Flambo Indian/Caribbean Restaurant — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I went here for restaurant week with a friend to experience traditional Caribbean food. We decided to order from the menu given for restaurant week to sample the food as a 1st time customer. We figured it would provide us with an experience to determine if in the future it would persuade us to try the full menu and not be so hesitant to go all in and potentially become regular customers. Restaurant week is a great marketing tool to gain customers, so whether a full menu or restaurant week deals I believe service and food should be given the same experience. With that said we decided to go with the following:

Starters- Spring rolls and Pholourie, Appetizers- Wings in Flambo sauce and Curried Mussels, Entrees- Curry chicken with Basmati white rice and Oxtails with rice and beans, Drink- Gin & tonic. Desserts- Carrot cake and Gulab Jamon

We rated this place a 5/10 for the following reasons: Our starters came out hot and fresh which was good. The spring rolls were smaller than my pinky finger. It came with 3 that if you put all together would make up for a half of an average size spring roll. My friend and I were shocked about the size, but decided not to judge too soon. The Pholourie came qty (2) and were the size of munchkin donuts. Both were tasty and I'm not sure if that's the normal size/portion given but the advertising for the spring rolls are 100% different from the product we received and they were not homemade. The appetizers were the best thing we ordered. The portions served I believe were in fact for restaurant week, however the curry mussels (qty: about 6) were very tasty and seasoned perfect! The only thing I would have liked to see was a thicker sauce besides that I think they have something special with those. The Flambo wings were equally tasty and very fresh, I could have used a dipping sauce for them just to complete the taste buds. Both were hot and fresh so we loved it! For the entrees both plates came out decorated pretty, but the food was extremely cold! Which told us the food was not made fresh due to the service being quick. We did not have an issue on wait time at all. We sent both to be warmed up we did not even request for it to be remade, just served hot. When it came out it was lukewarm and we settled for that to not be a pain. The curry chicken was as flavorful as the curry mussels with the same feedback a thicker sauce would have given it a more authentic taste. Overall it was seasoned well and tasty. The oxtails were the biggest disappointment of our night. They were drenched in a very sweet BBQ flavored watery sauce. It wasn't tough but it wasn't as tender either. It actually tasted like BBQ beef ribs if I had to compare. There was nothing authentic about the flavor. As for the desserts the carrot cake wasn't bad tasted like an average slice of a store bought cake and the Gulab Jamon was horrible. It was two munchkin size looking donuts that was frozen sitting in what tasted like condensed milk. We had to spit those out. The drink was $12 for bottom self Gin ( which was provided because that's all they had) but the drink was mostly ice and tonic water which is why I did not bother to get another.

I will say this customer service and staff was a 10/10. They have something with that! The hospitality from our table to other tables I witnessed great service and no frustration when asked to have food warmed. They were very accommodating. A negative was that the silverware was placed on the bare table with no napkins to cover them or anything and there were spots and fingerprints on them upon arrival. We turned them in and let out waiter know and just requested plastic silverware. Besides that the place was clean and pretty, the bathroom was neat and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming.

Thank you for the experience and I hope this information will be helpful to have this small business become a highly recommended spot in the future! Best of luck and thank you for...

It's really 3.5 stars, closer to 4 but they don't have that option. I want to start with saying I'm from Trinidad, living in NY and my friend took me here for brunch on a Sunday while I was in town visiting her.

Food: We had, doubles, pholourie, shark bites, Jerk chicken & waffles, Bake & saltfish. Overall flavors were great, flavors is not the issue here but rather the cooking. Absolutely no complaints about the doubles or the pholourie. Those were the first 2 dishes to come out and we both loved them so my expectations for the rest of the meal was really high but that was shot down quickly. The shark bites were horrible, we each ate 2 pieces & refused to eat the rest. Flavor wise, they're delicious, seasoned well and the garlic sauce was perfect however it was SO tough, we could barely chew it. It was either frozen and then overcooked or cooked once and rewarmed but it was defin. not fresh and way overcooked. The jerk chicken & waffles was such a disappointment. Again, flavor wise the jerk chicken was fine however the texture was horrible. It tasted like cheap frozen chicken tenders, my friend was forcing herself to eat it and she didn't even eat half. The waffle was also soft & mushy that she couldn't even finish one waffle and she loves waffles. Lastly the bake was yummy, the saltfish tasted good however that was only after I picked out the little chunks of raw carrots & green peppers from it. I have NEVER had saltfish with raw carrots and I'm not sure why anyone thought this was a good idea. Also raw green peppers have such a strong flavor I don't know why the chef thought that was smart either. While I understand putting lettuce to make it more of a "sandwich" to cater to the masses, the carrots & green peppers do not belong in there. It's honestly a shame bc the flavors for everything is there, it's just the execution.

Decor: I wish they would add more Caribbean decor. Other than the random mannequin in a carnival costume in the back nothing else shows it's Caribbean restaurant. Why is there art on the wall from Italy? NY? Etc. They could've easily just put maps of Caribbean countries instead. Add a large palm tree or something. You need some greenery in the restaurant. The first two hours I was there they were playing old love songs, I would've never guessed this was a Trini restaurant. Finally at 2pm they put on old school soca on. Calypso, soca & reggae should be playing at all times in there. There is a variety of Caribbean music to choose from to fit the occasion.

Service: The waiter was very friendly and nice and was great for the first 30ish min. we were there (2ish hrs total). Then he just stopped checking in on us. I'm not sure if this is bc he saw we didn't finish the shark bites unlike the first two dishes but w/e the reason I found it odd and was slightly annoyed bc over 40 min. went by without him checking to see if we needed anything. Eventually I flagged down a passing bartender to order a drink. There were only 3 tables the entire time so I'm not sure why he couldn't handle all of us. It was clear he became very overwhelmed when a fourth table came in at the end. Coming from NY this made no sense to me how a waiter couldn't handle 3-4 tables.

Overall I would give them another try but maybe for dinner instead of brunch. I really hope management takes my critiques to heart bc I really want...

We had a Friday evening reservation. Seating was done quickly. The person serving as our wait person was friendly and she did a nice job of appearing when needed. Expectation vs reality is truly the way to sum up the food experience.

Online Menu versus Restaurant Menu: The menu online and the menu we were given were starkly different. Honestly it felt like bait and switch. There was no Phoulourie on the menu. There were no Roti dishes or Buss Up Shut dishes (which equates to 10 missing items). There were 3 sides missing from the menu (Callaloo, Rice and Beans, and the Boiled and Fried Cassava). The menu had no drinks. I don’t know if they actually had peanut punch or any of the others. I asked if they had sorrel tea and the wait person advised they would check because they weren’t sure. They did have it.

Sorrell Tea It was OK. A bit sweeter than others I have had.

Corn Soup Quite tasty. Looks nothing like the photo online, this was more of a puree.

Caribbean Salad I don’t know how long it was sitting around. Mediocre at best.

Veggies Medley Served room temperature. I am not sure why it wasn’t served hot. The pumpkin puree was good. There were 3 green beans on the plate. The chickpea portion lack flavor. I spent a lot of time pushing it around on the plate. The rice was edible.

Chunky Vegetable Chow Mein Served cold. Overly sweetened sauce.

Sweet Cinnamon Plantains Served cold. I have had these before elsewhere. Cinnamon is usually an enhancement not the overkill that existed here.

Macaroni Pie It was good. Unfortunately, it was also served cold.

I had high hopes based on other reviews. Was the chef not there? Something must have been wrong that night. It seemed like the food was pre-made and not kept up to temperature or something. It was quite a disappointing experience. I would expect the food to be served at temperature and have some flavor. We ate what we could because we had an event to go to and no opportunity to get anything else for the night. What I do know is that we won’t be going back again.

A few notes based on the owners response. At no point did the server explain the reason for the limited menu. And the place was not jammed packed. You had a sign on your door indicating that you didn't have any openings between 6 and 7 p.m. however there were multiple empty tables there with reserved placards on them. While you may work hard in your establishment, the statements of this experience...