Yah Mon Caribbean Restaurant — Restaurant in Tampa

We decided to check this place out while in town and called to make a reservation for a party of 8. The owner wanted a $165 deposit which would not be applied towards our bill, but was for "putting out appetizers". We told him that we didn't need that, we just wanted to order our food. We changed the party size from 8 to 5 and set the reservation. Looking back, I'm glad we pushed back on the deposit since another review by a large party details being charged $202 for appetizer platters consisting of 2 beef patties, 2 coco breads, and 18 wings.

The restaurant interior definitely seems like it's set up for date nights more than casual dining. There are tables roped off with stanchions that I imagine you pay extra to sit at. We waited a bit at the front since it seemed like there was only one person working the front, but we were acknowledged and seated pretty quickly.

We waited for a while before the server/owner, Andre, came over to tell us about drinks and inform us of the menu being online. The first thing...I was absolutely shocked by the prices. Most of our party was either Caribbean or very familiar with the cuisine, so we know the food should not be that expensive. Beef patties for $5, coco bread for $7?! Be for real. Most entrées were $39, even the vegetarian options. We ordered meals and a few appetizers and carried on with the evening. Service was poor (e.g. requested refills of water never arriving), probably because Andre was the only server.

Eventually, the food was brought out by Andre's young son, and it was only then that we were informed that they were out of the entrée one of us ordered. How did no one in the kitchen realize that the pot of curry goat was empty before that point?

About the food...the portions are abysmal for what you pay. The rice and peas is more like rice and PEA if you're lucky. You get a lunch portion of food for fine dining prices. The amount of rice is about 1/2 cup, you get three pieces of plantains, and a bowl of meat. The food tasted fine but was nothing to rave about. The more time we had with our food, the more perplexed we became about the absolutely bone-headed pricing. The tofu entrée had very little tofu, some broccoli, carrots, half a bell pepper, and a chopped up plantain...for $39. The curry chicken was $31 for reference. Neither were worth it but there's something extra insulting when you compare the prices. There's also a vegetarian option to have a veggie patty dinner, which is a veggie patty with rice and peas, for $39. A veggie patty alone is $5, why in the world does adding rice and peas to that add $34 to the price??? Again, I beg you, be for real.

When it was time to pay the checks, a member of the group asked why the mixed vegetables and tofu (which is very cheap) was more expensive than the curry chicken. Andre proceeded to explain that it was because a lot of the ingredients in the vegetable dish are organic and it takes extra effort to prepare (since it has to be prepared fresh to order; sidenote: their website claims everything is made fresh and to order which can't possibly be true because the kind of food it is), as opposed to the curry chicken where you just make a big pot and that's it. He followed up with "and it's delicious, and it's worth it". Given how unsatisfied the person who ordered it was, I think she'd disagree. Nothing at this restaurant is worth it. The person who ordered something to go was also overcharged for food they didn't receive, thankfully we caught that before leaving. Andre tried to excuse the poor service with the classic "it's hard to find people who want to work these days" but I'm willing to bet it's always been this way based on the number of older reviews mentioning how it's just him running the dining room.

Overall: this restaurant needs to stop pretending to be something it's not and re-evaluate it's approach to food service. Stop ripping customers off, hire more service staff, and quit hiding behind charm and smooth-talking (Andre) to mask what a scam this is. This place is an actual...

I encourage customers of this establishment to PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BILL when closing out.

My husband and I found this place by the sign out by the road and decided to give it a try. We were greeted by a welcoming and charismatic man and taken to a table. The place was nice and clean but empty of customers. We were informed that the menu was only available on their website, so we took a look and ordered a Coke ($7), a Diet Coke ($7), the (8) jerk chicken wings ($15) and the coco bread ($7) to start, at the recommendation of the server. Both were a good choice. The wings were tender, fall off the bone and seasoned well with a building heat and the coco bread was fluffy and buttery. My husband then ordered the curry goat ($39) and I ordered the oxtail ($39) for our entrees. Both were tender with good flavor, but the oxtail gravy stole the show. Deep brown in color, not too much oil rendered from the oxtail fat leftover and cloves of garlicky slow cooked goodness. The curry goat was definitely lacking in our opinion, but we couldn’t place what was missing, it was just a pasty, almost grainy texture, but still tender. The rice and peas and the plantains are always a good side dish. Overall, it was a nice experience and the service was top notch, as I would hope with an automated 20% tip for all checks (this wasn’t told to us directly, but is on their website when you go to look at the menu).

My only complaint and concern through the whole experience is that our bill should have been around $115 before 6% tax and the automatic 20% gratuity based on the advertised menu prices which would have been around $148 total max. However, we were presented with a handheld point of sale computer at the table. The server held the handheld in front of us and quickly scrolled through the receipt before proceeding to the checkout screen and setting the unit on the table. The screen displayed a $174 total on a new tip screen and the server indicated I should leave a tip if I wanted to, I quickly confirmed that the $174 total displayed included the automatic 20% or not? He confirmed it did already include the 20% and that I could just skip. I skipped, checked out, and we left wondering how the bill got to $174 so quickly. We have been to many other upscale dining experiences and spent the same for more food. I should have asked for a receipt before we left but didn’t quite register that there was a TWENTY-SEVEN dollar difference between what should have been the total vs what we were presented with as the total until I double checked our math in the truck.

Overall, I’m left with an uneasy feeling that we have been taken advantage of, but I hope not and encourage customers of this establishment to PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BILL when...

So I am one person who LOVES to support & see Black Excellence. I've had this restaurant on my favorite and places to go for about a year or 2 now. Since it was Father's day & I wanted to do something special for my husband despite us having the kids this was our last min choice & we were very excited. I must say it was my fault for not reading the website policy since it was last minute and I didn't know they would charge service fee and all and also i did not make a reservation due to like i said last min plans. My family and I arrived 540pm & we were told there would be a wait, so we waited. Our wait time was at 7pm which mean that would be the time we would be seated. Well since we were so excited we waited til 7 and ordered drinks and ordered appetizer and our entree within 10-15 mins. My family did not get served til after 830pm, there were couples and other families who came in larger then my family and I who got served their food and left before us( about 2 couples and 2 families ). After our food finally came we ate although we were highly disappointed and remained humbled we asked for water and napkins which you would expect to bring but no. We waited 10 mins for water and our server decided to bring us refills of our alcohol beverage although we asked for water. My daughter kept saying mommy I'm thirsty 3 times. At the end when the bill came I was shocked we would be paying $310 for a meal that looked like a toddler meal and charged for extra drinks we didn't ask for and waited 2 hours for food which was fresh so I can't be entirely mad but also other families ordered similar and got food before us and waited 10 mins for water. Not once did our server come to check on us until we stopped him and his excuse was we are busy it's Father's Day. I have been to other restaurants with MORE customers and bigger restaurants who handled service and their customers with no issues.. I must say our bill did get lowered and we are thankful but we will not be coming back or supporting this restaurant. I am disappointed 😞 but will be cheering yall on from a distance. I drove 1 hour 20 mins and 1 hour 20 mins back home for...