Trinciti Roti Shop & Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

I was encouraged to visit this store because of its recent popularity on instagram. Upon entering the store there is no actual signs or indicators as to how to place an order. So, you just followed the line or asked other customers. Before, I could inquire the woman ahead of me, turned around to ask the same question, “do you know if you order first or you pay first?” . I explained it was my first time ordering and we both giggled.

Nevertheless, I eventually made it to the front of the line and proceeded to order, well attempted and was gruffly greeted by a young woman, “ Yuh hear anybody said next?”. I responded, “Excuse me!”. Mostly because I could not hear but she proceeded “ Yuh hear anybody said next!”. I explained to her this was my first and I was not aware of the protocol and I apologise and stepped back. My husband witnessed and heard the exchange and by the look on his face wanted to exit. (I wish we did he would still be here).

Same gruff woman, “ Hello! Hello! Look this lady said next!” A less than reluctant young woman took our order but explained, “you have to go back to the other side of the restaurant to pay for bake and shark”. As I am wading through the line, you can overhear many disgruntled customers who I assume are new as well. Since, most of the remarks were pertained to the order confusion and the back and forth… as well as the lack of directions.

At the register, we told the more seemingly pleasant lady our order and she belted out eighty dollars. Now that’s; 2 pholouri, 2 doubles and four bake and shark. Ehhh ehhh… ok then.

We then made our way back to the other side, and after a few minutes of playing tic-tac-toe on whose the person to give the receipt for the bake and shark… finally the lady was pointed out by another person behind the counter.

Now this young woman had her phone on her. She picked up the bakes and then flung the rest that she wasn’t ready for on top of the shark, her phone rang again. We waited. Opened the bakes. Her phone rang agin. We waited. Attempted to pick up the shark, drop the shark down because her phone rang again. We waited. I think maybe 🤔 she did not want to serve. We were still waiting. I assume her constant changing of the glove that she had to remove in order to answer her phone, made her feel that she was somehow maintaining hospitality standards.👀 This happened about two more times before the shark was just resting there in the bake, other people serving and hands passing over your food etc . Finally, someone else came and finished the bake and shark with all the toppings.

If you made it this far, yuh want to know how this bake and shark taste. Well it’s been a week and my tastebuds are still trying to detect this expensive shark that I paid for. It was gravely disappointing; only one of the doubles was consumed and one shark which my husband ate on our long drive back home. Immediately, when we arrived he bolted for the bathroom and I haven’t seen him since.😒🙄

I managed to share half of a shark with my son, we both did not like it. My son remarked, “it is too wet Mom, I don’t like the soggy fish”.

So for $80, less than polite service and a husband vanishing into dark depths of the bathroom…. I would say No to Trincity.

As a proud member of the Caribbean family, I should have known better than to be swayed by social media. The best part of the bake and shark was the pine… maybe I should have just...

I've wanted to try Trinciti for the longest time, and was finally able to swing by on a Sunday afternoon on my way back from JFK. It is about 15 minutes away from the airport, so I think I've found my new favorite first post-flight pitstop. The shop is very busy on weekends, and can be a little intimidating but here are some things to note:

Upon entry, there will be three lines. On your right is the longest and that is the line for doubles and everything else. On the left is the line for pickup orders from either online or on the phone. The line in the middle is where the cash registers are, and that line is specifically for the bake and shark which is only offered on the weekends. You pay first for the bake and shark and receive a ticket, which you will give to the sandwich maker, who is situated next to the registers. The lines can get a little muddled towards the counter so definitely have in mind what you want to order. I personally loved the doubles (order it with all the sauces and chutneys) and saw a lot of people ordering them in bulk. I also saw a lot of people ordering curries as well and I believe you can order it with either rice or roti (called a buss up). A lot of customers are regulars so don't be afraid to ask for recommendations. But also, don't hold up the line with too many questions. They have housemade drinks at the register with flavors like mauby and sorrel ($5). Personally, I found the sorrel drink to be too sweet for me, and I didn't like the strong cinnamon flavor as I prefer mine to be spiced with ginger and cloves.

Along with the sorrel drink, I also ordered the bake and shark ($18), a shrimp doubles ($4), and an aloo/potato doubles ($3). The bake and shark gets its name from the fried flatbread (bake) and the filling (shark). It was an absolute behemoth of a sandwich, with fried shark filets smothered in a medley of spicy, sweet, herbaceous sauces. The bake and shark was also topped with cucumber, slaw, lettuce, tomato, and a slice of pineapple to really emphasize the freshness and texture of the sandwich. I loved the pineapple as I thought it really highlighted the sandwich's tropical roots.

The two doubles (named because it is assembled with two pieces of fried bara dough) were also excellent though I did like the shrimp one more because of the curry flavor. The dough is so soft and soaks up a lot of the stewed chana/chickpea. There was also a very herbaceous cilantro-like taste in the chutney which I have now come to recognize as culantro, which is a very common herb used in Trinidadian cuisine. It is a little messy to eat because the dough is so soft and the filling is so wet so I would definitely recommend bringing extra napkins and some hand sanitizer too. I did not find it spicy at all, even though I did ask for a little bit of everything so I do think the spice levels are suitable for people who can tolerate mild spice.

Overall, it was an incredible experience and I cannot wait to return to try their...

If I could give them a ZERO I would! I have been a customer of this place for so many years and looked over many of their ISSUES just because they are somewhat close to what they get back home, but after today they have defiantly lost my business. Here are the many problems:

They are THIEVES ! Not timely service!

I had placed a bulk order of roti for a large religious gathering. The guy who placed my order told me to come 15 minutes earlier prior to pick up time and I came even earlier and still had me waiting for OVER HALF AN HOUR for my food and the killer part is that it wasn’t even busy in there since it was very early morning! Now onto why they are THIEVES! I had order a particular amount of roti and cut to when I was checking the roti they had SHORTED me 3 whole roti! And when I had called to tell them I had the worse customer service experience with the manger.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE

I had called the place and spoke with the manager with resulted in my absolute frustration. I told him what happened and he checked with the girl who packed my order and he essentially believed his worker over what I was reporting to him. The manager basically told me that it’s my loss. At this point now it’s not about the food but the principle of the matter. I am telling you that you did not give me what I paid for and basically told me oh well, like no sir that is not right! If it was one roti I would be like things happen but it was THREE which is either INTENTIONAL or NEGLIGENCE! And the crazy thing is this is NOT the first time this had happened! On many occasions I have missed multiple food items and I had never said anything until now. This has not only happened to me but to others as well.

The manager was very RUDE and CONDESCENDING and has no manner in speaking to customers!

NOT CLEANLY

I have noticed this over the years and it really is a problem. The way the workers handle the food is not nice. They do not wear face guards over their mouths and why this is a problem is that every time you go in there they are so busy chatting with each other that they are basically spitting all over the food being prepared. —————————————————————

Basically the nail in the coffin is that I was just shocked at the managers behavior. I was a genuine customer telling you what happened and the manager chose to behavior to rudely to me. Listen I know how to make my own roti which taste better anyway but chose to make my life a little easier by giving them business which was a huge mistake!

For a business that does well it’s shocking that they would cheat and thieve from their customers in this way and like I told you this is not the first time they have done this in my big orders with them.

From now on they won’t be cheating me because I will not be giving them anymore business and you all should not as well....