Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck

Whoa, a Trinidadian food truck in FiDi. There’s a decent sized line of loyal customers around lunchtime, so try to get here early before 2pm or else the doubles will run out. What’s a double? Pretty much a softer version of a samosa, filled with chickpeas, spices, and potatoes. Now they also offer roti’s, but I sided with the jerk chicken rice platter in search for some punchy jerk chicken flavors. It’s a healthy portion of rice and peas, simple salad of tomatoes and lettuce, and a few chunks of bone-​in jerk chicken with brown gravy. Comfort food, yeah? Definitely, and I can see the allure of the food here, though it seemed very conservative in terms of spice and heat. Not bad!

Was definitely a shock to see a Trinidadian truck in the financial district, with that being said lets talk food. The most popular thing on this truck is something I could never get, that something is DOUBLES. Doubles is a great street food with curried chick peas, it is so good. What I also love from this truck is the shrimp and chicken rotis, definitely reminds me of the East Indian tastes of Trinidad.
What I really enjoyed too, was the stew oxtails and rice and peas, that was a dish that felt very much like home.
Some great Tastyness from this truck, the line is usually long so come early.

GOOD FOR: Quick weekday lunch
MENU SELECTION: The menu is pretty straightforward and basic, Rice & Peas or Roti with a protein — Chicken, Beef, Goat, Fish, Shrimp, Oxtail or Vegetables
FOOD: I ordered the Chicken Roti and it was massive! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the size of it exceeded my expectations. The roti/​bread engulfed the pieces of curry chicken and potatoes. The chicken was pretty good, but I feel I could’ve used a few more with the size of the roti. It was fairly priced at $ 6.50. In addition, I ordered a Coconut type dessert/​snack. It was like a coconut bread stick. It was extremely coconut-​ish, but I definitely would’ve loved to eat it with some milk!
SERVICE: The 2 ladies working in the truck were very nice and the service was quick.
MISC OBSERVATIONS: The line can get long, but it goes pretty quick. However, if you don’t want to wait, get here early!

Big enough to share for lunch. The beef roti was so tender and falls apart. Comes with pieces of potato in a thin & flaky roti bread. Line goes pretty quick too

Growing up in a West Indian home all I knew and enjoyed were the exotic flavors of the WIs. I find American cuisine in FiDi too dry or bland, oily/​fattening and overpriced (I guess that’s all of NYC American cuisine… or just American cuisine in general).
All this time I worked in this area and never seen this gem. Well I got lucky today and, despite the long lines of hungry workers (of all colors and backgrounds – you go Nio’s!), I was able to snatch up a nice sorrel and beef roti – and boy was it good.
Can’t wait to go tomorrow!

Eh. The Boneless Chicken Roti was alright. It was very soggy/​mushy and flavor wise it left much to be desired. It could use some sauce — not the spicy one though. For $ 7.50 the Roti was humongous and it made it very hard to eat. It is double the size of a regular Indian Roti and to be frank I prefer those more. I definitely won’t be coming back to this truck for lunch.

Another random lunch pick after walking down Broad Street, which might as well be named FiDi Food Truck street given the prevalance of mobile food options lined up M-​F from 10 – 3.
I ended up picking this one because of its uniqueness — I don’t recall seeing another Trinidadian restaurant let alone food truck anywhere else in NYC. I ordered a boneless chicken roti wrap ($ 7.50) and a double ($ 2), a Trinidadian specialty snack I had previously read about on a foodie blog and always wanted to try.
The prices are great, especially since you get a wrap that’s the size of your head, but unfortunately the taste/​quality is a little lacking. I guess this explains why this truck had no line whereas every other on the street was at least a dozen deep.
The double, a «sandwich» made with two fried flat bread filled with curried chickpeas, was kinda eh. The chickpea filling could’ve been much more flavorful and based on what I had read about doubles, I did not expect the whole thing to be so mushy. I imagine it would’ve been much better had the bread been freshly fried and crispier, but I can’t really expect something like that from a food truck. I was also a little put off by the lingering tastes of baking powder and something slightly sweet.
The roti wrap has a misleading name because the word «wrap» (at least to me) implies «healthy.» This is more like a Trinidadian burrito and probably has enough carbs to feed a small country what with all the potatoes stuffed inside an incredibly thick roti. Because the roti is so large, it ends up wrapping around the «innards» a few times over, causing an imbalance in the perfect roti to filling ratio with each bite. However, when I scooped out a small spoonful of just a chicken piece to try it by itself, I was blown away. The chicken was incredibly tender and flavorfully covered in jerk sauce. It’s a shame — the thick roti and overload of mushy potatoes just masked that highlight. Since they do offer platters as well, I would consider getting one of those with just the chicken next time.
P. S. Thanks Unilocalers for the pro tip to ask for it spicy — it definitely would’ve been way too bland without that extra kick.

Love this truck, and am also glad it’s back after the winter!
The roti wraps taste just like my mom’s home food. Can’t complain one bit. The doubles are great as well, though I wish they were spicier. (I’ll continue to go to Jamaica, Queens for my doubles!)
I do wish the spicy options were actually spicy, but I tend to attribute the lack of spice to needing to adjust to the general tastes of people who don’t drown their every meal in pepper sauce. :)

I’ve been going to Roti since last summer and was so sad when it left for the rough Fidi winter hiatus. For a while in April I would walk up and down the street looking for it, only to end up eating at Flavors, so I’m reallyyyyy happy it’s parked for good for the season.
Yes, these rotis are messy, and yes, you’ll probably maintain your office respect better if you opt to eat these outside rather than at your desk, dropping plops of chickpea on or near your keyboard… but wherever you choose to gobble these down, it’s worth it.
I’m a vegetarian so can’t speak to the meat, but the veggie roti options are great. If you like spicy, make sure you tell them SPICY — otherwise I actually think the rotis are sorta ehh… just too bland for my taste. Spice is important here.
Also, don’t be shy about trying the desserts and drinks in the window of the truck. They’re good and fun to order just to taste.
It’s all a good deal and the line moves fast. Plus you’ll be really full for the rest of the day. Highly recommend!

There’s a hand-​painted note outside the passenger side door of Nio’s Roti Truck that reads, «People forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it.»
It’s a typically Caribbean expression, rejecting the hectic pace of modern life for the satisfaction that comes in doing something well. The motto is laudable, but this is a food truck that parks in the middle of the Financial District, people for whom temporal concerns are very much top of mind. Contracts need to be signed, stocks sold, bonds traded and clients won, all while eating lunch at the desk.
Nio’s has adapted. The roti come out of the kitchen quickly here and this is a viable option for the 10 minute dine and dash crowd. Part of the success is the simple menu of rotis, doubles and curries. They are wrapped quickly and expertly, the Soca version of a burrito.
Unfortunately Nio’s appears to have made one too many concessions to its imagined clientele. They’ve taken the rich and spicy curries that go inside the roti skin and neutered the flavor. Everything here is too bland. Doubles, the pride of Pride of Spain, are reduced to just chickpeas floating in brown sauce. A chicken roti is hearty but missing a punch.
Order everything spicy. It doesn’t crank the heat up to the standard portions at the Outer Boroughs roti shops, but it comes reasonably close.
One salvation: The Caribbean sense of hospitality — friendly, not terribly chatty but always with a smile — has been preserved, thankfully, even if the service is in double time.

Ended up at Nio’s in search for another food truck; my coworker went to buy a salad and I put $ 7.50 toward a beef roti. It’s a hefty thing, the roti filled with a curry of stewed beef cubes, chunks of potatoes, and chickpeas. Sorry for the apples-​to-​oranges coming up: it’s a square-​ish Trinidadian burrito. The roti was flaky and kept on crumbling in my lap; had a piece of chewy beef fat as a meaty surprise. Very filling, and overall not great, but not bad.
The Thing to Order is apparently a double ($ 2.00), which after I heard, like, everyone in line get, I got too– it’s curried chickpeas stuffed into a smaller fried flatbread. (Trinidadian taco?) I’m more likely to come back for this in a pinch.
Didn’t ask for spicy on either the roti or the double, but I had some hot sauce (made by a friend) at my desk at work, and it was great on the double.

I ate at Nio’s for lunch on a weekday. I ordered the chana roti.
Service was prompt and polite.
The roti was pretty hefty and certainly a substantial lunch. The roti skin was sort of meh and a bit on the thick side. I have had better and I have had worse. The filling was okay, but nothing special and not particularly flavorful. It was uninspiring.
I have nothing terrible, nor nothing especially good to say about Nio’s. I think I’ll try the other truck nearby that sells roti though, and don’t see a reason to return to Nio’s.

I got the chicken with rice and peas. It was an OK Portion for $ 7 but I got more bones than chicken meat. Plus the rice and peas were dry and bland. The hot sauce was CRAZY hot but at least gave it a little oomph. The ladies there are super nice though but I’ve definitely had better Trini food in that area.

I haven’t had roti since I was a kid when I used to visit sleepover a friend of mine’s home, whose parents were from Trinidad. They frequently treated me to roti for dinner. It was love at first bite.
Nio’s brought those memories flooding back to me. I’ve had both the goat and the beef roti. The goat was a bit too fatty and had alot of bones, but the beef was fantastic. The generous portions easily feed two people and the price is right. You can order it with or without spice. Wash one of these bad boys down with a ginger beer and you are good to go.

Tried for the first time yesterday. Goat roti is awesome. So juicy, flavorful and filling. Bones are in there so be careful but they are yummy. Lady at the truck was nice and I am definitely going back for more. Parked on Water at Pine Street. Line but it moved quickly.