Ocho Rios Restaurant

We came here to celebrate my Dad's birthday and my gosh did the food blow us away. This is a smaller (maybe 30 people tops) seated restaurant on E. Passyunk Ave. It's super clean but the vibe and music still reminds you of being in Jamaica. All of our dishes were fantastic. The brown stew chicken, the oxtails, the jerk style beef brisket simply delicious. So well seasoned and definitely enough to take some home. The mac and cheese was tasty and fine balance of both. The sautéed cabbage and the red beans/rice were also really great to have as side orders too. Our starters were the salt fish fritters and the jerk wings plus one beef patty just to try. Loved them as well. John was the waiter/bartender/host for the evening and made an otherwise pretty long wait for the food enjoyable. They also have a tv over the bar and we could watch/listen to the Eagles game while we waited. I hope they are able to grow and make more delicious food with some help to get the wait time down. Even the fall seasonal cake and red velvet we ordered for dessert were divine. Thanks for a great and memorable evening Ocho Rios. Can't wait to come back!

The place was clean and it was down hill from there. I won't be going back. There was a gentleman on the floor handing customers and the bar. The wait was long and the food not that great. I ordered grilled salmon and my uncle ordered curry goat, neither was good enough to complement. My salmon was over cooked. It is a shame most Jamaican restaurants are take out because we were looking for a place to sit down

Strolling down Passyunk Ave with my son and came across this Jamaican restaurant on a Sunday afternoon. He tried a beef patty first and said it was the best he's ever had, where we came back for 2 more patties along with a jerk chicken platter and another order thereafter. I also got the Jamaican jerk wings and oxtail stew. It took about 10-20 minutes for each order- was told everything is made from scratch.Although everything tasted decent, they used the SAME sauce for the chicken, oxtail stew, and dip, which made all the food taste the same after a while. The sauce had a kick to it, meats were tender, but nothing really stood out to me except for the beef patty- tasted like the ones I had in Jamaica. The rice & beans were bland and the mac & cheese had cinnamon on top, so it was sweet and salty. Service was good and the staff were very friendly, especially the gentleman who took my order 3 times. The restaurant had NO AC except for a rotating fan the day I went. Maybe it was broken? Imagine dining in during 90° weather- I took my orders to go. Not the best nor most authentic, but worth trying. We'll definitely be back again the next time we're in philly for more beef patties & jerk chicken.

My boyfriend and I absolutely loved our experience at Ocho Rios Resturant in East Passyunk! We stopped in here for lunch today and were happy we did because it was fantastic! Authentic Jamaican food and that truly exceeded my expectations! I am not one to have Jamaican food too too often but after dining here I will certainly be back and I can't wait to try more! My boyfriend ordered the chicken soup which was extremely tasty. It had a tiny kick to it which was perfect. The carrots were sliced so thinly and the broth / chicken had great flavor. I ordered the garlic shrimp. Our waiter told me it was his favorite thing on the menu and he wasn't wrong! I cleaned the plate! The garlicky sauce was so so tasty and the rice / beans paired perfectly with it! Also you get two sides and lots of options with a main course. I chose the rice / beans and the Mac and cheese. Whatever you do get the Mac and cheese! So so good. Like wow, truly worth its own wow. Please go try it! Upon entering we were greeted by the most friendly and kind employee who is the nephew of the owner! He was so helpful with explaining the menu to us and accommodating throughout the meal. We even had the opportunity to meet the owner and she was so appreciative of us coming in. The vibes in this resturant are excellent, extremely vibey with awesome artwork on the walls. They have outdoor seating now that it's getting warmer out which is an great perk as well. Overall we loved our experience and would highly recommend this resturant to anyone! My boyfriend and I will definitely be back and this resturant will be added to our date night rotation!

Came here during a food festival and they had a food stand outside. I got the jerk chicken rice platter that came with a salad for $10. Portion size was on the small but it tasted pretty decent. Chicken was not too spicy (my spice tolerance is low).

Sad to leave this review but honestly, I'm not sure why this place has such great reviews. The food was mediocre at best, and the service was just one person who is very nice, but was overwhelmed even with a small seating the drinks were about twice the price of what was listed on the menu online, and had nothing to do with the drinks that I thought were there. They were strong, but also hangover, and as they were full of sugar.

The jerk chicken is an absolute must at Ocho Rios. I don't know if they have a char grill in the back but the chicken tastes like it's been marinating for days, slow cooked for hours, and charred to perfection. The tofu curry was okay - tasted more like Thai curry than Caribbean but I was here for it. The rice and peas were meh. The 'collared greens' (which were actually kale) were unimpressive - but the mac and cheese was fantastic. I really wish we would have ordered just sides of the mac and cheese as the portion was small but it was the perfect compliment to the spicy chicken. Long story short - get the jerk chicken and EXTRA mac and cheese...you're in for a treat. Drinks were good as well! However, drinker be warned - the punch is aptly named...

The food was good, especially the jerk wings. My mango margarita was too strong for my liking. The restaurant was small but spacious and not crowded. The bartender was weird. At first it seemed like a quirky dry humor shtick. After a group of about five guys sat at the bar (in addition to me, my friend, and another gentleman), the shtick quickly turned into the bartender being audibly annoyed that people were at the bar ordering drinks: "I wanna go home" and other mumbles of annoyance. He finally called 'last call' but was still annoyed. A woman came over and nicely asked if we needed boxes for our food. It was clear they were trying close up shop at 10pm on the dot. On a summer Thursday. The manager never said anything to us about leaving or what time they close. In any event, the food was good, spot was cool, maybe a different bartender would have made the difference.

So far, so good. I've had the jerk chicken delivered a few times, and it's always well-packaged and tasty. Portion size is good, too. My only criticism is that if I order close to opening time, the mac and cheese hasn't settled and thickened (a common issue with soul food restaurants). Otherwise, like I said, so far, so good.

We had a fantastic dinner at Ocho Rios! Absolutely delicious Jamaican food. We came during happy hour - the beef Patties and wings were half price - both were outstanding. We were able to get two each, for the price of one. For the main course, we got garlic shrimp (yum!) and jerk chicken - both were really good. My favorites were the sides - the Mac and cheese was perfect (my kid couldn't get enough) and the greens were delicious. I highly recommend coming here. My only concern is they weren't busy - which just makes me want to patronize them more and encourage others to do the same in the hopes they succeed!