Laylah's Jamaican Food — Restaurant in San Diego

The worst Jamaican food ever I am Jamaican Native and this is such poor representation of how delicious and authentic REAL Jamaican food taste like ! 1st when we got stationed in San Diego I was pregnant with my oldest son that was in 2019 I had the food the guy who worked there at the time name was Collin he was pretty nice ! The food wasn’t all that but I gave them my support! I didn’t go back untill now thinking it would be better and who ever the guy is in the front with all the tattoos has no manners! I called to see if they were still open and he had an attitude from the start ! Typical ! But when I got there it got worse . He was nasty for nothing while I’m asking questions he’s there watching football on his phone I asked about the menu he says everything was available but then tells me that their out of stew chicken all while having a conversation on his phone out loud .Ok no problem . So on top of the horrible hospitality, the food comes out i ordered fried chicken , oxtail, curry goat , jerk shrimp pasta , & 2 beef patty ! Kmt!

ALLL OF The food has no taste at all !!!! no seasoning so pepper (scotch bonnet) gravy is watery and salty and the veggies taste oily . The curry goat was watered down. The patty was bready like it came out of the freezer not crispy or flaky at all The plantain dem taste like they been fried in old oil and the meat isn’t neatly cut up . I am beyond disappointed not only because of the poor service but because of the robbery and foolishness this restaurant is serving and dishing out to customers. I understand that majority of the customers are military and not Jamaican or Caribbean familiarized but this is truly sad . The prices are ridiculous for the little portions and to add the food taste bad . When you try to support your own that won’t do anything but fail you in the end . As a born Jamaican I can truly attest that this is not what Jamaican food is supposed to taste like!!! Yall need to do better and stop charging people for foolery. Get better chefs and people who are genuinely working . ...

I've been eating here off and on since 2020, and I'm kind of glad to see it's still in business. As we know, California is extremely and outrageously priced. The prices here have always been pretty high, including tax, but before you would actually get a decent amount of food. It felt like you were getting what you were paying for. Now that's not the case. Almost, if not everything on the menus, is $20+, but the proportion you receive doesn't correlate to what you're spending.

I understand different cultures have different personalities, etc. But the service here has always been sub-par. The chef/receptionist is almost always on the phone. You have to have some esk of thick skin to not be bothered by his demeanor or his tone/ way of communicating. Everyone is tight in California because everyone's pockets are tight... especially if you're a business owner, but you don't have to let that bleed into the service you provide. He just seems like he's in a bad mood most of the time, irritable & frustrated. You do have to ring to get his attention as he's usually the only one there in the back cooking. A sign, "ring for service," should be placed. If he does notice you, he will come out and take your order. If you don't notify him or make your presence noticed, you'll be waiting.

The food is decent more often than not, I've been to an abundance of authentic Jamaican establishments from the west to the east, and the taste is similar between each. It can be a hit or miss now, depending on the time of day or what ingredients they have or are out of stock in, and again, the portion sizes have drastically decreased compared to when I frequented the place years ago.

Overall, it's still a nice spot to grab some authentic Jamaican food from time to time if you're in the area and have the...

I've been coming here for years, have enjoyed the food for years as of late, and recently stopped going there for the following reasons:

The food is too overpriced for what you get, and has gotten even more expensive. They charge you $10 for a side of oxtails and only give you 3 or 4 pieces, and out of those pieces, 2 of them are small! Sometimes I would order the Jerk Chicken Dinner and the chicken would be old, or there would be a LOT rice and beans and a little bit of chicken with a side of bones. If I'm paying almost $30 for a plate and a side, the quality needs to be top notch EVERY time.

The customer service isn't good. The people here can be rude. I remember coming in to place an order. I was never greeted, nobody said "Hi how are you doing?" OR "We'll be with you in a minute." I was met with silence and when the man finally spoke, he told me to order on the kiosk machine. I asked him if I can just place my order with him, because I prefer to just tell him what I want instead of figuring out how to operate a machine. He ignored my request and told me, "Just do it on there".

The last time I went here, again, I was met with bad customer service. I understand that these guys are busy, but customer service goes a LONG way. I work customer service and you ALWAYS want to keep the customer coming back, because without the customer, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS. After standing there waiting to order with no interaction from the workers, I walked...