Althea’s Almost Famous

Went to the food truck in downtown Baltimore. Great central location in the city. Service was quick. Ordered the jerk chicken (spicy) and a side of plantains. The chicken is spicy!! Has really good flavor and heat! Very juicy. Cabbage is seasoned perfectly. Rice and peas were dry, but everything else was so good I ain't even mad. The plantains are 100/10. Get them.

Came to Marryland for the 2024 Capital Jazz Festival for the first time. The festival has been great, with some of the best RnB and Jazz lineup.So, wifey and I decided to sample so of the food that was on sale at the event. We settled on this vendor mainly due to the fact that as a British/Jamaican, jerk food is in my blood. This vendor had listed Oxtails at $35/plate, and we thought the food would have been appropriate for the moment. Well, what a letdown. Who serves oxtail with fries and then pours melted cheese over the food. No Bueno. We threw the food away as this was not authentic Jamaican cooking. Wish I could give them a negative rating as I feel they should not be in the food business. Semper Fi......

I've heard a ton about this place, so we were excited when they showed up at Food Truck Fridays in Elkridge. I loved that even though they are a food truck, they set up an ambiance with a canopy and music. It definitely made for a more fun experience. We enjoyed the chicken. It had great flavor and spice levels and fell off the bone.We weren't impressed with either of the sides though and wish there would have been options we could get for sides.

the short - honestly I was a bit disappointed because I believe Althea's Almost Famous recently won award(s) in the Howard County Best categories for best food truck and best Black-owned business for 2023. The jerk flavor is good, but I expected a bit more especially considering the hype around it.The service is ok - nothing that stuck out good or bad, but that's pretty on-par with what you typically find in a food truck environment. Althea's has a decent amount of hype/reputation preceding it, so you typically find a decent line for the truck.The menu is impressive. They have Jerk chicken offerings (platter, sandwiches), with curry options (including goat), and a whole bunch of side a la carte items (e.g. beef patties). They all sounded great, but I opted for the staple Jerk chicken entree.It came with about 3-4 pieces of chicken mixed with drumsticks and thighs. As a fair warning, the chicken is prepared in a way where it's the type where the bones are kind of small and if you're not careful you can bite into it (which personally I'm not a fan of, but I know a lot of people don't mind). The entree (and all other entrees) come standard with a side of rice + beans and a cabbage "medley." This is kind of where the disappointment happens. The chicken was good in flavor (warning: spicy means spicy here) and was cooked tender/juicy. The rice + beans were pretty unimpressive and the cabbage "medley" consisted of steamed cabbage and a few slices of carrots. All in all, the total came out to be a little over $18 which seems extremely steep given what comes on the plate.I was probably left more disappointed because of the hype around the business. For context, my experience was at the Food Truck Friday's event in front of the Elkridge Fire Hall where there are a lot of great trucks that participate, so I don't know that I would necessarily pick Althea's next time. It wasn't "bad," but given what I got, it felt underwhelming and expensive.

Tried Althea's Almost Famous food truck for the first time at Maryland's Brew at the Zoo event on Memorial Day weekend. I really liked the street-style Jamaican food: I tried the Jerk Chicken Sandwich with fries while my partner had the Jerk Wings with fries. It was a HEFTY sandwich that left me in search of a wet nap; I think I got mild and he got spicy, but the spice level was very mild either way and chicken was moist and well-seasoned. The fries were rather potatoey and unseasoned; I would've liked at least salt, if not Jerk-spiced fries. While I liked the food, it was unexpectedly pricey even for a food truck, totaling at just over $50 for two people with no drinks. Next time, I would love to try the meat pies (which one of the staff members was selling on the side from a glass case on a table while the food truck window was for made-to-order meals) and hopefully just the pies will hurt my pockets a little less.

Not impressed! This food truck came to Ft. Meade... The chef wasn't very friendly .... I ordered the jerk chicken and curry chicken dinner with Rice and Peas. Decent curry chicken but the jerk was authentic! For the price I paid, i was expecting more food but it's all good! Inside the truck appeared decently clean ... just as clean as most trucks! Would I return.... Probably not and that's solely off of the rudeness of the "chef"! She should work on her customer service!

We stumbled onto this food truck by chance. We just saw the word "Jerk" across the parking lot. 30 seconds later we were at the window studying the menu. We ordered 2 orders of Jerk Wings only (no fries) spicy. Wow- they were cook to perfection and definitely spicy but still able to taste all the jerk flavors. We also got Jerk Chicken patties and Curry Chicken patties. Amazing! We think the Jerk Chicken patties had a slight edge over the curry chicken patties. Just a little. We hope to cross path with this food truck again in the future.

Recently tried Althea's at Catonsville Food Truck Thursdays. Overall impressed!I at first balked at the price, but it is a LOT of food. We got a platter of Jerk Chicken with beans, rice, and cabbage, and at $18 the whole thing was easily enough for two people (or at least some leftovers for one). And they did not skimp on the chicken; I think there was half a chicken's worth of meat in there. When asked if I wanted it spicy or mild, I asked for half and half. My poor wife had trouble eating the food the spicy chicken touched. I like spicy food and their "spicy" is a true spicy with a serious kick! My only complaint: I wish there was some more cabbage in that dish.If you want just a little something, grab one of their savory pastries - I got the curry chicken pastry for $4. It has a mildly sweet crust and a tasty chicken filling. Not bad.They got the food ready quickly and were professional. Worth trying out.

Okay, so I forgot to get a picture before I dug in, and by the time I realized I hadn't I had already enjoyed a good amount. So excuse the messy plate lol. I decided to give them a try at the Laurel Main Street Festival. I ordered the curry chicken with coco bread. When they were making my food, they told me they had run out of curry, so I could get something else. A few minutes later, they "found" some. It was a generous portion of food (two could share) that came with rice and peas and cabbage. Everything was flavorful and delicious. I'm also happy that the curry was a bit spicy. I know some places don't include peppers, but they did. My only complaint is that my chicken had quite a bit of bones in it. I'm wondering if it's because I may have been given the last of what they had. Other than that, it was very good.

Enjoyed the Althea's Jerk food truck at the Howard County Farm Fair. We tried a range of handheld pastry pockets: jerk chicken, curry chicken, beef and spinach. All were delicious! The person at the counter was so nice, too. The pastry holds up well for enjoying the patty on the go with a nice crumb. Spinach had a little kick with a creamy texture. Beef was medium spicy and so tasty! Chicken curry and jerk chicken were "so good!" Per our teens. Great ambiance at the fair, if you are walking and savoring or sitting at a picnic table to enjoy the fair's live shows. This is a food truck of deliciousness, we hope to see it elsewhere too!