The Rum Kitchen

After being at Rum Kitchen in Carnaby Street 5 weeks in a row, we thought to check out the original Rum Kitchen in Notting Hill. We were sadly dissapointed. The food tasted so different to the Carnaby Street location, I had to double check we did walk into Rum Kitchen and not anywhere else! The menu was the same but the food was so bland, tasteless and there was no effort in the presentation at all. The drinks were just as bad as they tasted very watered down. The classic Caribbean cocktails such as Guiness Punch were not made properly therefore did not taste as good as the Guiness Punch I had at Carnaby Street :(. Also I can’t remember the name but there was a really nice fruity alcoholic cocktail I have had at Carnaby Street which I also had here expecting it to be the same. Unfortunately I was again disappointed as the cocktail tasted just like a fruit juice with no alcohol at all. If I ever want to go to Rum Kitchen, I will go to Carnaby Street as the drinks and food there is a lot better. If however I am in Notting Hill and craving Caribbean food. I will walk the additional 10 minutes to Flamingos Eatery and go there but I will never come here again!!!

Previously visited the other branch and have always had a good time. If I’m honest I was disappointed in this visit.
A group of us booked the bottomless brunch. After sitting for ¹⁵⁄₂₀ minutes a waiter finally came to take our orders. 45 minutes still not even a drop of water. When drinks did finally come they failed to bring the complete order.
Food came before drinks. Again not satisfactory. I personally like for my burgers well done so I made sure to ask for it to be cooked extremely well done with no pink bits. My order came last after being in the restaurant well over an hour. The most raw burger I’ve ever received. As I waited so long I expected the dish to at least be cooked. Decided to get the Jerk Chicken bowl. This was a dish recommended by one of the waiters, which I have to agree was a good choice.
Overall I would recommend the rum kitchen for the food (not the portions mind you) and Cocktails. However, maybe not this location and definitely not the bottomless brunch. I would like to suggest management hire more staff for busier periods.

Simple yet added flair. The pickled pine in the jerk chicken bowl was smooth. Coconut rice and peas did the trick! Ting wary cocktail nice.

I got the pork belly and the cucumber and watermelon salad… Pork belly very nice crispy and tender but the «salad», at £4, was a bit of a joke, literally three cubes of cucumber and watermelon thrown in a small plate. I’m not Jamaican nor do I know about Jamaican cuisine but I’m sure that’s not how you’re meant to do it. My friend got signature burger and said it was pretty good. The sweet potato fries were nice! I usually try sweet potato fries everywhere I go and these are in the top 5 maybe. We also got a few drinks, the blue one with ting which was the best! I think lime ting and rum. Mmm. we ordered a few others that I can’t remember… Service was a bit slow but they were full and the waiter and the waitress were both really nice. Overall it was a nice experience but not particularly significant and I’m not really dying to go back.

Really great vibes and awesome food in both the Notting Hill and Carnaby outposts of this restaurant. Go for the rainbow salad — I’m sold on anything with mango — or for the coconut curry: they both rock, and so do the sweet potato fries and plantains. Cocktails and mocktails on the menu are ace too!

Being a huge fan of Rum I’d wanted to visit The Rum Kitchen and after finally getting around to it I was left massively disappointed.
Service was really good and we were seating quickly and the waitress made sure we had everything we needed and was very chatty as she was explaining the specials however after that everything started to go downhill. The 2 rum cocktails that we tried (Mai Tai and Rhumbongo V2) were very average and at £9 each I would have expected a lot more. The Rhumbongo in particular tasted like very cheap fruit juice and not much else. Compared to other places charging similar amounts these didn’t even come close.
We grabbed a couple of small dishes to pick at while we were drinking. The baby squid was ok, but not something I would order again. Some bit were quite tasty however most of it tasted of the batter and the squid was completely lost. The sweet potato wedges with coconut flakes were a bit of a joke. £5.50 and we were delivered a bowl containing 3 pretty soggy wedges.
We didn’t manage to try anything else as the food & drink experience so far put us off ordering anything else. From what I’d heard it seems as though standards may have started to slip

Difficult where to start. You have to attend this bar early if your male as each time I have went there have always been a look up and down to see if I should be allowed in. Drinks r bought downstairs if u haven’t a table and the queue can be long. Especially on ordering certain cocktails. However the place is a fun bee hive of reggae music and previously dance hits from what I recall. A very communal crowd as everyone is dancing next to each other. Not for the faint hearted though. Certainly a place to revisit in the hill.

Just stopped in to check it out. Ordered a Nacional, paid up in cash, got my check and change. So, when did an added charge happen before you’ve been given your order!!! Got my drink. Not bad but not worth 8 ½ quid … Oh, excuse me, just south of 10 pounds (service charge you know) Now, what burns me is that they slipped me a Euro instead of the Queens Honest in the transaction.

After meandering around portobello road market yesterday, we worked up a bit of an appetite so decided to check out the Rum Kitchen, a Caribbean themed offering tucked just behind the market road. it’s a laided-​back, fun, young place where they play reggae in the background as tables of people drink rum-​cocktails and chow down on some great food.
we got there just before 4pm which meant we were there just before the brunch menu finished — i was hoping to try their chicken wings and salt fish but sadly they don’t serve those till later in the evening — which simply means i’ll have to visit again!
i opted for a mug of the rattle skull punch which was a delicious blend of white and dark rums with lashings of fresh juice and spices while the girls tried the Rubin Carter. all three of us ordered a pulled pork sandwich which was a delicious — served in a thick brioche bun, the pork has a nice melt-​in-​the-​mouth texture but i thought it was lacking a nice sauce to go with it so i ordered some mind-​blowing ‘swamp’ hot sauce to drizzle on top — perfect!

Ok so I don’t write mean reviews, I tend to just not review if it wasn’t good, but I was really looking forward to coming here. I was a little disappointed. The two male staff that served us were lovely. Very friendly and helpful. They were really great, but the women were just rubbish. They just didn’t seem to care and spent most of the evening leaning against the wall doing nothing whilst my boyfriend tried to get their attention. The food was good, but not great. If I want Caribbean jerk chicken I want it to be hot and full of flavour– it was too ‘safe’ for me. The portion size was pretty small and it took ³⁰⁄₄₀ mins for it to arrive. Even then ten minutes after our mains our starters finally appeared. I understand that it was a Friday night and busy, but they told us they were fully booked and put us at a bar– where we sat and watched four empty tables for the duration of our meal.

Went on Wednesday night — they have Wednesday night unlimited chicken wings for £19 with a drink (beer or rum punch). They advertise the wings as spicy but they’re really not — ask for the hot sauce! Funky atmosphere. When you’re done with food, you can head to the small bar section to continue with exploring the cocktail menu — heavily rum focused, of course! Overall, wouldn’t say it’s the best quality but its great value for money (especially if you have a big appetite!) and it’s a lot of fun!

Started at the cocktail bar (rum based only!). Cocktails are nice and definitely pack a punch.
We decided to eat at a probably more quiet time (9pm on Thursday). The waiting staff are very strange we sat ourselves down at an empty table because there was no one hosting. Even then it took ages for someone notice us and give us menus. They mostly keep their back to the restaurant and stand waiting for the kitchen to produce the food. But I guess that’s what waiters can do when service charge is included in the bill.
Fried chicken thighs didn’t taste of jerk chicken wasn’t really impressed. The batter is really starchy and doesn’t absorb the oil. I couldn’t eat the scotch bonnet chilli Mayo as it was insanely spicy. I had the jerk supreme the chicken was nice although after having jerk chicken from the Caribbean I feel it’s more a chicken with pepper and chilli added for heat. The sides I couldn’t even touch as they tasted so bland and didn’t compliment the chicken at all. Mama’s jerk chicken street food mainly based at Camden Market is better.
Ok palace go for the cocktails but there are better places to eat.

This review is only for the downstairs, as we didn’t eat.
I read a few other reviews on Unilocal and made the call to my friends to head here after a boozy day of birthday drinking last weekend. I’m a major rum drinker (as you’ll see from most of my reviews) so I was excited to go here. When we arrived at the door the bouncer lady said «do you have a reservation?» No. «Are you even on a guestlist?» No. «Well, you are really lucky that I’m going to let you in.» No humour or sarcasm included. Hmmm. I started to think. Maybe West London IS that kind of area where if you’re not on the list, you’re not coming in. Anyhow — it wasn’t a great start.
First things first — quite a cool place, downstairs has a nice décor and a good feel to it. It was reasonably busy for 10pm on a Saturday night. If you’re not a rum drinker, be warned, there are no non rum spirits available which seems a bit silly (my friends wanted to kill me). So there I was, forcing all my girl pals to drink rum, but unfortunately, the rum cocktails were diabolical. For a place that prides itself on rum, the rum cocktails should be much, much better. The mojitos we ordered (we ordered 5 for our group) were genuinely undrinkable. In all fairness to the bar staff, we didn’t take them back and/​or complain so I can’t comment on whether they were the norm or if something just went wrong.
I found the crowd in here to be a bit pretentious and the music was off — it was super loud but not actually playing any decent tunes even though people were clearly gagging to dance.
I wouldn’t return just for drinks but it seems the food is good upstairs, so I would try that another time.

Delicious carribean food! I had the jerk chicken supreme, everything was seasoned to perfection. The décor was cute, the music was great (many couldn’t help but sing along), and my drink (something with grapefruit) was refreshing as well. Will definitely be back next time I’m in London!

Decent place to party up in notting hill area !
Basement is where the party is at. Drinks take a while to receive so patience please.
Music needs help. Night I was there seemed like a bad flashback to the past 30 years in hip hop, r&b and the like. This place needs some new tunes to get the party started.
Prices are in line with area.

Cool little rum joint.
Cocktails were imaginative and beautifully served. Particularly liked the Grog 349 but the Rumbongo was like being a child again Bar downstairs was cosy and cute with barrel tables continuing the feel of the restaurant upstairs.
Restaurant is kinda small and got busy quickly. Menu was small so not a lot of choice but all classically Caribbean and damn tasty.
Only negativity was the burgers had way to much mayo and the ribs had quite a lot off cartilage which they could trimmed off.

Sometimes it feels like all of the nightlife places in London are the same and are overly packed and play the same music. Not The Rum Kitchen. This place reminds us of Notting Hill’s Afro-​Caribbean history. Upstairs is a cool-​looking restaurant and bar and although I didn’t eat my friend said the food was really good. Downstairs is another bar and seats and room to dance and boy did we dance. I wasn’t drinking the night I went but man the drinks looked amazing. All kinds of interesting colorful concoctions and the bartenders were putting multiple interesting ingredients in the little cups. The music was super-​fun. Hard to describe – rap, house, and island music? Anyhow, the beat was fun and people were shakin’ it and all-​in-​all a great time.

Can’t write for the restaurant because I was downstairs dancing my face off!
I’ve been jonesing for hard core rap like Eazy-​E, Big Pun or even some fun Sugar Hill Gang (which, yes i know is the opposite of rap but still fun) and finally found my place and it feels oh so good.
I knew the DJ from his day job and since we’ve always talked music I had a feeling this guy knew what he was talking about. The drinks downstairs were great, I had a couple of the Best of Two Weevils which consisted of red stripe, ginger beer, and topped with dark rum. Was more mellow than you’d think.
The atmosphere was awesome, i’ve never seen so much groping and grinding since Dirty Dancing came out on VHS.
The downstairs has no coat check and the décor was really cool, made up for old suitcases to make a wall. There’s tons of suit cases and old big luggage as tables. The low ceilings make for some heat but thank god there’s air conditioning in the joint. Phew.

Not sure what to say about Rum Kitchen. They have an incredible cocktail, Grog 349, which is a serious, strong, satisfying combination that will probably have you on the floor pretty quickly. We attempted to get seated for dinner without a reservation on Saturday night, not generally an advisable approach but what was weird on this occasion was that a lot of tables were open for prolonged periods. Slightly frustrating to watch as your stomach’s grumbling, although it seems the explanation was that people were turning up late. Would have thought that could been managed a little more efficiently though… so unfortunately I can’t review the food although it looked pretty appetizing. Would return for the cocktail alone though!

If you like rum, this is the place for you. They have a restaurant and a bar upstairs, but downstairs is where it’s at. Any rum you can imagine and really knowledgable bartenders who will tell you the history of each rum and recommend one that will hit the spot. A nice atmosphere, great drinks and really good service. It’s nice to have this place in the neighbourhood.