Jamaica International Café

beware — this place is no more.

Maybe when the place first opened it was okay but it went way downhill from there and is now is closed for business and thank heavens. During its final days it was so dirty! Gross Gross Gross. You almost could not see thru the windows because they would never be cleaned. And unbelievabily a dirty grungy looking man would pull the gate down behind him every night to lock himself in and sleep there! There was no living facillaties there. ewe

I work downtown, and this is by far the best value for lunch. The place is owned and run by Donovan and his wife. Great people, great service and really awesome food.
The brown stewed chicken with rice & peas, plantains and cabbage is my staple place. The plate will cost you about $ 5.50 and is a ton of food. The chicken is super tender and falls off the bone. Some of my coworkers have really enjoyed the oxtail (not served every day) and the whole snapper, which is pretty tasty as well.
Great place that people seem to forget about.

Followed Jordan N’s footsteps. Jumped on the Mover from Brickell to find this little jem of a café in Downtown. Two of my coworkers are Jamaican so when i told them I found a spot for them we had to go try it out.
Good: The place is super clean. The husband and wife owners are the staff and provided incredible service. The kind of service you cannot find in Miami. There is nice selection of dishes to have for lunch. We had the brown chicken stew. You have a choice of white rice or rice with beans, and a selection of cabbage or fried plantains. The meal was about $ 7 with a Jamaican soda. The chicken was so tender it fell off the bone. Very tasty dish. Other dishes include curry goat and some other Jamaican favorites.
Bad: The food is served Piccadilly/​Cafeteria style. Which some people might not like.
NOTE: They also have counter service of some type where you can get some Jamaican Patty’s for on the go Caribbean style dining.
Great place.

The food was hearty, healthy and good. It was nicely presented. I came here for brunch — I had been meaning to go to Burrito Loco but for some reason today, they opened an hour late and while I was waiting, I had decided to venture into Jamaica International Café.
This is a nice «hole-​in-​the-​wall» that doesn’t look like a hole-​in-​the-​wall, and you definitely wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at your plate.
My friend had an American style breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. I had, however, (knowing how exotic I try to be ;-)) tried out the Caribbean breakfast with ackee mixed with eggs, plantains (maduros), and toast (okay, it wasn’t that foreign)! Admittedly, the ackee (a fish) was salty, so it made the peppered and probably salted eggs taste a little too salty. I would recommend you to ask the chef to lay off of the salt when cooking the eggs with ackee and see what it does. I also had papaya shake. It was watery, but good since it was also spiced. I, however, wouldn’t order it again. I probably would try something else to drink.
While the service may not be that great, it was decent enough by Miami’s standards. Service probably would have been more attentive if the cashier counter was not «around the corner» so really, part of the blame could be on the layout of the place. Staff, however, were friendly.
I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back to try other dishes as I know the food they prepare here is well made and prepared, at a reasonable price.