island flavors and ‘tings
mattI was quite optimistic when I got out the car. Island Flavors has the hole-in-the-wall look on the outside that can often signal good eats. Inside there is a small Carribean grocery in the front and a counter to order food in the back. We decided to dine-in (there is a set of tables down one wall), which probably only made our experience worse. A trickle of customers came in to pick up orders.
My bride-to-be Traci and I both ordered the jerk chicken salad. The server never asked us for drinks so we settled for glasses of water with meager ice which weren’t refilled until the end of the meal. Since the server warned us it would take 10 minutes for our salads and the plaintains we ordered to come out, we ordered two Jamaican Patties (one beef and one supposedly chicken) out of the case at the counter. The beef was okay, while the chicken was in fact a vegetable patty. This was not a good start.
When our salads finally came out Traci’s had chicken on top while mine was chicken-less. The server apologized and said they had just forgotten to put chicken on my salad. Huh? After my salad came back out with chicken, we realized that they had also forgotten about our platains. However, after tasting the salad (at least the presentation was pretty), we decided it wasn’t worth bugging them for the plaintains. The salad was average at best with the jerk chicken surprisingly lacking in flavor. I could have gotten this chicken at Boston Market.
The server didn’t clear our plates after we were done eating; we eventually walked up to the counter to pay. I am all for a laid-back Carribean attitude and I’ve dined at many a hole-in-the-wall, but come on. Even paying was a drawn-out process. I don’t know how they’re still open.
Bottom-line: Maybe we just caught Island Flavors on an “off day” and salads aren’t their thing, but I can’t recommend anyone check this place out. Get your Carribean food elswhere.
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August 8th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
yu jus didnt catch the island vibe, mon!
local carib is an iffy proposition. the jerk hut in downtown tampa is ok for lunch, if you work down there, but i wdnt go out of my way otherwise. they have a reggae happy hour, or used to, but ive never tried it out.
i also never got to the carib guy off the beaten path in ybor before he had his fire last year. its still in business, somehow, sans air conditioning, i hear.
then again, if youve ever been to the actual caribbean, you know most of the food is nothing to write home about anyway.
August 8th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Caldron in Ybor is your best bet for Jamaican food. They make an orchid punch there that is delicious! It’s twelve bucks a gallon and worth every penny. The food, however, is tasty, economical and piled onto the plate.
You’ll still have to pay at the counter, though, lazybones. Ignore the shot-out windows.
September 14th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Hi Matt,
I am the owner of Island Flavors and ‘Tings and “wow”. After reading your review,I am very sorry your experience at my “hole in the wall” was so tramatic, and I can see why. There is definately no reason or excuse for the service you received. I can’t say I ever remember a tropical jerk chicken salad ever leaving my kitchen without the chicken. However, if you can ever get past the “first impression” bit, the long line of tables along the wall and give us a second chance, not particularly for your website but because there is definately no excuse for you to have recieved the service you received, the tasteless tropical chicken salad, the poor service and the long wait to pay your check.
After all, I am sure the reason you came to Island Flavors in the first place was because you tried our food at the Taste of Pinellas and must have been somewhat impressed.
FYI We have been in business for five years and intend to be in business for another five years,it’s PLANTAINS instead of PLAINTAINS and CARIBBEAN instead of CARRIBEAN
September 14th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Dude, I think you caught them at an off time. I went there after the Geko Festival with my girlfriend and the service was very good. I had the grouper wrap and my girlfriend had the Curry Chicken Roti which was very good. I must agree the presentation was fabulous along with their fuit punch which is almost like a fruit smoothie. I’m not a salad person but to see the pineapple and mango and the orchid on the salad made me sample it and enjoyed their house dressing. I was given the option of paying either at counter or at the table. Anyway, I will be dining there again along with my friend from out ot town..
September 15th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Rick-
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Unfortunately, my experience with Island Flavors was quite different than yours. It almost sounds like we ate at two different restaurants
Have a nice weekend-
September 15th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Helena-
Nice to hear from you and thanks for sharing your thoughts. I did try out your restaurant because of Taste of Pinellas and I really wanted to like your place. Unfortunately, I have to call it like I see it, and we had a disappointing experience. Maybe you weren’t working in the restaurant that Saturday.
By the way, calling your restaurant a “hole in the wall” *isn’t* a bad thing. There’s lots of hole in the walls around Tampa Bay that I absolutely love! I credited your salads with having beautiful presentation, but that doesn’t change the fact that the jerk chicken salad came out of the kitchen without the chicken, and once it was fixed, I thought the salad just tasted average.
I’m sure you have many customers that love your salads, it just wasn’t for me. Beyond that, though, the fact is we received a different meat patty then what we had ordered, no refills to our water (the server never asked us if we’d like something more to drink than water), and paying seemed disorganized and took longer than it should have. Again, it sounds like this may have just been a bad day and bad luck for us.
I do really appreciate and respect you posting a detailed response on this board. It shows you do care about your customers and the quality of your product and service. I am all for giving places second chances, especially local businesses (which you’ll see from previous reviews is who I tend to preview) and if I’m in your neck of the woods again and haven’t had lunch yet, I’ll try out Island Flavors again.
matt
p.s. Since we are closely watching our spelling, it’s TRAUMATIC instead of TRAMATIC
October 12th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Just remember the golden rule about Caribbean dining.
Don’t go to a Caribbean restaurant if you’re in a hurry!
October 12th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
good reminder!