Brown's Jamaican Bakery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Palm Bay

To begin, for reference, I am a Black Caribbean and have traveled extensively throughout the region, including Jamaica. I was raised by Jamaicans essentially all my life. I was very excited to try this place after it was recommended to me twice, and I wanted to compare it to a good spot I found in Palm Bay. Upon arriving, I could tell it was authentic by the drinks served and the cook with her beautiful accent. This made me excited to see the variety of food available, especially since they served items like yam, veggie, and dumpling throughout the day, which you can pair with your meal. This is unlike other places where these items are only available in the morning or where you are told you can't add them to your meal (an experience I’ve had at other Jamaican spots).

Before ordering, I asked if all the meals contained spice, as I was recently diagnosed with an allergy to anything spicy. Some might wonder, "Why go to a Jamaican restaurant?" But remember, I am from the Caribbean, born and raised. Yes, we like our spice, but my family always said you can tell who can't cook if they add a lot of spice to their dishes to hide the lack of authentic flavor. Additionally, a restaurant should cater to everyone to increase brand recognition and profits and to be known as a place everyone loves for its juicy flavors and seasoning. Perhaps they could add hot sauce on the side for those who want it, so everyone wins.

I know this may sound like a lot, but I’m upset that I wasted my money and now have to waste food because I am unable to eat it, despite specifically asking if it was spicy and stating my diagnosis. I’m more upset that this negligence has caused me to seek medical attention. When someone says they are allergic to something like spice, it may be brushed off because it’s unique, but for the future and to avoid legal issues, please take all concerns with the utmost attention and seriousness. 70-80% of disabilities are invisible; although I may have looked “healthy,” when someone says otherwise, please listen. This is like telling someone who is allergic to peanuts that there are no peanuts, only for them to find pieces of peanuts in their food after taking a bite.

I am offering this review as a word of advice for the future. Unfortunately at the looks of your recent reviews and your lack of accountability let alone zero responses I doubt it....

Ok, understand before I did this review, I went to this place 3 times as I'm sure sometimes businesses have bad days. In palm Bay, there aren't many Jamaican spots so if you have to go this place, good luck. The food here isn't authentic at all. My fiancé and I have had the oxtails, stewed chicken, curry chicken, curried goat, white rice, rice and peas during our 3 visits here and not once has the food been good. The people cooking the food must not be real Jamaicans. They must be the Jamaicans born in the US who have Jamaican parents, so they call themselves Jamaican. The food is very bland and tasteless. The people who say the food is good here must have never had real Jamaican food or they are friends and family of the restaurant, so they leave good reviews. Even the meat portions are small for the pricing. They fill your plate with rice and about 3-4 pieces of the smallest meat pieces. What's funny is on our last visit, some real Jamaicans came in after us and started speaking to the girl fixing the food and she said, "I'm sorry but I'm not Jamaican so I don't understand." This place needs to either get some true Jamaicans to cook the food or change the name to American tasteless foods or something. If you want to know what real Jamaican food taste like, and you are in the Miami area go to ANY Jamaican restaurant down there and see the difference for yourself. My favorite spot down there is "The Jamaica House". This browns place is very Americanized tasteless white...

A small place with a dedicated community. When we arrived we were the only customers but that quickly changed once Church let out and the regulars showed up. It’s clear these people eat here often as there were big smiles and warm hellos.

The staff were very welcoming and friendly. They were happy to highlight their mostly vegetarian/pescatarian (see vegetarian explanation below) friendly foods. The patties were just as I had hoped and the fried dough dumplings were superb. We really enjoyed the side dishes (I don’t know the name of the yellow dish but it is made with Salt Fish so not fully vegetarian but good nonetheless).

My husband had the mildly spicy Jerk Chicken patty and really enjoyed it. I had the vegetable patty and it was delicious. We shared the sides and thoroughly enjoyed them.

This place is designed to mostly accommodate take out but they do have a couple of tables for dining in which is what we did. Definitely recommend this place to any local and travelers...