Smokey Island Grille
“If I lived out here, I'd be stopping by here and picking up food several times a week…”
“May end up in our regular dinner rotation if we have better luck with our next order.”
“Anyone in bedstuy looking for a good meal stop into smokey grille.”
Smokey Island Grille
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My brother is a big fan of SIG. While in NY we made a stop here with the family for some lunchtime grub. I must respectfully disagree with the other comments regarding pricing. The food is reasonably priced, especially in comparison to other "West Indian" restaurants.
The restaurant is quaint but average size for the area and upon entering you see everything is clean and organized. Before prepping your food you are required to use hand sanitizer, I'm not a fan of hand sani, but I LOVE this and am on board for restaurants requiring this. There are also signs on the sneeze guard telling customers not to talk over the food or use their phone while serving themselves. I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!! I wish more buffets had these requirements.
The food is average and nothing blew me out of the water. The oxtails were super oily and despite trying to stir them to get rid of the inch high layer of oil on top, it remained. The sides were great and the steamed cabbage (my favorite) had peas, carrots, and string beans blended in. The curry goat also had a layer of oil on top. Le Sigh. I also tried a few jerk wings. They were cooked well and weren't dry.
My favorite item was the homemade juice. I tried the green Cucumber Ginger. The next time I'm in the area I'm definitely stopping by for that!
Overall, it's average. However, if they addressed the oil issue this restaurant would be five stars. Easily.
I did a seamless order and it is, as many say, a long wait. It takes an hour, no matter what. I called to see if maybe (just maybe), it would arrive sooner and was told, nope.
The rice and peas (mac n cheese) were dry, the jerk chicken was decent. Oddly enough, it was my husband's pork fried rice dish that was really amazing.
I wish some of the sides weren't so dry. The overall experience was ho-hum.
Smokey Island Grille is a buffett style Carribbean eatery in Crown Heights. It's quick and dirty (not cleanliness, but gritty) Carribbean food. They make the effort to keep the food clean by enforcing a sanitize first and then pick your food policy.
With that said, the food isn't great. The curry chicken was a bit salty. The Jerk chicken had a very smokey or… burnt taste depending on your palate. There was a glaring lack of jerk pork which was very disappointing.
Decent spot for some quick hitting Carribbean food but really not a highlight to speak of.
Smokey Island is a cute Carribean Hot Food Buffet spot with a rotating selection of everything Carribean for you to fill up your plate till your hearts content and priced per pound. I got a little of the Jerk Chicken with some Ox tail Gravy and rice and peas, my peoples opted for the Baked Mac n Cheese (but refused to allow me photos of this) weird right? Anywho the food is very, very good and I'm told the mac n cheese was on point, my rich and fluffy buttery creamy slice of cake was on point too.
To elaborate…
Jerk Chicken was perfectly jerked with just enough Hot n spicy seasoning so as to not burn your tastebuds and have you panting for the closest water fountain, rice and peas was cooked perfectly and of course compliements a lot of the meat dishes they have here.
I noticed they had a nice selection of vegetarian dishes at the Hot food bar aside from the usual Carribean choices for the picking so if your a Vegetarian or Vegan you might be pleasantly surprised coming here.
The Hot Food bar is on the small side but has most of your Carribean favorites in the line-up so you shall not come and leave here disappointed.
I especially like that I can pick as little or as much of anything to satisfy my hunger without getting a pile of rice and beans and one or two pieces of meat, and if you dont know then know because a lot of carribean spots thats cooking the food up real good give you a little bit of meat and a pile of rice & beans, now the tables are turned with the buffet style I get to pick it as I want it and be a lot happier with paying for my meals.
Smokey Island defintely goes into my rotation with 4 stars starting out since I can already tell from the food I took out this day and my peoples nod of approval that the food here will more than likely always be on point here.
Very clean restaurant. You pick out what you want and go pay for it at the counter. It's great to breathe your own meal but it's a little pricey. My macaroni and cheese with curry chicken and BBQ chicken was about $9. Which is insane because you can get it on the same block for $3-4. Thankfully they have tables, a big selection of beverages, a big tv to watch as you eat and you can tell that the furniture isn't old or worn out. The lady that worked here didn't have such a good attitude but he did answer my question. I'd recommend going down Fulton street for the same food, taste for less than half of the price !
Smokey Island Grille has a dim view of humanity. While most places believe the combination of shared societal values and basic decency will guide behavior through a public interaction, this place goes in a different direction. Nearly every inch of the wall and steam is covered in a maze of frequently CAPITALIZED signs, imploring customers to use hand gel, mind the different price points between parts of the buffet and what dishes are and are not available.
It's as if every piece of confusion or miscommunication in the past few years have been met with a new sign, in hopes that it will never happen again. It's a disparaging, demeaning way to treat customers. When stopping for food I felt constantly on edge that someone was going to leap out from behind the kitchen and yell at me for doing something wrong.
And even with all the signs, it was unclear to me that the in addition to the buffet there are jerk dinners and other Caribbean specialities behind the counter.
So many rules, so much aggravation. It's only worth it because of the large selection at the steam table, which was refilled twice during my visit to rotate in new dishes. And while it may be wasteful to have to split up a buffet order between dishes of different prices, it probably does give a person the ability to get more high volume items (like rice) without unnecessarily paying too much.
The mac and cheese was rich and dry, as it is in the islands, and the oxtail nice and tender. I do wish I wasn't on edge while eating it.
They get a 2 for effort. I purchased a medium size tray of oxtail, mac and cheese, mixed veggies and peas & rice. The cost $20.00. The oxtails were dark and cooked well but it didn't taste like Jamaican oxtails. The plus is it didn't have too much fat. The
mac and cheese weren't as tasty, the veggies weren't over cooked. I'd never pay $20.00 for West Indian food Togo when they're reasonably priced West Indian restaurants up and down Fulton.Street. They need to get rid of that scale and share food like they usually do. Sorry I didn't take a pic of my food, I forgot!
Overall the spot looks clean and the best part was the black cherry soda! I'm not a fan of buffet restaurants because all kinds of funny stinky people put their hands in the food and that equals food poisoning. Ipass .
The signs have gotten even zanier, including signs that warn you to read the signs, but at the same time the buffet has become more expansive. In particular, they seem to have more fish, with three variations of saltfish on tonight's visit. The cabbage and jerk pork are still going strong.