Montego Bay Authentic Jamaican Cuisine

10/11/09

Good food

by srkkreddy

They have great food...their Jambalaya is good.

• Pros: Good food
• Cons: Parking

05/09/08

always tasty when we go...are they closed???

by deedubya

we've gone on several occasions and love it everytime (aside from them not having jamaican patty's everytime). we've always had great, fast service and yummy hot food! i wanted to go for my birthday but it seems they've closed down...

does anyone know whether they've closed or moved??

• Pros: yummy authentic food
• Cons: ?

04/29/08

Poor customer service

by Jermy787

The wait staff there were very rude. The lady in charged was yelling at the other pworkers in the kitchen. Will not return.

01/31/08

Good, Reasonably Priced, Authentic, Jamaican Food

by hott_nickles3400

The food here was very good. My fiance is from Jamaica and she gave it an 8 out of 10. Very authentic. If you want Jamaican Food in Portland you pretty much had one option and this was it.

P.S. I say "was", "gave" and "had" because they are out of business, or moved. If you like Jamaican food and another one pops up, make sure to support it because we currently don't have any among the bazillion or so restaurants in Portland.

05/26/07

Out of Business??

by leehays

Saturday, May 26 and the restaurant is closed. Could be closed for Memorial Day weekend, but they didn't post a sign. Nothing on their recording machine or website.

04/18/07

Horrible service

by katetkins

We decided to try Montego Bay for my 25th Birthday dinner, and was very dissapointed. The service was horrible! I have never had a waitress so rude. The food was okay, but very over priced.

03/22/07

OKAY

by jamaica78

I have to start off with a big Thank you to Montego Bay being an option here in Portland. I have been to Jamaica several times and enjoyed the culture very much along with the food. Montego Bay restaranut is definitely correct when they say they are authentic. I was a little sad to hear that they had no patties for sale =(. That did not stop our excitment about everything else. We had the Bammie and Fish as our appetizer which I must say was better than what we had in Jamaica. For our entrees we had Curry Goat, Oxtials,Jerk Chicken can I say " EXCELLENT" all of it including our sides that came with the entrees. I was and still am pleased with all of the our choices. The toto bread which I thought was dessert was to die for. Our server was very helpful with explaining the degree of spice that came with all of the different sauces (curry,jerk,stewd) and she was completely on the ball. I think that Montego Bay is a wonderful place to experience Jamaica if you have gone or have plans on visiting the Island in the future. My family and I have made this now one of our favorite places to eat when visiting Portland. I can not believe that someone would say that is just like a bbq joint that just sounds so blah. Obviously this person has never been to Jamaica and if they have then they obviously thinks that crossing the street from their resort means that they really experienced the Island and the culture which is a farse. Montego Bay is definitely keeping thier word when they say "AUTHENTIC" . I hope that close minded individuals would not try to ruin it for others on trying the fantastic food at Montego Bay. Please give this restaraunt a chance to prove you what they have proved to my family and they have this coupon that can be printed off and the deal is buy one and get one free.

• Pros: AUTHENTIC
• Cons: NONE

03/22/07

The Falling

by jaspora55

Anyone who has been to Jamaica and traveled outside the whitewashed walls of their Sandals resort would be ashamed of how Montego Bay Jamaican Cuisine is representing. I never paid $8.00 for a rum-punch anywhere, nor should anyone else. And now you can't even get a patty or some akee n salt fish? And another thing too, even at the smallest country stand to the busiest restaurants you would never see such bad service! Never once have I hear someone say "no" to anything the customers requested. The items that are present on the menu are almost never available and you often get stuck with curry chicken or something else not unique to the island. Now that the reggae on the weekends stopped the only thing separating this place from your average BBQ joint is the curry goat.

• Pros: The Curry Goat
• Cons: Everything Else

03/11/07

Authentic Carribean Experience (without the beach)

by lpfoodfan

The place has the feel of a family-run restaurant in the Caribbean. It's true that right off the bat, our waitress wasn't exactly warm & fuzzy. But when we didn't react like petulant American tourists, she seemed to warm up to us and the service got very attentive and very friendly. The food is delicious, and the j*rk sauce (apparently this word is considered "inappropriate on city search because they believe it's mean, or something) is out of this world. It's spicy, but also has great depth of flavor. The curry chicken was tender (not spicy), and the toto bread is yummy (you've got to eat it all as an appetizer, however; for some odd reason they took the basket away before dinner was served). The ambiance is fine -- I think people only expect more because it's downtown, but if you were on Hawthorne, it would be acceptable. Bright yellow walls, lots of pictures of Bob Marley, and reggae music on the stereo.

• Pros: Flavorful food, large portions
• Cons: Not good for uptight people

02/12/07

Horrible Ambience!

by LisaPDX

I chose Montego Bay for a birthday celebration for my mother and made advance reservations for 5 for a Saturday night. Upon arrival we were told by the hostess (?) that they were "behind" and not ready for us, they were out of all but one chicken dish including jerk-chicken (a mainstay!) and the main appetizer, the authentic Jamaican pasties. We were told to wait in the bar, and being that this was a birthday party, we thought "great, a pre-dinner drink"...well, we were never approached by a server in the bar and got nothing! Eventually we were led back into the dining room, where the decor and furnishings are cheap looking and uninviting. However, our waitress was very sweet and attentive, and apologetic about the missing menu items and helped us choose other dishes. About halfway through our dinner, the "hostess" began vacuuming in the main dining area about 10 feet away from our dinner party. We asked our waitress if she would ask that the vacuuming stop until the restaurant was closed and our dinner was over, as it was very disruptive and unpleasant. She came back and told us that unfortunately she couldn't do anything about it because the person vacuuming was the owner! This was the same staff person who had "greeted" us at the door. Our dinner was at 8:30 pm, the restaurant was open until 11 pm and the vacuuming began at about 9:30 pm! Though the food was flavorful, we will not return to this restaurant as the owner clearly does not appreciate her customers, nor the ambience she provides for them!!!

• Pros: Tasty food
• Cons: poor ambience