Aldeez Afribbean, Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Dallas

EDIT**

I’m adding more stars because the manager did respond back to my review. To me that shows that they do care about their customer’s experience and that they are striving to make things better! I love that!! I think that we may give them another try! Thank you!

Husband and I gave this place a try after our normal Jamaican restaurant was closed. Upon entry the glass doors were dirty but we overlooked and dined in anyway. The greeting was pretty good. It wasn’t busy. The waitress started off being okay. The rum punch was good. We ordered beef patties for appetizers, they were good. For our meal, I ordered the jerk snapper with peas and rice, cabbage, plaintains, and cassava. My husband ordered snapper escovitch, rice and peas, and Mac and cheese. The food came out and it looked absolutely delicious, but flies also came out with the fish and from my experience when flies accompany fish, the fish is bad. Although I was immediately losing my appetite, I tried the fish anyway. It was very salty and those darn flies would not stop! I really hate complaining so we asked for to go boxes due to the flies. The waitress seemed to be offended because although she apologized, she followed up with an excuse that people were coming in and out so flies were coming in when the door opened. No one came in or left after us. She also said “plus, it’s fish”. WHAT!? I love fish, snapper in particular, and NOT once have I ever had flies swarming my meal. She also waited at our table for us to pay while we boxed the food. It gave she thought we weren’t going to pay. I really wish we would’ve just left the food and not paid! Our bill was over $100, which is what we expected but we didnt expect rotten fish. We gathered the food and just threw it in the trash. I think I’m more annoyed at myself for not speaking up and paying. Needless to say, we won’t be back. If our original place is closed, it’s way worth it to just wait until...

"Afribbean" is supposed to mean African (Congolese, Nigerian) and Caribbean (Dancehall) music, and pan-African cuisine (mainly African, some Caribbean, and few of the sides that are American). If you're familiar with the African lounge experience, then that is the vibe here. Bottle service. Many cocktails on the cocktail menu. Hookah. Bar. Pool table. DJ on the stage. Game on the TVs. I happened to be in the area and stopped by. Parking is terrible because the parking lot is very full, but I think there's valet parking. The sign after entrance says to sit anywhere, that's fine, but I was lost. I sat at an empty booth, the benches were comfortable, the dancefloor was basically the wide aisle between the two rows of booths, several danceable songs were played, yet I had no idea how I was supposed to order food or drinks. Was a server supposed to come greet me where I am sitting? That never happened after several songs played. Minus one star. Was I supposed to order at the bar first then find a seat? If so, then good luck with finding seating on a weekend night. I guess a newcomer has to come with a regular because I was lost. Eventually I went to the bar and ordered food to go. I was helped by a nice woman. So on to the food. Jamaican beef patties are the winners. The jerk chicken here is not my type - this is the BBQ sauce type - and I prefer the other type, which is the seasoned wet rub type. Minus another star. The "Gambian jollof rice" is a seasoned rice and not a party rice. No really, it's salty and there's no party in that rice. The suya, I don't hate it but I have had better elsewhere. Ultimately, I may probably be a return customer to get a cocktail and beef patties at the bar, since that sounds like a vibe, but just not at a busy...

First impression/ decor

I walked in with my fianceé, we were greeted with a very friendly hello. After being seated at our table, I got a chance to take in the decor. They had what seemed like a dance floor for later in the nights, had we been there to dance it would have been a good time based on the setup.

Music

It had a very afro-caribbean feel. Playing anywhere from dancehall to reggae and some African artists. There was no soca, yet they had rap music, this was a disappointment being that I grew up hearing soca, along with many other island folks.

Food/menu

The menu had many selections. We had oxtail and jerk chicken, I'm guessing the house special was jerk chicken with their selections of sides, the food was hot and delicious. The meat once getting into it you could tell it was not handled well. You could smell the raw of the meat as you ate it, however, growing up in the Caribbean we learn how meat is properly cleaned, another way Caribbean folks would understand this is a term "fresh" it's a scent associated with the preparation. This is where Aldeez, lost its points to me. The chicken was dry and not very tasty as some of the other reviews had clarified.

I will not be returning for now, but please do not let my review detour you from your very own...