R Retha’s Food Cart

Good jerk! Not the best. but good for sure. 6.00 for small and 8.00 for the large. Lots of Caribbean people in line between 12−1pm.

You might be thinking «another Caribbean food cart in the FiDi?» There’s a few within 10 blocks and so far the 2 (including this one) that I’ve been to are well well worth it. There’s still one more I want to try near Whitehall Street, but as far as R Retha’s, it hits the right spot!
Like with many carts, the best time to go is probably from 11:30am-12pm. After 12pm, the lunch crowd starts coming out and a long line forms. I’ve passed by at 12:30pm before and there’s a line about 15 deep at times, mostly of people of Caribbean descent, so you know it MUST be good! The menu isn’t extremely robust by any imagination, specifically the Meals/​Entrees. They serve Curry Goat, Stew Chicken, Curry Chicken, Jerk Chicken and Oxtail. It’s served in small ($ 7-​$ 9) and large ($ 8-​$ 10). The prices vary depending on which entrée you get. The selection of side orders is not extremely attractive either (unless you’re looking to watch your weight) with vegetable dishes like Steam Veg, Rice & Veg, Rice & Peas and of course Fried Plaintains. If you order a «Meal», it automatically will come with Rice and Plaintains or you can sub for another side order.
Immediately when I walked away, I noticed the weight of the box. I knew I was in for a real heavy meal and probably a sluggish work afternoon. The portion size for the large is no joke as they fill it up with tons of rice and a big portion of protein. The only disappointment is that there was 1 plaintain inside, YES 1! If I came away with 3 – 4 pieces I would’ve been satisfied, but 1?! That’ll probably be the end of my complaints though. I ordered the Stew Chicken ($ 8) and it was superb! I loved the sauce on the Stew Chicken as it was sweet and savory. I love my rice with some type of sauce and the chicken sauce was perfect for the rice. There was so much rice I had to devour some of it to make room to eat the chicken or else the chicken would’ve slid off the mountain of rice. The chicken was everything I expected, tender, easily taken off the bone and large in size! The flavors coming off that chicken were ridiculous!
The meal was perfect, except for the lack of plaintains. The large Stew Chicken was well worth it for just $ 8. It’s hard to get a meal that big these days for that little. I’m looking forward to coming back and checking out the Jerk Chicken as well. As for now, if you work in the area, it’s definitely a food truck you should give a chance!

In a city where working folk dine on The Corporate McDonald’s known as Pret, Europa, or Pump, this Jamaican food cart is a godsend.
The Goat and the Short Ribs are my favorites. Tender, succulent and spiced noicely.
The ox tail is tasty but there could be more meat on the bone.
The $ 9 portion offers better value than the $ 7 portion. But of course, it’s also how one gets fatter!
It’s a good idea to get some of the hot sauce on the side. It’s super tasty!

I was always a little intimidated walking past this cart. No pictures of food. just a little metal cart with Jamaican flag and a couple steamed up windows. When they posted up a menu I approached the cart but was still intimidated by the items such as the Thursday special «cow foot».
After 5 long months of curiosity. I decided it was time to come here for lunch. Not to sure what to expect I decided to go with something safe. It was between the jerk chicken or the chicken curry. I asked her which one was spicier and jerk chicken it was.
I was the only white person on line among about 12 Jamaicans so despite the first review I had a pretty good feeling about this cart.
I must say this was the best jerk chicken i have ever eaten!!!
Well it was the only jerk chicken I have ever eaten but man it was good. I ordered a small and they gave me a ton of food. very generous portion of rice and chicken.
The chicken was cooked well and the big pieces fell right off the bone into my mouth. Its a little messy to eat since you kind of just gotta dig in with your hands. But the sauce is finger liking good so this is not a concern. After you finish eating off all the big succulent chunks of sweet spicy amazing chicken. you will still be able to gnaw at the pieces stuck to the bone with spice rub and sauce. soooo goood.
The platter also came with a choice of a side for which i chose the rice which they poured oxetail curry on and plantains which also were very good.
This was the best street cart food i have ever eaten.

I’m mainly creating this listing as a disambiguation bc reading Unilocal there seems to be some confusion…
This is not the Trinidadian cart on Whitehall Street (which is listed as the Jamaican cart on Unilocal,possible source of the confusion?). This may or may not be the Jamaican Dutchy cart, formerly of midtown, but there is no listing for this address so I’m going ahead and creating it.
On to the food — I tried the jerk chicken for lunch and found it mediocre at best. I’d probably stick to Veronica’s. The pumpkin soup was underwhelming as well and I was highly annoyed by the ingredients used as stock being present in my soup. I bit into what I thought was a dumpling only to discover it was a dumpling sized hunk of fat. There were many of these in my soup. For breakfast I tried the saltfish cook-​up. Oil had managed to leak everywhere by the time I got to my office (which is only half a block away). It was an absolute mess and a rude way to discover I highly prefer the Trini style Bake and Saltfish.
I will however come back for the porridge they serve for breakfast. It’s a generous portion that really sticks to your ribs and a nice change from oatmeal to keep you warm during those winter months.