Caribbean Soul — Restaurant in New York

You only get one chance at a first impression, and disappointed doesn’t begin to describe the impression Caribbean Soul left.

My sister made a reservation on 9/4/2023 to use their private dining room for her 30th birthday on 10/8/2023 at 8pm for a group of 17 people. The issues with this place began even before we got there. On 10/2/2023, less than a week before the dinner, she was contacted and told that there was a “scheduling error”, and they would have to move our reservation from 8pm to 9:30pm in order to accommodate another group. They already had our money, of course, and given that we didn’t have enough time to find an alternative spot, we obliged.

Things only went downhill once we actually got there. Management allowed the previous party to run past their end time so that, when we arrived at 9:30, our decorator was still setting up which created a delay. The room itself is nice enough. It’s clean and had a private bathroom for our use, but the utensils were comical. We had plastic plates with plastic forks and plastic knives. For a sit-down dinner with a bill exceeding $1700, plastic utensils are unacceptable. Because of the delay, there was also a long wait to get the food. The two staff members assigned to our party were also assigned to food prep, so there was little if any interaction with them because they were often in the kitchen, and by kitchen I mean the small room you can see on your way to the bathroom where Chef Mike (the microwave) dutifully reheated our dishes. The lack of any dedicated waiter/waitress is baffling.

The food was served family style, and on the plus side the portions were quite large. On the negative side the quality was all over the place. For appetizers we were served jerk wings, bang bang shrimp, mac & cheese and lollipop lamb chops. The shrimp was well seasoned and came with a delicious sweet/spicy sauce, the wings were okay but Chef Mike didn’t heat them up well. The mac & cheese had what seemed to be Kraft’s three cheese blend on the top. Since this doesn’t melt well, it gave you the ability to feel each individual strand of cold un-melted cheese which was nice (it was not). The lollipop lamb chops were awful – saucy but bland, with a taste that can only be described as “old.” I also had to remind the staff that we didn’t have anything to drink, but 30 minutes into eating our appetizers they were generous enough to bring out some water.

For entrées we were served their red wine braised oxtail, Portland jerk chicken and chicken soul pasta (basically rasta pasta) with sides of white rice, rice and peas, steamed vegetables and plantains. Chef Mike did a great job with the rice and peas, and white rice. The jerk chicken and oxtail were actually okay but again not evenly heated. Huge portions like this do not do well in a microwave, I feel like this should be obvious to a restaurant. The chicken soul pasta was overcooked too soft, and the sauce was bland. Also, given the delays, we received our entrées well past 11pm, at which point we were asking for to-go boxes.

“Fancy” Caribbean restaurants like Caribbean Soul are few and far between, but if their feeling is that they can skimp on quality because our choices are already slim then that’s a shame. I spent less at Ruth’s Chris for a similar party size, had a dedicated waiter (who wasn’t pulling double duty in the kitchen), with freshly made dishes that tasted...

When I say service here is horrible, I mean HORRIBLE. There is so much miscommunication between the waiters, hostess and even the manager. After waiting a while because my party had no reservation, we were informed that we could not be seated until the hostess saw everyone in our party. Yet when everyone came back inside after waiting so long on what they kept calling “a busy night,” we were led upstairs where we were asked to stand around while the table was being prepared. We waited about 30 minutes for the table to be set even though when I looked for myself, Little was being done to our table. A waiter that looked under age if I’m being frank, said that the table wouldn’t be set until utensils and menus were placed on it. Unless Heidi finally sat down, there were no menus on the table. Even though she specifically said that we couldn’t be seated because they were setting the table for what seems like forever, we still sat down to a table with no menus. The whole experience was just horrible and to be in an area where there is plenty of Jamaican food, I’m not sure this place is worth it. Again, horrible communication so much so that someone ordered a meal with mashed potatoes and veg, was served rice and peas and then told that the kitchen was out of mashed potatoes. When I spoke to the manager, she was confused and said that “we should have mashed potatoes.” How does one person serve someone a meal they did not order casually (as if the place is cheap), lie and say food she ordered was unavailable even though nobody told her anything about that until the plate came to her, then have an attitude? And all the manager could keep saying was how busy it was as if that justified the horrible communication in the service we received. One person ordered a combination platter with oxtails and curry goat and had about three pieces of mini oxtail. Then the manager proceeds to say that the food is portioned out so you may not get the same amount of oxtail and curry goat. You may have more of either one… Even though the $40 mail did not say that when you look at the menu. Just a mess and a horrible service… The manager acted understanding even though she was one of the people who gave us misleading and confusing information as we waited forever to see it. Definitely not going back and I’m disappointed in the service because when you support black businesses, it’s unfortunate that this is the service you receive. The worst part was the fact that when it was brought to everyone’s attention, there was only one server who was understanding. Our actual waiter was cool, but sort of acted as if they did us a favor by taking off food that was unavailable, not served to us, and returned to the kitchen. I would find a nicer restaurant if I wanted to pay for food in this price range because that service is just not it. Especially for Jamaican food in an area where you can get bomb food easily. Is the place cute? Yes. Does that make up for horrible service?...

Neither my family nor I enjoyed this place. Why should we be waiting 10mins for someone to come to the host booth to seat us!? Many other workers kept passing us straight as if 6 people were invisible. I understand if you all maybe busy but at least say "someone will be with you shortly" not just pass us straight. Not just one but multiple staff. Finally we sat down, had to scan a code to get the menu (thank God no elderly family members came) You all should definitely have menus handy. The waitress brought water out, then the drinks. Barely had any drinks we wanted. They bring out the drinks first, everybody drank theirs off before the food came (No refills- so be mindful). We all start ordering and they had nothing. Absolutely nothing. No one got what they really wanted as their first choice. The food comes out and the guy has a little attitude 🙄. Honestly I can't say anything terrible about the food. It was decent. Music was way too loud and the variety was just horrible. Punk rock, then pop, hip hop. Some nice cool jazz music or even some light reggae to go with the name and theme would've been good. Smh. The music choice was just terrible for a restaurant. No children upstairs in the roof top area (21 and older). Unfortunately I had some high hopes for this place but I definitely won't be coming back. I doubt I would recommend this place. I also feel like the swing is in a horrible spot. The person that takes the picture of the other person on the swing blocks anyone having to pass through the walkway. It should probably be placed in the front when people are leaving by the door. Its convenient and out of the way. I shouldn't have to be eating and all these people gathering around me to take a picture on a swing. Ijs. This one was a no...