Jerk Machine

Great curry chicken and brown stew. Fantastic alternative to pizza for two Atlanta guys!

This location has gone bankrupt. Original location is still in business. Great food worthy of your support.
Great oxtail and jerk chicken

As of today, 8÷15÷2013, this place is CLOSED. Sheriff notices posted on the doors.
So much for halfway decent Jamaican food in the east…

location not easily found, styrofoam ‘plates’ not what I was hoping for, atmosphere not much to say about. That said, for a somewhat food knowledgable group from SF this was just perfect: jerk pork, jerk chicken, oxtail with some decent rice and beans, yummy cabbage veggies, awesome fruit punch and ok dumpling. Friendly staff and no line at 2pm. Was interesting to watch the bus depot across the street ;).
Wouldn’t mind this in SF (sans the illegal styrofoam…).

This was my first time trying jerk chicken, but it was amazing! The portions are HUGE for the price, and the food is fantastic. The place is nothing really to look at, but the staff are so sweet and friendly. A great cheap eat in the heart of Ft Lauderdale.

Staff extremely friendl! Food was very good and we will be back soon to enjoy!

Carrot Juice, Coco bread, rice and peas, its all there to satisfy your hunger for good island dishes. Friendly staff and even friendlier customers gives you a great place to stop in for lunch, a quick snack, or date with the future other half. This is a great place to enjoy island culture and news as its patrons are constantly conversing in the news and happenings of their homelands and the U.S. So if your looking to enjoy a slice of the Island lifestyle or a slice of intoxicating rumcake. This is one place you may want to «swing thru» with no worries, just an empty stomach.

cant get enough of it. Great food. quick. yumm.

Attention all persons of Causcasian descent: you are missing out one of the best kept secrets in the Fort Lauderdale area. Jerk Machine is awesome! The jerk chicken is the bomb and the chicken curry is mighty fine. And what do these entrees come with you ask? Rice and beans and a choice of a few sides, of course. Even with a Groupon, they give you a lot of food and I left full and very happy. The folks on the other side of the counter are so nice and friendly. Apparently, some Floridians say that the location in Lauderhill has tastier grub than this one; however, that really doesn’t seem possible and it’s probably just that they went to the Lauderhill one first and are loyal to that location. I’m telling ya’ll that this place rocks hard! It’s off the beaten path and they don’t really advertise except for the Groupon. You can also purchase vouchers on Unilocal which I stongly suggest you do. I just purchased two myself and I can’t wait to try some of the other entrees.
Calling all white folk: descend upon the Jerk Machine. You’ll thank me later.

What an amazing place to please your Jerk palate. Every visit here guarantees another visit here!
I had the two meat (chicken and pork) with rice and beans and sweet plantains. It was bursting with flavor… the plaintains the perfect compliment as I save those for the end… not to mention the generous portions which is like having seconds! It will be difficult returning to Houston knowing that I’ll be leaving the Jerk Machine behind.

The name says it all! I go to Jerk Machine simply for the jerk, especially the Jerk Pork. In South Florida, you can probably find a Jamaican spot on every corner, and although you can find decent brown stew, curry, etc at most of them, it is very difficult to find some good flavored jerk in this town. Jerk Machine’s spicy, smokey jerk is among the most authentic tasting in South Florida and I really enjoy it.
Like most take out style restaurants, it can be a hit or miss depending on the time of day you go, so your best bet would be going around lunchtime versus later on in the day. Regardless, you will still get good food in a large portions at a decent price.
If you have ever been to a Jamaican restaurant, you would probably think that providing good service is not apart of the job, but everyone at Jerk Machine is actually really nice, helpful and willing to put on a smiling face.
In addition to grabbing a bit to eat, you have to try the Rum Pound Cake; it’s really good!!!

Came here with my buddy for lunch over the weekend. Nothing fancy, just good, down-​to-​earth home cookin’. The Oxtail is one of my faves and is always good here. Portions are great and with daily specials, can’t go wrong.

forgot I had to use a groupon here before it expired… 2 small entrees = curry chicken and jerk chicken with rice and peas, cabbage and plantains as sides, they didn’t have soup that was supposed to come with the deal but the very nice lady behind the counter gave me 2 big pieces of rum pound cake instead. curry chicken was tasty and spicy just the way I like it, cabbage also was satisfying. I left the jerk chicken for sister for lucnh tomorrow, but it did taste a lil dry like toast compared to mine which was very saucy and semi greasy. I’d return since the lady was so nice and I dug the curry chicken. curry goat or brown stew is next to try!

The I had is for «South florida» standards in regards to Jamaican food. I have only had the jerk chicken, with banana, dumplin, and yellow yam. Everything was flavorful with the right punch of Jamaican jerk seasoning.
The only problem is the two times I went there, later on in the day and the night I had many visits to the «White House», about 6 times after I ate.
So I do not know what the issue is, because the food did not taste aged or worse, it went down pretty well. But I do not think I am going back because I do not like going to the «White House» multiple times at 2 AM.
* UPDATE
— I am downgrading one star for selling me rotten carrot juice.

I thought I would offer the way-​out-​towner point of view: we were staying at a hotel like 2 blocks from this place and were looking for something we can’t get back home. So Jamaican food seemed perfect, as I have never tried it anywhere. As a newcomer to the style, I have to say I LOVED it. If it gets better than this place, that’s exciting. It was spiced just right, the meat was very tender (I had the dark meat chicken), the ginger beer complimented the sauce perfectly, and the rice and beans were delicious. Everyone in my party ordered the smaller portion size and we were all stuffed.
We definitely felt a little conspicuous with our sunburns and vacation clothes, but found the women behind the counter to be extremely helpful and nice. I can’t comment on the parking because we walked — in fact, we walked all around that neighborhood well into the night for shopping and drinks and further food. And although there some slightly sketchy folks hanging around in front of the city hall, I don’t the neighborhood is anything to be worried about.

I read the reviews; I liked it but they mainly get the extra star for being super friendly. Personally, for me the lady was perky/​chipper and «Oh you have a Groupon!» In a good tone. She then proceeded to explain to me what they serve, which is very appreciated yet in the back of my head I couldn’t help but think she’s explaining the food to me because she thinks I’ve never ate Jamaican food before. LOL I can forgive that since yes, I am not Jamaican and what she thought/​assumed when she saw my yellow butt in there especially during rush hour lunch.
Commenting on what others said, I consider the area semi-​ghetto because personally, I’ve seen/​driven through worse and I think people make it out to be worse than it is because of the proximity and comparisons to Downtown and highrises across the street. It’s like parking a Mercedes next to a Maserati; the Mercedes will look like a Kia. I am also a minority after all so I can only imagine the ones that feel the most uncomfortable would be non Hispanic whites.
As for the food, it was good despite being a food court type scoop and pack! I’ve definitely had worse Jamaican take-​out but I wondered if this was in part due to the rush hour lunch and because they were busy and filled with mostly Jamaicans and some Hispanics. It speaks volumes if you find the same ethnicity in an ethnic restaurant. That or one entire family happened to accidentally stumble into a random restaurant and I also happened to be there thinking, «Oh it speaks volumes…» I am so joking by the way.
The jerk chicken was good but my bf thinks they need a sharper knife because he kept biting into small bone shards. I didn’t have that problem with my curry goat. It was tasty. My fried dumpling was a piece of fried dough which ha, wasn’t what I was expecting since I’m Chinese but it wasn’t stale and it was decent/​good even though I’m a firm believer in frying almost (almost) anything makes it taste that much better. =p I highly enjoy Jamaican cabbage which is not really doing it word justice but know that I am not a vegetable eater. There’s was good. I like their beef stew sauce in the rice too; mm BBQ flavoring! Rice with beans was good. I honestly don’t know if it was because I was starving but damn, I’d pay $ 1.70 again for a Jamaican beef patty! How many calories are in these? =(SMH
My bf also thought the portion was kind of small, but I thought it was reasonable. I did have a Groupon so I guess when you think about it, the portion was decent but not exactly a steal which I was inclined to agree to at first until further analysis. The portions are not «steals» considering jerk chicken (white meat) is $ 8 and the goat was like $ 8.50ish. I’ve had Japanese, Chinese and pitas for less during lunch so that is my conclusion for that.
Bottom line, if you work in/​by downtown like me and you’re not afraid to take Brickell street (by McDonalds) north into this area (bc I got lost trying to find it!), then I would recommend trying it for lunch. It’s good and reasonably priced. I would definitely order a beef patty! The parking does suck though.

I have to mostly agree with Roger K’s review. Except… I don’t know anything about Jamaican food. I just know what we had, the jerk chicken with rice, beans and gravy, and it tasted pretty darn good.
The portion was really big, one box fed me, the wifey, and our son. Our 3 year old loved the food and was gobbling it up so fast.
The place was just outside of downtown Fort Lauderdale and isn’t that nice, but I wouldn’t call it «hood» ’cause the ‘Hood in Los Angeles is a much scarier place. We weren’t concerned about our safety at all in this neighborhood.
Parking was difficult though.
Yes, the décor was lacking, but what can I expect from the food to price ratio.
Oh, MAIN GRIPE, the service was pretty slow and the restroom was busted.

Oxtails, fried dumplings, plantains, rice are good!
The customer service was terrible and it’s in the hood.

Jerk Machine seems to be written up as a single restaurant, but in fact this particular location is one in chain of approximately 10 Jerk Machine locations.
As far as this location goes, it might not be the best of neighborhood locations situated practically next to the bus terminal.
The interior and the décor are definitely «roadside» Jamaican, which is to politely indicate to the reader that any sense of décor is entirely lacking, but of course that may be in keeping with the authenticity of any true Jamaican restaurant; that is with the possible exception of The Real Jerk in Toronto, Canada, and the delicious smell of Miss Lilly’s earth baked tarragon chicken.
Anyway, though lacking in décor or ambiance, I found the food to be authentic Jamaican in every detail and, like most Jamaican restaurants, offered a very reasonable price. Indeed you can get a good helping of jerked chicken, oxtail, jerked pork, curried goat and a ton of cheap rice for around $ 7 to $ 8 dollars.
One sort of line up for the food and though there are tables, a lot of their business is take out, probably because few care to sit and look at the surroundings, particularly the less than cleanly floor.
It’s meant to be a Jamaican restaurant and it does come through as in fact being a true, authentic Jamaican with an authentic Jamaican dinning experience to it; which may be good or bad depending upon how you look at it.

Authentic Jamaican food offered right at the edge of downtown Fort Lauderdale. This is a great little spot.
You get a ton of food for a cheap price. For I think it was $ 6.95, you got a protein (usually available is jerk chicken, jerk pork, curried goat, oxtail, or brown stew), peas and rice, and a side or two.
Make sure you ask for gravy on the peas and rice. The gravy is when they ladle the oxtail stew sauce onto the rice and peas. It adds a lot and you will look like you know what you ate doing if you are not experienced with Jamaican food.
If you had to choose on jerk, go with the chicken. It generally is moister than the pork. And make sure to go with the dark meat.
In terms of sides, this is really a personal preference. Some of these can be real heavy, dry, and chewy. You have to like those kinds of textures so be ready. If you do, try the boiled dumpling versus the fried.
Enjoy the huge portions and filling food with a Ting (the Jamaican equivalent of Fresca) or a ginger beer.