Island Sizzler Jamaican Rum Bar & Grill

The oxtail and rice was great! The only reason I give it 4 stars is because of the location. It’s in a strip mall right next to a «sketchy» gas station so it brings the morale down a bit, but other than that the food was great!

If I could sum up my experience in one word, it would be: bland.
I love me some jerk chicken, I made the mistake of ordering the white meat instead of the dark meat and my dish severely needed more seasoning. Girlfriend got the ox tail which was not much better. Another Unilocaler pointed out the frozen peas and carrots in the cooked cabbage; which they still serve. I wish I could give this place more stars but I would do fellow Unilocalers a dis-​service. Please season your dishes or marinate your meats more!!!

O… MG my Husband & I fell in love with this place (& we’re picky)! Their jerk chicken & curry shrimp were THE TRUTH! I’m not sure what was going on for those who gave bad reviews :-/​but they have great prices, serve great portions of food & great customer service! This will definitely be our go-​to spot whenever we’re on the Southwest side & want Jamaican food.

Beef pattys were really really good !!! Rum punch hit the spot! Went right after this idiot hit my brand new truck so the drink was well needed! The lady at the front was nice also she stated she had just got jerk sauce In her hair. I had to remember where I was for a min lol but nice place

Came with my cousin who believes they have new mgmt.
What we ordered:
Curry chicken and brown stewed chicken, both with rice and peas and steamed cabbage.
The chicken was cooked well but lacked much flavor. Definitely not my preferred brown stewed chicken flavor. The cabbage had frozen veggies in it for whatever reason (carrots, great beans and something else) and lacked any flavor.
Cocoa bread — good until we got to the end and it was soggy and hard so we didn’t eat that part.
Sorrel– was from a bottle
Daiquiri tasted bad so sent back for an ok margarita.
So the food was meh.
The restaurant was clean and had a decent amount of patrons, they played great music.
Our waiter seemed to be new, poor thing he tried.
I wouldn’t come back because Jamaican food without flavor is not worth paying for. Maybe I’d come in for sorrel to go.

Another pleasant surprise from a humble-​looking Houston restaurant!
Had lunch here on Saturday and for the most part, had a lovely experience. Great music, chill décor. The restaurant was pretty empty (other reviews seem to point to Happy Hour being the buzz time). Our waitress was extremely kind and attentive, and the food came out piping hot and in an appropriate amount of time.
We started with a few beef patties. Perfect. The dough was fresh, the meat was actual meat and not that paste you get in the frozen ones, and it had a nice little kick of spice. My original thought was to order another one of these and a chicken one and call it a day. But alas, I went for an entrée. Now, my family is from Barbados and y’all, they don’t mess around when it comes to Caribbean food. But everyone seem to be pleased with their meals. My mother loved the Curry Goat (flavorful and well prepared), and my sister enjoyed her chicken stew as well. The fried plantains were pretty good. Be warned — they use kidney beans in the peas and rice instead of the traditional pigeon peas, which was a no-​go for the mother. I ordered the Jerk Burger because 2 buzzwords, and was a little disappointed to find that the burger was definitely a generic thing they threw in the microwave, and it came with a little container of runny jerk sauce for me to flavor it up. That’s what I get for ordering a burger at an island place. Should’ve stuck with the beef patties.
All in all, I would definitely return to Island Sizzler for food that comes pretty close to authentic Caribbean in Houston. Pro-​Tip: they do take out as well! Planning to go pick up an embarrassing amount of beef patties for my next cheat meal.

Happy hr starts at 3pm and ends at 9pm.
The vibe is good. Food is good too. This where I start my happy hour parade. $ 3 happy hr drinks.

Omg those plantains!!! So yummy
I can’t say anything bad about this place. Service wasn’t exceptional but the waiter was friendly and did his job asked us all the usual general questions, took our order and thats it. My husband made conversation with him towards the end and that’s when he broke out of his shell a little bit lol I had the jerk chicken (of course Jamaican, jerk chicken, it just makes sense). My husband had curry oxtail. Both dishes were very good but I think it could’ve been better. It looked like someone just threw it together on the plate, no kind of presentation not that I was expecting one but maybe I was looking for something a little neater. Am I being picky? Anyways I’d eat here again but it wouldn’t be the first choice on my list.
Parking is free for customers.

Yummy! Had the curry chicken Roti meal and oxtails for lunch. The chicken and oxtails were incredibly tender and flavorful! Fresh hot and de.lish.ous.

Perfect spicy beef patties. Fresh, tasty and great price
The rest of the menu looks great. Look forward to trying it..

I want to like this place but first they will have to fix a couple of things. When I first arrived the service was prompt and fast. The more people came in the slower the service. The drinks were okay but after two I decided it wasn’t worth the 5 dollars I was spending
They have hh from 3 – 9 everyday and they have 3 – 5 $ drinks. Some are strong some taste like juice. The waitress were nice and everyone was cool. I like the atmosphere but the food was just okay. I maybe back but probably not.

I had this place bookmarked for a long time, finally checked it out last week and I am so glad I did.
With this being my first trip I wanted to go with something traditional and I picked jerk chicken. Everything on the plate was delicious. I have an allergy to tomatoes, I mentioned it to my server and the chef came out and discussed it with me, very professional.
There is a cooler of bottled soft drinks from Jamaica by the register. I noticed them when I was paying and got a few to go, all were fantastic.
I love that when you walk out the front door and look at the left you have a great view of the historic Astrodome!
Will for sure be back…

Before my dental appointment I wanted a lunch to make my mouth happy. This restaurant was listed near the Dental School in
I was greeted with a friendly waitress and ordered the Chicken Patty and Curry Goat.
The patty’s crust was flaky, chicken was not chunky but more like a grounded texture. Overall I liked it.
The Goat however was the bomb! Tender slowed cooked to perfection! Not gamey as all.
I almost forgot the generous side of rice and peas sauteed cabbage and fried sweet plantains.
All together the meal prepared me for my hours of pain in that dentist chair!
A1 service!

Searching though Unilocal after a night of drinking led me to this place less than a mile away and it didn’t disappoint!
The call– took a few more rings than expected, but person on other line was friendly and helpful.
The food– Jamaican jerk chicken and a order of plantains. 15mins cook time. Walked in at 15 mins and order just came out of BOH, perfect. The chicken portions could have been a bit more and the rice a bit less. However, the chicken was fall off the bone and moist with plenty of jerk flavor. The seasoning was tasty and spicy and def hit the spot. The rice tasted of jerk seasoning and was very tasty. The dinner portion alone for $ 12 would have filled most people up. The plantains were also very flavorful and hot.
Overall– the food was exactly what I wanted and I will be for sure visiting this place again. Def worth a try if you are in the area.

I had two dishes here. I had the curry chicken and we also had an order of the curry shrimp. The orders were served with steamed cabbage, rice and peas, and plantains. I will say the curry chicken is good. A bit dry, but overall a very good kick of flavor, but not too spicy. The shrimp was somewhat bland. The rice and peas (beans) was extremely too dry. The cabbage was bland. The plantains were served cold, but otherwise they were actually very good. They have a happy hour with great prices. The servers were great.

Visited this restaurant on Saturday early in the afternoon with some friends. The restaurant was empty. Our waiter was nice and friendly. I ordered the goat curry with rice and peas. The rice and peas had no salt or flavor. The meal came with a vegetable salad (cabbage, frozen vegetables that were steamed) and fried plantains. I love plantains and it was perfect. The goat meat was very tender. The curry sauce was ok. Nothing out of this world.
My friends felt their meal was just ok. They ordered the coco bread and it was not homemade. It looked and tasted like store-​bought buns. They also ordered the fried festival and that tasted pretty good. Definitely homemade. I ate 2 out of 3. It taste like fried bread (or if you’ve been to a Nigerian party, it taste similar to puff puff). It has a subtle sweet taste and crispy on the outside.
Would I come back? Nope.

So my childhood friend made a comment on Facebook about this place… and knowing your girl had a 2 week Jones for oxtails, I said okay… be rightchea! I’m on my way.
Got there, Unilocal,and my rice was mushy,
Weren’t enough peas (beans) in the rice,
The cabbage was sliced into strips (which I like),
But it had some canned/​frozen mixed vegetables thing going on…
You know, the carrots, peas and corn mix you see in the store? That
My plantain was so overcooked and dry till there was a fluffy dry flour like texture on the inside. WTF? You have to be a bit more delicate with plantains, y’all. You cooked the sweetness out of them! The oxtails were okay since they were tender. But the goat was so/​so cause the curry was straight watery. I can’t do diluted curry. Let the goat simmer longer to thicken up the sauce, you guys.
This place was way, way, way:
Under seasoned
Underwhelming
Overestimated
I wanted to cry. You ruined the fantasy. What I ate was some imposter. Not real Jamaican :-S

Hm, I wouldn’t mind trying this place again, but I would probably try a few more in Houston before declaring this my permanent fix for Caribbean food. I don’t feel like the food was seasoned enough to achieve those bold, amazing flavors that Caribbean food is known for.
I’m a sucker for Caribbean-​style oxtail ($ 13 after tax), and the pieces were tender. You could see all of the seasonings in it, but it was bland.
Rice with peas wasn’t very flavorful, and the rice was mushy the way it gets when it becomes leftovers. I’m not sure if I got yesterday’s rice since I got there right when it opened or if the rice is just mushy in general, and cabbage lacked flavor.
Plantains were excellent and beautifully caramelized!
Front of the house was very pleasant, and my to-​go order came out very quickly.
Food quality and preparation was good though lacking in flavor. Perhaps I’ll try something different next time. Worth a shot to see if you like it!

Came here for dinner & happy hour & definitely came with an open mind after reading negative & positive reviews. I had the stew chicken & it was bland & dry, but the portions are enough for two to eat. My hubby had jerk chicken & It was good w/​a kick of spice & not too hot.
They have a great happy hour special & staff was very friendly. Elijah was our server & he knew the menu very well & gave us many suggestions. Everyone deserves a second chance, therefore I will try something different next visit.

What to order:
–Jerk Chicken
Pros:
–Friendly service
Cons:
–Dangerous neighborhood, saw the Redbox DVD dispenser just outside broken into and robbed of all the movies