Island Roti Shop — Restaurant in New York

If I could leave on star, trust me I would. On August 27th, 2023, my family ordered food for my mother's birthday get together. We ordered a pan of roti, channa, pumpkin, curry goat and curry chicken. This is not our first time getting roti from this shop, we have ordered roti from them for family events and celebrations for years. But, it is our first time getting food from them.

There were 12 people at at the gathering. Within less than 12 hours, 11/12 attendees were sick. The only person who was not sick, was my father and he only ate the roti. All 11 attendees had sweats/chills, gastroenteritis, abdominal pain/cramps, loose movements, vomiting and fatigue. My mother was so dehydrated we thought we would have to take her to the ER; however, no one felt well enough to go so we contemplated calling an ambulance.

The day after, on August 28th, 2023, we called the restaurant. I would like to make myself clear here: initially, we did not call to ask about and compromise or refund. (Note: the order totaled to almost $500) We called to let whomever know, for we worried that other people could've/would potentially get sick from that serving. When my mother called, a woman answered the phone. (We're not sure if she was the owner. She said she wasn't, yet later on when we spoke to another employee they said she was.) We explained the situation and the woman IMMEDIATELY became rude. She accused us of lying, said that other customers were served from the same servings and they received no other complaints, and "no one as ever complained about her food." I told her that other customers not complaining in the past is not indicative of others having an issue in the future. This woman proceeded to say that "we must feel like we spent too much money on the food, don't want to pay, and God doesn't like wicked and He will deal with us." Those were her exact words amongst other disheartening things. She said she didn't believe us because we threw the food out and we should've brought the food back, despite us living in Long Island. I asked her why would we bring the food back when we know it's what got us sick. I told her my cousin who picked up the food would like to come into the restaurant the following day (8/30/23) to discuss the matter further. The woman stated that she would "work something out" with us but she can't give us all of our money back. I told her I understand that, and we don't want all; however, we wanted some sort of monetary reimbursement - NOT food.

My cousin decided to call the next day, and he was put in contact with a male employee. The man stated that we would be receiving no monetary compensation. I called to try and reason with him and he stated that the owner said we aren't getting anything. He then says that he's not saying we aren't lying, but "our stories aren't matching." (Which is at minimum hinting that we are lying). I asked him what he meant and he said that members of our party threw out the food at different times, essentially meaning that if the food got us all sick we would've thrown it out all that the same moment. This makes NO sense. It makes no sense because we shared to-go plates with the attendees of the party. Therefore, one member could've thrown it out at the next day (8/28/23) at let's say 1PM, and another at 3PM. Whatever timing everyone else decided to toss their food is not indicative of falsehood. The man whom I was speaking to was not unpleasant, but to be called liars multiple times, by multiple people whom we've repeatedly supported and bought roti from, and sent friends and families to buy roti from was beyond disappointing. He said the only compensation we can receive is extra roti. Exhausted, I thanked him for his time and hung up.

Overall, do not buy from here. It was so disheartening to experience how this woman treated us. Should something go wrong, they will undermine you and the woman will verbally accost you. If you do, don't purchase with cash because they are not honorable enough to return your money to you for things that are...

This is the most disgusting and nasty place ever. On Thursday (07/26/18) evening, I went to buy a curry goat and roti. I had it for dinner later that night, and I got so sick that I ended up in the ER. The doctors told me that I had ingested an almost lethal bacteria. The doctors in the ER asked me what I ate, so I told them the only thing that I could have thought of eating in the last few hours which was the same curry goat and roti. The food tasted so disgusting that I had leftovers which my mother then proceeded to take it to the doctors who took it to their lab. They eventually came back after approximately two hours, and they reported that the food contained traces of rat feces. I was stuck in the hospital, recovering for 2 days at L.I.J. My mother was so upset that she went to tell the roti shop what had happened and the old lady (I think she is the owner, I am not sure) was very nasty, she insulted my mom calling her names and yelling, these exact words, "I have been here for 19 years and i don't need YOU all, I have lots of customers." My mom told her she will call the health department on her. The lady proceeded to say "Try it nah, I have them in my pocket. You see I have a grade A, I have money." How can these people open for business if they can't keep there place clean and endanger the lives of their customers? I will never buy food from this place again. THAT IS ONE VERY...

This place is disgusting! All the employees sit outside, smoking, drinking, harassing the other patrons businesses for parking infront of their roti shop. Theyre harassing and disrespecting people of other ethinicity who are not Guyanese, which shows they have no sense of community. Because We are hispanic, we were called Mexicans who dont deserve to be in this country and were told to never park in front of their store. All this because we parked in front of their shop while we used the other establishments within the strip mall. Maybe if they paid more attention to the how dirty and disgusting this establishment is and properly clean it, the last of their worries would be if we parked in front of their disgusting shop. And to be completely honest, this all came from the owner and her son, who as business owners should have their priorities corrected and shift their attention to all the cockaroaches found in the kitchen and THE FOOD. DO NOT EAT AT THIS DISGUSTING ESTABLISHMENT. NOT ONLY ARE THEY DIRTY AND HAVE ROACHES, THEY ARE RACIST AND DISRESPECTFUL, WHO THINK THEY HAVE SELF ENTITLEMENT BECAUSE THEYVE BEEN IN THE SAME...