Best Taste Jamaican and American Restaurant — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Not the "Best Taste" for Authentic Caribbean Food

I really wanted to love Best Taste Jamaican & American Restaurant, but unfortunately, the food fell far short of expectations. While the service was decent and the staff was friendly, the taste of the dishes was a major letdown.

First, the Brown Stew and Curry—two staples of Jamaican cuisine—were way too sweet and lacked that deep, savory, authentic flavor I was craving. The sauce just didn’t taste right, almost as if it was missing key spices or had an odd sweetness that shouldn’t be there.

The oxtails were just mediocre—not terrible, but not great either. They weren’t as tender as they should be; real Jamaican oxtails should be falling-off-the-bone soft, and these were just… okay. The rice, however, was actually really good—flavorful and well-seasoned, which was a saving grace.

Then there was the snapper, which took way too long to come out, especially since we ordered it early in our meal. When it finally arrived, it was decent, but the wait wasn’t justified.

The mac and cheese was a complete miss—way too cheesy in an artificial, sweet way that made it borderline unpleasant. The toddler couldn’t even finish it.

The atmosphere was nice—vibrant colors, music playing—but that doesn’t make up for disappointing food. For $80 for three plates with sides and drinks, I expected way better.

Final thoughts? If you're looking for real, authentic Jamaican flavors, this isn’t the spot. The oxtails and rice were good, but everything else missed the mark. I won’t be...

Very nice people and the service was excellent but I have to be honest .. first the address is wrong on Google so I had to drive to the right location after contacting them twice .. Food is already prepared which isn’t a problem if you can do it right but unfortunately some things can’t be pre prepared if you’re not busy .. like fried chicken .. it was dry and you can tell it was sitting in a oven warming for hours.. it had that stringy tough feel to the chicken .. not juicy and crispy AT ALL… Collard greens should never in life be sweet .. taste like they put some type of sweetener in it .. terrible .. as you see in the picture the macaroni literally has no cheese in on it around it .. STRAIGHT NOODLES …cornbread is cake not cornbread … Smh … I love my people but we got to do better and stop tryna cut corners so it RIGHT THE FIRST TIME .. for $13 TOTAL it’s not the end of the world and I’ll be back if I’m in desperate need and can’t find anything else open but I definitely won’t be ordering no more chicken , Mac n cheese or...

Since covid things have changed with this restaurant their menu options have changed along with the quality of food not to mention I paid $55 for lg sizes but we got express size portions. I had stewed beef and rice the beef taste old and was tough to chew the rice was undercooked and hard, the yams were okay all three tiny pieces of them and the mac and cheese was burnt gave it to my dogs, my husband got the oxtails which seem to be all baby tails and only got like four of them with a lot of gravy not to mention they are charging you almost double for a drink that is clearly priced at $0.99 overall biggest waste of $55 ever I was very disappointed with this place will not be returning, used to be one of my favorite spots but not anymore! I guess everything changes...