"After reading the reviews online my partner decided to bring me here to celebrate my new job. First impressions were bad, it’s extremely deceptive compared to how it’s pictured on the website, it’s very dark and gloomy, there was no obvious sign outside, especially as we came in the dark so we drove past it twice. The sign outside could do with some light decor. Prior to coming to Mango Room my partner called to book the table and informed them of my new job celebration and had asked the waitress if she could make the table look somewhat fancy/different to the other tables as a surprise for me in which she agreed to doing. When we arrived he asked her where the table was and she said “pick whatever table you want” meaning she completely disregarded his request. After receiving the menu that was broken and looked extremely cheap and flimsy for the prices they charge, I also realised the food was very overpriced. I asked the waitress for the set menu and she said that only gets provided for groups of people over 10. It didn’t state that on the website and can be misconstrued as false advertisement. I can not believe for one small portioned size jerk chicken it cost £13 alone you then have to pay extra for a side which is around 3.50 4.00. When reluctantly ordering the food which was Jerk chicken rice peas, we also requested coleslaw and dumplings, the waitress replied “we don’t do coleslaw or dumplings here, the owner doesn’t like it” ... it’s not about what the owner doesn’t like it’s about your food audience. How can you run a Caribbean restaurant without coleslaw or dumplings? It’s key in West Indian food. I found that to be very obscured. The waitress then said “it’s fine dining, we don’t do that here”... I did not know consuming dumplings and coleslaw meant it was not fine dining. Whilst waiting for my food, I asked for some water the waitress brought out a jug of water which seemed to have a booger stain on the side, very very off putting. When the food eventually came out in which waiting time wasn’t long because the restaurant wasn’t busy, the plates were extremely hot, it seemed as though the chef just reheated/microwaved the rice and peas causing the dish within itself to be piping hot to the point where I couldn’t even hold it and had to messily dish out the rice myself with the small spoon provided. The rice and peas were extremely overcooked and stodgy, there was hardly any gravy with the jerk chicken. The jerk chicken was undercooked, had no flavour whatsoever and did not fall of the bone with basic sweet pepper slice and red onions for decoration. The plantain was extremely undercooked, very burnt on the outside and tasted wet, clumpy and soggy on the inside I’ve never tasted plantain so renk. The waitress did give us complimentary tulip glasses of champagne, which was nice. My partner did say that he enjoyed his curry goat which was very tender, he had that with plain rice. Overall I feel this restaurant is extremely overrated, extortionate and wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. The only pros were the company I had and leaving. I would’ve much preferred going turtle bay, the atmosphere and decor is so much better and you get your monies worth. Turtle Bay is extremely commercial so this is a huge compliment to them as I’m not too fond of them either."
Rice Peas
