Kalalou Caribbean Bar & Grill Fort Lauderdale — Restaurant in Tamarac

Sigh. Every single time man.

I just left this establishment tonight - this was not my first time. This was my first time back in 2 years. 2 years ago, the service was SO bad that I vowed to never return.

Tonight I was in the mood for Haitian food and thought of this restaurant. Their food is good, so I thought to give them a chance again.

A list of disappointing events occurred that I honestly was willing to overlook because well… there’s a certain understanding about subpar service at Haitian restaurants and unfortunately it seems to be a “norm”. So, it wasn’t the:

lack of acknowledgement once I entered the restaurant. sense of stinginess with their food: no refills on any of their 8 oz juices, NO COMPLIMENTARY PIKLIZ with the AKRA or with the food (like what!?) Waiting 20 minutes for Akra that was not fresh when it came out. So what was the wait for? The rice was stiff and cold so why did I wait 30 minutes - I’m so confused. Waiting 5 minutes in between getting the rice and sous pwa, so I couldn’t begin eating because I had an incomplete meal. Being told there isn’t a certain item available, then being told it is, then the server negating and saying there isn’t ..

Here’s where my regret for coming back and spending $80 came in:

My server stopped me 10 minutes after I began eating to have me pay because “she had to leave right now.” Lmfao - you can’t make this up man.

After the server left and I paid prematurely - no one came to check in. So, I waited until an employee finally came out and tried to get her attention - she walked past me saying “hold on”. Okay.. sure. She came back my way and walked past me again - so I said “excuse me?” - with her back turned to me she - said “hold on” and kept walking. I waited 10 minutes. Finally got tired, and got the attention of a man (who is possibly the owner). I asked for a to-go plate and advised that that’s all I wanted.

I get it - she might have been busy. But it was the nastiness in the attitude and lack of acknowledgment that did it for me. You would think they gave me free food for the type of service I received.

Like I said 2 years ago - never again. You do not have to worry about me, you don’t gotta worry about...

The owner should seriously consider going back to the drawing board and reevaluating the entire concept. We had reservations for 7 PM, but upon arrival, there was no host to seat us. We eventually seated ourselves. The place was nearly empty, which should have been our first warning sign, but we decided to give the new restaurant a try. After being seated for about 10 minutes, our waitress finally greeted us and took our drink orders. She informed us that no alcoholic beverages were available because the bartender wouldn't arrive until 10 PM. We placed our appetizer and juice orders, all opting for passion fruit juice, only to be told that arka, a popular Haitian appetizer, was unavailable. It was a Saturday, so we were baffled as to why a staple item like this would be advertised on the menu but unavailable. We should have left at that point, but we wanted to give the place a fair chance. We ordered chicken wings and marinated fritters. Service was extremely slow—our appetizers arrived 15 to 20 minutes after ordering. The waitress, Love, didn’t provide napkins or small plates. The chicken wings were bland, though the fritters were decent. For dinner, we ordered tassot goat, fried fish, and grilled conch, all served with black rice (djondjon) and fried plantains. The waitress mentioned that the only other available sides were black beans sauce and white rice—yet another item advertised but unavailable. The food was just okay, with the tassot being the only dish with any real flavor. The rice didn’t taste like it had been made with dried mushrooms, but rather with mushroom Maggi. We barely finished our meal. When we asked for dessert, we were informed that none was available. To top it all off, we asked for the bill and requested to split it, but she couldn't accommodate us because the manager wasn’t there. The customer service was awful, and service was slow—our waitress appeared to be the only one working that night. After spending nearly $200, we were told it would cost an additional $15 per person to enjoy the DJ. Suffice it to say, we won’t be recommending this place. The overall experience was very disappointing, and I don’t see this restaurant being sustainable...

If I could give this place negative stars I would. Not only was the food tasteless, it got even worst at the service. My experience here was a nightmare. I came here to enjoy dinner with my friends and was told the wait time was an hour. We ordered our drinks and when they arrived, we told our server we would be stepping out for about 15 minutes to get some photos outside the restaurant. We came back to an empty table and our server told that out order was canceled because the hostess thought we left- mind you we just told this young woman that we were stepping out.

She then told us that she’ll retake our order and the wait time would be an additional hour. We waited for 2 hours with no follow up, updates or even getting checked on anyone. When we finally asked for the manager (average height, bald, Black man) he immediately begins to defends the lack of service and assured us our food will be out within the next half hour. A full hour goes by and at this point we’ve now been waiting 3 hours. When the food finally arrives, not only are we missing items but some of our items are incorrect. While standing to go through our food packed in to-go boxes (because at this point we were ready to run out) I tell the manager (average height, bald, Black man) that our order was incorrect, he decides to tell me to “sit down”. In complete shock I thought I was being punked and was looking around for the camera crew.

There was no refund offered or even an apology. If you take anything from this review, DO NOT COME HERE!! Service is Poor, food is bland and management takes the cake at rude and...