Island Grille Jamaican Restaurant

It pains me greatly to report that Island Grille is kaput.
Closed.
Sign gone.
Website promising they are ««in the process of moving to our new location». But there is no publicized location. And they have been closed for two months.
The full website announcement reads:
Dear Loyal Customers,
Island Grille is in the process of moving to our new location. Please continue to visit our website occasionally for updates about our new location. It is still possible to contact us using our phone number (860)-904−2417 for special catering orders. Thank you for your patience during this move and we can’ t wait for you to taste our same great food at our exciting new location.
Sincerely,
Island Grille Management
What a shame…

I will make this short and sweet — love love loved the Jamaican food it’s the best in the area in my opinion! Service not good otherwise it would have been 5 stars instead of 4.

Super tasty and super fast. Stews are so flavorful, veggies delicious, and plantains are can’t miss.
My fave is the oxtail. Jerk chicken is on the sweet side, so not my thing. Also didn’t find anything too spicy, but I like heat.

Had the island trio. It was very good. The waitress and owner were very friendly. They were out of fried chicken, so I am looking forward to trying it next time.

Tried the other local Jamaican bakeries, this place had the best festival bread. Would be interested in coming for dinner sometime

I ordered a takeout. The jerk chicken is really good but way too spicy for my taste. My favorite is the steamed cabbage. I had to take a star off because they forgot the festival in my order.

I stopped in on a Friday for lunch on my first visit. The Resturant is nice and the waitress was friendly. Unfortunately, the service was a little slow precisely because there was only one waitress. The dish I had was okay but nothing special. I’d go back to try it one more time but I wasn’t blown away with my first visit.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about this restaurant so my mother and I decided to give it a try and I’m definitely glad we did. The staff is friendly and welcoming. The cuisine is authentic Jamaican dishes with flare and great presentation. I’m looking forward to going back and trying other items on the menu. If you are in the area this is definitely a place you should try.

Had brunch here. Authentic and delicious Jamaican cuisine. Clean, spacious and nicely appointed dining room. I would definitely be back.

I had a $ 25 Save Now CT deal to Island Grille and decided to use it for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a sit down restaurant. I’m not a fan of carpeted restaurants but everything is new and immaculate. From what I could tell there was just one lady doing everything. She was very efficiently taking care of both carry out customers as well as those dining in. I ordered way more food than I could eat. I had the large oxtails with steamed cabbage and rice and peas (red beans) as the sides. I also ordered an additional side of avocado, breadfruit and fried plantains. Everything was so good! I appreciated the fact that the server/​owner let me know that the avocados were not ripe enough for her to serve so she gave me some extra breadfruit instead. Everything is very affordable and even with drinks I still had not spent $ 25 so I ordered a slice of fruitcake to go. Bloomfield is a bit of a drive for me but good food and great service means that I will definitely be back!

Excellent, authentic Jamaican food. Nothing fancy, but a friendly, laid-​back atmosphere. We went for lunch, and the portions were generous and very reasonably priced. The goat curry was great (watch out for the bones), just the right spiciness. Rum cake was great too.

Stopped into the Island Grille on my way back home to Simsbury for a night meeting. I didn’t have much time so I sat at the bar. It was a slow Thursday night and I was fortunate to chat with the Owner. She is a lovely woman.
I don’t eat Jamaican food too much although I have visited the island and do generally like it. I will be back! I ordered the Jerk Chicken which came with rice and a salad. It comes in 3 sizes and I found the small adequate and a tremendous value. What a great change of pace from the conventional American restaurant experience.
The food is terrific, the staff is friendly, the restaurant is very clean and comfortable. I will be back and tell others as well!

Loved the food here! My husband and I got the curry goat, brown stew chicken, and the jerk patties — all of which were perfect and delicious. The meat was full of flavor and falling off the bone.
The patties rival Scott’s in Hartford, which to date has been really hard to beat.
Service was great; our food came out quickly and we always had what we needed.
You should definitely check this place out. Their food is amazing and their prices are super low.

Loved it! My husband and I got the jerk wings for an appetizer and thought they were amazing. I ordered the Island Trio, picking the Oxtail, Curried Goat, and Stewed Chicken. SO SO GOOD! All the meat was so tender and fell right off the bone. Amazing flavor. My husband ordered the Curried Chicken Island Dinner. Faaaaabulous. The natural juices were great.
Service was great too. Prompt and friendly. Very helpful with menu suggestions.
Price was definitely reasonable for the large portions.
No complaints. We’ll most definitely be going back!

While I have only eaten at a handful of Jamaican restaurants, this is by far the best I have had yet. We ordered jerk chicken with rice, dumplings, plantains, and beef patties. All of the above were delicious. I was used to ordering Coco Bread, but will not any longer after having the dumplings here.
The girl behind the counter (Jenna) was also very pleasant and answered our questions about the menu, and was quick with getting our take-​out order together.
Between the service and the food, and the location to our office, this place will become a definite frequent stop on our lunch breaks. I can’t wait to try the Island Wing Sampler!

Everyone on Unilocal pretends to be a food critic — scrutinizing every minute detail of our meal («would have been great with a hint of salt» «medium rare, but came out a rare medium» «undercooked» «overcooked» «would have tasted better with a light sear on a cast iron pan!») – we are all guilty of this. And I love reading and writing Unilocal reviews just like that.
However! I’d like to take this review a different direction.
But let me get the basics out of the way: the food was wonderful! I tried the dumplins, jerk shrimp and jerk chicken. The dumplins were great, warm/​sweet/​doughy insides. And the jerk flavor on the meat is spicy and addicting! Good food, no leftovers, no regrets.
Now to the different direction. I take the «4 stars ‘Yay! I’m a fan.’» very literally. I felt really good eating here, 4 stars for literally making me a fan. Heres why:
Island Grille we were informed had justttttt opened, the staff is new and just get acclimated to the whole situation. However, this is the perfect example of how simply treating your customers well, makes them fans. Our service was on the slow side, we received our salads with our meals, when we could have gotten them during out long wait for the entrée, and other minor details that would irk and anger most. Every service flaw was qualified and apologized for, the charm and genuine nature of the wait staff made me forget any negative vibe that may have emerged due to slow service. People hate bad service, because they feel like the staff doesn’t care, I never got that feeling. If you want to eat a place where the workers actually care about the product they put out, and the customers they serve, this is the place.
I left Island Grille with a full stomach and the hopes that this little restaurant finds the success it deserves. The recipe for success is there, great food, great staff; and hopefully just work out all the kinks to please those who may not be so forgiving.
Check this place out, your stomach will thank you!

Wow talk about serendipity… we’ve been waiting and waiting for this place to open. Yesterday while pulling over in the parking lot to answer my phone, I noticed the paper was off the windows, and someone walked in… Island Grille is Open. Hazzah!
I stopped there for dinner with my wife and oldest daughter. Now, granted, it was their first day, and of course a soft opening. Still, we were greeted warmly and seated. The menu had most everything you would expect from a Jamaican restaurant — curried this, Jerk that, and stewed the-​other. On this first day they had a very limited menu. We ordered some jerk wings, beef patties, BBQ chicken, oxtail and crunchy fried plantains.
The quality fo the food could not be denied. I never had better tasing jerk, and coming from a guy who lives in Bloomfield, this is saying something. The beef patties were fresh, soft, and loaded with flavor. My daughter’s oxtail was hearty and sumptuous. We were warned ahead of time that, due to the nation-​wide cold snap, the plantains would not be as sweet as normal. Still, they were very tasty. Not only did we enjoy the crunchy, panko-​covered version, but the owner treated us to the more traditional fried variety. All meals came with your choice of white rice or rice & beans, which we all chose. As I brought a forkful to my lips, my eyes brightened at a faint aroma of coconut milk. In all the Jamaican places we have partaken, I never had rice & beans like this. Not only was it delicious, but it was fresh, light, and non-​sticky. Bravo!
You never expect everything to be perfect in a new place, especially on their first day. The service, while extremely friendly and eager to please, still needs to be refined… we ordered appetizers, salad, and main course… and they all came out at once. They also made it a point to come by every three minutes to ask how everything was. I can forgive these minor shortcomings, as it was balanced by the flavor and quality of the marvelous food.
I will wait a few weeks and go back to check out more of the menu (Can’t WAIT to try their Red Velvet Cake) I hope also that they have worked out the service bumps. Other than that, I’m just thrilled to be able to order Jamaincan food in a real restaurant!