The Jerk — Restaurant in Key West

I just got in from my motorcycle ride from Central Florida. Tired & hungry moving to hangry.

So I needed the reviews to match the food experience. Another problem with being that hungry, one tends to loose their ability to appreciate the nuance of great verses good.

It's been two weeks sence I returned home. So you would think I would not be moved by one meal after so long. You would be wrong.

Remember that the expression Skinner made when he tasted the ratatouille prepared by Remy? The range of emotions that fueled his fury also ⛽️ his intense disarming and need to know who could create such a sublime meal 😍

Irrefutably Undeniably Delicious

My #2, Josiah Jahi is my gift to the 🌍. A journeyman chef of profound skill and imagination. I called my daughter Alanna in Guam 🇬🇺 because it was to late for the new daddy. I shared these pics with her and my roaring review.

I wish Josiah could taste that jerk chicken with macaroni and 🧀. The plantains were simply sublime 😍

Everyone should taste that macaroni and 🧀. It rises to the level of culturally relevant. Like grits on the Bayou.

Yes, it's that good. Not like my mother's...

because...

The food tasted good, but to our surprise the order of Curry chicken came with no rice. Orders come with one or two sides, just know if you want rice, rice is considered a side already. We didn't know that, because every Jamaican restaurant we've been to, rice is part of the plate. If you order any meat like oxtail, goat, chicken etc. it comes with rice and a side, at least at every other Jamaican restaurant we've been to. The pictures on the wall also show it this way. So we were super disappointed when we got to our hotel and found the plate only had curry chicken and sweet plantains, since we ordered sweet plantains as our side. Even the pictures on their wall show it with rice. They should specify that when ordering, or on their menu. He could have upsell it by saying "do you want that with rice and a side?" And we would have happily spent the extra 2 dollars. We got some Jerk chicken tacos, I recommend those, they were pretty tasty and filling. I wanted to get the oxtail but for 45 dollars, it ain't happening. Heads up it's not a full sit down restaurant, it has no tables, just a little high top with a couple of stools, it's more of a order...

If you are reading this review, do not come. The jerk chicken is made with BBQ sauce, totally not authentic. The Mac and cheese was velveeta white cheddar, something I’ve never been served from any Jamaican restaurant. The rice and pigeon peas are marked as rice and beans so I question the owner’s Jamaican background, oh and the rice and peas taste horrible too, bland and over-cooked rice. The food is edible, it’s just not good and it’s not authentic Jamaican food in any respect. I go to the same Jamaican food truck every week and if I were to serve this to the owners they would spit the food out. It’s an embarrassment, I even had to tell a couple not to eat there because I didn’t want them to get ripped off as I did, $20~ for jerk chicken is ridiculous. $45 for oxtail should be criminal.

Edit, a lot of this guys reviews are for when he had a food truck. Prices were significantly less, oxtail was $10 for a small and $16 for a large. Jerk chicken was $8 and $14. The food also totally looks different. Dude has totally lost all passion and is probably banished from Jamaica at this point. Barbecue sauce on jerk chicken…… I still cannot...