We had another Broadway show to catch, and this restaurant is located at a convenient “restaurant row” area. This area reminds me a little of St. Marks in East Village, where there is just a street full of restaurants that are also conveniently near theaters. My partner wanted to try this, so they were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Wednesday evening. When we walked through the door, it felt like we walked into a shack.
From the restaurant’s website:
A gem on Restaurant Row, Jasmine’s Caribbean Cuisine provides an escape from the city through the senses with savory dishes and fruit-filled blends of cocktails inspired by islands throughout the Caribbean.
We specialize in delectable cuisine hailing from Dominica, Antigua, St. Thomas, Trinidad, and Jamaica. These recipes have been cultivated out of love, generation after generation, in our family.
Ambiance & Service
The interior is definitely very Caribbean inspired. The decor including the tables and walls really carry that Caribbean vibe. The ambiance is very lively, such that sometimes the music is turned up too loud or the walls don’t do a great job dampening the sound. It’s very much a very bustling restaurant attracting certain customers.
The service was OK. When we arrived, they told us we had to wait about 10-15 minutes because there’s a table getting cleaned up. However, we had 2 different waiters come to check on if we had a reservation. One even went to the point to say that we were late, but I told them that we were here waiting the entire time because the other waiter told us they were cleaning up. My guess is they were waiting for a table of 2 to open, but they ended up seating us at a table for 4. Aside from this slip up, the food comes out very fast.
The payment is done via card reader.
Food
The One Love Colada ($16 - left) came with white rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice. This drink tasted exactly how it reads.
The Island Gyal ($16 - right) came with Plantation Pineapple rum, passion fruit nectar, guava, lemon, and demerara sugar. I thought this cocktail was decent. It was not as sweet as I was expecting.
The Crab Cakes ($20) came with 2 pieces and fresh corn salsa. The crab cakes were quite dense, surprisingly, of crab meat. I was a little disappointed by the size of the cakes since they are literally just 2 bites, if that.
The Empanadas ($12 for 2) came with shrimp (+$6) and a side of sweet chili sauce. This came out to be $18 or $9 per empanada. I think the empanadas were decent, and they were stuffed generously of shrimp. Outside of that, there’s not much special about it. It did taste good though.
The Jerk Chicken ($23) came with jerked chicken marinated in a special spice filled sauce, coconut rice and peas, and veggies. The sauce had plenty of flavor and does come with a lot of heat and spice. My partner thought it reached their limit of pepper tolerance. The chicken was decent, but I wished there was more of it. Nonetheless at this price point, you can’t really expect more.
Final Verdict
If you’d like to try out Caribbean food near the theaters, Jasmine’s a decent place. The food is affordable and decent, and the service is fast in serving the food.
Yelp Jabs
I had a party of 8 and we were all hungry and excited because we’d been watching tik tok videos on the place and everybody said the same great things. I’m here to tell u those videos are very misleading.
Is this Elitist saying that we shouldn’t trust tik tok videos about restaurants? How can that possibly be? I thought social media videos are the most trustworthy medium?
My family and I shared two entrees: stew chicken and jerk chicken. The food came out very fast and hot! You can tell it was freshly made.
Stewed meat can sit in hot a stew for many hours and not spoil. Serving stewed chicken is real easy since you can leave it hot the entire day. Freshly made? Perhaps. I would say the kitchen was smart to have that prepped ahead of time, so that the food can come timely.
Revisions
- May 22, 2024 - Initial revision.