Long Gut Miss Pinny - Finest Jamaican Dining Restaurant — Restaurant in Manchester

Ok, a wonderfuly produced tiktok reel showed up in my "for you page" about a new high end Jamaican restaurant in a high end location in Manchester. Long story short, I was in the area and called the restaurant twice, hanging up each time after at least 20 unanswered rings. The reason I called was to determine whether they provided take out service. I took a chance. The restaurant is in a very nice location surrounded by other restaurants and businesses that speak to "high end." The restaurant is very well appointed, intimate and.when I arrived at 7:45, at least half filled. I sat at the bar and within 5 minutes a very polite and positive server approached me and I asked if they provided take out. She said yes and I asked for a menu. About five minutes after that, I got the take out menu. Fantastic variety of options. I fucused on the Oxtail dinner with rice and peas alongside cooked veg for $24. I Completely understood given the location and ambiance; indeed, I expected to pay more because of it. The nice lady when I got her attention, took my order, I also asked for a Heineken, to my astonishment Heineken was cheaper than Redsripe. It was about 8:05 when I got my beer, and when I did, I offered my card to pay the entire bill. She was very busy and didn't take it; she moved on to making drinks for seated diners. By that time the dining floor was at least 2/3ds filled. Another 20 minutes passed and I'd yet to see a single food item come out of the kitchen for anyone. Forty minutes had passed and none of the seated diners had gotten food yet. I understand the culture and new restaurant kinks so I wasn't too bothered by the wait, but I had a finite deadline. About 10 minutes later, the server approached me with my bill. I explained that I'd be happy to pay for the beer but I need to get going. I pointed out that I'd been there for fifty minutes and if I wasn't going to get my order in at least ten minutes I'd like to cancel it. I also asked when would be a better day and time to return when it wasn't so busy. She wasn't so sure what to say but said that she needed to go check to see if the chef had prepared my order. I said no problem if it's prepared, I'll take it, if not, I'll come back another day and time. About five minutes later, she came back with the tied up scandal bag holding my dinner. I gave her my card, opened the bag and looked at the contents of my plate. I wish I could add a picture. A heap of rice and peas in the lower compartment of the Styrofoam container, two and a half pieces of oxtail in the upper left corner and a smattering of veg in the upper right corner. I couldn't believe it and asked if the owner was present. About five minutes after that, I showed the owner the contents of my plate and asked her if she approved. She said yes, I thanked her, wished her well and left. $24 dollars for two and a half pieces of thin oxtail. Five thin pieces total. They literally chop in half, a small diameter half inch thick oxtail. As to the food, it tasted very good, a little too much pimento in the oxtail for me and the veg was perfectly seasoned but the cabbage, in my opinion, wasn't cooked down enough. The rice and peas was perfect and plenty. But by the time I got through the 2 and 1/2 pieces of thinly sliced oxtail, I'd gone through less than a third of it. Perhaps if they'd put a couple drops of gravy on it I'd have had some more. I don't eat so so rice and peas. Perhaps the dine in portions are different, but I feel ripped off. Especially after waiting over an hour. The smallest portion of take out oxtail available regionally has more oxtail than the 24 dollar dinner at this restaurant. If they had charged 35 dollars and served a proper portioned dinner like one can get anywhere else, I would have been content and given 4.5 stars. Rip off. I won't be back unless significant changes are made. Short Gut miss Pinny, shame on you.

PS There is a picture of the take out plate on the first 1 star review showing the amount of goat one gets for, if memory...

Where do I start. Okay how about a list of pros and cons. Pros: ackee and salt fish was delicious, very flavorful, veggies were done perfectly as well. The beef patty and coco bread were good. The fried plantain was fine I guess (even though you only get two pieces). The waitress/host was very pleasant.

CONS: I ordered red peas soup and its consistency was VERY watery (like chicken noodle soup watery). I had ackee and salt fish with rice and peas and there was no gravy whatsoever so I ate half the rice with the 3/4 cup of ackee they give you and put the other half of rice away because it was so dry. The rice was extremely basic, anyone could’ve made it to be honest. Curry chicken was lackluster but at least it had gravy.

All in all. I wouldn’t go back here and definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone either. If it’s your first time trying Jamaican food, I would say go somewhere else, so that you’re not against Jamaican food in the future. If you need a quick bite and you’re hungry for anything but fast food , this place is fine but for a great Jamaican dinner? Absolutely not. Maybe other things on the menu were good but the things I got were not.

Update: after careful consideration, and after eating the red peas soup for my lunch at work, I wouldn’t ever go back to this restaurant. I’d rather go get an order of McDonald’s fries to satisfy my hunger. AS STATED, it was extremely watery, the kidney beans were hard, it was like they covered up for the lack of seasoning by throwing a lot of pepper in it. And the beef was tough. For these reasons I changed my 2 star rating to a 1. (I’m 100% Jamaican. So my review comes from someone who has Jamaican culture. For anyone who thinks I’m...

It's been a long time coming, and they're finally here. A Jamaican restaurant with an elegant vibe / twist to it.

Overall, the experience was great. The wait staff Daniela and Moncherie were very knowledgeable, accommodating, and welcoming.

The ambiance was very intimate and appealing. The restaurant was very clean and the layout of the place was nice. It is handicap accessible as it's on ground level. They do not have a parking lot but there is on street parking. They are located in the center of Manchester, CT at the intersection of Park and Main Street. After dinner, you can stroll to the nearby park or other local business located on the strip.

Now, let's talk about food. Overall, the food was delicious. The presentation was good and the food was well seasoned and cooked to perfection. I had the Pan Seared Salmon with Rice and Peas, Steamed Veggies, and Fried Ripe Plantains.

I ended up asking for some more of their steamed veggies that was made just the way I like them. The rice and peas was cooked very well and had flavor. The Salmon was served with a ginger based sauce, packed a serious punch that had my taste buds dancing in my mouth.

The steamed Red Snapper dish was delicious also, as I heard no complaints.

I was a bit disappointed because they had Ackee and Saltfish on the menu but, it was being served with rice and not the traditional "food" such as green banana, yam, dumpling, pear(avocado) and plantains or fried dumplings. They also, didn't have Gungo Peas(Pigeon Peas) and Rice as a choice. But this will not stop me from going back. I do hope these items will be added to the menu in the future.

Other than that, I highly recommend making a visit to...