Dat Jerk Caribbean Chargrill Waldorf — Restaurant in Maryland

Words cannot express how disappointed I am in this establishment. We were heading out for vacation and decided to try out this place for the first time and I placed an order online and picked it up. The packaging was AMAZING. As soon as we returned from vacation we all insisted that we try this place again. Having lived here for almost 5 years and never tried this place was crazy, so we thought!

I'm a super busy mom and business owner, so I try my best to find places that have GREAT PACKAGING because I DoorDash more than I'm happy to announce. SO adding this place to the list was a no brainer.

We placed an order for a little over $160. When the package arrived, I noticed that the bag was open. Enough to be able to tamper with the food. Of course, I HATE complaining but this was completely against the reason why I even ordered. So I kindly contacted Dat Jerk and explained what happened to the manager Erin or Erica. She stated she knows for a fact that my package was closed when it left. I told her I could bring the food back, I could send her videos, I even explained that I could send the video from my ring camera showing it was open. She was very empathetic and told me that I didn't need to do any of that. She said she would contact her regional manager and would contact me right back. Well that was on a Monday. 5 days later, I called her back to ask her for an update because we still had the food and I was expecting a call. I placed the bag in my freezer and to be honest, I completely forgot to reach back out because re had already made other plans that Monday.

When I called her back. I simply said, are you still waiting to hear back from the regional manager. She said, "she never called you" I said no. Then she said, oh I thought she was going to call you. Let me check because she said she was going to give you a $25 credit to your acct. Mind you, I don't even have an acct that I am aware of. I told her that I still had the food and would could bring it back to her and she said no because all she would do is throw it away. So this is why I assumed that they issued a refund and $25 credit. However, to confirm, I asked to be certain because the mere fact that she said she would call me back and didn't was a red flag.

All in all, it was not about the money because I am VERY aware that people play games, that is why I insisted to bring the food back when it was delivered, but she told me no. Then to bring the food back 5 days later was just a bit much for my peaceful energy and I didn't feel like engaging with the manager who may need the regional manager that may not have been available.

I am writing this to say, I don't care who fault it was. There should be protocols in place to protect their food and my safety. Regardless whether it was the driver or them. This could have been handled so much better.

To the $25, don't bother, I will not be returning and I know that may be a needle in the hay stack, but this was my experience.

To top it off, we didn't get the 1/2 pork that we ordered,...

UPDATE: Since I wrote my initial review we've eaten here multiple times and were still as satisfied as the first time. I regret that I have to lower my rating.

The price has increased, as it has everywhere. Dat Jerk has never been a budget restaurant, let me be clear, but the quality justified the price. But not today.

$50 for two bowls of jerk chicken, a beef patty, and two orders of coco bread.

The chicken was good, I can't deny that. The rice and peas were very dry. But it's the coco bread that was the most disappointing because it was stale. Not just stale like a little tough, but stale like it was quite old and only "soft" on top. The bottom and sides and the bread weren't edible. And the worst part is they tried to pass it off as fresh. No one sells you old bread at full price, but they did.

My husband says the mac and cheese was just okay. His words were, "Nothing I had was like it was before. It was just disappointing." I thought the stir fried veggies were good, he said something was off.

With so many restaurants positioning themselves with high prices and low quality, we won't be out to eat again for a while. This was the last straw for us. So sad that no establishment seems safe.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: We decided that we wanted Jamaican food and this is the only place we knew of in the area. The day before going, I told my sister about it. She said that she's eaten from the Glenarden location and that the food is good.

Well, her words couldn't convey how food the food at dat jerk really is. Y'all, the food is GOOD. It slap. It's off da chain. It's bomb. We were thoroughly pleased.

I got the honey lime salmon, rice and peas, and plantains, no gravy. He got the half jerk chicken, rice and peas, and plantains, curry gravy. He also got an order of mac and cheese, for us to try, and two orders of cocoa bread.

All of it was beyond our expectations. The customer service was excellent, the restaurant was clean, and the presentation was superb.

We've discovered a new favorite, go-to and will be returning soon. We hope y'all...

Just disappointing… I have been coming to this spot in Waldorf for years since it’s opened and I’ll almost always get the old harbor bay shrimp/fries (typical Marylander). They had some of the best shrimp around in my opinion and they’ve always been fairly priced. However, sometime in the last year or two, they just got rid of the shelled shrimp. Ok thats fine… peeled shrimp are easier to eat I guess, but unfortunately don't always have the same level of flavor (at least in my experience). Then it started to feel like they started to season the shrimp and fries less and less. These last few times I visited have been all consistent with that. The first time I figured it was a fluke. Then it happened a second time and i had to ask for more seasoning. And this last time, they handed me the food and I looked down and the fries were not even seasoned! I said to the cashier that I had order the old harbor bay fries and she told me “yes, thats the old harbor bay fries”. I looked down and showed her the fries and told her these fries aren’t even seasoned… And thankfully I double checked the shrimp before she went back to fix my order, because the shrimp look like they had only been dashed with the old harbor bay… the cashier came back with my order and the fries still only looked like they were just dashed with the seasoning (at least it was seasoned this time…) and it looked like they just sprinkled a little more of the seasoning on the shrimp. At one point, the fries and shrimp would be completely orange and you could smell the seasoning as it was being put in the bag and your sinuses would be cleared with ease from the spices. Now it seems they’re just instructed to put as little seasoning as possible, if any at all. I could have overlooked this if it was a one time fluke, but it just seems to be the norm after the 3rd time in a row. It’s so disappointing to see a place with good food...