Jamaican Food Cart

Great Food, now that I’m pretty far away as my job is now located near the world trade, it’s a trek to get there. The line is long and the wait time is long too which is understandable since everybody loves the food. Like spicy food, get the jerk chicken with sauce on rice, incredible. Her stew and fry chicken is also good. The sides I pick is potato salad, mac & cheese or mix vegetables. Worth the wait!

Great tofu dish, one of the best cheap food options in lower Manhattan. Get there early, or the best dishes sell out. Ask for the delicious hot sauce.

Miss Shirley takes her time dishing out her goods, but it’s worth it. The jerk chicken is not as good as I’ve had in Jamaica itself, but it’s decent. I hear the stew beef is very good. Rice and beans are on point. Top it off with her fiery hot sauce and you’ll be set.

The stew chicken is my absolute favorite. The meat just comes righhhht off the bone, no effort necessary. Chicken is soft, tender, juicy and you can tell it’s been stewed for a while. The best part is the hot sauce! Recommend getting extra if you can handle the heat.
For $ 5.50, you get rice, beans, cabbage/​plantain, a thigh and a drumstick. If you want to, a soda is only $ 0.50 more. Can’t beat that price around here, it’s literally cheaper than Subway!
If you come early enough, try the Roti if you don’t feel like having rice!
I’ve also had the jerk chicken and personally not a fan, because it’s too spicy for me.
The curry shrimp was pretty good but costs more.
Definitely recommend as a quick cheap lunch spot! However, beware as she’s not there everyday :(

I was trying to root for this place being that its another cost-​friendly Caribbean food cart in lower Manhattan but I must say I think I gave this place one to many chances. Food is extremely bland!!! One thing about Caribbean food is our use of seasonings and spices and for each thing I tried did NOT have any Caribbean flavor at all! I was so disappointed. I’ve tried the oxtail, curry shrimp, stew chicken and curry chicken and they all have completely bland, flavorless taste, especially the curry shrimp which I just ended up throwing away after one bite. Her drinks seem to be homemade, I only had the sorrel which is known for that spicy aftertaste hit but hers tasted like straight sugar! ugh! Lady also always looks stressed and tired and can come off a little rude. Sorry not going back.

Kind of hard to spot but after I found it I gave the Jerk Chicken plate a go. Nothing to write home about. Just about does the trick but rather boring in flavor. The jerk chicken wasn’t very spicy nor did it have the typical all spice profile going for it. I would go so far as to say it’s probably I’ve had better at generic non-​Caribbean restaurants and I, not being from Jamaica nor having access to pimento wood, make better jerk chicken by a long stretch. The rice and peas were overcooked, mushy even, and tasted like they have packet flavoring added to them. The hot sauce wasn’t as spicy as I expected either.
Not at all impressed…

Damn good west indies food outside of ozone park/​flatbush areas. A bargain as well compared to the other west indie trucks/​carts in the area. $ 5.50 for a small and $ 7.50 for a large meal. I’ll rotate between the curry, jerk, and stewed chicken. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Comes with veggies (cabbage or sweet potato’s) and peas and rice. Even the small comes with plenty of food for 1.
They also have Rotis, which is what I usually get. You have to get there early if you want Roti, because Ms. Shirley runs out everyday.
She also has home made soup everday. Cowfoot soup is only available on Mondays.
Don’t forget to ask for extra scotch bonnet peppaaaa sauce on whatever you get. It’s delicious and has a kick.

I love this cart. It’s ridiculously close to my office and gets the job done when you want GOOD Caribbean food for a GOOD price.
The line is always long around lunchtime but that’s because the nice lady who runs it takes her time in making sure your order is exactly what you requested. I had the curry goat platter (small, there is also a large option). She asked if I wanted cabbage, what kind of rice, and if I wanted hot sauce on top. For $ 7 (almost all other options are $ 6) you get a perfectly portioned platter of goat (with the bones!) over a bed of rice with cabbage on top and hot sauce splashed on. Drinks are typically $ 1 but only $ 0.50 if you order a large platter. This food is just as good as the food that my Jamaican friend’s mother makes. It tastes homecooked (which it is) and is the perfect amount of flavoring.

Sunrise Grill which parks by 1 NY Plaza or Broad St sometimes is 100 times better.

Yum. Even for a vegetarian. For $ 5.50 you can get a roti with some assortment of very saucy and delicious greens, potatoes, chickpeas, and tofu.

I’ve been known to frequent «Miss Shirley’s» a few times a week and I actually prefer it over the other Trinidadian food trucks in the neighborhood and the price is also right. The Stew chicken falls off the bone. The curry and jerk chicken is great too. Monday’s cow foot soup? Delish. Don’t want cow feet? Try the beef soup on Tuesday… And definitely get the hot sauce that is so addicting I dream about it. Plus she does some sort of magic to the rice, beans and cabbage. The line gets rather long so go early.

The Jamaican flag is a cultural icon that anyone remotely acquainted with Bob Marley or the movie Cool Runnings should have a familiarity with. It’s green and black with a yellow X. In short, it looks nothing like the flag on this food cart. I know it may be convenient to call this place the Jamaican Food Cart, maybe I’m just overly sensitive, but that comes across as dismissive to me.
Anyhow, the food is great and it’s only $ 5 for a roti. I usually opt for the jerk chicken which consists of a leg and a thigh along with your roti and filling. I like to eat the chicken then roll the rest up like an (extremely sloppy) burrito. I haven’t been to Veronica’s recently enough to do a comparison but this is pretty damn good. They also have a small selection of Caribbean juices which is a good way to take advantage of trying something new.
My only complaint is that the line moves at a pace best described as glacial. If you’re absolutely starving you might not have the patience but otherwise relax and pretend you’re on island time.

R. Retha’s cart on Beaver and William St is an appetizing alternative to all the halal lunch truck offerings in the area. Friendly service, Jamaican stylings.
Their chicken curry is a safe bet, which comes in small, normal, and «mini meal» servings (mini meal is $ 5; cash only I think) and nets you a respectable amount of grub: rice, plantains, some veggies, and a selection of tender dark chicken. Flavors could be more vibrant but their secret is their hot, Habanero-​esque, weapons grade sauce. Needless to say, big eaters should gun for bigger servings.
Want to avoid a line? Like everywhere else around here, go off-​hours.

Overrated. There’s a lot of food for the $ 7 Curry Chicken platter. But… I’ve had better curry chicken. And After a while.,. i actually didnt’ enjoy it and ended up throwing it out.

Tried this for lunch the other day and was disappointed. The 25 minute wait (and there were only 4 – 5 people in front of me) was a little frustrating, but not too bad as I had read the reviews ahead of time and expected it. This was my first taste of Trinidadian food and I’m not sure if it’s the overall flavor or my specific meal, but I found it just average.
Foodnalysis:
— Stew Chicken: Opted for this instead of the jerk chicken because I have a pretty low spicy tolerance. Meat was fairly tender, not as flavorful as I was hoping for.
— Rice and Beans: Also just average. Then again, I have an asian palate and am not quite used to this type of rice.
— Cabbage: Quite good, actually turned out to be my favorite part of the meal. Balanced the meat, rice and beans nicely.
The Bottom Line:
A bit overrated. Be prepared to wait.

This cart always has a line. Which is usually a good sign of great food. Today the line was not overly obscene and so I took advantage and hopped on. One note, this is a Trini cart, not Jamaican.
I ordered the daily special of bbq chicken. An overly generous helping of rice smothered in a deep, dark sauce and my choice of chicken (breast or thigh). I opted for the breast, although I am fully aware of the moist joy that dark meat has to offer. Served with a helping of cabbage and carrots and a healthy dollop of pepper sauce (by request). Add a can of soda for 50 cents and a joyous lunch can be had for six-​fiddy! (I did have a moment of confusion when the lovely woman asked if I wanted light or dark for my soda?)
I am not a major expert in Island food, but I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The chicken piece was huge and the meat was tender and reasonably moist for a breast. The sauce on the rice was meaty and delicious and I loved the combination of the sweeter veg to the piquant pepper sauce. Not sure if I would spend half my lunch hour waiting on line, but I’ll definitely be back.

I’ve been looking for Caribbean food near the office and found Shirley’s foodcart on Unilocal.Got there around 12:20, right in the middle of the FiDi lunch rush hour and as a result had to wait about 25 minutes. Ordered a large beef stew which came with rice+peas and cabbage with extra pepper sauce on top. The portion was ginormous and barely fit inside the styro container.
Now for the food — the beef was tender, juicy, and required no knife to cut. It had a nice smokey flavor and the pepper sauce I asked for gave it a fantastic kick. The rice was fairly pedestrian but the beef came with copious amounts of delicious brown gravy/​sauce which made it much better. The cabbage was cooked just right (not at all mushy) and balanced the hearty beef very well.
I must mention that Shirley is a friggin’ machine! Not only is the woman taking orders, filling them, accepting money and making change, she’s also prepping take out orders for those who called ahead. I was very impressed with her multi-​tasking skills but if she had a helper, the line would definitely move faster.
Overall, the food was great and I will definitely come back to try some of the daily specials.

So I ask myself, what is the fuss all about? This place has long lines in the winter, and abnormally crazy lines during the warmer days. As I was walking by this place, I noticed the lines were fairly short, so I took the opportunity to try this cart out. Only 4 – 5 people were in front of me so I figured I’d be on my way in no time. It took 10 minutes to make it to the front, averaging 2 minutes per person.
I had plenty of time to look at the menu as I waited, so I ordered Jerk Chicken (Small) for $ 5. I watched as the bottom half of the 5“x5″ Styrofoam container was packed with rice & beans along with a few spoonfuls of gravy. On top of the rice were two pieces of chicken, a leg and a thigh, and then topped off with cabbage and baby carrots. My container was then bagged in a black plastic bag along with a plastic fork/​knife wrapped in a standard-​sized napkin. I realized the reason why it took so long to package the food, which was because she had to uncover each catering tray, place the ingredient in a Styrofoam container, before placing the cover back on and then moving on to the next item, all while trying to take orders on the phone.
The two pieces of chicken were like polar opposites of each other. The leg was very moist, with the meat falling right off the bone. Even the cartilage was so soft to chew. Meanwhile, the meat in the thigh was very dry though I found sucking on the bone proved to be quite tasty. The chicken was well seasoned with jerk spices though it was only modestly spicy. The hot sauce which I had also requested on top, amped up the spice level quite a bit. Mmmm. The hot sauce, yellow in color, was slightly grainy, which I believe was grounded scotch bonnet pepper (similar to a habanero pepper). With the hot sauce, I found my entire mouth starting to get hot all around, not your typical back-​in-​the-​throat hot sauce where you need something to drink. The cabbage and baby carrots were stewed to softness, with a slightly sweet taste. I found the rice & beans to be quite ordinary, even a bit bland. The black beans were firm yet soft enough to mush in your mouth without having to bite into it.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal and found myself as full as compared to a typical Halal cart serving of lamb/​chicken over rice. Flavors were not very exciting as far as Caribbean (Jamaican/​Trinidadian) food goes, but is definitely something different from the dozens of Halal carts surrounding it.

Yum! Yes, this is technically Trinidadian food, not Jamaican. Only the long lines, which are the norm unfortunately will keep me away from the awesome food here! I like it spicy, so I go for either the jerk chicken with rice or the jerk chicken roti, both of which definitely deliver on the spiciness.

«No, the jerk chicken isn’t spicy,» she said with a smirk. Well, THAT was a lie and now my mouth is burning and all I can do is write a Unilocal review to distract me from this agony.
Today was my first visit to the Jamaican Lunch Cart. There’s always a big line for the place, and now I understand why — the food is cheap and flavorful and the portions are large. The line, however, moved extremely slow and it took 15 – 20 min (the long line may have been worse than usual as a result of the warm weather)
A large container of stewed or jerk chicken with rice and beans will run you $ 6.50, and the small is around $ 5 (and it’s probably enough food for most people). The sign says they have vegetarian options. They also have beef and goat and some fish options.
I’ll probably try the stewed chicken next time.