Island Restaurant

Just had the BEST Jamaican breakfast! This place is a gem. Had ackee and codfish – fabulous! It is served with a boiled sweet plantain, white sweet potato and yummy Jamaican dumpling. It was delicious and everything was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Great Johnnie cakes too!
Jerk chicken was very good also but the oxtail must be delicious cause the oxtail gravy that the waitress gave us for the white rice was yummy!
Loved our waitress – she was super helpful and made sure that we had a great experience and enjoyed our meal — AND WE DID!
This is going to be my new go to place for Sunday lunch/​brunch– they only have the ackee and codfish on weekends for breakfast and that was by far the best dish!

I am from the islands and this restaurant is by far the best in Miami. It is the only Jamaican place I have been to that spices and seasons to my liking. Love love love! And the trini lady who works there is just the sweetest.

This will be a regular Sunday spot for sure!!!

Very sweet server! Not sure if she is one of the owners-​Nice Trini lady! Unfortunately, she was the only server & it’s a Caribbean restaurant, so service was slow. The food was ok. We had the traditional Jamaican breakfast, which included ackee/​salt fish, callaloo, fried dumplings, & green banana. We also ordered salt fish fritters & Milo. The fritters were big, but they weren’t spicy, like I’m used to. The meal itself was small in portion size in comparison to other Jamaican restaurants.
I also feel they are more pricey than other Jamaican restaurants. It’s a good set up though if you are looking for a Jamaican restaurant where you can actually sit down & have a meal! Most are basically for take out orders, but this restaurant has the Jamaican grocery on one side & a spacious restaurant on the other! It’s perfect for Sunday brunch!
There are closer Jamaican restaurants to where I live, that are better, so I’d only go back there if I wanted a «sit down» meal. It’s perfect if you live in the Kendall or Hammocks area!

I walked in the with my brother. We took a seat and realized the waitress was completely asleep slumped over in a chair. We asked for service in the front and were asked to have a seat and the waitress would be right with us 5 minutes later nothing waitress was out like a light and nobody woke her up so we left. I’ve ate this restaurants food before and it’s good but I would recommend take out because service here is non existent.

Let me get this out the way: that Curry chicken was the best I’ve had in a while.
Every time I visit Miami I try to discover some new Jamaican eatery. I was so glad I found this place. I wish it was in Jacksonville so I could work my way through the menu when I’m homesick.
The restaurant is tucked away off the side of seemingly boring shopping plaza. I don’t know the area so I may be wrong. Who cares about location when the food is top notch. People will come back.
Upon entering the restaurant I noticed it resembles what you would typically find in a Jamaican town. Open shelves stocked with various traditional food and snack items (bun and cheese, crackers, seasonings etc)
THE FOOD:
I ordered the curry chicken Roti just because I haven’t had it in a while and I read another review praising the curry here. I concur. That curry chicken was done right full of flavor and spice. The chicken was soft and cooked to perfection. High five whomever prepared it.
Service was great. The lady at the register was friendly and cordial. Too bad it is 400 miles from my house.
Try em.

Simply put. The best food and service for your money. Try the Currie goat or the fish dish. friendly atmosphere.

We were literally the only ones in here when we had dinner, they actually had to open up the dining room just for us because it was empty. The food is humble and delicious, mostly focusing on stews.

A taste of Jamaica is what you’ll find in this ever so busy shopping plaza out in the suburbs of Kendall, Hammocks to be precise. Having been up and down this shopping center countless times over the years, it never occurred to me that this Jamaican restaurant was in fact a restaurant! It looks like a cluttered mart from the outside.
Never but never judge a book by its cover! You walk in to the right and there’s the nice and spacious dining area. A hidden gem indeed! 20 years and still going strong!
We walked in on a Sunday afternoon before heading next door to the library and were immediately greeted by the lovely and attentive Suzy. We weren’t sure what to eat so she brought samples. Curry Chicken, Curry Goat and Oxtail Stew. Without hesitation we went for the Oxtail.
This once peasant food considered scraps because of its toughness can be decadent when cooked for hours, when the right herbs & spices are used and when cooked with plenty of love. That is exactly what Island Restaurant does. This beautiful marbled fatty vertebrae full of iron-​rich marrow is abundant in flavor. It’s beefyness is so succulent, juicy and tender it becomes quite addicting and hard to stop yourself from overindulging. A generous portion is served along with plenty of Caribbean gravy which pairs beautifully with the pigeon peas & rice. Believe me, it does not disappoint!
Warning: Leave your table manners outside for this dish because the best and only way to enjoy it is with your fingers! You will look dumb eating oxtail with a fork and knife :-/​
This dish will warm your heart and soul ;)
5 SOLID STARS
Food
Customer Service
Cleanliness

This unpresuming little hole in the wall can be easily mistaken by a small bodega or market. If you stop to check it out you can easily miss that tucked away to the right place that actually has a nice place for tables to dine or have lunch.
The service was amazing. I myself haven’t had too much experience with Jamaican Cuisine but man, Im I hooked for life. We ordered the Oxtail Stew. Both dishes were wonderffully prepared and service was prompt. The oxtail stew had a great rich sauce gravy and served with pigeon peas & rice, bananas. We enjoyed both our meals and service was great. But prior to all that let me tell you a little about the fabulous home laid back service we both received. I had no idea what I was going to order and neither did she.
Our server which I will find her name and pug it on here pretty soon, was the best. She actually brought us a sample of all their in house meats in their curry sauces. Everything was great, even the goat had a great taste. But we both were hooked on the oxtail. Can’t wait to go back for some more goodness.

Service is obnoxious by the lady (owner?). Place is nasty. I didn’t even want to touch the table. It was sticky and greasy all over. Food was average. They were out of half the menu. Ive had much better food in the islands. I tried a bit of the oxtail and it was ok, plain. The cod fritters were gummy, like they had been sitting there for hours. Would not go back. Giving it 2 stars cause they served fast.

Delicious authentic Jamaican food. I recommend the curry chicken and asking them to put a little extra curry sauce on your rice-​muy delicioso! This is a small, cozy, casual restaurant. The staff are attentive and very nice. They do serve most of their chicken dishes with bone-​in chicken, but they give big portions.

Amazing food, huge portions, and the nicest employees. Have been coming here for years.

Island Restaurant is authentic Jamaican cuisine. Our waitress is always Susie, who is very nice and caring to all of the customers. She did forget ti put in one of our orders of dumplings, but its almost the kind of place where you don’t even care that they did something wrong because everyone is so nice. Don’t come in here expecting to see pristine walls and top notch table tops because that’s just not what Jamaican culture is like. This is one of those mom and pop shops, and they are jusy trying to bring a little taste of Jamaica to Miami, but. Not be flashy about it. Their sweet plantains, dumplings, and most importantly jerk chicken are amazing! I don’t really order the ox tail because I feel like no one can cook ox tail like my mum, so I don’t even bother. But the jerk chicken is really spicy. They give you the sauce for both the jerk chicken and the rice to make it more flavorful. And at any Jamaican restaurant, drinking the Kola Champagne is a must! For the first time, I actually ate the steamed vegetables and they were better then I thought they would be. You can have either breakfast or lunch here as well.

The service is very rude and obnoxious. I had the oxtail with rice and peas and unfortunately they took liberties with how they made it. It wasn’t fall off the bone and it was made with a tomato base that wasn’t cooked out properly.
The rice and peas was spot on, but with the subpar oxtail it was overall a pretty «meh» experience.

I never come down this way, happened to be in the area looking for a decent place to eat at… I’m a sucker for curry goat so I had to try it. It’s fricken delicious! It’s a generous portion size and full of flavor and chunks of meat! It came out of the kitchen in what seemed like 3 minutes maybe along with a huge plate of cabbage & veggies.
If I ever come this way I’ll be back! I suggest you try it!

Nice find! This place was recommended and I’m glad I went. The small market/​restaurant is tucked in a corner of a boring plaza.
Don’t let that discourage you, because the service and the food are top notch. Courtney our server was extremely friendly and Suzy at the front was also very nice!
I was craving Curry Chicken and decided to go with the Chicken Roti w/​rice & peas. It was delicious and huge! The plantains were soft and very sweet!
She had the Oxtail Lunch portion which was also spectacular, forget about proper food etiquette because we cleaned the plate!
All washed down with a cola champagne and you have the perfect lunch for two 25 $ an ice cream included.

I love this place. The lunch portions are large and the curry goat is amazing. Very tender and spicy!

The best roti ever! Doesn’t matter what you get it with. This little spot is fire! I also like the grape soda lol. I definitely recommend it.
Very clean and cozy. The jerk chicken is also amazing!

I had breakfast here yesterday… Wow…It was awesome. We ordered the ackee n saltfish, which comes with boiled green bananas, Johnny cake, and a large boiled dumpling! The food and the service were impeccable! We dined in, and the lady that was servicing the dining room was very accommodating, and made me feel like I was a guest in her home. I casually mentioned not wanting to sit at a particular table as it was drafty, and she quickly adjusted the A/​C to a more comfortable temperature. She constantly checked in on us and made sure we had everything we needed! Jamaican food is one of my faves, and I will be back to try their other dishes!