Caribbean Cafe Truck

In a word: «disappointment».
Per my usual routine, I checked the local Food Truck Tracking site to see who was out by my office today. I’ve never had Caribbean Café, and they’ve got braised ox tails — and according to the photo on the tracking site, it’s only $ 10 for the ox tails and two side items. Sounds like a plan.
Looking at the menu on the truck, I have to wonder just how old the photo on the tracking site is. There are no $ 10 ox tails. They’ve got ox tails, but they were $ 14. Even that was scribbled over a previous price of $ 12. Instead of getting your choice of two side items as the photo suggested, you can choose either peas & rice and plantains or peas & rice and cabbage. Well, I WAS hoping to get peas & rice and coco bread, but plantains will do.
I won’t knock them for the outdated prices since I know that they’re not in charge of the content on the tracking site, but it would help a lot if they tried to keep other sites up to date the best that they can.
Service here was friendly and quick. The fact that there was no line definitely helped speed things along.
So, the food…
Ox tails aren’t particularly meaty per piece. There’s usually mostly bone, but I had a few pieces that were pretty much all bone. The meat that was on them wasn’t exactly «falling off» like a good long braise would normally create. Worse than that, the food was just pretty bland. It all tasted under-​seasoned and lacked any amount of the spiciness you often get with Caribbean food. Some hot sauce would go a long way here if you happen to have some. The peas & rice were acceptable, but not really worth mentioning. The plantains, done as platanos maduros — soft sweet plantains were almost inedible. I stopped eating them. They were nowhere near ripe enough for maduros.

This is my go-​to Caribbean food truck. It is normally at Farragut Sq on Thursdays, the portions are large, the food is cooked well, and the staff are friendly. I’ve only had the curry chicken, which is extremely tender and tasty, with cabbage, plantains, coco bread and the beef and chicken patties (I can’t handle the spicier jerk chicken), which are all delicious.

Three and a half stars for stick-​to-​your-​ribs food. Staff was polite, with the expediter auto-​bagging outside following pretty short waits, and the food handler double-​checking unclear details. I think the pricing on beverages is a little steep, but the pineapple ginger juice was strong enough on the latter that I cut it with water to stretch its worth. One order of oxtails was enough to feed me heartily across two meals, and it didn’t taste as oily as it looked. Meat was gloriously tender and ladled liberally. The rice with beans soaked up the stew nicely, and the conservatively portioned plaintains hit my ideal level of sweetness. I’ll be back to try their curry goat, beef or chicken patties, jerk wings, sorrel, sweet potato cake, and coco bread.

I love the vegetable roti from this food truck. It’s a ton of food and absolutely delicious.

3.5 stars
I am pretty much done with anything remotely close to Thanksgiving type food! December marks a new month for lottery spots for food trucks in DC. I spotted the unfamiliar Caribbean Café truck.
This truck was busy but not slammed and this is a good thing. All of the usual suspects were offered from jerk wings, curried chicken, beef patties and roti. What I went for was oxtails or goat!
P. S.A. Due to a minor problem the website prices and menu are not consistent. (The problem will be fixed this week)
After going over the menu on site, I grabbed the curried goat, cabbage, peas & rice. The portion was a little smaller than what I expected. BUT… The flavor of the curried goat was spot on. Nice layers of marbling in the goat shoulder and the cabbage was simmered in what appears to be turmeric. Lots of flavor. The rice was the low point. Fresh but lacked flavor. Ask for extra curry sauce or just top the rice with goat!

I tried this truck for this first time today. I had the jerk chicken, rice and peas and cabbage. The jerk chicken was spicy and hot, the way I like it. The rice and peas were tasty but missing some peas but the cabbage was surprisingly good. I will definitely try them again… maybe next time it will be the curry chicken.

Horrible experience getting the food. They use the square app but the owners have crap phones that wouldn’t load data so they kept me waiting forever to pay. Finally a friend spotted me the cash because they couldn’t get their card reader together. If you only take cash, fine, just say so, but don’t pull that ish!
The food was so-​so. Was supposed to be Caribbean but was basically just Indian food with rice that’s not as good. The cabbage and curried chicken were appropriately spiced, but nothing special. At $ 10, it’s one of the more expensive food trucks. Was fine, but probably won’t have it again.

After my first experience, which turned out to be disappointing, I decided to give these guys a second chance since they’ve been on the scene for a few weeks now. This time I ordered the roti which was pretty good, and unlike my last meal with them, was pretty a reasonably sized portion. Their salad, which was a type of cole slaw, was very tasty also. I would stay away from their beef patties though… they’re not that good.

$ 10 dollars for a poor to mediocre roti, try one of the other excellent food trucks. The roti I bought had no dal puri filling in the actual bread. Also, where is the tamarind sauce. This is a key component of the roti experience?

I visited the Caribbean Food truck’s Carry out in Hyattsville. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but didn’t have high expectations. They definitely superseded anything I would have thought. Not only was it inexpensive, the plate was full to the max! I brought home 1 large order of oxtails, with cabbage, beans & rice & plantains. It definitely was enough to share, however, the oxtails – that were «falling off the bone» tender, were so good that my husband decided to go back up there for another plate. Since then, we have been 3 or 4 times & they have never disappointed us.
We learned that they cater, so I hosted an event last week & requested their rum cake which was AMAZING!!! That cake still has me dreaming about it! I can’t wait to use their services again, as well as get another plate of oxtails!

I was excited to try this truck for 3 reasons: (1) I love Caribbean food, (2) there is a decently long line which usually indicates that the food is pretty good and (3) it’s hard not to be excited about being at Truckeroo. Sadly, this truck left me hungry and completely disappointed.
My friend and I waited in line for almost 30 min… far too long for any food truck if you ask me… but we had a craving for good Caribbean food. Having visited the Caribbean before and recently moved back to the DC area after living in Florida for about 12 years, I had a good hankering for it.
I really wanted the Curry Goat but, for better or worse, they were sold out. I settled on the Chicken Roti that came with rice & peas and plantains. The only positives was that the portion were generous and the chicken was suuuuper tender. Caribbean curry sauce, or any curry sauce for that matter, is a flavor party but this sauce was very bland. Additionally, the roti was dense and lacking freshness. The plantains were barely lukewarm and were under-​cooked. My friend ordered the Oxtails and shared my underwhelming sentiment. The oxtails were extremely tender but was a complete fail in the flavor department.
Overall, the food was definitely not worth the wait and I hope that those who haven’t experienced true Caribbean food do not use this truck as a measure of the cuisine. The guy on the ground taking orders was super friendly and seemed like someone I’d like grab a beer with, but the guy inside the truck filling orders was really slow and just standing half the time (waiting for the guy to take the orders). The operational flow needs work, but the real problem is the food that I would have had no problem waiting for if it was good.

I was really looking forward to trying this truck, especially since they were out of roti the first time I saw them. Unfortunately I was very disappointed once I did try them.
I ordered the chicken roti entrée for $ 10, which comes with 2 sides (check the list of sides to choose from… you can’t choose from all of their sides). I got a double order of plantains.
The folks taking your order were very nice, but here’s why I was disappointed: the roti was basically falling apart because it was so thick and had been manipulated too much! Add to that, the chicken was basically bones and gristle, as another reviewer mentioned. Hardly any chicken. And it was lukewarm and didn’t have a lot of flavor. I basically hadplantains for lunch, and I’m still hungry.
Perhaps it was my expectations that let me down. Growing up eating roti in Barbados, I was expecting something similar. Google «Bajan roti» and check out the images that come up. Compare to the pics I posted of my meal. No comparison.

Aside from deleting my post on their facebook page, and overcharging me twice, I will not be going back to this truck out of principal (the food is decent). An entrée plus two sides does not mean all items under their Sides menu. There are some exclusions, well, at least 75% of the sides are excluded. In addition, when ordering ‘beef patties’, plurality is not guaranteed, this is contingent on the rest of your order. Also, rice is not automatically included when ordering curry chicken, this also depends on the totality of the order content. The attached pic, which I paid $ 12 for, should be adequate explanation, at least this time it cannot be deleted.

I tried the chicken roti. The chicken curry flavor was excellent, as good as any of the Jamaican restaurants around DC (and I’ve tried a lot of them), the roti bread was great. Based on that, the truck easily has the potential for 4 stars or better (I have to try some of their other dishes).
The reason it gets only 3 stars? They served the roti with a ton of sauce so everything was slopping out of the container and it was impossible to eat without making a big mess. But more so because there was a ridiculous amount of bones, bone shards, and cartilage — even picking out the bigger pieces with a fork, practically every mouthful had something. That’s just lazy serving and they should do better.

Quick run down since I’m comparing it to my fav carib truck Goode’s mobile kitchen.
The jerk chicken was decent, actually good flavor/​spicy. Beef patties were crisp and flaky but something about the filling didn’t agree w me or my stomach. (would never heat up either) Salad was a joke, out of a bag. Dry A@@ rice and beans, DRY! Friendly staff.
Thanks but no thanks. I’ll be looking for Goode’s Mobile Kitchen every Friday at metro center. Best curry/​jerk I’ve had in a minute!

After I ordered my oxtail from this truck, a woman ordering from another truck overheard me telling my coworkers what I ordered. She told me she heard that the oxtail was burned and it scared her away. I haven’t reviewed anything in awhile, but after eating my meal and reflecting on this brief conversation I’ve decided that this meal warrants a quick review.
Contrary to what I was told, the oxtail most certainly was not burned. In fact, aside from two pieces, the meat was so tender and juicy that it just slid off the bones. The plantains and rice and peas were also both flavorful and plentiful. I do agree with Lia’s review that I’d have preferred a bit more spice, but that’s not a dealbreaker here. Everything on my plate was plenty tasty!
Service was friendly, gracious and prompt. All around a good experience and I plan on returning one of the next Fridays that they’re in the Union Station area.
Fortunately, the woman who told me that the oxtail was burned was misinformed. To her and any others that have been given the same information, I’d say to do yourselves a favor and give it a go! I’m sure you’ll be pleased!

Tasteless, burnt smelling rice. Tasteless, fatty, filled with bones oxtails. Stale fried plantains. Please go back and learn to cook Caribbean food and stop giving the islands a bad name with this mess.

Tasty and efficient, this is the only West Indian food truck I am aware of. I had the $ 10 entrée option with chicken curry with (1) beans and rice and (2) plaintains. All were fine and similar to other West Indian curry dishes I’ve eaten.
The curry was served over the rice and beans, and I wonder whether it always comes that way, even if you don’t order rice and beans as one of the sides.
The portions lack the enormity of some food truck offerings, but I thought they were plenty for lunch. I will be back.

I was looking forward to some caribbean when I saw the truck, i was pretty excited, all went down hill from there. At the food truck, I was over charged, if you look online oxtail is $ 9, asked for $ 10 even though they didnt have all the side except for rice and bread. Doesn’t taste much like real carbbiean either. The portion is ridiculously small, 3 pieces of BURNED oxtail, how do you burn braised food???, literally better bargin getting a $ 6 sub down the street and paying $ 10 for it.

I am so excited for this truck because I feel like most Caribbean places are not readily accessible for lunch. And I love Caribbean food.
I had curry chicken, rice and peas, beef patty, and coco bread. Chicken was tender and had good flavor. Both the rice and patty were tasty, though I would preferred more spice all around. Coco bread was fluffy and warm, though more sauce with the chicken would have been nice for dipping purposes. They were out of sorrel, which would have gone nice with my meal.
Staff is friendly and I look forward to returning to try the jerk and roti.