Angies Jamaican Grill LLC — Restaurant in Durham

If I could rate Angie 100 stars I would!!!

My grandmother has an Annual Family Reunion every Labor Day! This year she was interested in Caribbean food for our big day! We looked up several restaurants in the area. One restaurant asked me to come in person for a quote. So I went in, looked at the menu, told him the items we needed, and asked him for samples of the food just to make sure we liked it! He told me he'd call me in a few hours with the quote then charged me $40 for the samples. Later that night, he never followed up with a quote & I never called him to question it? The food was disgusting anyway!

A week later my grandmother & I called Angie. She was able to give us quotes by phone and actually invited us in to meet with her! When we arrived we met several other customers in the restaurant who were telling us how great the place was and they were praising her food! Angie arrived & greeted us with hugs! She sat down with us and went over all our options & pricing. The experience was so welcoming, that we were very confident in choosing her & even put down a deposit b4 ever tasting the food! We asked for small samples b4 leaving out & Angie blessed us with free samples! We got home & shared it with Grandpa & we were all in Heaven! We danced in excitement all the way up until the big day!

On the day of, Angie reached out several times to keep us posted with the progress of the order. It was Labor Day Weekend & she had numerous orders to complete yet she committed to her promise and had our order complete, hot, and ready for 2pm! When we arrived Angie, her son & neice began bringing out pans full of food! It seemed like so much food & we were nervous about transporting it to the car. But like Angels..... Angie & her son gathered the food, brought it to the car & loaded it inside the trunk! Angie even took the time to secure each pan with towels and a blanket we had in the trunk of the car, making sure it didn't slide while driving home. We thanked her over & over & got a million more hugs before driving off! We even stopped to get the cake b4 going home & the food was still safe & secured in place.... not one spill!!!

At dinner time everyone was excited to dig in! Everyone took pictures and Oooo'd & Aaahhhh'd!!! The presentation was excellent! The food was delicious! The amount of food was abundant and the price was outstanding!

Angie I want to thank you on behalf of my whole entire family! You are truly an Angel sent from Heaven with a warm & genuine heart! We will definitely be back to visit again soon! We have already began to spread the word not only about how yummy your food is but also of how amazing you are as a person!!!! Hugs & Kisses from me and Gamma Lilly!!!

PS... We were stashing food during the reunion so we could have some for later! Lol We are still munching on it!!!! And it's still just as tasty! I hope everyone has a chance to...

Saturday July 19th: I was really excited to try this place after reading some good reviews, but unfortunately, my experience was the complete opposite. From the moment I walked in, the energy just felt off. No greeting, no eye contact, just a quick “cash or card?” delivered with a “I don’t wanna be working here” kind of vibe. I said “card,” and without another word, I was pointed toward the self-pay station.

This was my first time here, and honestly, that first interaction should’ve been a sign to walk out. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt, I was craving some good jerk chicken.

I ordered the large jerk chicken with rice and peas, mac & cheese (which was an extra $3), plantains, and sweet yams. There were only two people ahead of me, so I waited around 20min for them to be served and I saw them leave, but then I ended up waiting again over 35 minutes while customers who ordered after me got their food first. That’s when I realized something was wrong.

I went up to ask, and the guy at the front barely acknowledged me. He just said “Name?” I told him, and without saying a word, he turned around and disappeared into the back. No explanation, no confirmation that they even had my order. I sat back down and waited again. A few minutes later, he came back out and told me to wait 10 more minutes, which clearly meant they hadn’t even started it!

When my food finally came out, I didn’t get a chance to check it. The employee quickly bagged it and handed it to me, it was until he obviously noticed how patient I was being but how irritated I was that at least he quickly just said “sorry for the wait”. I was already running late and was gonna let the experience slide only to get to my car and find that my order was completely wrong!!

Not sure how many pieces of chicken come in the large order but I got 3 small pieces for $19. The mac & cheese I paid $3 extra for was missing and replaced with cabbage and worst of all, the $6 sweet yams were drenched in jerk sauce that had leaked from another container. They were completely inedible!!

At that point, I didn’t even bother going back in. The atmosphere was just so unwelcoming from the start, and I didn’t want to waste more of my time. After reading through the other negative reviews, I now realize this wasn’t just bad luck, it seems to be a recurring issue.

If it had simply been a mistake and the staff had handled it kindly, I probably wouldn’t even be writing this, I might have even given them another chance. But when you pay good money and get treated like an inconvenience, it’s hard to let that slide. I won’t...

The staff is super nice, which is a nice change from typical Jamaican restaurants.

But honestly, this is another case of disappointment from the Jamaican restaurants in NC. I've tried every top rated one from Raleigh to Durham. They're all mid at best.

I'm from Hartford CT. I know that means nothing to most of you reading this, but if you know, you know that means there were bomb Jamaican restaurants and bakeries on every corner, accessible to me every day of my life until I moved here 7 years ago. I grew up on this food, even though I'm not Jamaican.

I didn't know how much I took that for granted until I moved here and have a craving for simple "staple" dishes like jerk chicken and curry goat. And CAN NOT FIND IT.

This restaurant, like all others, misses on authentic flavor. I knew as soon as I opened my plate of goat that it wasn't going to taste right. The color of the meat alone was a dead giveaway. It was weird - the rice was fine, the cabbage was fine, the gravy was fine, but the gravy is what gave everything the flavor. The meat itself was tough, dry (or surrounded by layers of fat) and had no flavor.

I waited and tried to have it as leftovers the next day, hoping the flavor might marinate a little but no. Same deal. I tried putting hot sauce on it (which I've NEVER done, I DO NOT believe in putting Franks red hot on Jamaican food, but for the price of this plate, I was determined to find a way to make it appetizing.) Still nothing.

The NC Jamaican spots are like abusive relationships. You get hurt, disappointed, leave, swear to never try again, then start to forget all the bad times and optimistically try again. Then start the cycle all over. The comments and reviews you see raving are from people who have nothing to compare this to. And I'm telling all of you, these restaurants are jacking you. If they were up north with real competition, they'd be out of business.

I give up. The next time I want real Jamaican cuisine, I'm catching a flight...