Central Caribbean Bakery & Central Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

I'm writing this emotionally charged review as a public announcement to people who may find themselves facing the same situation and in doing so, I hope to prevent it from happening to anyone else. x I learned a few days ago that Jamaican patty crusts usually contains lard, beef suet or tallow (some kind of animal fat) even the vegetable variants so, I did what anyone would do and contacted the bakery to ask if they also utilize the same techniques. From that point, I endured a terrible bout of brackish customer service. x The woman on the phone confirmed that they may indeed use lard in the crusts or "something like that" in their patty crusts and sounded sure of it, but refused to confirm whether or not they use it in the crust of the vegetable patties as well. x When I informed her that if they do use lard or tallow, or beef suet or any animal fat for that matter then their vegetarian patties are not actually vegetarian safe, she immediately backtracked, becoming flustered and feverishly telling me that I should ask the manager because she's not sure. She wouldn't even let me get a word in after that. She brusquely told me to call back to speak to the manager when he got in. I called back over two times (at least 2 hours between each call) and never actually got to speak to the manager. It was clear they didn't want to admit to the fact that they probably use animal fat to cook their 'vegetarian' patties. This added insult to injury. x !WARNING -- The vegetable patties sold in their bakery, i.e., the patties that they (sometimes) label as vegetarian, are actually not, indeed meat free. Beware, fellow vegetarians and take heed. x I ate their vegetable patties for at least a year before now. I'm deeply upset, I feel stupid, betrayed, my morals have been violated and I have whiplash from their insensitive treatment. Not to mention it's actually illegal to label a product as vegetarian/vegan if it's not. I checked the menu twice. The first time, it said the vegetable patties were vegetarian, on a second look, the word vegetarian was nowhere to be found ??? But some reviews reference their menu as being vegetarian friendly. x Hopefully, they learn from this experience and make amends in the future, either by correctly labeling the menu items or removing meat byproducts from their vegetable patties, altogether. Either way, the damage is done. x

P.S I think the Gun Hill branch and the Nereid Ave branch are owned by the same people and therefore probably share patty crust recipes. Evidence: They share business numbers. Eat at...

I went there the other day to pick up some patties. While I was there, I saw one of the employees making a derogatory, discriminatory comment towards a patron who was there to buy food with a friend/family member. This patron was LGBT and was treated horribly. When the friend/family member spoke up, advocated and corrected the employee, there was no accountability. The employee thought it was funny.That was just awful and mean. We can all have our opinions, but as a professional place of business that this person was coming to support, they should've been treated with kindness and respect at the very least, period.

I have been coming here for years and I am so disappointed to see that this is how this establishment is run. There was no management on site to ensure professional conduct or accountability.

I do not recommend supporting this business at all! Golden Crust is right down the block and so is Vybz Kitchen. Try those places, you will have a...

My family have been eating here everyday for over 3 weeks, and the food is consistently good. My son loves the Rasta pasta and curry chicken.

My husband just started eating here and he fell in love with the curry goat (mutton). The flavor in the curry mutton so beyond anything I’ve ever had. We used to go to Blue Cantina, and have since stopped.

They have some really good Mac and cheese, not the hard rock kind. Their rice is so good. I love the pepper shrimp.

I do wish they wouldn’t have their seafood frozen, the wait for seafood is a bit much. Please add more seafood to the menu. Maybe have a day for just seafood so ppl don’t have to wait 20 plus minutes.

The server on the restaurant side…she’s so sweet; in person and over the phone.

I really hope they don’t change their chef.

The bakery on the other hand is another story. I only go there because of my husband who loves their patties, I could go without the customer service, especially...