Restaurants need to be held accountable for their indiscretions,
especially of the sanitary kind. I am not sure which other nation is flagrantly
guilty of this but Jamaicans always seem to complain and continue mulling along,
taking shit from whatever it is that they were complaining about in the first
place. Take for instance Yao Restaurant. If you live in Kingston and you didn’t
feel a flush of rage upon me mentioning that establishment then I will take it
that you haven’t eaten there before. There are constant health issues with this
establishment yet it’s still packed during lunch time. Is it that when we
become hungry we suffer from memory loss?
There was an incident at Yao the other day of someone
finding metal in their food... METAL? Really? What are they doing back there? Scrap metal side hustle? And when
the disgruntled patron went to return their food, there was someone else also
returning theirs because they found worm(s)....HELLO!?
Now I don’t know why, but I must have been hungry so
therefore suffering from major mental processing issues that day and ate at Big
Lobster Restaurant on South Avenue. Every voice inside my head told me not to,
but my stomach was like “awww come on maaan, it can’t be that bad.” Well......I
found a nice big juicy “stink bug” in my food. “Vegetable” insect or not, this
is extremely off putting when one is trying to “enjoy” a meal. Wash your
vegetables properly!!! You are a food establishment that should be following
proper health codes! I won’t get started on the Health Ministry on this one; I’m
actually trying not to burst a blood vessel.
Recently a friend of mine found a cockroach in her drink
from JoJo’s Restaurant, on Waterloo Road (twitter saw the picture). An entire
cockroach though....on an all expense paid north coast vacation in her drink. I
must admit, that was the first time I have heard of such an issue with this
establishment, however, maybe that’s the first time a health hazard was noticed.
Hair; we have probably all found it in our food, and in all
honesty, one incident won’t make me necessarily stop dining at that establishment.
Let us all just hope that the hair is of the head kind and not the pubic. Dum dumm
dummmm.
I’ve worked in a few hotel kitchens and from what I have seen;
I have become quite the paranoid vacationing individual. Many-a-time grabbing
my beaus hand in his mid reach at hotel buffets, but we can’t always be
engrossed with concern about the food when we eat out, then how would one enjoy
it? However, we can make better choices and help others to as well. Leave no man behind.
Other restaurants suffer from gross customer service. Pita
Grill in Orchid Village on Barbican Road. I couldn’t leave them out. My main
problem with them is the time it takes to get food. Might as well call and place
the order before you even think about the fact that you may, just might,
possibly be hungry sometime throughout the day, week, fortnight ....you get the
point. If their wraps gave me a mouthgasm, I would probably endure the wait.......but
they in no way make my eyes roll into the back of my head.
I write this in an attempt to urge my diners to start
holding restaurants accountable. They will then eventually have to conform and live
up to some sort of standard. It’s simple....STOP eating from there! It will send
the message loud and clear when the patron count dwindles away. However, I
recommend discussing your concerns with the manager/owner (they aren’t
untouchable, request their presence) to make them aware and to see if they are
remotely interested in addressing those issues. I do give some restaurants a
chance, but if I have to even think about giving them more than THREE, I stop eating
there....it is THAT simple.
Feel free to share your experiences, enlighten us so that we
can perhaps think twice before visiting a certain restaurant anywhere in the
world. I have eaten from countless restaurants in different countries;
nevertheless, I have listed some of my concerns for a few restaurants in Jamaica below.
- Pelican Grill (Montego Bay)- the same monotonous low quality food at unreasonable incomparable prices.
- Twisted Kilt (Montego Bay)- my heart just started to palpitate, so for health reasons I have decided not to discuss such a place. It has become a grave disappointment in almost every aspect.
- East Japanese Restaurant (Market Place, Kingston)- I’ve started to get take out or dine at their Majestic Sushi branch (Stony Hill, Kingston) because there’s a “fishy” scent that has developed in the restaurant over time that kills my appetite occasionally. I have never experienced any other indiscretions, however, that scent is a problem for me.
- Chilitos (Kingston)- did the server just dust off all the ants from all the wraps like it was nothing, after I had to inform her of said ants.....nah I didn't just see that. Not to mention, their complete disregard for keeping temperature sensitive foods refrigerated such as their sour cream. I haven't been back since.
- Pita Grill (Orchid Village, Kingston)- the time it takes to actually be able to masticate anything of sustenance from that establishment.
- Popeyes (Kingston)- those dinosaur-esque marsupial gangs chilling outside their establishment, especially visible at night.
- Yao (Kingston)....Yao yao yaoooo YOW.....just no.
There are so many Chinese cuisine restaurants to be named.
Why are they usually the primary culprits of sanitary issues? ....to be
continued.
