Port Royal Cafe

I can only speak for the service and the beef patties. Been having a patty and coco bread craving for about a month but my usual Jamaican spot closes long before I leave the office. It’s Friday, it’s late, so I Unilocal Jamaican restaurants in Santa Monica (near the j-​o-​b) and lo and behold, there’s a place a few blocks away that’s still open! I call the number and I was told they’re already closed. Unilocal says open until 9 but they actually close at 8. But all was not lost! The owner asked me what I was looking to order and met me curbside with my order! They do curbside service!
The patties were delicious. Good flavor with just a bit more heat than my regular patty place. I’m definitely going to go back and try more of the menu.

This business is closed for good. I’ve been here twice during business hours and the closed sign is always up. The place looks abandoned.

If you’re looking for a place to have lunch and leave with a big smile on your face, go here. Tommy (the owner/​chef) is super friendly and he cranks out great chow really quickly — and it’s priced very well.
This place has a vibe unique in Santa Monica. No pretense. Totally relaxed. Cool, funky.
Today was my first visit, though I’ve lived in the neighborhood for years. I’ll be back before the end of the week and it’s Wednesday. Lots more food to try. Lots more to talk about with Tommy.

The food is really good. The plantains taste just like they do in the Caribbean. The Jerk chicken and beef ribs have a great bbq smoke flavor and the fries were even great. Really nice service and people. Best of all its really cheap, which is rare for Santa Monica. 4.95 for 2 piece chicken.

I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews on Unilocal,but I honestly had a good experience here. Tommy was great, and the food was fantastic. I ended up going with the Ribs, and my friend got the Oxtails. He was generous in offering us samples, and once our minds were made up, the food came out quickly. Everything was obviously a labor of love, as the food has a genuine homestyle quality to it. A few things I wanted to point out, reading the other Unilocal reviews:
1) This place has zero pretense. You’re expected to walk in, politely make your presence known, and take a seat. I’ve read a bunch of complaints on service, but Tommy walked right out, introduced himself, and we shook hands. It was like walking into a person’s house, which was honestly quite nice. Expect things to be loose and casual.
2) The food is 100% prepared in house, and is a two-​person operation. So if they’re out of something, or not carrying one of the items on that day, be aware that this food is cooked by human beings. There are no line cooks here. The food is either made to order, or prepared before the sun rises. Have some empathy.
3) They, like other small businesses, are not recession proof. I’m sure they’ve been hit with some hard times, and I’m sure some limitations come with that. But as a person who champions small businesses, I can genuinely forgive some short falls and come back to a place like this — because it is literally like nothing else in Santa Monica.
4) You seriously can NOT beat the price. All of the food is very fairly priced. I would even say generously priced compared to places (COOP COUGH COUGH) which will charge you $ 13 for glorified plaster.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, and will be returning. I honestly believe that this place deserves local support. Kudos to Tommy and his wife!

I love Jamaican food, and this was amazing. Delicious sides, but the meat had the perfect tenderness and flavor! Oh the charcoal flavor, it was stellar and reasonably priced. Open every day 11 – 3 except Wednesday and Sunday! Come check it out!

Decent caribbean food *without* ridiculous Santa Monica markup (thank you!!) Owners are a local family & sometimes one of the kids may attend to your table. Great, unique little ‘home’ layout w a ‘visiting relatives’ feel. Definitley on carribean time, so be smart & CALL AHEAD! Much smoother for everyone! If there’s something you have a hankering for, even stuff not on the menu, Tommy, the cool owner will try to make it happen (or something similar) within the next few hours. I’m partial to the fish! Plantains fried to perfection & great rice/​peas. Very cool! They could charge more, but they’re not tacky like that-​please tip well, you’ll see once you eat there. Portions may not be huge, but that makes it better for trying a few different things! The prices are great so sampling doesn’t hurt the bank. Relax, get right & come enjoy a reaaly laid back meal on a day off… Right near the beach-​Bwoyee!

Tommy nailed the jerk seasoning, I can absolutely say this is very authentic jerk chicken and made from scratch not the bottle. The first thought I had, this was just as good as my grandmother’s.
Definitely the best jerk chicken I have tasted in Los Angeles thus far.
Dee-​lish!

This place is a not so hidden gem. Stop by and hang with the owners and try whatever they recommend. You won’t be disappointed.

Had my first experiecne here today. What a great place! I could the smell of smoked meats from my car driving down Broadway. I said yup. I’m pulling over. Had the rib special. The sauce is KILLER! I was literally licking my hand hoping it would never end. Oh golly! I’ll be back! Maybe even for a private party!!!

I was waliking along Broadway in Santa Monica looking for a place to eat. The owner invited me in and boy am I glad she did. I had the best Pulled Pork sandwich I ever had! Plus, the price was right. I will definitely be back soon.

This place has amazing food and the dude that runs the place is awesome!
Also, its BYOB !

Such a strange place that has been there forever. Finally stopped by when I was craving rice and beans. Guess what? They have no rice and beans! Its a café and what does café usually mean? Sandwiches! So they only have sandwiches. I ordered the vegetarian special. A curry vegetable filled sandwich. It had mustard greens amount other veggies. First time having Jamaican curry and the impression I got was spicy mustard. I thought it was something in between good and okay. My date said his was ok and could have used more coconut. He got something with coconut and chicken. I felt bad for the guy on our table who got the bbq. He did not have much to say about it. I think our mistake was that none of us ordered their specialty, jerk. Maybe next time. The fries were good though. The sweet potato fries was better than most places and the regular fries were crispy and well seasoned.
I am not sure if I can come back, it was not good enough for me to come try it again, which may explain why place is empty and dreary. They even have strange hours and it always looks closed. You have to play a game when you get there and figure out which door is the right one to open. The patio seemed like a nice place to sit but our party could not sit there because we had bikes outside with no locks. I didn’t like the dining room area in the front. It was a little dreary like I said. There is unused decoration that really should be cleared out of here. Feels like you are visiting grandma’s house. The patio is nicer. It feels like someone’s backyard in the islands.
This is a one-​lady show here. Owner seats you, takes your orders, and makes your food. She was great though. Food did not take long, considering she was by herself. Only one other person walked in while we were dining, and she had to seat herself because waitress was in the back. I saw a lot of people curious from the outside, but I think it is hard for customers to even try to come in because it is hard to tell it is open. They are only open for half the week.
There is a lot of value to the meal though. My meal was a little over $ 6, came with fries and a drink. Punch was just party punch concentrate with water and probably not at the right ratio.

Caribbean restaurants this would be the best jamaican jerk chicken or beef and got curry, coconut shrimp, salmon or other fish by season. as well vegetarian dish but at half the price of most other places. for lunch give or take the dishes are about $ 9. most Dinner we’ve gone to would be around $ 14-​$ 18
Note: *Have been Re-​Open Only Open from mid Week to Saturday!

I enjoyed this restaurant several months ago, but it has definitely gone downhill since.
I tried the new lunch buffet (yes, I know buffet food is almost always lower quality than a la carte) and I’m not even sure it deserves a full star. The rice and peas had been heated too long and was dry and crackly. The green beans were literally straight out of a can, along with what appeared to be chili con carne. The black beans were bland, the pulled pork dry, and the meatballs almost certainly frozen. The curry chicken was not too bad, but did not taste like Jamaican curried chicken and was not made with coconut milk.
On top of the extremely poor quality food the service was poor (to be fair there was only one waitress for the entire restaurant during lunch) and they no longer offer hot sauce for your food.
Another thing to note — the menus are incorrect, as is the posted sign for the lunch buffet. The offerings listed for the buffet are not actually available.
Unless there is a drastic change, I think this restaurant is going to go under very soon.

Thought I was back in Montego Bay!
I FINALLY walked in on a Friday afternoon after driving past for so many years, and I’m glad I did. I was immediately greated by friendly staff who welcomed me in. I wish I could remember her name, but she expained all of the lunch and dinner specials (different special each day).
Without looking at the menu, I ordered Jerk chicken, rice and peas, and plantains. She seated me, and brought me a glass of bottomless Jamaican punch (friday special).
My food came out quickly, and I could smell the spices on the chicken… perfection. The chicken was juicy, and the spice was just like I remember. To balance the even heat of the jerk, the sweet fried plantains did nice.
While I was eating lunch, one of the chef’s came out and sat with me to talk. She was an great, and recomended the jerk pork for my next visit.
I absolutely will be trying that pork next week…
RESPECT to this place…
GREAT FOOD, GREAT STAFF!

I had my «bachelorette» dinner at Port Royal on Saturday night. It was a smaller group of 6 girls. We were the only table at the place (they stayed open for us). It was amazing. Our service was wonderful, the food was perfect, and its BYOB. I highly recommend this place. We did a family style dinner w six different dishes. The jerk chicken is super spicy and tasty. I even tried the curried goat and it was tender and tasty. The coconut shrimp is tangy and very delicious.
I have never been a huge lover of Caribbean food, but never disliked it. I now truly love it and will be back! They are super accommodating (were willing to change anything for dietary needs). My friends described the dinner and atmosphere as making them feel like they were on vacation and that’s hard to say that about anywhere in LA!

I want to like this place because it’s a mom & pop establishment, feels like the Island, and is just unassuming for a place in Santa Monica. The owners travel back to Jamaica to get the special island sauce and they have to have the original hot sauce because that will kick your ass after a tiny taste.
The tables are janky as the chairs — very island like. The décor is vibrant — blue, gold, green as it should be. You sit on pillows, providing a sort of relaxed vacation feeling. The service is a bit on island time too as they kinda take their time getting to you, but know that it’s a family-​runned business and probably only 2 people working there at all times.
+ Curry shrimp, jerk chicken — both decent and comes with many side choices. Not too memorable.
+ Goat — heard on Food Network that its the poor man’s meat, but this place made it very tender and pork-​like. It is probably the best protein here, of all that I have tried.
+ Mango drink — tastes like you had your day’s serving of fruit. Yum.
+/​-​Water — if you’ve been to the island, then you know ice is non-​existent. Could be a good or bad thing depending. I say good because it brought me back. I say bad because it reminded me of all the bug bites and food poisoning I got out there. HA!
— Stewed Oxtail — Occasionally served, and tough and tendony when I got it. I was so jonesin for dental floss after wards. The pieces were really fatty too which should have melted off if it was truly stewed…
I don’t mean to be a hater… maybe if LA wasn’t so fortunate for being a food haven.

At the Port Royal Café I had one of the worst restaurant customer service experiences I’ve ever had. Perhaps this is part of the «islands charm»?
I was driving down Broadway looking to grab lunch, and I’m a big sucker for hole in the wall joints (like this place is) and Caribbean cooking. I walked into the place and found one person there eating. Nobody else. There were a couple of guys chatting over stacks of paperwork towards the front by the counter– presumably the manager of the place. I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t look like either of them were going to help me. A second guy came in after me, and we looked at each other both wondering if anyone actually worked there. A woman emerged from the back shortly thereafter though, and told us both to sit anywhere.
I sit down at the table and she brings me a menu. No more than two minutes later she comes back asking me what I want to eat.
«Well», I tell her, «I’m wondering which-​.». Before I can even finish my sentence she has cut me off.
«If you have questions I don’t really have time because I’ve got to get this other guy’s order». Kind of shocked by what she said, I tell her to go get his order then and come back to me.
She comes back to me in less than a minute. I’m assuming now that she got his order I can finish asking her my question. What a fool I am. «So I’m trying to decide between-​«
“Look, I really don’t have time to answer your questions, so if you could just decide» she says as if someone has a gun to her head.
I’m not taking this any more. I ask her what the deal is. Didn’t she get the other guy’s order? She says yes, but that he’s already asking her if she’s started it. How could she have? At this point I’ve figured out that she is likely the cook too. I tell I’m sorry this other guy is being so rude, but then rather matter of factly ask her why this guys problem is suddenly my problem. I tell her all I want to know which she thought was better: The curry recipe or the jerk (there’s a pun in here somewhere I’m sure). She says she doesn’t know! At this point I’ve given up and tell her to bring me the curry.
So the guy who was in a hurry gets his order to go within 5 minutes (apparently he thought the place was a fast food restaurant?) and my food arrives shortly thereafter. I thought for sure once the other guy was out of her hair maybe she’d come over and apologize for being so curt with me, or ask me how I liked the food, SOMETHING to make up for our little exchange. Nope. She brought me water, and once I was finished, the check.
I can’t remember the last time I stiffed a waiter on the tip, because I’m pretty sure I’ve probably only done that once or twice in my lifetime. I’ve worked in restaurants before, and I know how one pain in the ass customer can rub off on you, but not when there’s only two other people in the entire frickin’ restaurant! I’d hate to see what this woman is like when it’s at half capacity.
The food? It was actually pretty tasty for the most part, especially considering it only took her about 5 min to make. It was clear my chicken was pretty much cooked before I even got there and all she had to do was heat it in the curry sauce and then put my sides on the plate. How laborious, indeed.

There are not too many Caribbean places in Santa Monica. They do a good job, but it seems a bit remedial. I had the stewed goat and it was so tasty. Don’t drive across town to go, but head there for lunch if you are in the area. The owners are nice and accommodating.
Don’t be a goat. Order the goat.