Island Thingz Caribbean Restaurant & Bakery — Restaurant in Palm Bay

I'm confused at the 4.7 star rating for this place. I wanted to love it, and it was a huge disappointment. The reviews that claim this food is flavorful are highly questionable. Either the normal cook was off today or many people rating this food highly have no palate, whatsoever.

I ordered a small jerk chicken (12.99) and I did that so I could have a leftover meal, which comes with rice and cabbage only (no plantains?! 😞). When I opened the container (I've never eaten here before), all I smelled was smoke (from the chicken) and an overwhelming scent of allspice).

Of course, there's plenty of rice (half the container) and it has zero, and I do mean zero, flavor. There isn't a grain of salt, or any other flavor, to be found in the rice & peas. There is absolutely no seasoning on the rice, at all. It's rice cooked with coconut milk and red kidney beans. IF there are any spices in the rice they're undetectable bc there's no salt to enhance them.

The cabbage also has zero flavor - not a grain of seasoning. It's steamed/boiled cabbage with corn, green beans, and carrots. That's it.

The chicken is the only saving grace in this dismal experience. Tbh, I didnt know the meat would be smoked, but it was OK. It wasn't as dry as it looked, but the jerk sauce is disappointing. It lacks balance bc of the pungent scent (& flavor) of allspice, and needs a bit of sweetness (& salinity). The saving grace, at least the chicken has some seasoning (salt) to bring out some of the flavors. It's hardly enough to make up for the other elements included in the meal.

On a positive note, at least I appreciated the kick of the spices in the sauce.

In summary, I wouldn't eat here again bc the food is so incredibly bland. A simple addition of salt would make it, at least, edible.

I don't see any replies from the owner regarding reviews (positive or negative), so I have to wonder if they care about customer reviews or not.

I've included pics of my box before I ate (minus one small bite of cabbage).

I rarely waste food, and I ate the chicken, a few bites of rice, and another bite of cabbage before I threw the rest in the trash. What a waste of 12.99. It was so bad it wasn't worth saving...

This is mainly a takeout place. So, unless you are with only 1 other person, there's only a single 2-seater table in the space.

I'll be looking for better representations of Jamaican food - specifically...

Came here to get the lunch special. This is how I usually try food to see if its good service was great however, the rice needs work The coconut milk was not distributed properly, so it left chunks and it was very mushy please add seasoning to the rice the chicken. was not cooked through need some more flavor I I will come back in six months to try to see if they improvements...

What a fantastic visit, the wings that the chef made were out of this world, the oxtail, moist, soft and absolutely delicious, the curry goat, just marvelous, the atmosphere the service, outstanding, make sure you stop by and see what the fuss is all about, make sure you do have yourself...