CeeDee Jamaican Kitchen

Had the jerk chicken and it was just okay. Nothing special, probably won’t return. Just wasn’t my thing.

Cee Dee is in a well kept up shopping center. I was really impressed with the interior, it was very festive with a sizable seating areas as well as a bar. From their bathroom posters one notes they offer DJs/​music nights some with covers some without. I just might have to partake one day.
I have not previously dined on Jamaican cuisine so I went «big» and ordered goat, they offer it curry style. This comes with rice or rice and kidney beans, along with two sides.
The meat was very robust, moist, really a nice flavor. Definite downside is the very VERY small bones found in almost every bite. This fact alone will keep me from ordering this in the future. My girlfriend had chicken curry served as drumsticks that looked nice. The curry sauce was really good, definitely had a nice kick after taste. The rice and beans wasn’t anything special but good, next time I’ll opt for double steamed cabbage sans rice. My other side was plantains that were not covered and fried just fried which I appreciated, they’re a lovely sweet treat.
Definitely will be back for those plantains and the curry

Perfect home cooked meal at the end of a long day — picked up the jerk wing appetizer and a combo of simple stew beef and stew chicken with festival and plantains as my sides.
I had heard good things, but the meal surpassed my expectations especially for something I was picking up on the way home to go.
While I was waiting the ambiance was peaceful and homey and relaxed; mellow music and people. I’ll definitely go back on a Tuesday or Friday to party AND enjoy another meal.

I havd been going to CeeDee’s since I moved to Tucson two years ago. The food has always been good but the service has always been lacking. But my trip on Sunday was a major disappointment and may keep me from returning. After walking in the restaurant, which was completely empty except for two employees eating at the bar, I waited for 5 minutes for the owner to come out from behind the kitchen to take my order! Not once did the two ladies at the bar greet me, ask me what I wanted or grab me a glass of water. Even after the owner took my order, there wasn’t any break in their convo and no acknowledgment that the owner was doing all of the work. I try hard to support local businesses, especially black owned, but I can’t justify the spend when the service is so bad. Hopefully they will figure it out before it is too late. Until then, I will just have to drive the extra 5 miles for the only other west indian spot in Tucson. Ugggh…

Food is absolutely great. But no drink refill is very unappealing and the service is the worst we’ve ever had. For those reasons, we will not be coming back.

I only gave 4 stars because I didn’t have dessert. me and my hubby went he order the jerk chicken cabbage rice and festival I order the oxtail
Both dishes where very good no complaints really except the cabbage could be better

Just found this place out running errands and so glad I did! I had the jerk chicken hubby had ox tails– everything was delicious! We haven’t had good Jamaican food for 8 years (since we left Atlanta) and will definitely be back! Very clean, friendly service laid back atmosphere! New favorite!!!

Ignored for 20 min after bring seated with 3 servers just hanging out by the bar. When we get up to leave finally one of the servers acknowledged our presence by saying I was just about to come and get your order. 20 mins without taking our drink order, I don’t think so… Extremely Poor Service, cannot comment on food did not get that far. Definitely not recommended..

I was not hungry when I went there, so I tried an Irish Moss… it was too sweet, waaaaay too sweet, I asked for a little bit more of milk, and the lady said they had no more milk… seriously? if you have no milk then… was my drink made with water and powder or something like that? I understood it was made there, with fresh ingredients… anyway, it was bad.
I hated my drink, it was really sweet.
My mom had… I think it was curry chicken, it was ok… I feel there is something missing in their food. something different from other places, but that’s just me, anyway, I still want to give it another try one of this days, I think I did not try the right stuff and hoping I will be blown away next time.

Every dish is so delicious! Downside is the chicken bones be careful! The watermelon and pineapple juice is my favorite. They also have tasty desserts!

Incredibly disappointed. This will all be written with high hopes and extreme interest — that didn’t add up.
1) ‘Highly recommended’. Upon arriving, on a Saturday evening, there was only one waitress. The place was near dead. One family currently present. A set of three gentlemen walked in behind us and within 5 – 7 minutes of that ONE waitress not tending to them; they departed. Not a good sign.
2) The place looks like it was attempting to be upbeat, but misses in visual quality, a lot. It looks more like a tired drinking bar from the edge of a Washington border pub than a unique Jamaican Kitchen downtown Tucson. It needs a facelift.
3) I presented I was looking to get a potential party of 20 – 25 people here for a luncheon and wanted to see if they would be able to handle it. I asked if they had any ‘other’ waitresses to handle it. The one person working there said they could always bring the owner’s wife out to help. Not another good sign.
4) Drinks ordered, they were over priced and under flavored. $ 2 – 4.00 with no refill is incredibly unappealing…
5) Bonus! The meal was extremely quick. Unfortunately the meal was very unappealing, dry, and in the case of mine, burnt. I ordered the very common ‘Jerk Chicken’ with Festival Plantain, rice and beans. The chicken was burnt. Pictures can be provided. The chicken to bone ratio was off. When I presented this to ‘Melonie’, she contemplated this wasn’t accurate. It was and you never tell the customer they are incorrect upon a conversation that identifies a sub value. The plantain was chewy, and unflavored. The rice and beans were dry, and unappetizing. I’m trying hard to appreciate the meal, but it clearly wasn’t ready to be exalted. My wife ordered the curry chicken and it was a step up better, barely.
6) I even spoke to the owner, ‘Dion’ who was courteous and polite though took some time to speak to him from behind the kitchen. I got a sense that he was happy to assist with a party but I really question this ability seeing the food quality… :-(
7) Overall, we drove up from Sahuarita JUST to try this place. It wasn’t bad, but it was really disappointing in that every mouthful of the chicken, you were reaching your fingers back to your lips grabbing bone fragments to pull out. The chicken quality IMHO was incredibly substandard. I have had some incredible Jerk Chicken from ALL AROUND this wonderful world and unfortunately, this restaurant suffers in all avenues: quality, atmosphere, layout, drink preps, and price… The prices here are the nails in the proverbial coffin. The prices are outrageous, overpriced and doesn’t beg a second chance. $ 40.00 = two meals, dry, tons of shattered bone fragments, and never offered a second round of drinks.
I think you can clearly identify, this place is not one to highly consider. It’s locally owned, very dank and dark, not appealing from the prices to product. No other way to say it. Cheers.

ate dinner wiith my boyfriend today. the jerk chicken was awesome! the curry was not that good. wish they would put more spice into it. the staff is awesome eventhough theres only one waitress and one cook tonight she still manange to accomodate 7 tables with more than two customer per table. since i use to be a waitress and i know how it feels to work by yourself with a lot of customer is very stressful so i gave her 30% tip

I live for some good Jamaican foood but this one was not that great.
My beef patty was dry and did not have enough beef filling in it.
Next my oxtails were a little on the burnt side and they were not even close to being tender like the oxtails I’m used to.
My friend ordered the jerk wings let’s just say after we left we went to brushfire bbq.

OMG! Just had the jerk chicken and plantains… beef patty ummm… SUPER DELICIOUS! Found my new spot!

I love this place. My favorite Jamaican place in Tucson. The food is delicious and the staff are sweet and friendly. Had the watermelon-​pineapple juice, beef patty, and the oxtail last time I was here. My mom had the curry chicken. The beef patty was deliciously spiced and the oxtail was scrumptious. The curry chicken was tender and savory. The waitresses are darling. They have beautiful art of Bob Marley hung throughout the restaurant. Highly recommend!

As a Jamaican, I am pretty critical about our cuisine. I ordered the combination meal of Oxtail with Curry Goat, accompanied by rice & peas, steamed vegetables and fried plantains. To wash it down, I chose vanilla flavored Irish Moss. Everything was fairly decent, however, I believe the chef has a heavy hand when it comes to salt. As I was the only patron, my meal arrived very fast, but was not as hot as it should have been. The restaurant is still good enough if you are having a craving for some authentic Jamaican food.

Great Caribbean food served by natives of the BX in Arizona. The chicken pattie was amazing but the curry chicken was a bit bland and the coco bread was awful. Still a great atmosphere and I would try another meal there. Oh and they had Red Stripe. «Hurray Beer»

Our first time going. My wife and I both ordered combo plates ($ 16 each). She had the Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken. I had the Oxtails and Curry Beef. Both came with rice/​beans and steamed veg. She ordered Plantains and I opted for Festival.
Wow! Such flavors. Everything was delicious. I really liked how all but the plantains and festival had an underlying spicy heat to it. Perfect for the wife because she doesn’t handle lots of heat well. Thankfullly, there was a bottle of Scotch Bonnet sauce on the table. I’m truly addicted to spicy.
We used a coupon from our Tucson Entertainment Book, but next time I’m going in on the lunch buffet ($ 9.99). It changes everyday, but I’ll bet that if you call and ask, theyll tell you what’s on for the day.
Friendly atmosphere and good music playing. A definate win if you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path. We can’t eat burgers and tacos everyday. Well, we can, but try to pencil in a day for oxtails.

When I think of Tucson, I don’t really see how Jamaican would work.
I’m glad that doesn’t matter! Their jerk chicken is really, really, good. I recommend it 1000x over. All of their sides were tasty as well but not as special or unique, so no complaints there. If I could just buy the jerk chicken in bulk, I would have; I could eat it all day! I have a hard time choosing something else when I visit as I always want the chicken.

I love this place, a little variety in tucson. The house drinks are a must try, just be careful they’ll creep up on you. A taste of the Caribbean, I love the goat dish with rice just the right kick of spice.

Walk In and the ladies welcome you with Big Beautiful smiles. They quick and attentive. Served wonderfully delicious smelling food. We all had jerk chicken with rice & beans, mixed veggies & fried Plantains!!! OMG!!! This was sooooo good. You need to try this place.

If you’ve ever had any other Caribbean food, you will not like this place. I ordered the jerk chicken and a beef patty, both were bland. First off, the «jerk chicken» did not have any spicy or jerk seasoning for that matter. It was covered in A1 sauce, with a hint of cayenne. The rice lacked any type of salt or flavor and the plantain, Jesus, don’t order that. The chicken was cooked well though, it was juicy, but again, it was void of any type of spice. The beef patty. NO, just NO. I’ve had better from the frozen isle. This place just wasn’t good.

I should have done the buffet.
I went during weekday lunch. There’s a lunchtime buffet that I think is around $ 8… I should have done that, but instead ordered an entrée: combo plate with beef and jerk chicken.
Ambience — it’s dark, cozy and nicely themed (with Jamaican colors and vibe). Between 12noon — 1p there were a total of 5 tables occupied (three were solo, like I was this time, and two tables had a couple of folks at them). This made the place barely ¼ occupied (roughly 16 tables with half being 4-​tops and half being 2-​tops). This location (5305 Speedway) is much better than their old one and parking is free and plentiful.
The buffet had 3 warming trays and featured (from the sign) jerk chicken; talapia and plantains I think. There were two huge guys sitting at separate tables near the buffet and they had easily consumed 3 – 4 platefuls of food… I don’t know how CeeDee can break even on them and clearly I should have gone the route of the endless jerk chicken buffet too.
My entrée this time (as in previous times) was a mixed result. The jerk chicken, (chopped pieces, bone-​in, including sections of thigh and drumsticks) was VERY good. The chicken was just-​charred and had that signature tangy sauce on it. The curry beef was terrible, however. The curry flavor was good, albeit subtle and dry, not soupy enough to mingle with the rice. But the beef portion was full of fat and/​or gristle. At $ 14 for the entrée (with rice, steamed cabbage and plantains) it was overpriced. The chicken portion consisted of a small leg (like the winglet kind) and maybe ¼ of a thigh (two spoon-​sized chunks). the beef serving amounted to maybe 4 oz or half a cup of cubed meat mixed with a few chopped carrots. The side cabbage was delicious and so were the plantains… not crisp as some have complained, but very substantial, sweet and still fried on a grill.
In sum, there were some definite hits (the jerk chicken; plantains) and misses (besides the beef, I’ve also had the goat and the oxtail before: the goat was even more chock full of gristle and the oxtail simply was too much work for me to eat (with too little meat/​protein overall). The joint gets an «ok» from me, but I think I will try their buffet, as that has to be the caveman’s bargain here!

Came here on a road trip because I saw it on a food website. I was not disappointed. I got the curry chicken with vegetables and plantains. The chicken was awesome!!! So flavorful and who cares about bones, that’s how chicken comes. The rice and beans that come with it were delicious. The veggies are cabbage and carrots, and I usually don’t like cabbage but this was perfectly cooked and actually tasted wonderful. Plantains are always good, but these were super sweet and I liked that they weren’t crunchy because out served as the perfect dessert. If I lived closer or if I come through Tucson again I will be back.

I cannot adequately describe how succulent the jerk chicken was, other than describe that it was heavenly with a subtle yet spicy aftertaste. The red beans and rice, with vegetables, and plantain, were perfect compliments to the chicken. The waitstaff was so nice and friendly too! The ambiance, from the nice Jamaican music to comfortable cushioned chairs, was perfect! I cannot believe I have lived here for 9 yrs and just now discovering this wonderful treasure of a restaurant. We have eaten authentic Jamaican jerk chicken in Jamaica, and I can testify this is the same if not better! Save yourself the plane ticket, just come eat here! I look forward to my next visit here!!!

I’ve been wanting to eat here for months and finally made it in for dinner.
From the outside it may not look like much, but the interior is lovely, cozy, and colorful.
The waitress seated us quickly and took our order in a timely manner. The food and watermelon drink were delicious. Although the food portion was on the small side.
The jerk chicken and beans and rice were delicious, but the plantains and the festival were the best I’ve tasted! In fact I’m craving them right now as I write this review.
The only thing is that the chicken does have bones in it (more authentic I’m guessing) so be careful when chewing.
The prices for the food seemed reasonable.
We will definitely be back again.

At first glance the place looks kinda gloomy from the outside. But I read the reviews and like most places you see mixed comments. As I am a fan of trying different food places we went in. I should note if you go in with a Groupon make sure U have the correct number of people because they will refuse to honor it if you don’t have that. Got the food and it was very tasty from the appetizers (coconut shrimp) to the curry shrimp and jerk chicken. the presentation was very cool. only downside was the can soda. But not a complaint on our part. It is a place to try at least once but we will come again.

I found this place through the Food Network’s «On the Road» app. The app can find any restaurants nearby that have been on any food network show! Apparently this place was on a show called «Meat and Potatoes» (never seen). Like Unilocal’s app, it’s very handy while traveling!
Beef patty: A bit too dry and crumbly on the outside. The beef was okay, but nothing too special.
Festival: Deep fat-​fried batter. The guy on the phone said it was fried cornbread, but the inside was more the consistency of batter. It was still good.
Plaintains: These were okay, but I’ve had better in south Florida. They weren’t very crispy, which I prefer.
Jamaican rice: Dry, but not too bad in flavor I guess.
Ox tails: They were ok, but nothing special. There was a good hearty flavor, but not enough compared to other cuisines. I’ve had more flavorful Cuban food, like ropa vieja. At least the meat was tender and falling off of the bones!
Jerk chicken wings: Spicy! I had this with the root beer (which was also spicy), and my nose was dripping. I don’t know if it’s because I am not used to the spice (have no problems with crawfish), but what a kick!
The service was good. I had called ahead for pickup, and the food was ready on time, as promised. The only thing is that you cannot get a copy of your credit card receipt (only an itemized receipt provided). The restaurant owner claimed that it’s possible someone can sign the second copy (since there’s a signature line). I didn’t have any problems on my credit card statement, but it seemed so strange to me!

Good smoked barbecue chicken … very small serving. Cut really weird with a Ton of bones and gristle… be careful not to get stabbed.
Chicken is plain with hot sweet sauce added.
Red beans and rice = Flavorless … ask for sauce on them.
Strange lump of odd tasting corn fritter.
Fried Banana was okay.
Would not go back.

Like eating a minefield…
I was told that the flavors here were unique, and I decided to do some takeout for lunch.
I got the jerk chicken dish with rice and festival cornbread. The festival bread and rice were the only things I could eat without fear of breaking a tooth.
Every single bite of chicken had visibly undetectable chunks of brittle bone fragments in it. Even if I exam a piece for a while I still won’t find all the sharp chunks until I painfully chewed on one. It’s like they took an entire chicken and hacked at it with a cleaver a few times before seasoning and cooking it.
The flavors were very authentic and sweet, but hard to enjoy between pulling chunks of inedible marrow and bone out of your mouth.
I might have got a bad batch, but as a first impression I can not recommend eating here. Especially for the price. I am starving right now with a bunch of bones placed on top of overcooked rice sitting in front of me. I just can’t…

At the time of my review, the correct location for CeeDee’s was not listed on Unilocal.I’m now moving it to the appropriate place…
Written on ¼/​14:
CeeDee’s brand new location at Speedway/​Beverly just opened and my work crew went for a little celebration lunch. Just walking in made me happy and I noticed that upon entering the door, all my coworkers’ bodies were swaying to the reggae music playing over the restaurant’s speakers. Definitely an «irie» feel to this place.
I ordered the jerk chicken lunch special for $ 5 and what a bargain! Deliciously spiced chicken and a lot of it! I have only had Jamaican food once and it was greasy, lacked a lot of flavor and chopped bones all throughout the dish. Not so at CeeDee. CeeDee served a nice whole drumstick along with a very meaty chopped piece of chicken. I didn’t have to constantly pick bone fragments out of the dish. The rice is very flavorful, the plantain moist and just right, and the festival was just dense enough and not at all greasy. I really wanted more of the festival it was that good.
CeeDee also offers fresh juice drinks. I had the watermelon/​pineapple drink and it was so good and refreshing.
If you’ve been to the old location, you know it’s cramped and nothing special décor-​wise. The new CeeDee’s has a bar, plenty of room, tables, booths and an area for live entertainment. The color theme is black with touches of green, yellow, orange and red and you’re sure to spot Bob Marley on the wall.
I’m definitely coming back and looking forward to trying many other dishes at CeeDee Jamaican Kitchen.