Ali's Trinbago Roti Shop — Restaurant in New York

I have been going to specfic location for over 15+ plus years so i can honestly say that the food has lost its savour. I went to this location on Thursday night and although it is always crowded ...the wait to pick up the order took forever as there was one lady preparing the food ...while mulitiple was in the back laughing and talking. The young lady who takes the orders who has been there as long as I can remember knows how to handle the crowd . Only thing that i felt was off was she was addressing the female customers by calling them girlfriend. It sounded kinded of sarcastic to me ....and it wasnt like she was calling the men boyfriend either ...she could have a better approach when handling female customers. I mention that cause someone make take that wrong way . Besides that she keep the front moving. That is definetly a plus.

Quality The food when we finally got it 40- 50 mins later had many different temps. The Aloopie outside was cold. The potatoes was warm. I ordered two buss one was warm with steam the other was like ..they had it already out seperated it was barely warm. The presentation was horrible. The cabbage looked like garbage ...the spinach was just boiled spinach , barely any pumpkin , the potato runny and the channa I had no memory of ..the food was bland and had no taste what so ever . I must mention one of the meals had one chunk of Potato as this was a veggie platter.

Ali's Roti used to be a staple..made you feel like you was getting authentic tasting food.

The new location is nice and clean looking. I feel it would not hurt if they put a few tables back so people can eat after they waited all that time.

Hopefully it gets better. Its my...

Trinidad is a little country with a giant food tradition. Trini food embraces all of its cultures, and the interplay between the culinary traditions of these cultures leads to magic. This is food where the stews and provisions of Africa merge with the curries and spices of India, leading to food that is 100% Trini.

New York City boasts some of the best Trini food in the USA. Debates rage about which boro serves up the best doubles. Many swear by Queens, and just as many swear by Brooklyn.

As far as I am concerned, Ali's, in Brooklyn, has some of the tastiest food from Trinidad. I had the opportunity to go there with some friends for Sunday lunch. Luckily, we just beat the post church crowd, and so had a chance to relax and really dig into the food.

For the uninitiated, doubles are the quintessential Trini breakfast food. It is basically chickpeas [channa] wrapped up in a bread of sorts [bara], with a variety of condiments [tamarind sauce, pepper sauce, sometimes mango and cucumber]. The version at Ali's was quite delicious. Bara was thick and crispy, channa spicy and flavorful, and pepper sauce added just enough kick to make things interesting.

Embracing my inner glutton, I also had a buss up shut [sort of like a Trini paratha], with goat curry. Also right on target! Friends had various rotis and raved about them. I also enjoyed my mauby drink, which is made from the bark of a tree, with various spices and sugar.

And just as we were finishing up, the place started to buzz with families filing in after church. We sat there, soaking in the atmosphere for a moment, prior to beginning our walk back to the close in proximity, but distant in every other...

I've been coming to Ali's for many years to purchase roti's for myself and family, and I do travel a ways. We noticed the last few times the roti's were a little dry. So last night when I placed my orders I asked for extra gravy. Upon eating my shrimp roti I opened the dough and I was Very surprised yet disappointed. My roti had very little food filling inside. It looked like 2 teaspoons scoops of food. At that point I was turned off and it reflected in my appetite because I just picked over my food. If I lived nearby, I would have definitely taken it back. We all know that shrimp is more costly when it comes to food. Perhaps they were trying to stretch their shrimp roti filling this time, but that is NOT the way to do so. This is cheating customers. No customer wants to taste only dough in their roti. I simply want my money's worth as a loyal customer. This experience now lacks my confidence in Ali's shrimp roti's. I should NOT have to remind them to fill my roti well whenever I place orders. That makes me uncomfortable. Overall, I do hope that Ali's staff reads my review and take into consideration to be more mindful and aware of their ongoing...