PETES Jamaican restaurant — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

We listened to the locals and dined here today. Bad choice. I'm from the east coast, where we have a plethora of great food choices to enjoy, so when I heard I could get authentic Jamaican cuisine in Colorado I was shocked and excited.

Jamaican, where? Queens? No! This was not it. I ordered the jerk chicken with rice and peas and cabbage. The only thing jerk was the person at the counter who did not seem to happy about being at work. The chicken taste like it was seasoned with storebought marinade. I know walkerswood when I taste it. The rice and peas were a mushy mess. In general it taste like it was made yesterday and warmed up today to be served to us.

My husband ordered wings, fries and mac & cheese. I couldn't tell of the wings was chicken or an 80yr old man the skin was so rubbery and flaccid. Upon tasting it he asked me "What flavor is this?" To which I responded "I have no idea" the mac & cheese was the worst offender though. A greasy, watery mass that just slid across the plate like it was going skiing. The fries were ok but then again it doesn't take much skill to dump fries in oil. I guess I am all salty though (take note, fries) because we wasted 45 minutes and $40 buck for mediocre food hyped up by locals who aren't used to anything else. Don't waste your money. For Pete's sake-no really! Seriously for Pete's sake, go eat somewhere else. I don't hate yall so I'm not gonna recommend...

Came from tiktok. The taste was good - I will admit. But we couldn’t continue eating past a few bites. The food just had far too many bone fragments in it. It was impossible to dig in without getting a mouthful (atleast in the lamb the chunks were big enough to be seen, but on the chicken, they were ground up and splintered so small, it was impossible to pick them out carefully).

My friend ended up just foregoing any further bites of her chicken as a result (far too many bone splinters in the food) despite saying she liked the taste of what she could eat. And for me it was just ludicrous. If it wasn’t bone, it was fatty tissue, there was very little actual lamb (although I will say - the lamb that WAS there, was delicious) but far far too little of it to justify $24 for the plate (literally maybe 3 spoonfuls all put together at the most.

Only thing any of us could eat was the sides (Mac & Cheese and plantains for me, and macaroni salad and rice for my friend). Even so, she didn’t even finish all her rice and barely 2 spoons of her actual entree before giving up on it.

All in all, we paid $50+ dollars in total and ate a small side of mac&cheese, 1 plantain, macaroni salad and 1 spoonful or 2 of what remain because it was impossible to eat it. I’d like to believe it was an isolated experience but idk if I feel up to giving this place...

Jerk chicken meal. The seasoning was very well done, and wasn't too spicy for the spouse. I am sure a hotter variation available. The meat was tender. I ate mine from the bones with my fingers. My spouse ate theirs with knife and fork. (We grew up on opposite sides of 'the tracks.'). The meal came with a generous portion of chicken and two sides. Between us, we got fries, rice and beans, Mac salad, and festival. I had to ask about the festival; it is a fried sweet bread which I used to mop up the jerk sauce.

Spouse asked another customer what they order. They said the oxtail. The customer said they are on repeat for the oxtail right now, but enjoyed the jerk chicken as well.

This place is small. There were only about 4 two-seater tall tables, and perhaps a small 4-person table. I don't know if I would recommend this place as a dime in or take out, due to its size. Service was polite, friendly, and fast. Met the cooks --...