Blended Flavors Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Linden

Let’s just jump right into this review. I was very impressed with the customer service I received the day prior when I called to make a last minute reservation for Mother’s Day. The GM, Daniel, was very patient on the phone, friendly and accommodating. He even made a reservation for us even though the party size did not meet the minimum requirements, which is 5 people (we had 3). Please do not expect this accommodation, it was only done because it was Mother’s Day. Also, reservations require a $50 deposit, which is paid via a link sent by text to your phone. The $50 deposit is applied to your bill, but I had to inform my waitress because it’s not automatically done once you’re in the restaurant. I assume the reservation isn’t linked to your bill. Nonetheless, I showed her the receipt and she applied the credit. Unfortunately, day of reservation, my friend was late, so we lost our spot. Once she arrived, 30 minutes later, we had to wait an additional 30-45 minutes before we were seated. While this isn’t a problem, we would have appreciated if the Hostess would have just acknowledged us and gave us some sort of update on the table. We noticed the Hostess continued to walk away from the front and didn’t properly update clients on their wait times, take out orders, etc. People simply want to be acknowledged and updated to make the process more seamless. If she had dual roles, then someone needs to continuously be up front. There was a DJ and the music was good, but TOO LOUD for the size of the space. Once seated, we noticed the table was very sticky, not dirty, as it was wiped down, but it still had a film. Our waitress named Co was very nice and pleasant, but a bit distracted. We had to frequently remind her of small asks because she continuously forgot to bring them. Then she mentioned she was tired and ready to go home (because she brought us someone else’s drink), while as a human we understand, but being in a service oriented role, your clients don’t need to be made aware of that, unless the conversation warranted it, in this case it did not. We were NOT impressed with the food. It’s possible that due to the high volume of tables and people, the kitchen was simply overwhelmed. The wait times to receive the food were long, but not extreme, again, it was busy so we expected the wait. The Bang Bang Salmon Nuggets lacked flavor, but the bang bang sauce was good. They were also OVER cooked, and the breading was bland. The salmon was rubbery. Salmon does not need a long cook time, especially if you are frying it. The Cornbread Skillet was too dense and seemed like an extra egg or milk was missing in the batter. The flavor was okay, not too sweet but not bland. The Sweet Chilli Garlic wings were GREAT!!! They had a robust flavor, fried perfectly, and the chicken was done. The flavors were well balanced. The Mango-Tini was delicious and the presentation looked good. Our main entrees lacked flavor and presentation. We both got the Rasta Pasta, but one with Oxtails and one with the Turkey Leg (and side of string beans). The Rasta Pasta was lackluster. There were no Caribbean flavors just paprika for decoration and largely sliced peppers and onions (way too big). It totally missed the beat. The Oxtails were good, a little too fatty, but decent. We would have preferred them a little more charred/grilled versus boiled/baked. The string beans were good. The turkey leg was smoked with good flavor. The presentation of the Rasta Pasta Smoked Turkey Leg (house special) was terrible. It looked like a prison tray or school cafeteria tray. The pasta was just tossed on there and the sauce was all over the rim of the tray. I understand the Turkey Leg is HUGE, but an elongated or rectangular white plate would look better than a Medieval Times silver tray. While we were not impressed with the food, I would give them another try on a slow night during the week to see if the food...

I’m gonna be honest. Paid a recent visit to this location and was unpleasantly impressed. After all the rave reviews of this place I decided to give it a try and was not happy. Understandably the space is small so there’s but so many party’s they can fit especially when there’s a 15+ party in the rear of the restaurant that is hanging out. Though the servers did a great job with answering our (a party of 4) questions and assisting us with any suggestions…The food was not that great.

To start, the oxtails were a bit lackluster in flavor. And the rice was giving microwave. The Mac and cheese was nicely cheesy but also lacked flavor. It was disappointing to see the pictures look so tasty then to try it, there was no taste, just cheese. The cabbage was spicy but that probably is what made it good because there wasn’t much flavor anywhere else.

On to the baked turkey wings plate. The wings were a bit dry and should’ve come with a side of gravy. The bed of rice was clumpy, almost like a minute rice that’s thrown in the microwave and also lacked flavor. The candied yams were not candied but could obviously be sensed they were canned. And same for the cabbage as mentioned before.

Lastly for the fish tacos. The breading was ok, it wasn’t to think nor too thin but it did lack a bit of crunch. The sauce on top was a nice touch but I feel that pickled onions or relish would take it up another 2 or 3 levels. The candied yams are the same as mentioned earlier and disappointing to say, but the potato salad was sweeter than the candied yams. I’m not big on sweet potato salad, I personally prefer savory. But if that’s your thing by all means it was ehh. It was little much on the mayo and could’ve used a bit more seasoning as well. As for the collard greens, the only decent thing about them is that they were cooked long enough to be tender. They lacked a lot of flavor and the turkey wasn’t even noticeable until you got a piece with the greens. There also wasn’t much gravy juice underneath to keep the greens…juicy.

All to say I don’t think I would return here. Maybe we ordered the wrong things, but I was expecting much more from here especially since it’s a soul food and Caribbean fusion cuisine. Not to knock the service. Michaela (or Makayla) was very kind and sweet and made it enjoyable to be there. It surprised me when she mentioned the recipes are prewritten so the kitchen staff follows said recipe, but I can tell you whether it was an error by kitchen staff or by the maker… nothing was greatly appealing...

Nice looking place, everything was clean. Food was pretty good. Service was pretty much incompetent. Our waitress with the red hair seemed pretty inexperienced so we tried to be patient. Appetizers came out in about 5 minutes Jerk chicken egg rolls and Caribbean street corn were good. The mango jalapeño margarita ($12) took about 10-15 minutes to get but was very good. Took about 15 minutes for her to pull 2 cans of coke out of the fridge and bring them to us at one point. Entrees took about another 20 min Everything was room temperature so it was probably sitting in the kitchen for 10 minutes or so. The couple next to us had to walk up to the bar and ask for their check because they also had a hard time getting the waitresses attention. They walked out complaining about slow service. Jerk chicken was very tender and delicious but not spicy at all. Sides, mac and cheese and rice and peas were good not really bursting with flavor. Chicken and waffles were good. The waffle was probably better than the chicken. Chicken was pretty average not too much breading, not heavily seasoned, Not bad. French fries were pretty basic, seasoned with salt and pepper. As soon as entrees hit the table we ordered jerk chicken egg rolls to go. 15 minutes later, entrees were done and we asked for the egg rolls. Waitress said “I’ll check”. She dropped the check which was very easy and convenient to pay on my phone. Another 15 minutes later we asked another server, he said “I’ll check “ and cleared some of the dishes for us. All the while we’re sitting there with a pile of dirty dishes in front of us for 30 minutes now. Waitress comes by 10 minutes later and says our egg rolls were given to someone else and they’re making new ones now. 10 minutes later (still sitting with most of our dirty dishes) we got our egg rolls and left. Food was good. Ambiance was good. Prices were reasonable. About $130 for 2 appetizers, 2 margaritas, 4 cokes, 2 lemonades, and 4 entrees. I saw 3 or 4 servers working but no manager of any kind. This place could really benefit from a manager on the floor. The phone was ringing off the hook and people were waiting a long time for pick up orders. Overall 3/5 might give them...