Orchids Jamaican American Restaurant

I typically don’t offer a negative review, however, I can’t remember ever eating at an establishment that made me feel as if I was a bother. We arrived at 5:30 to an empty restaurant with the music blaring and the staff drinking at the bar. Our party of two was told to sit wherever and then provided one menu to share. We placed our order, asked for them to turn down the music so we could at least hear each other across the table and waited for the meal. It arrived after 25 minutes with no offer to replenish our drinks, or «is there anything else you need». It was just dropped on the table. The server went back to the bar to converse with the drinking staff. 15 minutes later, there was a yell from the bar, «how you guys doing up there?» I asked for water and our check. The check was brought and the server stood over me and told me to «sign this copy». No offer to wrap any of the remaining food, no «how was your meal», no offer of conversation at all. I won’t be back. Ps, the food was as good as the service and the place was as empty when we left as when we arrived.

Awesome shrimp curry, jerk chicken and BBQ wings. An oasis for flavour!
The cabbage and peas (beans) & rice are tasty too! The staff were helpful and friendly and the afro-​pop — reggae music was so upbeat — the atmosphere was fun and welcoming!

Bones in the chicken. Salad is just lettuce with rotten tomatoes. I wouldn’t come back. I was afraid to finish my dinner because i didn’t want to get sick

Let me first say that my husband and I were very excited to try this place out. We arrived on a Friday night during dinner rush. We expected a wait but there was 1 table of people eating,. that’s it. No hostes met us at the door, we walked all the way around the resturant to find someone to seat us. The music was blaring loud and the decore is very dated. Our server was extremely inexperienced. He didn’t know much about the food or how it was served. He did tell us most of the food dishes were off the menu tonight as they were just reopening after a 2 week hiatus due to a broken stove. the menu was very disappointing to say the least, it didn’t have a description of the food items on it or how they were served. The bar had no house specialty drinks to go with their theme, not even a wine or beer list to be found. My dinner the signature jerk chicken, came out cold with the sauce congealed on the bottom of the plate. The side of rice was served on a separate plate left in cup shape form it was clearly microwaved from. My drink, as well as my husband’s was described as «jungle juice» by the server, no other explanation given as to what was in it, came equipt with what appeared to us as 2 moldy straws, specs of black and green inside them. no garnish necessary. we were left wondering if these straws too were left behind from the previous bar owner. The food was not good, the service was even worse. Save your self the time and skip it.

Was so excited to see this here. Um NO!
We walked in on a Sat night. Saw only one table.
The bartender was chatting with someone.
No Manager
No waiter
No host
No one said hi to us.
A recently opened restaurant with ONE table should have someone saying hi to customers when they walk in. Very dissatisfied. We walked out after feeling dumb standing there.

This Restaurant is off Exit 13N, go straight and its across the street from the Mobile Gas station. It sets back a tad.
We had our Chamber mixer there recently. With over 80 Businesses there, you have to be prepared, i.e.: fully staffed, enough bartenders. Have a full menu ready to Go!
There was 1 new bartender there and she was brand new to bartending. God love her for trying. They should’ve had 2 experienced bartenders. Some people actually left way early. There was 1 cook there as well. Should’ve been 2. The owner should’ve been there from the start. She showed up later in the Mixer.
It’s supposed to a Caribbean Restaurant, but you couldn’t tell. Very plain looking. Meh.
They had a Band playing… It was LOUD!!! Argh. Can’t talk to anyone.
They had food for the people there, which was ok. But, they were expecting The Jerk chicken. Their signature dish. Nope.
I had take out. I should’ve checked my order before I left. I didn’t. It was missing the appetizer. No biggie.
I wish this place well. Its for me though.

We waited about an hour to get food that wasn’t very good. We got the Caribbean Bowl and the Jerk Chicken «Big Spicy Burger». The bowl was large but very overpriced for the amount of meat you actually get after removing the bones. The quality of the chicken was very questionable as well. The burger wasn’t actually a burger but rather bite sized pieces of chicken. This made it really difficult to eat it on the bun, but the bones in the chicken on top of it made it impossible to eat on the bun. Beyond the food the service was atrocious. Someone at the next table had to walk into the kitchen to get the check because both of our tables had been waiting for so long with no one in sight. Even after going in the kitchen we still had to wait awhile for the check. Really wanted to like this place but have no desire to return after this experience.

Excellent! I’ve been about 5 times now. Great jerk pork & jerk chicken. Curry goat, as well. Curry chicken might actually be my favorite, but it’s a close call. Tons of more menu items I haven’t checked out yet. As for the sides, I really like the collard greens. But the cabbage is great too. Once, the plantains were super sweet and dessert like (some of the best I’ve ever had!), and another time they were still good… less sweet and not quite as soft.
It’s right near I87, if you happen to just be passing through town. They are tucked behind Roosevelt Inn & Suites, and it doesn’t look like much is going on from the road. But on the inside, the food is awesome, the people working there are incredibly friendly, and the décor is pretty amazing (big booths, lots of horseracing themes… seems like it’s a hold-​over from whatever the place was back in the 80s).

Today I finally made it for lunch and had the goat curry with 2 sides of rice and (pigeon) peas and steamed cabbage. Really good and huge portion for $ 9.95. Everything had that familiar yet different flavor of something you know that’s cooked by someone with a different food tradition. I’m a fan and will return to try some of the jerk items ($ 12.95 for lunch, a few dollars more for dinner) and maybe to have the «American Breakfast» of grits, sausage or bacon and eggs for $ 6.50.
Didn’t like the surroundings as much as the food. The space looks like it was formerly catering to the racetrack crowd with multiple televisions and lots of horse racing posters and has a kind of 70s New Orleans theme with a wrought iron grill separating the dining and bar areas and puffy chandeliers. Reggae music was playing too loud and competing with one of the televisions.
So, five stars for the food, two for the ambience, rounding up because I really want this place to stick around. It’s nice to have something other than red sauce and takeout Chinese. it’s right off the Northway at exit 13 or a short drive up route 9 from Global Foundries. Come patronize these good people and have some Jamaican food.
P. S. Don’t go by the information on the restaurant’s website which is very inaccurate as to hours and costs. The hours as of now are Wednesday 7am through Sunday 9 pm, then they close till the following Wednesday morning. The prices have gone up quite a bit from what’s on the web, but they are reasonable for the quantity and quality of food.

I’m a huge fan of Caribbean food, so we were extremely excited to try this place out. Unfortunately it was on a night when they were ridiculously busy and had some really rude and demanding customers so everything happened at island time for us. After all the wait (close to 1.5 hrs), my husband was told that they ran out of jerk chicken so they offered curry chicken instead which was delicious! I had the jerk chicken burger and it was alright. The flavors were good but the meat to bread ratio was off probably because they ran out of jerk chicken. After a couple of bites, I got rid of the bun and ate the rest. Every entrée comes with two sides so we both got side salads and my husband got a side of vegetable fried rice which was very good and I got a side of peas and rice which was probably good earlier in the night. By the time we got our food it was very dry. We got an order of fried plantains which were an instant hit. Since the service was so slow, our beers were on the house which we really appreciated. Staff was very friendly and after our dinner we found out that it was their busiest night since opening and they were short of staff because of no-​shows. Considering all this I give this place a thumbs up. As J.M. said «Give em a try, just remember the place is new and they’re still working out the kinks»

The quality of the food is poor. The salad was iceberg lettuce with under ripe tomatoes. The collard greens were under seasoned. I ordered the jerk chicken. It was mostly bones bathed in a unpleasant tasting sauce. I wanted to like this place but I left with a bad taste in my mouth.

New in town, and VERY TASTY! Good Jamaican. Limited wine, but fine. Very pleasant service. We shared the Bowl offering 4 items, plus veges. I want to try the lobster. Our palate is international Metro NYC. This restaurant deserves to make it. They do need a sign as they are behind the Roosevelt. Spicy but not hot at all. The kale and the steamed cabbage was excellent.

After seeing the «Coming Soon» sign over such a long period of time as we drove by we were excited to try out Orchid’s as soon as we heard that it was open. Since they were only open for two days we expected that there might be some loose ends yet to be tied together. A large sign on the door said «Cash Only.» No problem, we could handle that today.
We were promptly greeted by a hostess and offered our choice of seating, a table or a booth. Since the restaurant was basically empty at 5 pm on their first Sunday, except for staff and possibly some family members, we did not feel guilty requesting one of the large semicircular booths. My wife described the décor as 50’s-ish, but everything is neat, clean and comfortable.
There weren’t any draft beers available yet, but they did have a number of bottle beers. We settled on a couple of Coronas ($ 4 each) while we studied the menu. Our waiter informed us that the current menu was subject to change in the future as they determined what was more popular with customers, and as new specials were tried out. An American Southern Breakfast is served from 7 am to 11 am with such items as pancakes, French toast, eggs, grits, home-​fries, sausage, bacon, bagels, and fried dumplings.
Not being that familiar with Caribbean cuisine we discussed the differences between certain dishes with our server and finally decided upon the Curried Goat ($ 9.95 lunch; $ 14.95 dinner) and the Jerk Chicken ($ 12.95 lunch; $ 14.95 dinner). Each meal came with a choice of two sides. Both of us chose the Rice and Peas as one side to which we then added Steamed Cabbage for my wife and Collard Greens for me.
The Jerk Chicken had just enough spice so that you could enjoy all the flavors. The chicken was really moist and delicious. We both enjoyed the rice and peas, and while both the cabbage and collard greens seemed prepared simply, they were flavorful and a perfect match for the meat preparations. My curried goat had a few of the requisite bones, but the meat was very tender and had a very slight sweetness to it, possibly from the curry.
The menu offers quite a few different desserts. But our server told us that their opening night took its toll on what was available. From the abbreviated recitation of our server I chose a slice of Carrot Cake ($ 4.50). It was not made in house, but it was still very good.
I’m certain we will be returning to try a variety of other dishes. Our server mentioned that one of their Signature Dishes, Orchid’s Jerk Chicken «Big Spicy Burger» ($ 11.95) consists of a one pound burger. Now THAT’s BIG!