King Barka — Restaurant in New York

Tonight walking by King Barka I noticed there was one slice of Carrot cake from Leroys bakery. Seemed fitting to stop on this full moon night for little slice of the heavens above us at the place I come to when I am not well, unhappy or miss my Nanna.

In the five years that I have been buying food here never have I ever been mistreated or made to feel unwelcome like I was tonight. Every single lady especially the late late late night ladies have been extraordinarily kind to me. Tonight around 10:40 a young slim woman took my order. Not only was she visibly annoyed by my presence she made sure not to say anything other than that will be $4.35 and no, i could not charged the cake there was a six dollar minimum when asked "when did you all start taking cards."

Then she rung me up. Threw my twenty percent tip in the register without saying a word. Then jammed the slice of cake in a bag with a fork and no napkins. Which she then threw in the service window mind you the cake was on its side when she carried it over and it landed upside down.

Now, I am not special. Nor do I feel like I need to be treated a certain way. Sapopan,Jalisco is where I was born. My nationality is Mexican and I know my place in this great big world. Trust that I know when I am being racially profiled and disrespected just because I dont fit in to where I am. I also know how hurtful and embarrassing it is to be publicly mistreated. In no way do I mean any disrespect towards this woman. In fact I would like to apologize to her for whatever I did to make this woman feel like she needed to act like this towards me. Maybe she was having a bad day? I dont know. However, it is not okay to take out any frustrations on customers. Its not cool.

ABC always be cool. Its that simple.

May all of Gods grace and love shine upon this woman. May her burdens and heavy heart feel his love as he lifts her up to a happier state of being. May all of those reading this be well. Much...

I saw this on Instagram recently and knew I had to try it. Lo and behold I found myself in Harlem one day and I made a bee line! There was a short line in front of this take-out only spot. It truly is the definition of no frills. There is barely enough room for two customers to stand side by side. A menu is available above the counter otherwise everything is behind plexiglass.

The cuisine is Jamaican - Caribbean. Stew peas, brown-stew chicken, curry goat and chicken, oxtail and more are on deck. I asked for the small curry chicken, but they were out! I panicked and got the fried chicken. It looked she was about to tell me they were out of that as well. But she went in the back and in about 5 minutes was walking out the door with a nice heavy plate.

I was shocked at how heavy it was considering I got the small $6 famous plate. No wonder Instagram was going crazy for this! I got three pieces of drums, a healthy amount of rice and peas and a smaller but equally healthy portion of steamed cabbage that also included corn and green beans. It was absolutely delicious. The chicken was moist and succulent, the cabbage was seasoned well and the rice and peas didn't have as much coconut flavor in it, which was pretty nice.

I went back a second time and got curry chicken plate. To be honest I was not impressed at all. It had the right elements and the right colors but there is practically no flavor to it at all. I think it was rushed and didn't have much time to simmer. It was a little disappointing! I'm still giving it five stars for the fill up Factor alone. I'll update when I...

King Barka is a Jamaican food takeout window tucked away on 135th in Harlem.

First, the good. The portion sizes are heaping for the price and it is open 24 hours a day. The jerk chicken is above average and when I was able to get the rice and beans they were good.

Now, the bad. They are always understaffed. People crowd in the entryway because they are handling multiple orders at a time. I could hardly hear the employees behind the plastic barrier. I understand that this is a low-staff operation and it is open 24 hours, but they were usually out of the more nutritious items I wanted and once they gave me mac and cheese when I ordered something else after rounds of discussing what was not available.

Finally, the weird. They had multiple entree size options and I could never tell how this correlated with the sides or portions, if at all. If there was a methodology to it, it escaped me in my four or five times ordering from here. The circumstances with the barrier and lines made ordering confusing. Most strikingly, I paid a different price than I was expecting every single time. It was always drastically more or less than the sign would say, seemingly at random. Again, if there was any reason for this, I could not tell what it was.

If you're in the area and hungry, I recommend it for an honest and rib-sticking meal. Part of the experience is the character of the regulars at odd hours, negotiating what to order with the employees behind a wall, and the guessing game of what you will pay. Go in with a good attitude and you will not be...