Monday, August 7
Island Flavors and 'Tings: A Severe Disappointment
After having a great meal last week at Red Mesa, thanks in part to sampling the restaurant at the Taste of Pinellas food festival, we decided to give another Taste of Pinellas restaurant a try. On Saturday, we stopped by Island Flavors and 'Tings on 49th St. S. in Gulfport for lunch. Big mistake. I now wish we would have kept driving and made lunch at home.
I was quite optimistic when I got out the car. Island Flavors has the hole-in-the-wall look on the outside that can often signal good eats. Inside there is a small Jamaican grocery in the front and a counter to order food in the back. We decided to dine-in (there is a set of tables down one wall), which probably only made our experience worse. A trickle of customers came in to pick up orders.
My bride-to-be Traci and I both ordered the jerk chicken salad. The server never asked us for drinks so we settled for glasses of water with meager ice which weren't refilled until the end of the meal. Since the server warned us it would take 10 minutes for our salads and the plaintains we ordered to come out, we ordered two meat patties (one beef and one supposedly chicken) out of the case at the counter. The beef was okay, while the chicken was in fact a vegetable patty. This was not a good start.
When our salads finally came out Traci's had chicken on top while mine was chicken-less. The server apologized and said they had just forgotten to put chicken on my salad. Huh? After my salad came back out with chicken, we realized that they had also forgotten about our platains. However, after tasting the salad (the presentation was beautiful at least), we decided it wasn't worth bugging them for the plaintains. The salad was average at best with the jerk chicken surprisingly lacking in flavor. I could have gotten this chicken at Boston Market.
The server didn't clear our plates after we were done eating; we eventually walked up to the counter to pay. I am all for a laid-back Carribean attitude and I've dined at many a hole-in-the-wall, but come on. Even paying was a drawn-out process. I don't know how they're still open.
Bottom-line: Maybe we just caught Island Flavors on an "off day" and salads aren't their thing, but I can't recommend anyone check this place out. Get your Carribean food elswhere.
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Copyright 2006 Matthew Ragas. All Rights Reserved.
My experiences at Island Flavors have been a little more positive. Last week I went with a group of six and except for an a/c problem, we all thourghly enjoyed it. This is primarily a take out spot adjacent to a small grocery store. There are four tables located in an alcove, partitioned off from the rest of the store.
We all started with the tropical fruit punch. Sweet and refreshing, garnished with mango slices – a great way to get in the mood for Caribbean food. Our salads were mixed greens topped with slices of carombola, kiwi and mango. The dressing was a fruity and savory concoction. Perfect with the fresh fruit.
Appetizers included spicy meat pies – much like an empanada and an assortment of lightly fried potato stuffed with spiced chicken (A Caribbean knish?) and some pieces of fried dough. I could have done without the fried dough. Not very flavorful.
The entrées on the table included jerked shrimp, curried shrimp, curried grouper, a combination plate of jerked pork and jerked chicken and a combination plate of jerked chicken, curried chicken and brown-stewed chicken. The combination plates are not on the menu but when a couple of us couldn’t decide, the owner/waitress created them for us.
The shrimp and fish were perfectly cooked and not overly spiced. The jerked pork was moist and flavorful and again not overly spiced. The jerked chicken was dark meat, slightly overdone with a little more heat than the pork. I’ve had the brown-stewed chicken on a previous visit. It consists of chunks stewed in a special brown sauce. The edges are nicely brown and the meat is very tender.
The presentation was outstanding. The entrees were all served on oversized, decorative platters garnished with mango slices, sautéed vegetables, plantains and a molded mound of peas and rice. A habanera sauce was provided for those that wanted more heat.
We were too stuffed for dessert but on a previous visit I enjoyed the mango bread and ice cream topped with a special mango fruit sauce.
We brought our own beer and it worked well with the dishes. I plan to return and have recommended it to my friends.
We all started with the tropical fruit punch. Sweet and refreshing, garnished with mango slices – a great way to get in the mood for Caribbean food. Our salads were mixed greens topped with slices of carombola, kiwi and mango. The dressing was a fruity and savory concoction. Perfect with the fresh fruit.
Appetizers included spicy meat pies – much like an empanada and an assortment of lightly fried potato stuffed with spiced chicken (A Caribbean knish?) and some pieces of fried dough. I could have done without the fried dough. Not very flavorful.
The entrées on the table included jerked shrimp, curried shrimp, curried grouper, a combination plate of jerked pork and jerked chicken and a combination plate of jerked chicken, curried chicken and brown-stewed chicken. The combination plates are not on the menu but when a couple of us couldn’t decide, the owner/waitress created them for us.
The shrimp and fish were perfectly cooked and not overly spiced. The jerked pork was moist and flavorful and again not overly spiced. The jerked chicken was dark meat, slightly overdone with a little more heat than the pork. I’ve had the brown-stewed chicken on a previous visit. It consists of chunks stewed in a special brown sauce. The edges are nicely brown and the meat is very tender.
The presentation was outstanding. The entrees were all served on oversized, decorative platters garnished with mango slices, sautéed vegetables, plantains and a molded mound of peas and rice. A habanera sauce was provided for those that wanted more heat.
We were too stuffed for dessert but on a previous visit I enjoyed the mango bread and ice cream topped with a special mango fruit sauce.
We brought our own beer and it worked well with the dishes. I plan to return and have recommended it to my friends.
# posted by 
: 8/30/2006 07:21:00 PM
: 8/30/2006 07:21:00 PM
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Chris Sherman's glowing review of the place in the Times today agrees with you.
Maybe we just had bad luck, but my gut tells me this place will be closed in a year. Poor service, disorganized, and I've had good Carribean food before, but this wasn't it. Maybe an off day.
Hope I'm wrong and they do well. Again, thanks for sharing a much more positive experience there.
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Chris Sherman's glowing review of the place in the Times today agrees with you.
Maybe we just had bad luck, but my gut tells me this place will be closed in a year. Poor service, disorganized, and I've had good Carribean food before, but this wasn't it. Maybe an off day.
Hope I'm wrong and they do well. Again, thanks for sharing a much more positive experience there.
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