It’s All About the Flavor

I have tried at least three times to eat at this restaurant during the posted hours. Each time, I find the doors locked tight and the lights out. These are hours that you, as a business, have stated you will be open. No one has chosen these hours for you and stated you must be open at these times. How is one to give a new establishment a chance when they are not open during the set hours of operation (again, of your choice of hours)? I find this completely rude and disrespectful to the community you say you are here to serve. In my opinion, they do not want or need my business. I will not be attempting anymore.

Make sure you have plenty of time when you visit this restaurant. Service is a little slow but part of that is due to the fact that it’s all family and they love to stay and chat with you. I can’t complain about that. There are some growing pains but it’s a brand new restaurant. My son and I arrived just as they were switching from lunch to dinner so some of the lunch items and specials were no longer available and dinner items were just being prepared.
Neither of us had ever had Caribbean food or much soul food and the owner and his wife both stopped by to explain some of their dishes. I can’t eat very hot spicy foods and they took that into consideration when preparing my jerk chicken salad. It was just right and was the most flavorful chicken I’ve ever tasted. My son ordered the jerk chicken with rice and beans but asked them to hold the beans. We also tried plantains for the first time. Everything tasted fresh and we thoroughly enjoyed the food. I was disappointed that there were no deserts ready as the baker (daughter) was just beginning to prepare them. I’ve tasted her products before and they are delicious.
We will definitely be back and will bring another son who loves spicy food.

The restaurant is focused on cooking the food when your order is made. This can be a bonus in some respects with the quality of food but at the same time wreak havoc with the overall service. This was certainly the case here. I would say that for a restaurant in a small town like this, the quality and taste of the food has four to five star potential. The fried chicken, while not the best I’ve ever had, was unique and really good in its own right with a Caribbean flair.
Portion size was also a little troubling. My companion and I both got the same dinner. The two piece fried chicken dinner for $ 11 with two sides has the standing assumption of two decent size pieces of chicken, like a breast and wing or a thigh and a leg. My date got two wings (they were whole wings at least) and I got a wing and a leg. Needless to say we were still a little hungry when it was all said and done.
My recommendations for this restaurant are as follows: (1) Decent portion sizes are a plus. If $ 11 gets you a three piece chicken meal at Popeyes, your offering needs to be on par or the quality of the food must be THE BEST EVER. If you think your chicken can hold the top spot, serve a decent portion for say $ 13 or $ 14 a plate. My call is to serve up two decent size pieces of chicken for the same price. Two wings were just plain disappointing. (2) We were impressed with the number of food offerings and side dishes on the menu but if nearly half of what is on the menu is not available that evening to serve to your customers they will leave disappointed. I find this akin to someone talking a big game but when they get on the court to play your third string squad can beat them handily. Better to stay closed and have things prepared rather than stay open and serve only some portions of your menu offerings.
Lots of potential here but also lots of work to be done.

Tried this place for lunch two times now. The food is different than other places in Amherst and good but the service is slow. The first time it took over 10 minutes for us to get someone to take our drink order and another 10 minutes to get it and place our order. The total time for this lunch was a hour and a half. There were two of us and we both got the spicy chicken special and side. The actual food order did take a little while to get but I understand this since most of the menu items are cook to order. The chicken was good it had a nice flavor with a little spice. The greens were excellent and the portions were generous. Since the food was good we decided to try this again for lunch but we had the same issues. We were seated for 10 minutes before someone took or drink order but we made sure to order everything at once. I made the decision to get a sandwich in the hopes of a faster lunch. It was faster and the service was marginally better. The sandwich I chose was the roasted chicken sandwich and it was good but not great. It still took 50 minutes to complete lunch. I am a fan of the food just not the service yet. This place hasn’t been open that long so hopefully this is something that will rectify itself over time. In the meantime I think I will just go when I have plenty of time or do carry out. Also be sure to check the hours and days because they have a different menu. I would of given this four stars if not for the service. I will try it again in a couple of months after they have been open longer and review it again.