Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck
“There's a decent sized line of loyal customers around lunchtime, so try to get here early before 2pm or else the doubles will run out.”
“and the spicy sauce (pepper sauce) just adds an amazing kick to the food.”
“What I really enjoyed too, was the stew oxtails and rice and peas, that was a dish that felt very much like home.”
Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Inexpensive
8 reviews
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GOOD FOR: Quick weekday lunch
MENU SELECTION: The menu is pretty straightforward and basic, Rice & Peas or Roti with a protein – Chicken, Beef, Goat, Fish, Shrimp, Oxtail or Vegetables
FOOD: I ordered the Chicken Roti and it was massive! I wasn't sure what to expect, but the size of it exceeded my expectations. The roti/bread engulfed the pieces of curry chicken and potatoes. The chicken was pretty good, but I feel I could've used a few more with the size of the roti. It was fairly priced at $6.50. In addition, I ordered a Coconut type dessert/snack. It was like a coconut bread stick. It was extremely coconut-ish, but I definitely would've loved to eat it with some milk!
SERVICE: The 2 ladies working in the truck were very nice and the service was quick.
MISC OBSERVATIONS: The line can get long, but it goes pretty quick. However, if you don't want to wait, get here early!
There's a hand-painted note outside the passenger side door of Nio's Roti Truck that reads, "People forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it."
It's a typically Caribbean expression, rejecting the hectic pace of modern life for the satisfaction that comes in doing something well. The motto is laudable, but this is a food truck that parks in the middle of the Financial District, people for whom temporal concerns are very much top of mind. Contracts need to be signed, stocks sold, bonds traded and clients won, all while eating lunch at the desk.
Nio's has adapted. The roti come out of the kitchen quickly here and this is a viable option for the 10 minute dine and dash crowd. Part of the success is the simple menu of rotis, doubles and curries. They are wrapped quickly and expertly, the Soca version of a burrito.
Unfortunately Nio's appears to have made one too many concessions to its imagined clientele. They've taken the rich and spicy curries that go inside the roti skin and neutered the flavor. Everything here is too bland. Doubles, the pride of Pride of Spain, are reduced to just chickpeas floating in brown sauce. A chicken roti is hearty but missing a punch.
Order everything spicy. It doesn't crank the heat up to the standard portions at the Outer Boroughs roti shops, but it comes reasonably close.
One salvation: The Caribbean sense of hospitality – friendly, not terribly chatty but always with a smile – has been preserved, thankfully, even if the service is in double time.
Another random lunch pick after walking down Broad Street, which might as well be named FiDi Food Truck street given the prevalance of mobile food options lined up M-F from 10-3.
I ended up picking this one because of its uniqueness – I don't recall seeing another Trinidadian restaurant let alone food truck anywhere else in NYC. I ordered a boneless chicken roti wrap ($7.50) and a double ($2), a Trinidadian specialty snack I had previously read about on a foodie blog and always wanted to try.
The prices are great, especially since you get a wrap that's the size of your head, but unfortunately the taste/quality is a little lacking. I guess this explains why this truck had no line whereas every other on the street was at least a dozen deep.
The double, a "sandwich" made with two fried flat bread filled with curried chickpeas, was kinda eh. The chickpea filling could've been much more flavorful and based on what I had read about doubles, I did not expect the whole thing to be so mushy. I imagine it would've been much better had the bread been freshly fried and crispier, but I can't really expect something like that from a food truck. I was also a little put off by the lingering tastes of baking powder and something slightly sweet.
The roti wrap has a misleading name because the word "wrap" (at least to me) implies "healthy." This is more like a Trinidadian burrito and probably has enough carbs to feed a small country what with all the potatoes stuffed inside an incredibly thick roti. Because the roti is so large, it ends up wrapping around the "innards" a few times over, causing an imbalance in the perfect roti to filling ratio with each bite. However, when I scooped out a small spoonful of just a chicken piece to try it by itself, I was blown away. The chicken was incredibly tender and flavorfully covered in jerk sauce. It's a shame – the thick roti and overload of mushy potatoes just masked that highlight. Since they do offer platters as well, I would consider getting one of those with just the chicken next time.
P.S. Thanks Yelpers for the pro tip to ask for it spicy – it definitely would've been way too bland without that extra kick.
Eh. The Boneless Chicken Roti was alright. It was very soggy/mushy and flavor wise it left much to be desired. It could use some sauce – not the spicy one though. For $7.50 the Roti was humongous and it made it very hard to eat. It is double the size of a regular Indian Roti and to be frank I prefer those more. I definitely won't be coming back to this truck for lunch.
Whoa, a Trinidadian food truck in FiDi. There's a decent sized line of loyal customers around lunchtime, so try to get here early before 2pm or else the doubles will run out. What's a double? Pretty much a softer version of a samosa, filled with chickpeas, spices, and potatoes. Now they also offer roti's, but I sided with the jerk chicken rice platter in search for some punchy jerk chicken flavors. It's a healthy portion of rice and peas, simple salad of tomatoes and lettuce, and a few chunks of bone-in jerk chicken with brown gravy. Comfort food, yeah? Definitely, and I can see the allure of the food here, though it seemed very conservative in terms of spice and heat. Not bad!
I was expectant a more flakey roti..theirs are a bit different. The wrap is HUGE so you get your moneys worth for sure. I got boneless chicken roti with their spicy pepper sauce… $8. the pepper sauce was not even so I think I had 2 bites that were perfectly spiced, the rest were bland. I could only finish half of the wrap, and you need a knife and fork for this…I didn't expect that. At first I had big bites of chicken, but towards the end of my meal it was more potato…good spot to try but I don't think I will be back, if I do I won't be getting the roti wrap…
I haven't had roti since I was a kid when I used to visit sleepover a friend of mine's home, whose parents were from Trinidad. They frequently treated me to roti for dinner. It was love at first bite.
Nio's brought those memories flooding back to me. I've had both the goat and the beef roti. The goat was a bit too fatty and had alot of bones, but the beef was fantastic. The generous portions easily feed two people and the price is right. You can order it with or without spice. Wash one of these bad boys down with a ginger beer and you are good to go.
"Allyuh have to try dem doubles and get some curry chicken here yuh know!". Okay that was attempt at some Trini… but this food reminded me of my 6 glorious months I spent in T&T.
I've tried their doubles – Good ($2 for 1 double).. I've tried their Curry Chicken ($7.50) – absolutely delicious… and the spicy sauce (pepper sauce) just adds an amazing kick to the food.
So far, this summer (2016), the cart has been pretty consistent in terms of its location. Fellow Yelpers have complained about how they can be a bit inconsistent, although I've never experienced any problem. The only problem is that there is always a huge line at this cart! I've tried 12:15/30, 1:00 and 1:25… crowded all the time… at least 7 or 8 people in front of me.