Pam’s Kitchen

So one of my co-​workers recommended this place for a lunch meeting and all the other guys have had it before and totally was excited so I had to make them happy. I haven’t been inside but we’ve had catered food from this place its delish. So much flavor and we might of not knew what some of the stuff was but it was all yummy. We had this dirty rice dish which chicken which was great. Also had these fried fritters which my coworker said was bok choy but didn’t look like it, I was just good. Also got jerk chicken, curried potatos and roti. We also got a salad and that dressing was out of this world, wished I had a bottle of it. I would come to the actual restaurant one of these days. I spoke to Pam and she was great to work with. I totally recommend. It is a bit pricey but the variety of food we got and everyone was too busy eating than talking which means it was good.

This 5-​star review is for the jerk chicken and the friendly staff. The jerk chicken is spicy with a ton of flavor that’s balanced with the fresh salad (featuring thin apple slices to cut the spice) and the «fried rice.» If you go on a Friday night, they even have live music with someone playing the steel drum.
I’ve also tried the pelau and curries. While good, the jerk chicken is by far the star of the show.

If it weren’t for the service, I’d give Pam’s 5 stars easily — the food is amazing. And let me emphasize, I’m typically the person who ignores service complaints on Unilocal because I’m happy as long as someone takes my order, gets my food to me in a reasonable about of time, and leaves me alone.
But those things never happen at Pam’s. I have been here for dinner at various different times. The place is always nearly empty, but it takes FOREVER to get our food (even though I’m pretty sure the Pelau isn’t cooked to order, so why it takes so long to scoop something onto a plate is beyond me). Their take out service, which we use more often, is even worse. Eat24 orders mysteriously get lost. Call in orders still take forever. Waiters will often blatantly ignore you or be completely unhelpful when it comes to trying to get your food and go, usually because they’re busy joking around with someone or talking on their phone. We once tried to phone in an order, only to be put on hold and listen to the guy talk about the Seahawks for ten minutes.
Pam’s, do you not want our money? Seriously, someone in management needs to fix the service problems. The pelau and the jerk chicken are some of the most delicious things I’ve ever had, and that spicy yellow sauce is to die for… but it’s too frustrating to actually buy!

Oh good GAWD their Jerk Chicken is so good!!!
I got the Jerk Chicken and the BF got Pelau. We shared a Dahlpuri Roti and some plantains… and a Cassava and Coconut Pone cake. …And he got a ginger beer (which isn’t carbonated, fyi).
My portion of jerk chicken was pretty big and I couldn’t stop stuffing it in my mouth, even though the roof of my mouth was burning and I was starting to snot on myself. (Yes, I’m a proper lady, why would you ever think otherwise?) I kept saying, «WHY CAN’T I STOP?! IT HURTS SO GOOOOOOOD!!!» between mouthfuls. My BF laughed at me between HIS mouthfuls as he snotted on himself (yes, we’re the perfect couple). I only ate a few bites of rice because I wanted to gorge on more chicken and roti. As much as I eat, I still have half of a chicken leg left and almost all of my rice, but we ate all of the roti.
…That cassava and coconut pone cake is omgggg delicious. If you don’t like coconut, GIVE IT HERE I WANT IT I WANT OMG GIMME! Texture is a mix between a cake and light mochi, but not sticky (important, as I have full-​on metal mouth braces currently).
The roti was delicious and I would’ve stolen more off my BF’s plate, but he fended me off with snot and swats. (Don’t worry, we did our face stuffing and face swatting at home as we got our meal to go.) The plantains weren’t as caramelized as I like them, but they were still sweet enough.
Hugely filling meal. Will be back when craving jerk chicken for sure. :)

Both times I’ve been, the food’s been good, but the service this time was far beyond my expectations. Anthony sat and served us, giving in-​depth information on various items and experienced opinions on what to pair. He really raised the bar for me, so I think that alone deserves five stars.
Let me get into the food a bit — the first time we came I got the goat curry, callaloo and fried plantains. The callaloo was pretty good, the plaintains I honestly don’t remember, and the goat was ok. My friend really liked the goat, so he got it the second time we went. I got the veggie combo last night, which included channa and potatoes, spinach cooked like collards (kind of), and this amazing spiced pumpkin side. The fried rice was good, and mixed really well with the spinach, which was great by itself, too. Everyone at the table loved the pumpkin and my buddy almost ordered some to go just to have later.
Get the low-​down on the breads before you order — Anthony just makes it all sound so good (and I’m gluten intolerant!). And don’t forget the rum raisin iced cream. It elicited a «holy sh*t!» from my antiraisin friend who proceeded to order her own. Yeah.

The food here is very delicious. Had their chicken sandwich and sweet plantains. Both the dishes were amazing. The sandwich was huge and very filling. The service was great too.

Pam’s kitchen is fantastic! We ordered Goat Curry (which was the best I’ve had), Pelau with chicken (think chicken jambalaya for those familiar with Cajun food) which was perfectly spiced. We had the Roti Pratha which was cooked just right. The Jerk chicken appetizer was to die for!) :-)
We also ordered drinks (Hibiscus Tea, Murby — a Tea Bark drink).
I could keep going, but you should just come try it yourself.

I rarely write reviews and only do so when I’ve had either an amazing experience or a crappy one. Unfortunately, my first experience at Pam’s Kitchen was the latter.
My sister raved about it and even met Pam a few weeks ago while dining there. Pam had disclosed that business wasn’t doing well and implored my sis to «bring her friends.» So, we ended up there with a party of 8 to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
We arrived at 6 on a Tuesday night and there was only one table occupied. My husband and I arrived earlier than our party and ordered drinks while waiting. Since I asked for something «hot» (not on the menu), I was warned my drink would take a little longer. If I had known «a little longer» meant 45 minutes, I would’ve opted for something else. When the rest of the party arrived, it took 20 minutes for someone to come by and take THEIR drink orders, and another 30 minutes before we could put in our food orders. This was because after we arrived, almost every other table got filled, but they did a poor job prioritizing and serving people in the order they were seated. Some tables weren’t even acknowledged at all – and we saw THREE tables get up and leave after being ignored for so long. We finally got our orders in about 50 minutes after arriving, and it took another 45 minutes for the food to be served.
When it finally did arrive, it was delicious – but we’re baffled how curries (which I assume are made ahead of time and kept warm) could take so long to come out. We also never received any apology or explanation for the slow service.
Oh, and they added auto-​gratuity of 20% (post-​tax so really it was 22%). I know for large groups most places do that, but if service is crappy, that doesn’t usually happen – or we get something comp’ed.
Perhaps some staff called in sick or something, but it would have been great to have been told this so we could be more understanding.

Saw this place on Triple D and been wanting to come here for years and finally did. This place is amazing! Great food and great service. It is the by far the best Caribbean food I’ve had in the west coast. The food is great and the flavors are spot on and reminds me of my old roommate’s mom’s cooking. I food take one star off because I do think that they are a bit over priced.

Ohh man so spicy, so delicious!
We have been here twice for lunch now and it’s a big hit! My favorite is the coconut bake sandwich, jerk chicken in particular. The round, pita-​like bread is amazing and I have never had anything quite like it. Light and chewy, with a crisp outside (I think they are deep fried?) and a slightly sweet, coconut flavor, it is a great complement to the spicy meat. All of the spicy juice soaks down to the bottom of the sandwich, so those last few bites are scorchers! I have tried the chicken curry roti and it is good too — but the coconut bake is where it’s at! The side of green beans was also yummy. They are soft, stewed in tomato sauce with lots of hot spices — this is a little oily so be aware.
They have a few good beers on tap, the lagers are especially nice with the spicy curries. The fresh ginger punch was good, although too pricy for anything but a treat. The two times we’ve been there they were lightly staffed during lunch, so the one server was also covering phone orders and the bar. He was still super attentive and apologetic about any wait. Take your time and enjoy the delicious food.

I decided to Check this pace out during a business trip to Seattle from the Philadelphia area. We have many Caribbean restaurants back east so I was a little skeptical of finding a great spot way up here in the northwest, about as far away from the Caribbean as you can get in the cont. US.
After finding 1 hour street parking I walked into the large dining room with a bar. The place has minimal décor. I sat at the bar where the bar tender was moonlighting as the host, tender, and waiter (no comments about Jamaicans having many jobs, please). The place was fairly empty at 5:30 on a Wednesday so that was fine with me. Not sure how that would work during a busier time. Mr multi-​man took my order for jerk wing app and beef curry with the spicy roti. Then I had a chance to sit back and enjoy the dancehall music played loudly on the restaurant speakers while sipping on a Lagunitas pilsner.
Within 5 minutes my 5 wings arrived. Time to start writing my review. The jerk wings were good. Tender and spicy are the two adjectives that come to mind. I usually like my chicken cooked longer and with more marinade in the meat. I enjoy their jerk sauce and I don’t say that about most so called Caribbean places I go to. While sitting there Multi-​man put me on to a rum Coquito drink special that was two for $ 5. Soon as I finish my beer, I’m on that. I better write my review before all that kicks in.
Hold on, Curry beef arrived. Hmmm brown curry beef sauce and a little on the small side. That took me by surprise. I was expecting green curry sauce. With the potatoes on the side this was very much like a curry stew. Beef was tender with great flavor. I adjusted my curry expectations really quick and learned to enjoy the brown goodness that was in front of me.
I like the Roti also is was good. Again, not what I expected but good tasting.
Well I never got the bartender special so I can’t report back on that. I am glad I did get to try the reported best Caribbean food in Seattle. Not bad. Not top 5 for me but I give the place 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you ever come to Philly try Jamaican Jerk hut. It’s a BYOB that has really authentic Caribbean flavors and large portions. The platters include cabbage and red beans and rice just expect to wait and the space is super small.

I saw this place on triple d this week and had to try it. It did not disappoint. The food is very tasty. We order to-​go every time so I can’t comment on dining in.
As far as the food, I recommend the Pelau. It is SO good. The chicken is tender and it’s seasoned perfectly. And it’s served with a side salad that is a nice compliment to the dish– light and refreshing! This dish is a large portion size, and I think could be split or a shared side, as this would complement another protein dish well. Sometimes I have cravings for this dish and have to order it! It’s THAT good!
My husband always orders the Spicy Jerk Chicken. He loves it. It’s a little too spicy for me, but if you love spice, then you’ll love it!
I’ve also ordered the vegetarian curry, and I thought it was a solid curry dish. It came with a lot of broth and less veggies, but the flavor was delicious. Still, though, it wasn’t as great as the Pelau. I ended up eating a few bites and then moving on to other things.
The only thing I wouldn’t recommend is the Fried Rice, which is served with some of the entrees. Perhaps it’s because it pales in comparison to the Pelau, but it’s just got a «funky» taste to it.
I would definitely give this place a go! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I guess I don’t understand the appeal of the cuisine.
Everything is more spicy than desirable for me. It’s really heavy, mainly carbs and meat… Really impossible to find much vegetables here. I ordered the chana aloo, which just turns out to be huge chunks of potato and a few peas. Why even bother serving this as a dish? Disappointed.

Hands down the best Caribbean Food in Seattle and my go-​to restaurant in Wallingford!
After moving from their location in the U-​District earlier this year, this place more than lives up to the hype created when they were featured on the Food Network!
Walking through the door, do yourself a favor and realize that you are now on Island time. Everything in this place is made from scratch; even their custom cocktail concoctions. The speed of service on a busy evening is not snappy as a result, but what arrives on your table more than makes up for the wait! Relax, soak up the vibe, and enjoy.
Be prepared for bold flavors. You won’t find watered down Americanized food here! I haven’t found better Jerked Chicken anywhere (even in the Caribbean) and the curries are top notch as well (try the Goat). Though the average american kid is likely not up for the level of spices in most dishes, my 9 year old loves the Pelau (think the Caribbean equivalent to Jambalaya).
You’ll quickly understand the passion that goes into this place if you take the opportunity to talk to the owner (Pam) and/​or her son (Anton) who is usually working his magic behind the bar.

Located in Wallingford a few shops up from one of my favorite coffee spots in town, I’ve been wanting to try this place out for a while now, so we decided to come by for dinner. We got there just before 6pm and there was no wait and we seated pretty quickly. Definitely mom & pop style, minimal décor in the dining room area, a few pictures on the wall and a average bar area with a tv.
Not a huge menu so it makes it quick for deciding on what to get. We didn’t get any appetizers and just went straight into the entrée ordering. We got the Curry Chicken Roti dish, you get an option to choose dahlpuri (sp) or paratha (sp) roti with it. Its basically choosing a flatbread to accompany your meal. The dahlpuri one is more naan like and the paratha is sorta thinner, flaky croissant like. The curry chicken was just ok, a thin sauce, so dont think a thick Indian sauce. Had ok flavor, wasnt spicy, but the dahlpuri was a hit, freshly made, perfect for dipping and grabbing your chicken for each bite.
For our other main we had to try their popular Spicy Jerk Chicken. It was ok as well, chicken leg quarter rubbed in jerk spices and served with their fried rice and a salad. I really liked the salad which had apples in it and a good dressing. Good amount of spice to make your nose sweat and fog up the corner of your glasses. Their jerk chicken & rice was just ok, homestyle and nothing fancy about it.
Service was fine, staff was nice and came by frequently to check on us, offerred us some habanero sauce too if we wanted to spice up our dishes. Overall, it was a ok place to have dinner. A bit on the pricy side for their dishes but glad I checked it out so I know now.

Good food the service was very slow there were only 2 groups of 4 in the restaurant when me and my friend came in. It took about 20 minutes for our order to be taken and when the food came out we did not see our waiter again until check time. The food was a 7 for me I have had it better but still good. I will be back and I hope the service is better next time.

Best Caribbean food menu. Pam has it down, even to the beverages. And she serves authentic and bold flavors. My favorite menu item is the chicken curry (bussup shut) with paratha but it’s only available at dinnertime. So can’t speak for lunch, but dinner is always enjoyable.
Carry out is pretty reliable, but if you sit down, you’ll get to enjoy some authentic music!

Excited that they opened in wallyhood. I went there during their soft opening and had the spicy jerk chicken and chicken curry with dahlpuri roti. Also had the hibiscus punch with rum.
The jerk chicken was amazing. Very flavorful and a huge portion. It came with a nice salad and really good rice.
Chicken curry was really good as well and the roti was on point.
Hibiscus punch had lots of rum in it — a plus.
The only knock is that it’s a little pricey.
Definitely will be back for that jerk chicken and to try their other offerings.

It’s actually 2 stars, but the deliciousness and authenticity of the food bumps it up to 3.
As a Caribbean woman, I am proud to see more restaurants which feature music and food I love, but I have an issue I need to discuss in detail:
$ 19 curry goat roti? To put this in comparison to American cuisine, it’s like expecting to pay $ 10 for a burger and paying $ 19 instead. Potatoes, chick peas, curry and goat are NOT expensive (in the Caribbean or America).
In addition to that, I got mostly bone and about 4 – 5 pieces of meat. Slim pickings for such an expensive dish.
In fact, almost everything is overpriced. Don’t even get me started on the jerk chicken plate.
What I will recommend is that you spend your paycheck on a dinner here just to get exposed to Trini food. Just once. It’s delicious, but don’t pay the price of a steak for what’s actually a burger ;)

I was counting the days until Pam’s Kitchen reopening in Wallingford after seeing the feature on Diners, Drive-​Ins, and Dives. The roti-​wrapped dishes are excellent, and you should definitely try the soft, croissant-​like paratha too so that you can appreciate the fluffy bread on its own. The jerk chicken is so perfectly sweet, smoky, and spicy. All of the drinks are very unique, too, from peanut punch to mauby (made from boiled tree bark). The fried bread used in their lunch sandwiches is beyond delicious and pairs well with the spicy jerk chicken.
All of the staff I have met so far have been extremely kind and helpful. I will definitely be a regular here now that it is in such a convenient location!