Dunns River Lounge
“Atmosphere itself was a cozy lounge, nice small bar, dj at the time played some cool tunes.”
“The wings and jerk chicken are must haves; the jerk sauce is amazing, after all it is an authentic Jamaican restersunt.”
“Had a bday party for 11 people here and would do it again in a minute
Shout out to the owner, Naala, and our server Ruth for taking care of us.”
Dunns River Lounge
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Good For Dancing: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The first time I came here I thought of all the wonderful words I'd include in the glowing 5 star review I just knew I'd write. It saddens me to have had such a bad experience the last time I went.
1st visit: Cute, but very tiny restaurant. Probably not somewhere I'd go for dinner simply because tight seating is one of my pet peeves. I strolled in for happy hour with my fiancé and was greeted by the bartender who let us know they have $5 long islands, cosmos, Apple & mango Martinis and appetizers until 8pm. Awesome. The drinks were great, but the food? LAWD. Everything was so good that we just couldn't stop ordering. Coconut shrimp, escovich wings, BBQ wings, TWO orders of codfish fritters… I'm embarrassed at how quickly we inhaled everything.
Last visit: Out of absolutely nowhere I got this craving for delectable codfish fritters topped with guacamole (like, who else does this?!?!). Made the call and my fiancé traveled from out east to meet me for happy hour before an appointment I had. We placed our food and drink order. Drinks were good, so I'm glad that's consistent. So we waited…
After about 25 minutes I notice a man who came in after I ordered… Eating what I ordered. The bartender must have seen the sheer devastation and heartbreak written all over my face because she starts talking to the man about me. That he must be special because he got his order before my fiancé and I. He said "wow I feel bad, maybe it's because I got appetizers". She responds to him "They got appetizers too, don't feel bad just eat." It's so rude to talk about me as if I'm not sitting right there, obviously pissed, but it continued for a minute or so. I also heard the bartender mention that the chef was "doing this on purpose". Whatever that means…
After about 40 minutes I decide to cancel my order since I wouldn't have time to eat and really enjoy it. My fiancé wasted his time coming out and we both left hungry. A really sweet woman with short hair and glasses came over to apologize and let us know the drinks were on the house in hopes that we'd come back. Kind gesture, but what we really wanted was good service. Honestly, I probably will be back but only because those damn fritters are THAT good, but I'm leaving my 3 star rating at least until the sting goes away. = I'm still mad!!
I went here for my cousin's birthday dinner. It is located in a very nice neighborhood with fun places surrounding.
The food was prepared quickly and tasted very well, it was also presented very chic and looked appetizing. The music was my favorite part. They had a live band that played all old reggae, they basically sang covers and played the band all night. Toward the end when I was leaving they started singing soca which is
my favorite genre of music.
The service is the reason I give this resteraunt four stars. I feel like the staff wasn't very professional but it was probably because they were very busy and have to manage turning customers away.
I would recommend getting the previous fixed meal choice if you're going with a large group. We did that got 3 appetizers, a salad, an entree (whatever we chose) a bottle of champagne and dessert. The wings and jerk chicken are must haves; the jerk sauce is amazing, after all it is an authentic Jamaican restersunt.
What I liked most was the personal touch that I experienced. The owner of the resteraunt was working as if she was a hostess taking orders and cleaning tables even though she had other people there who's job it is to do that. I felt like that showed she cared about her customers and her business.
There is free parking across the street from the restersunt and also they have really good mango martinis. Must try!
I was boldfaced enough to wonder why the people eating didn't hurry up so we could get this dance started properly. I changed my opinion mid-thought. After all, couldn't those dinning wonder why I was shaking my tail so close to their dinner plates?
I heard their food is amazingly good! I'm still to try because when I was finally ready to eat, the kitchen was closed. Granted it was after 2am so I'm not mad at them. Reason to return.
The venue is small. It's one long room from from to back door, with a square no bigger than a super king sized bed for dancing at one side of the bar. If you like music and you like to dance you'll have a ball here! Their DJ knows his stuff and always plays a very wide selection of tunes. From 70s straight to Vybz Kartel and Drake. On Saturdays there's a live band as well.
My friend and I had such a good time! When Soca played we wined around (gyrate our hips) like it was Trini Carnival 2016…. last lap!
The owner of this establishment is such a doll too! Always dressed to the nines even while working hard, with a welcoming smile and hello for everyone.
(My only sore spot of the evening was with dude who asked for my number….aaarrrmmmm so Whappen? Yuh eh calling meh or wha?)
Dunns River Lounge is what it is. You either love it or lump it, no in between. I love it! Four stars even without me tasting their food. Huge!
If you're serious about dinning here on a Saturday, my humble suggestion is that you reserve a table.
The End.
Dunn River is a LIVE place… you can not have a dull moment on a Saturday night…. TRUST ME!
Saturday nights are on and Poppin…. Two weeks ago – we celebrated my cousin's birthday and it was a BLAST! We walked into a LIVE band that had the whole place partying like it was the last dance party of their lives – literally! It was so lit that people did not mind rubbing against one another when the tunes hit the sensual music spot in their blood – LOL!
The LIVE band stopped playing at midnight. Right after the DJ came on – and the people went triple times crazy than the LIVE band – it was CRAZY – but so much FUN. Let me just say this – there were about 30+ of us there – and the entire group danced and shook their bon bon's until 3am – even left the table during dinner – skipped cake and everything – well let me just say this – I did not miss the cake – I had two servings – LOL!
Let's get to the Food:
Appetizer: Codfish cakes with the guac on top – I LOVED IT!
Appetizer: Wings – wings were good…..
Dinner:
1. Jerk Chicken….. the people who ordered it acted like it was their last meal – it was GREAT – my brother was reminiscing about it two days later :-).
2. Oxtail…. another dish that made the HIT list for the group
3. Curry Shrimp – that is what I ordered – WOMP WOMP…. FAILED! (now I know better)
4. Curry Chicken – WOMP WOMP….. FAILED! (my cousin who sat across from me ordered that)
Drinks:
RUM PUNCH was a HIT!
Came here and was surprised to see how packed it was on a weeknight. They have $25 all you can eat options and I was excited to try it because I've heard how great their food was. However I have to add that I was not impressed at all.
I got a Dunn's mojito and it was pretty good. Tried the rum punch and I've had better but it wasn't bad. Their punch is way too sweet though- almost syrupy.
Got the seafood soup to start. It was good and spicy. It had boiled dumplings, bits of seafood and okra in it. I got the chicken and shrimp pasta and the curry shrimp with fries. It was a pretty big portion. The pasta was so spicy it was almost inedible lol and I love spice. I also tried the coconut shrimp and that was really good.
All in all, I had good drinks and good food but nothing great that I would be in a rush to come back here. Nothing was memorable to be honest.
I've been a fan of Dunns River since about 07 but I hadn't been in about 3 yrs. When I saw the flyer for the Rum Punch I knew I had to be there to celebrate Jamaica's independence. Wrist bands were purchased at the door for $30 all you can eat which included snapper, curry goat, Jerk chicken, Manish water, oxtails, corn and salad. Excluded was thr Rum Punch. I opted to try the red which was serious. The scent if the Rum alone made me tipsy and 1 drink was enough for the night. The DJs served up niceness all night and even when they switched djs half way through 5hr momentum was never interrupted. I actually ditched the heels and grabbed the flats from the car and danced thr night away to the tune of around 4 :20 am.
Now about 3 weeks later I returned to test out brunch. At a flat rate of $20 brunch was a lap unlimited including mimosas. Great food, great service. I ate and carried out food for dinner. Lazy me. lol
Dunns River def has my vote. It's always good to be reminded of why you fell in love and to feel like the other party wants to maintain that. They Have Done An EXCELLENT job of not losing their core patrons even when the business changed management and that in itself is notable. Deh likkle but deh talawah. Translation, great things come in small packages or locations. Stop by, stay a while, have a drink.
Bruh.
I came around happy hour with a girl friend of mine and we had 2 servings of their rum punch. I almost didn't remember my name. (Love that ish)
The food was exquisite! We happened to come on a Saturday night so they had a live band playing. Great place, great food great vibes great people great music love it!
My boyfriend and I came here on Thursday night. I had been wanting to come here for a long time b/c this was the only Jamaican venue that was somewhat close to us and we had never been here. We walked in and though the music was good, it was entirely too loud. Talking to my boyfriend across from each other was impossible and had to scream every word. The ambiance was lovely, but fairly small. He got the rum punch, I had the Jamaican Zombie to drink and they were good. The cod fritters were good and crunchy too, especially with the avocado on top. Service was slow and we weren't asked if the fritters were good or anything. I'm somewhat of a vegetarian(pescetarian) so I ordered the veggie stew and specifically told the waitress that I was allergic to coconut milk, which makes the flavor, but did ask if it could be made without it. 35-40 minutes go by and she came to tell me that they accidentally put the coconut in it. My boyfriend ordered the curry goat and told him to just get them to pack it togo b/c at the point, I was already upset. She kept asking if I wanted anything else or was I sure I didn't want anything. I do appreciate her urgency on that, but the overall experience was not great. Cod fritters and drinks, I give both of those 5 stars, but everything else, 1-2 stars. I really wanted to like this place and maybe I did come on a bad night. I may give it another try in the future, but will see!