! what a joke. After explaining the whole ordeal to him, his response was almost the same as the young waitress. "ok, i will talk to her" Really sir..manager?? How about asking her to apologize? A discount? Some sort of compensation for the extremely long wait, no water and a HAIR BALL on the napkin. Nothing. So disappointing. I loved the red snapper and passion fruit Mojito, TO bad WE will NEVER dine there again. PS. Still trying to make an excuse for their behavior. I thought the lack of communication stemmed from our cultural difference but NO, the majority of my party were Jamaicans and they were in total shock. Almost forgot: we were charged for a soda we did not order. On purpose? Ugh, I still...

I learned about this restaurant from a friend/co-worker who speaks very highly about this restaurant. After hearing about it so much from her I decide to stop by one Thursday after work. We arrived at 5:00p when they opened because my friend warned that it could get crowded very quickly and that they took cash only. The restaurant resembles local food spots that you might see in Jamaica - very simply made of wood and not fancy at all. Once you enter you walk into the bar area and can either dine there, order take out or wait to be seated. The drink and food menus were very simple. Also, because it was weekday we were able to order mojitos at half the price. The mojitos were offered in various flavors (I chose Mango) and it was VERY strong but got sweetened the closer I got to the bottom of the glass. For appetizers, my friend ordered the codfish spring rolls and I ordered the jerk chicken quesadilla. I wasn't impressed with either appetizer but the quesadilla was best out of the two in my opinion. For our entrees, my friend ordered the rasta pasta with shrimp which I have had at footprints in Brooklyn but this version blew footprints version out of the water. It was absolutely delicious and the shrimp complimented it perfectly. I am not a steak lover but after seeing all the yelps about the jerk steak I had to give it a try. I personally haven't had a steak like that in a longtime. It was very meaty and extremely tender but not overly seasoned. It comes with a salad and rice and peas or white rice. I didn't care much for the rice and peas at all. I am definitely returning for that steak and the rasta pasta although I would love to try the oxtails also. Before leaving my friend and I had already made plans to return with our...