I heard about this place from my friend. But I never checked it out. So today, I went in, and I received service, which was very pleasant. The gentleman that greeted me as he was the food server. He was very welcoming. real nice gentleman, the food I tried was really good. Everything was great about it. When I originally went, I wanted to try the curry chicken, but they ran out so he gave me a sample of the Some of the sauce that was left over from the curry chicken. which I thought was really tasty, but then I decided to get the stew chicken for myself and then I got my husband a plate of the jerk chicken. seen on the menu that they had a lunch special, which the pricing was really reasonable. I just wanted to give them praise for everything. The pricing was reasonable. The food was good and the customer service was awesome. Keep up the good work. 8/24/2006 read more

Food was so good and flavorful and was a big portion. I bought the stew chicken with rice and peas and plantains. It was ready on time and service was good, can't complain. read more

Mama's Restaurant - a plate of food on a table - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

I had the small oxtail lunch. Ladies were nice and the spot was tight and busy. Oxtail was meaty, robust but only a couple pieces. It was a small I believe $8-9. read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

Honey, I love my West Indian food and will travel far to some good grub. I am usually in this area for job trainings and got tired of the lunch spots I was always going to when in the area. I checked Yelp for some Caribbean food and found this spot. Lo and behold they have lunch specials, woo hoo! Staff are always pleasant and work fast to keep the lines moving because it can get busy around lunch time. On my first visit I ordered the $5 curry chicken lunch special with rice and peas and plantains and it had the nerve to come with a cheap can of pineapple soda. Honey, I was balling for $5, LOL. I ventured there a 2nd time and this time ordered the brown stew chicken. I am surprised that both visits ended with a very satisfied belly, The lunch portion is sufficient enough to hit the spot until dinner and very affordable. The small venue is more of a take out spot but there a few chairs and tables for you to feast on your meal if needed. I am looking forward to my next visit so I can check out those oxtails which arent on the lunch special menu so it better be good! LOL read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

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CONS 1. Oxtails was Tender but needs more Flavor and more Scotch Bonnet Flavor, (Distant Hot Kick) to Stand Out from all other Caribbean Restaurants. Don't be afraid of Bold Flavors. 2. Stew Chicken needs more Tenderness and Flavor.. 3. Cabbage needs more Flavor. Perhaps, adding Freshly Pureed Ginger to take it up a notch. PROS 1. Jerk Chicken looked Delicious and it was Everything I Expected it to be Spicy, Tender, Juicy and Crispy! Ugh! Wow! Better than JamRock Jerk Food Truck and they do it right. 2. Rice and Peas was Cooked Well but needs more Coconut Flavor. 3. White Rice was Cooked Well. 4. Curry Chicken was good. 5. Friendly Staff read more

Great food!!! Speedy delivery services!!! Not too spicy jerk chicken!!! Curry goat is delicious!!! Stew chicken is amazing!!!

Venue Mama's is a pretty small venue. Not too many people can pack in at one time, but things move quick so you won't be in there for long. There are some high tables in the front and back if you want to eat your food there but I'd recommend to go. Service Pleasant and quick. Everyone is courteous and accommodating with the orders. Can't really ask for more then that with a restaurant of that size Food Probably some of the best Jamaican food that you're going to get in that area (maybe even in the borough). The jerk chicken, stew pork, ackee and saltfish, jerk pork, THE CHICKEN PATTIES!...all legit! And with the array of menu items that are all good in their own right, of course the oxtails reign supreme! Tons of sauce, not a lot of fat, and they really pack it in there! The cabbage is a little weak though but otherwise no complaints. Misc. Mama's is the quintessential Jamaican food grab and go spot. Beware though...if you get there too late some of your favorites may be gone. read more

This is the worst Mac and cheese I've ever tasted very dry over baked. The cheese on top was hard it had no creamy texture. I've had better at the local chicken joint. My first time and last to order here. For the price I paid. I feel it's not worth it. read more

Mama's Restaurant - See all the dark spots that's over cooled cheese - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

I went to an event, a friends 30th birthday last night and it was Catered by Mama's Restaurant. I thought wow that's brave, having a party catered with Caribbean food. You never know how folks are going to react or take Caribbean food but let me tell you, it was a success! Everyone enjoyed the switch up. I never seen a group people so happy with the food and I been to a lot of events! Everyone was going for second, thirds even fourths. People were not watching their waist line at all last night. Crowds favorites were the: *Oxtails, right amount of heat and spice! Meat so tender it fell right off the bone. *Jerk Chicken, amazing;Perfectly juicy and seasoned! *Rice and Peas! Some of the best Rice and Peas I ever had and I'm Dominican. I take my rice serious, I am a rice connoisseur. Fluffy, not sticky and right amount of seasoning! That was some banging rice. I wish this place was closer to my apartment! Great new spot! kudos to the cook! read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

My Husband loved the food ...it is really good I will be take my family back here to eat. I will be trying there porridge very soon. Best Jamaica food in the area read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

Found out about Mama's in November and have been back about 5 times since!! Their oxtails are amazing! Everything about them!!! Juicy, flavorful, big! (I despise those little pinky sized, mostly bone oxtails... Like wth?) I give theirs a 10 out of 10, hands down. They've renovated the place a few weeks ago for more kitchen space so hopefully that means more oxtails.... Hahaha. Plantains are always poppin' too. I've had their jerk chicken and it's not very memorable but if I happen to have it again then I will update this review. But goodness their macaroni and cheese needs help. I'm not sure if its traditional Jamaican style but all I know is it needs work. Oddly it's a layer of crusty cheese on top of bland noodles with maybe one egg and a splash of milk, lol. That's the minus 1 star. Other than that... The staff are cool and down to earth for sure! Very personable while also being fun. And again, OXTAILS baby! ($14 for a large with 3 sides, expensive but worth the splurge) read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

I had the most horrible service. MyJerk chicken was old. They refused to take it back. I took pictures of the plate. The food was not touched. When I opened the plate you could see it had been under the lights to long. They didn't care that I ordered the plate 2-3 times a week. I loved their chicken. What ever you do don't use your charge card. They won't return your money. So disappointed, read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

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Fast free delivery in East Harlem. I typically order after 8pm and they often run out of favorites like the jerk chicken. Here's what I've had so far... Favorites - Oxtail - Jerk Chicken (authentically spicy) - Rice & beans - Ginger Soda - Fried plantains Less Favorite - Mac n' cheese - Stew Chicken They have a $6 lunch special from 11am-2pm with Curry Chicken or Brown Stew Chicken. read more

Mama's Restaurant - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

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Top-notch food. This one of only two West Indian spots that I really rock with in Harlem. The meats are well cooked (tender, juicy, flavorful, spicy). The sides are also good, especially the yams. The portions are also very generous. Definitely recommend. read more

Best Jamaican grub in the neighborhood. Oxtail delish, curry goat just, jerk chicken savory and rice and cabbage and plantain always tasty. Keep it up!!!! read more

$7.00 for a greasy burned serving of jerk chicken, it was burned so badly I didn't know which parts were meat and which were bone! And a mushy mash of plantains, honestly they were so mushy I couldn't even tell you how many pieces were in there, all on a oily flavorless bed of cabbage, the oil seeped through the paper bag and collected like a puddle in the plastic bag! I walked 6 blocks to this place, what a dissapointment! Sorry, but it's no wonder this place was empty. The food was terrible, borderline disgusting :( read more

Mama's Restaurant - Seating - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

food was delicious and the staff was being articulate on the food that she had already. 10/10

Good value. A filling flavor heavy meal will cost you less than $10. Most food items are pre-made and ready to serve, so don't expect to wait long here for your lunch. I ordered chicken with rice and beans and it was a very satisfying meal. It was served in a styrofoam container, so beware of sauce leaking if you are carrying your order far. read more

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3.5 Stars! We got the medium jerk chicken platter & the medium fried chicken platter. Both platter came with rice, fried plantains, & veggies. The jerk chicken was good! The chicken were soft, tender & it's spicy! Really spicy! If you love spicy & able to handle it, you'll definitely love the jerk chicken here. The fried chicken was just decent. It was nothing special. The portion is definitely generous. Both of us have big appetite & we were full! We were definitely satisfied with our meal there. The place is small with only few tables. When we were there, most of the people that we saw was buying take out. The service was decent, they weren't friendly but they weren't rude either. All total, we spent $20. Great value! read more

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Food is ok , but just don't order on the phone. You'll probably get aggravated. Their oxtail with rice and peas is pretty good. I'm just real big on customer service and I feel that they're lacking that tremendously which is no surprise bc Caribbean restaurants are usually like that, just being honest.(I'm Caribbean myself and I still feel that way) please stay away from the Mac n cheese it's dry and not cheesy at all. I'm sorry but I may not order food from here again. My opinion. read more

Mama's Restaurant - Oxtail with rice n peas and veggies - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

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Such a gem in this neighborhood. I've been trying to find good oxtail in East Harlem. This is it! The oxtail is juicy and fall off the bones. They are also very generous with the portion!!! read more

I buy from them frequently.. But i have to change my review because they change the policy with substituting. I can not take out the cabbage and subsitute it for something else without paying extra. They also took out plantains from the meals and you have to pay extra for that... They tend to run out of certain foods everyday by 8pm. Why not make more since you close at 10:30. read more

I've ordered from this place on several occasions. I've always ordered the oxtails, ruce and beans and cabbage. .. In the beginning it was "good" then it became just "ok"... Now it's just ugh!! The presentation when u receive your food is sloppy as hell! The staff members are real "hood"! And the delivery guy felt the need to complain to me about how he's tired!! Unprofessional. .. Wished we had better restaurants with professional staff that are trained and knowledgeable about proper customer service! With real chefs that actually went to school and learned how to cook and how to prep etc... #annoyedNhighlydisappointed read more

Don't waste your time! I really wanted to like this place, and have placed 3 orders through GrubHub, despite the negative reviews on Yelp. The first two times the food was good and delivery was on the longer side, but not bad. The third time the delivery guy was ridiculously late(40 minutes from the estimated delivery time to be exact) and for the life of him could not find my building even though we had 5 different phone conversations about my exact location and what cross streets to take to get to the building. Mama's Restaurant please invest more in getting better delivery people, and work on your overall customer service. Please don't be like the countless other stereotypical Jamaican restaurants in the area with poor service. read more

If I can give them zero stars I would . My boyfriend ordered us some food from here because I always get my food from them and I've never had a bad experience other then them forgetting to give me a folk. And me not relaxing until I got on the bus back to Boston.. But he order 3curry chicken (2med) (1small) , bbq chicken (med), and 2 drinks. We have the food delivered to my house and he picks it up. Soon as he opens the bag he notices both drinks are not what he asked for. He annoyed but tries it and doesn't like it. We give out the food and I have the curry chicken. Soon as I eat a piece a chicken my mouth start burning. I don't like spicy food so I tell him it hot. He takes some of the small curry chicken and when he noticed how hot it was he told me do not eat the food.. His father workes in a Jamaican restaurant so he knew the pepper they put in the pot busted because of how Spicey the food was. He told me if I continued to eat the food I would get sick. So he gave me his bbq chicken. When I spoke to my grandmother about that pepper she told me the same thing. When the scotch bonnet pepper bust in food you will get sick if you keep eating it. I was so pissed because the heat from the chicken was unbearable and I wasted my money an food that I couldn't eat. When I called the restaurant the rude ass cashier answered the phone with an attitude. When I told her what happened and I would give them back the food for oxtail and pay the difference she said they don't exchange food and hung up. I called back and I spoke to her again this time I asked for the manger because I knew the pepper busted. She told me the manger is not there and he would come in tomorrow and to try to call him then and that they have different cooks in the kitchen that make the curry chicken (to try to provide that as the reason the chicken was so spicy)then you guessed it hung the phone up again. I was so irate because we just wasted close to $30 on food that went to the garbage. They never even tried to fix the problem. They didn't care because they already had my money. I was pissed.. They will never get any of my money ever again. read more

Can't review the food but I just called trying to place an order. I asked a second time what was included on platter and a young lady responded that she already had told me. I told her I didn't want my food spat on and hung up. I try to support local, black owned businesses, but the their horrible customer service will be the death of them. "We've got to do better" read more

I live in Harlem and I've had a lot of Jamaican food from lots of spots here. Oxtails is my favorite Jamaican dish and it's hard to find good oxtails. You would think that Harlem would be flowin with good oxtails right, WRONG! Mama's Restaurant is the #1 spot for some good ass oxtails in my opinion! I ordered some food from Mama's recently thanks to the reviews here on Yelp and I LOVED it! The oxtails were on point, they were tender and full of flavor. The rice and peas were sooooooooooooo good, no sauce needed. The plantain were good too, not to greasy like a lot of plantains I've had. Thank you for being here in Harlem Mama's. I'm bout to place an order right now. If you want some great Jamaican food at a great price and good customer service go to MAMA"S RESTAURANT! read more

If your ever close by try anything on the menu. Just to let you know the special is over at 2 pm. Open 7 days a week. Plus they deliver! read more

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This place has very poor ppl akills they leave you on hold never come back charge u extra if u live out the way n the food comes not even luke warm and sloppy and there always messing up an order the way they answer the phones are disgusting... smh read more

I usually order the ox tails or jerk chicken, rice and peas and plantains for delivery. I stopped by today and ordered the curry chicken with my regular fixings. The chicken is well seasoned and the curry sauce packs a punch. If you are in the area stop by you will not be disappointed. The customer service was great, the food is delicious and I have stomach joy. (Add smile here) read more

Mama's Restaurant - Delicious! - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

We found ourselves here after we spent most of the morning/afternoon trying to find Sylvia's (long story). After we found Sylvia's the line had already gotten crazy so we parked and walked around and came upon Mama's. It's setup, buffet style, minus the buffet. There was 28 different items across two serving lines about 12-16 feet long, each -- one with meats and sides and the other with fruits and salads. You can get whatever you want and the food price is based on the food weight, like Whole Foods. What I had (in order from best-tasting): BBQ Chicken Ham Crab Salad Mac and Cheese Green Beans Corn Corn Bread I literally cleaned my plate so take note that I said best-tasting and there was no mention of a worst-tasting. EVERYTHING was good. read more

Horrible horrible customer service so I placed an order at 4:30pm and it didn't arrive until 6:30 2 hours and when it arrived it was cold I called the restaurant and the woman had the balls to ask me what I want her to do really miss that how u treat your customer no good at all my other issues I said to her I when I placed my order to put gravy on my rice and chicken and she Didn't even do that I will not recommend this place to any body I have to look for a another spot for my clent when they come to my salon read more

Every time I'm in Harlem I have to have my Stew Chicken Rice and Peas and a Jamaican Cream Soda Good Portions and Good Food read more

Ooooooommmmmmgggggg Love dat oxtail, the meat just sooooo tender and falls right off the bone. Really authentic Jamaican food The jerk pork is a bit spicy but beautiful flavor Soup is also bigggg portion definitely worth the price Totally recommended :) P.s check out their before order :p read more

Mama's is a graduate students dream! Cheap amazing food, I cant go into the neighborhood without stopping by. The soup is a must!!! read more

Mama's Restaurant - The small jerk pork... - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

Ok I drive a bus for the city and I parked on 2nd ave one day and tried the 6.00 special rice and peas cabbage and stew chicken. And lord this is good food. The foods really good along the prices read more

Mama's Restaurant - Mta dinner table can't go wrong with some stew chicken - Caribbean Near Me - New York, New York

Is service and your food is nasty you're so nasty that you can't even keep a employee your wife's nasty yeah attitude and stink and so is your food in nasty food I would never recommend anyone to your restaurant and always playing gospel and you're so nasty read more

Used to be good, now not so much. Takes forever to deliver, and there's a 50/50 chance the food will taste decent. Leaves you on hold for hours until they forget you're there and hang up. I placed my order, called back an hour later, and they were out of what I asked for. I settled on something else, they called 45 minutes after my order to tell me they don't have that either! read more

I was there last week and really enjoy the food. The curry goat is to die for, true Jamaican mom's home cooking. Great portion, great price and great food. The only negative is that the seating is limited otherwise is a great Jamaican restaurant. read more

Just an amazing place, I trek from JC sometimes to get their oxtails, and their Ackee and Saltfish is amazing! The staff is always courteous and welcoming, and portions are very well sized all at a reasonable price. Definitely a place to stop but if you love Jamaican food, the new renovation really adds more jazz to the place! read more