Sattdown Jamaican Grill

If you know Jamaican food you will be disappointed. I really wanted to like this place, I thought finally a good Jamaican restaurant in the valley. The veggie patties were ok.
I ordered the ackie and salt fish (one of my favorite Jamaican dishes) I wasn’t excited:(
There were big pieces of salt fish which made it too salty… just not a good balance and I m not sure but something else was missing. The cabbage was bland. The meal was boring.
I did like the sorrel. The customer service was great.
I won’t be back.

When I moved to Los Angeles, California I’ve been trying to find the best Jamaican restaurant around since prior I lived in Miami & a Jamaican restaurant that had great food wasn’t hard to come by. Sattdown really surprised me & my tastebuds. I enjoyed my favorites which included oxtail, red beans & rice, & a side of plantains. I also ended up ordering some beef patties!!! I left happy! Can’t wait to go back!

Least favorite Jamaican Food I’ve tried… The restaurant is small but the employees are sweet.

This place is good. Love the food. The service is a little slow. But it was worth it!

This food is AMAZINGGGGG! And if you’ve ever been to Jamaica you’ll know that this is DA REAL DEAL!!!

Delightfully surprised.
Laidback, calm and full of jamaican dishes.
Great friendly service as well, from the minute I walked in the door till the minute I left.
Fairly priced, decent size portions.
The best part hands down, the food is made with love and it shows. That’s 4 stars in my book off the get go anywhere, add that with some good service and you got a good spot.
Will be back and a probably eventually a regular here, I guarantee that.

Finally a DELICIOUS Jamaican spot!!! My gf and like always tried pretty much everything in the menu… The lady said «damn we eat a lot» LMAO! Gotta try everything to see whats what no?

Omg, heaven! I don’t eat spicy food mainly I eat mild and it was perfect! You can ask for hot hot. I ate their oxtail and Jamaican patty and it was the best I have ever had. Not even in Florida I found a yummy place like this! I’m Cuban (him and my mom are the best for oxtail.) I don’t eat oxtail everywhere; you have to know how to cook it and cure it) CHEF Tony (owner) cooks with love and from the heart, you can taste it!

Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE REVIEW— ²⁵⁄₁₀₀
I tried really hard to like this place, but just couldn’t. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t go crazy for it like everyone else did on Unilocal.
Costumer Service first of all was great. Our waitress made sure we had everything and constantly checked up on us. Refilled our waters without even asking.
The food was okay. The oxtail was delicious. The coconut shrimp however was just okay. They did put a lot of shrimp and portion was average.
I will definitely go back and try the jerk chicken.

Mixed reviews had me hesitating whether to come here because once you mess up my oxtails or don’t let my chicken simmer enough to where it’s falling off the bone, then we have a problem.
I was hungry for lunch, so I Googled it. I had no idea that the place was so close to Marshall’s, but that means nothing to you. Ordered the oxtails, a shrimp/​crab patty and a drink and got in my car, looking forward to an ok meal. My oxtails were moist and falling off the bone, I had sufficient delicious gravy to cover rice my rice and peas, the veggies were good and my plantains were sweet. Dude, I don’t need much more. Later on, I ate the patty and that was bangin’ too, so I win. I’m definitely going back.

I was craving some Jamaican food yesterday and decided to try this place. This was my first time going to a Jamaican restaurant for food since I can get my mom to cook me some authentic Jamaican food anytime I want. LOL! I got the oxtail lunch special with rice and peas, 2 plantains, and some veggies. It was really good, so good that I ate the whole plate! The service was really fast, I was in and out in less than 10 mins. I was satisfied and will definitely go back again when I’m in Studio city.

This place is a lie, this is not Jamaican food, the owner and chef is Guyanese and the wife is Filipino. Seriously, why not run a Guyanese infused Filipino restaurant instead?
I’m from the Caribbean and grew up in New York so know Jamaican and Guyanese food, this chef is not cooking either. I know you are probably trying to cut your overhead cost but think about it, imagine you get some real Jamaican cooks in there and someone nice and friendly for the front because your daughter and your wife are NOT friendly, you’ll be making a killing.
The jerk chicken sauce had too much nutmeg in it, too much oil and it lacks flavor. The patties are dry and also flavorless. It’s sad because this is the only «Caribbean» restaurant serving the lower valley.
I most certainly won’t be back until there are some new cooks. I gave two starts because the owner/​chef has an amazing attitude but business is business.

Oxtails were soooo good. Same with those plantains could eat them all day.

Came here a couple times with the fam and I must say that it is a pleasant experience every time I come! I always go with the oxtails! It’s delicious full of flavor. Comes with rice beans and veggies. My BF always gets the jerk chicken and it is spicy but very tasty. We also get the patties. Jamaican is known to be spicy so very limited in what my daughter could eat so she usually has the beans and rice but she loves it! I think an Asian family owns this place; they are super polite and very attentive.

I love that Sattdown has a separate vegan section on the menu and brings some variety to the food options in Studio City.
We got the vegetables patties appetizer ($ 3 for each patty), but I wasn’t impressed with it. It’s basically a dry bread pocket filled with lightly seasoned spinach. It would have been better if the crust had been flakier and the filling had had tofu and been seasoned more (maybe with curry?).
The jerk tofu ($ 10) was basically just a tofu stir-​fry with some vegetables. It didn’t taste all that different from what you’d get at a generic Chinese restaurant. The portion size is pretty small and Sattdown doesn’t have brown rice, which was a shame.
We also had the curry vegetable burrito ($ 10). This was the best of the lot, but still not all that impressive. I wish the curry sauce had more kick to it; the burrito certainly would have benefited with the addition of some fresh diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro.
All told, Sattdown is okay, but not great. I appreciate that it has vegan options but, if you’re looking for food of this style, I’d recommend Equelecua Café in Inglewood (which is Cuban, but uses almost identical ingredients) or Bronzed Aussie in downtown LA (which has a curry tofu pie that is better than, but also similar to, the vegetable patties and curry burrito at Sattdown).

Been here a couple times with my family and I can honestly say it’s worth every penny. They have plenty of parking in front and the staff are super nice. I always start with a beef patty and a passion or fruit punch juice. For the main I usually go with the jerk chicken while my gf gets the oxtail. As for my daughter, she loves the plantains and rice. The chicken always has plenty of flavor and a nice kick of spice. I definitely recommend tying this place if ever around the area…

First time experiencing Jamaican food, and absolutely fell in love. We highly recommend getting the jerk chicken and the oxtail if you check this place out. We also enjoyed the jerk chicken patty and the beef patty, I enjoyed the beef more than the chicken patty.
Why 4 stars and not 5, I would actually give them 4.5 if that was an option. The restaurant is really small, so do not plan on going with a big group. The service is also pretty decent, but not the greatest. Lastly, the jerk chicken, the good parts were really juicy and good, but the dry parts were soooooooo dry.

Don’t get too excited by my pictures, looks can be very deceiving– I found out the hard way! Now, with the high ratings and the many times that this place came up on my time line, I was inclined to drive to Sattdown and thought I’d sit down to some great Jamaican food. We ordered jerk chicken, oxtails, a beef patty and curry chicken.
Jerk chicken– Was dry and lacked flavor. With the warning sign hanging prominently on the wall that said their jerk is spicy so if you order and find it too spicy, you won’t get a refund– I was over ready for some good ol downhome Jamaican Jerk Chicken! Boy was I disappointed! Once I dug in to it the middle had no jerk flavor at all– may be I got a bad batch that had not marinated long enough. I ended up shredding it off the bone and asking for extra sauce to pour over it. The sauce it self was pretty thin (like soy sauce). Im used to a thicker more seasoned sauce, this one was missing something. Not enough jerk in my jerk chicken.
Oxtails– Found quite fatty and they weren’t that great in flavor too. I ate one and was done. I left that to my friend to continue fighting with.
Curry chicken– I absolutely did not like at all. It tasted like curry powder.
Beef patty– Not for me, Simply Wholesome runs circles around theirs.
Service wasnt that great either. We sat down and waited for the lady to finish taking several call ins before directing her attention to us. She also mistook me for another customer who tho she had a hat, the only thing we had in common was we were both black wearing totally different hats. So much so that she never brought my food or patty because I guess the orders were mixed up. This irritated both of us. I was dining in and had been there at least full half hour before she got there plus she was a take out customer.
I was excited to try this spot — with all the celebrities n stuff on the wall. All in all, I won’t be back. Even the sub par spots in L.A. are better than their watered down version of Jamaican food. Should of known when I walked in and the only Jamaican in the room was the picture of Bob Marley on the Wall. No pun intended but if you’ve ever been to a Bomb authentic spot, you know what the atmosphere is like!
P. S. I’ve read some of the chef responses from some of the folks who gave this establishment less than 3 stars and a few were down right jaw dropping disrespectful. Before he gets fired up, I say to him Im speaking on my dining experience eating here and Unilocal is a platform to do as such. Please don’t come for me with any foolishness because in the restaurant business, everyone is not going to enjoy your cooking style.

Ideally, I wanted to rate 3.5 stars but the system doesn’t allow that. Note that my review may be bias seen as I grew up eating this cuisine in the Bahamas.
Overall, I enjoyed my visit! The service and staff was exceptional and reminiscent of people back home. The place is quaint and lucky for me, I was there during a quiet time. This allowed me to take my time and truly take in the ambiance and enjoy my meal.
The menu was extensive and filled with so many familiar dishes. Although this made my decision difficult, seen as I wanted to try most of them, it was exciting to have the options. I decided on my favorite childhood drink ‘Vita Malt’. Rich in flavor and good iron booster… the drink that I can think of that’s similar would be a root beer soda. I opted for the oxtail/​goat curry combo plate with roti instead of rice. Oh, and to top the party… some festival bread. The flavors of the dishes and tenderness of the meat all came together magically and presentation was on point.
So why 3.5 stars you ask. For me personally, I would’ve preferred to eat a pot of curry or oxtail cooked fresh same day. Don’t get me wrong, some dishes are better the next day, and these didn’t disappoint in that area. However, when I’m at a restaurant, I’d prefer the same day cooked meal experience. This goes for the plantains too, cook them to order. They cook quickly and nothing beats the hot/​fresh flavor. Also, the roti was crumbly and falling apart because it was reheated. The menu is expensive… but truth be told, I wouldn’t mind paying the price if the fore mention was addressed. I will go back, because ‘overall, I enjoyed my visit!’.

SATTDOWN for some Jamaican spice! Ooooooweee, it was the most rewarding meal I ate all day! Hats off to the owners and chef! This is my newest favorite Jamaican restaurant in L.A. Everything I had was sooo good! The food was made with so much love!!! I didn’t want to stop eating.
Try the stuffed chicken or vegetable patties. They’re good for starters.
Jerk Chicken is scrumptious! You’ll want to pack an order to go for lunch the following day –it’s that good! ;)
I’ll return when I’m back in town. Thank you for the love mon’!