Taste of the Caribbean

We checked out Taste of the Caribbean for the first time at Circle City Industrial Complex over the weekend. On the hunt for some quick eats before getting back into work projects, we ordered the loaded Jamaican jerk fries with pulled pork and Jerk chicken nachos. The food was ready within ten minutes. The reason we weren't jumping out of our pants from the experience was what you're given for the price. In our case, each item was around $12+ and lacked much complexity, color and mix of flavors. For example, the nachos were basic chips with nacho cheese and meat as toppings. No veggies or varying garnishes to mix up the flavors and take the dish to the next level. The meat was good but seemed oddly paired with simple chips/cheese and nothing else. Fortunately, adding some garnishes and other flavors to each of these dishes seems like an easy improvement that would go a long way. I was surprised there were no patties on this truck- seems like a shoe-in fit on the go offerings. Looking forward to trying again down the road...

This truck visited us up north in Lafayette this weekend. We ordered a few plates. Everything was pretty good. Jerk chicken was saucy, which is not my preferred way to have it but for a food truck it makes sense. Cooked just right. Goat curry was tasty, though the portion was very small. Jerk pork mac had great flavor but was a little too saucy. No dish was perfect but I did enjoy them all. Beans and rice were just ok and the fried plantains were very good.

This review is for their establishment Café Carib on Washington St. in Irvington.In summary: my food was extremely underwhelming. I can't write about their signature dishes because I don't eat meat, so consider this when reading my review since an establishment's specialty is often the way to go. I used to eat seafood so did taste my SO's seafood dishes, and I can say it certainly didn't make me miss it. They do offer a few decent Indy beers like Tow Yard. One is a pineapple shandy and another a coconut ale. They have margaritas and such, too. I just moved to Irvington and am excited to try the eats on a new side of town. Taste of the Caribbean just opened a brick and mortar on Washington St. (Café Carib), and what a disappointment. As a vegetarian, this place is a no go unless you want baseball game nachos with eggplant thrown on top. It's the cheese you would expect from a bag, black beans and corn with a barbeque sauce of sorts on it. I would not order this again and definitely would not recommend it. There are only two things, I believe, on the menu that are vegetarian. My SO had crawfish mac n cheese, and it looked and tasted like boxed mac n cheese but had crawfish thrown in it. Again, underwhelming. We also ordered the lump crab and avocado appetizer. To me, it tasted like cat food on avocado, but my SO liked it.I did not have the conch fritter but my SO did, and he thought it was really good, so this is something to consider, as well. It has some bacon in it or I would have tried it.The food is too expensive for this experience. Again, a huge disappointment since we don't have many restaurants in this area yet. They did just open, so perhaps they'll up their game. I may give them another go and will, of course, update this review if I do.

Truth time!! There are so many tastes of the carribbean that one could fall in love with: RumRumWhite RumMore RUmRedRumNo, not that last one, but surely great and tasty things come from the islands. Albeit, especially rum...which, in many places was at one point currency, for things like more rum. So anyting "Jerk" or a good ol' chicken "cook up" with plantains on the side, rice and peas, paella, civeche, chutney, spices, peppers...I forgot exactly what I was saying because I sort of got lost thinking about how much food I could probably eat that taste carribbean. Let's be honest since it's truth time!! I would eat a bowl full of beach sand if it were authentic tasting of the CARIBBEEAAAN! GAAH! So naturally, when I hopped in line for this truck, I was like, Yes yusss omg yaaay and did a few kick butt dance moves until it was my time to order. I was slightly thrown off at the fact that the prices (for not so heaping portions) were roughly $8-15. Then I thought maybe it's because of all the stewing TLC that is poured into this type of food... I've been cooking for 20 years and eating for 800 (slight exaggeration) nothing complexifies me more than island fair. Maybe the varying techniques at times take hours due to the multicultural influences. Or the fact that I'm ret to eat...so devoting hours or days to one dish is not my fav thing. Ha, I have a list of fav things it's so much: EV. VER. RY THING. *Taste* could very well, be a favorite too. I say could and I really mean still can. However, the mac and cheese lacked flavor (taste bud issues see previous review), the chicken pieces were a lil dry, and the rice was possibly undercooked. I'm going to give these guys all the b.o.t.d. because this early in the am I would be cooking nothing but zzzzz's in my bed. After reheating my meal the next day, it was pretty delicious. I enjoyed it enough the second time to hope for a third. The truck is convenient, and cashier is really cute and nice! I gotta run into this place soon, for another island fix. Overall, I'm thinking with a little rum this truck could steal your heart...pirate's of the carribbean style...yes??? Ok I'll stop.

This food truck was awful, stay way. First you are greeted with a menu board with no prices and no descriptions. I'm sure they do this because no one would buy anything if the saw the prices.I got the jerk shrimp on flatbread and my friend got the jerk chicken, no sides. The price came to $26 plus tip. I was shocked but thought that must mean some big portions. Nope, I got 4 shrimp on a skewer with an incredibly small side of salsa. See the picture I posted. It wasn't even good, the shrimp was overcooked and stuck to the skewer. Bottom of the flat bread was burnt.Skip this truck when you see it around.

The food was fine but the food truck event started at 6. We arrived at 6:15 and ordered. After we ordered, we were told they hadn't set up yet so it'd be ten minutes. Twenty minutes later, I'm still waiting for my food. Unprofessional. It's not worth the wait or watching your family eat as you wait. It just ruins the meal.

The Lobster Mac was very flavorful, had a kick to it, but not too much for me, and I generally go with mild to medium spice. Felt happy with my choice!

Had this for lunch if you months back during the summer and have meant to write a review about it and have an opportunity. I have the jerk chicken and I really enjoyed it it was in a wrap form and was pretty decently priced. Sadly I was at work at the time and I had to go poop twice and Hurt so bad from the spices that I nearly sought medical attention.

This review is for the restaurant on Washington street that opened up last night. I want to give this business the benefit of the doubt, but there just seems to be no excuse for the host of issues it has. Okay, here we go.First, the no biggie stuff. When our first round of drinks came, one of our friends inexplicably got about a third less beer than everybody else and the porters had no head to them at all. Then, after we ordered our food, everything was brought out at different times. Our waitress somehow managed to drop a sandwich when she was just carrying two baskets. Accidents happen. Whatever.The replacement sandwich did not come for over an hour. In the meantime, our server never came to check on us. I saw her leave for a smoke break and then come back and sit around for awhile until I finally waved her down to get another drink. When I waved her over, she came over and said, "Yes?" Lady, if you're reading this, you WANT to check on your table so that they can buy more drinks. This is how you get a bigger bill and better tips. So don't act you're a flight attendant I dinged for a barf bag. Ask if there's anything you can help our table with. Anyway, so we all tried to order drinks but she just left while by husband was trying to order a beer and we were never able to make eye contact to order him another one before the sandwich came.So the sandwich situation. This is where it gets really frustrating. So, we all tried waiting to eat until our friend's food came, but because it didn't come out for like an hour after ours, everyone was basically done eating when his food came. I really hate that. When his food DID come, it was the wrong sandwich and there was no side. By this time, we had been in the restaurant for almost 2 hours, our table was full of dirty dishes because our waitress only came by once to clear the table and only took a couple of empty glasses and left the rest.Also, one of the band members started smoking outside which is NOT a big deal, but then decided to finish his smoke inside the restaurant right by where everyone was eating. The apparent motivation seemed to be that he could be photographed with a cigarette in the restaurant. Which is just sad. I mean, come on, guy. It's 2016. You can't trick people into thinking you're cool by being in a terrible band and smoking anymore. Anyway.So at the end of the night, I go to pay and I try explaining to the owner all of the issues we had. The good news is he comped the sandwiches. The bad news is he didn't really want to listen and he didn't apologize. He was dismissive and said, "You know this is our first night, right?" I get that it was the first night, but that's not how you explain things. How about something more like, "I'm so sorry about your experience. It's our first night, and we're still working out the kinks. I'll take your concerns into consideration so we can improve." I mean, is it that hard to just give a sincere apology for an awful experience? He tried to make me feel like a jerk when I was simply telling him about the terrible service we received.Also, I think it's important to note that the place does not seem to have AC and the cinder block furniture, while cute, catches on clothes and skin.Oh, and the food? It was pretty mediocre. I got the conch fritter, but you really couldn't taste and conch in it. The thimble of cole slaw was okay, not great. The portions were pretty small and everything was pretty overpriced. It wasn't so bad that I wouldn't get it again if the service were okay.

The pork jerk was sooo good. The lobster Mac and cheese was AMAZING!! The plantains were super good too.