Island Vybz RastaRant — Restaurant in Iowa City

Hear me out. I'm an honest food reviewer, and I MUST keep it real. The atmosphere was cool. Service sucked on the first time walking in, maybe because the waiter was young, perhaps its because he's a college student, but he comes off a bit weird. The food got 2 stars, but the meat was tender, but it was a bit too tender. Not to sound like that kind of person, but where I came from, Jamaican restaurants were always Jamaican owned, and YOU can definitely tell this isn't, but hey, what can you expect? This is Iowa, right 🤣........ the Jamaican restaurants I'm used to eating at have a lot more serving choices of food and especially Jamaican Patties, and much more pure authentic Jamaican food and not burgers and wraps like this restaurant has. On the menu I read today weren't satisfying, but I SETTLED. IF....... you ask me the only thing I enjoyed was ginger beer, and that's my honesty, but to each own. This place does have bathrooms, (A) high chair available, just not sure if they have more than that. They have 3 big tv's mounted on the wall where the alcohol and beverages are, nice seating arrangements, though, no outside seating. I will say, though the cabbage were a bit too crunchy for me, and Not flavorful. but some people love it like that, I DON'T, I personally only like it when I'm having it with Japanese food. I NOTICED this restaurant can get a bit busy at times so people obviously enjoy it, but again, it's not my forte . Would I even come back again? No. Not only was the welcoming and goodbyes the best, but the fact I had to speak first and had to give "EYE CONTACT" after already opening the door to leave, we get a silent good bye and half smile.......... I was told it was the owner, so if that was the owner, you would think it would be different coming from an owner, but I guess not........... anyway, other customers that were eating here definitely experienced that (ok, have a good one come back again) we didn't. It doesn't matter if I'm your regular customer or not. Good customer service is customer service. If you are representing and want more customers, meaning more money....... then you would hope to make a persons experience at least good or great, but in this case, it doesn't matter to them. As long as they had each other to talk to and laugh with, everything else is irrelevant to them. And that's the vibes I picked up while being here !! Moving on to parking, yes, the parking lot is busy with customers, so please be careful where you are walking to. I did Not notice a wheelchair ramp, but it may be some available. Other surrounding stores you can shop at and has plenty of parking spaces available as well and It's not hard to...

Delicious food, kind staff. Will be back many times over! I figured I would update. I have had the jerk Caesar wrap twice, the Jerk chicken quesadilla, and the smoked cheddar burger.

My goodness, do they all hit the spot. I had family also get the jerk dinner and the veggie jerk wrap and they were very pleased and thought their food was delicious and would like to go back when they are in town again!

I believe that the jerk chicken Caesar wrap is my go-to for a light delicious satiating meal, but if I want something a bit more heavier and id also super delicious, that smoked cheddar burger is definitely something to try! Give them a go!

The portions are all generous too, by the way. Next time I go, I'll get a...

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Island Vybz has gone under our radar, even though it's been open for 6 months at the time of this writing. Our first food experience assures we will be returning soon. As my wife said, we need to come back often enough to try every item on the menu. An explosion of flavor. And since it is located near Harbor Freight she says she will encourage me to shop for tools just so we'll be in the neighborhood. Outstanding service from personable waiters. If you're looking for atmosphere, you might be disappointed. Nothing wrong. Just unremarkable. But invitingly clean. I'll take clean and flavorful over atmosphere any day. A wonderful break from typical, bland...