Mama’s Paradise Restaurant

New to the area for work and trying all the great ethnic food
I love Jamaican food and have eaten it everywhere. I tried this place for lunch today and I hate to say it but I was shocked at how bad this was.
I got had the Ox tail plate (medium). It came with Ox tails, Rice and Peas, and ONE Plantain. I also ordered a beef patty and extra side of plantains since… I only had one.
The Plantains was not ripe, and cut too thick. So it was like chewing on a rock. Both the rice and peas and Oxtails were super bland… to my surprise I had to add salt to make it «okay». This is very odd for Jamaican food and I was in disbelief as I was adding it.
Maybe they were having an off day but I won’t be circling back to this place.

I’ve tried many other Caribbean restaurants but, Mama’s Paradise is the best one so far. Their service here is quick. I’ve tried their jerk chicken, chicken curry, cabbage with rice and peas. Their flavors are delicious. Their portions as well are reasonable to the price you’re paying. I would highly recommend Mama’s Paradise to anyone.

SERVICE: fast. Straightforward. Nothing special.
FOOD: ordered the Oxtail Dinner (LARGE) with rice & beans and cabbage for $ 13.99, Stewed Chicken (LARGE) with rice & beans and cabbage for $ 9.50, and one Beef Patty for $ 2.10. ONE STAR DEDUCTION for giving me a Vegetable Patty when I ordered a Beef Patty AND ALSO for the very small portion and mostly bones of the Oxtail Dinner.
OVERALL: Yes I would recommend this place only because the food is very delicious. Get the Stewed Chicken it’s so very tasty and delicious and HIGHLY recommended!!!

I loved this place… their fried chicken combo was excellent. Would definitely recommend to friends.

This place is really good, the food is good, friendly service. The closest I’ve gotten to really Jamaican food. Their jerk pork is very spicy which is exactly how I like it.

I recently came back from Jamaica a few weeks ago and feel like I never left Santa Cruz. The food was authentic and very tasty! Staff was friendly and my food was prepped fast but not rushed.

Beef patty was ok.
Brown stew chicken was very tasty.
Glad there is a restaurant like this in the area!
I will be returning.

This is my regular home away from home. There are others around, but none like mamma’s. Always a welcoming service and have actually grown to be friends. Mamma’s fresh fruit juices are a must for me. Along with the jerk chicken and if you’re in the mood the steam fish is the real deal.

Tried this place for the first time. Fast, friendly, and delicious! Great hospitality. I will definitely repeat.

Tried this place for the first time today. I usually go to Kingston 30 by Sugarloaf Mills, but I wanted to give Mama’s a try since it was closer.
Came around 1pm on a weekday, and it was pretty busy, but the orders were coming out quick. I ordered for takeout. Reading the reviews, I didn’t opt for the mini lunch portion since everyone says its way too small. I ordered the large jerk chicken with rice and peas, cabbage and plantains.
The chicken was seasoned perfectly. Perfectly spicy as well! The rice and peas and plantains were normal, just like any other Jamaican restaurant. I also ordered a chicken patty on the side. It was good and had a great flaky crust!
Can’t wait to frequent this place!

Amazing!!! Had the curry chicken and some of the jerk chicken and it was simply amazing. Spicy… but delish! I am def coming back here.

A waste of money. The Mini plate was cost me nearly $ 10. TEN DOLLARS! And when they say mini.. They aren’t kidding. I got the oxtails with red beans and rice and cabbage. The cabbage was decent, however, the main reason i ordered was for the oxtails. Which had a really odd taste, which i can only describe as nasty.. They also were not fall off the bone tender. The sauce was the nasty part. Also way too salty. I recently just moved to gwinnett and thought I’d give it a go. (Normally i go to Jamaica kitchen in Lithonia, which gives almost double the food for a buck or 2 more, btw) i will not be returning; as i literally hate wasting my money.

Was okay. Stopped to try their advertised New Cod Fish fritters and a side of steamed cabbage. Fritters were tasty but there was very little fish in the fritter. It was more like fried dough. Steamed Cabbage was good also. Yet to try the full dishes but my first experience warrants a turn trip for sure.

Mama’s was recommended to me by a co-​worker who is of Jamaican decent so I knew I was in for a treat. I ordered for pickup the small curried oxtail with plantains and white rice for lunch. The place was pretty empty around 1pm and I didn’t have to wait at all — my food was ready when I walked in. The younger woman was a little stand offish, but the older woman was very nice and asked me if I wanted some extra sauce for my rice. The prices are a little high considering the bulk of the portion is rice, but everything was delicious. I would definitely order from them again.

After years of working for an attorney with Jamaican roots, I find myself craving oxtail and beef patties so when an acquaintance called to meet up for dinner I suggested Mama’s Paradise based on the Unilocal reviews.
This is a pretty non-​descript restaurant in a small strip mall and is located to an Indian restaurant, a sushi restaurant and a Korean restaurant. I agree with Dina C. that the ordering is interesting to say the least. We were not greeted when we arrived and spent a few minutes looking around to see if there was a hostess to seat us at the many empty booths or if we ordered first and then be seated.
We took the bulls by the horns and sat at an empty booth, looked over their menu and then walked back to the front to order.
Another thing about the ordering process, once your order is placed, you sign this computer monitor and sign with your finger. Not very easy if you have a long name or arthritis.
You choose between a mini (which is kinda like the container you get hotdogs in), a med. or a large order. I was disappointed that my large brown stewed chicken was basically the same portion size as my friend’s med. order. But I did get a tons more rice along with some steamed cabbage and 3 pieces of plantains.
After I had paid, they told me that they only had chicken patties. I started to ask for a refund or something in lieu of because I am very partial to beef patties. The server offered me a free one and if I liked it, she would give me the 2 that I had ordered and paid for which was extremely nice. Although I am still partial to beef patties, their chicken was ok. It had a nice kick at the end of each bite, but it is definitely not a beef patty.
She was also really nice and offered my friend some Jamaican tea since she was feeling under the weather.
The food was good, it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it sure is a lot better than what other places pass off as Jamaican food. The best part is that the meats were very tender and fell apart easily and was not overly salted.

This place was AMAZING ! Not only was the service great, the food was good too! I had the curry chicken with rice and peas ! ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS ! However the cabbage ??? Disgusting. They should have never even put that on my plate ! Damn, I probably shouldn’t even post this review being that they will see me AGAIN, tomorrow! Anyway and Overall, great restaurant !

I decided to stop by and try this little place. It’s not something that sticks out from the road but I definitely encourage you to find it and try it. The people seem friendly. There is ample seating.
I tried the curry goat. It tasted great. Had good flavor. The goat tasted like it was pressure cooked, so it was soft and full of flavor.
I will be back to try a few more dishes in the near future!

Very authentic food, snacks, beverages and atmosphere. I am only here when in the city for work. Always worth the stop!

Great place and very friendly folks here.
The food is outstanding and portions are awesome!
Everything I have tried here is fast and above any other Jamaican restaurant I have tried.

Pros:
–Tasty Jamaican food and authentic (filled with Jamaican customers)
–Delicious brown stewed chicken
–Clean and booth tables available if you choose to sit down versus carryout
–Super friendly staff
–They were cool and brought out a delicious and complimentary chicken broth to our table
Cons:
–The portions are small for the price.
For example:
–The large orders of Brown stewed chicken and curry goat were very tasty but very skimpy on the portion size. In fact, we ordered the whole fish afterwards because we were still hungry.
–For $ 18.99, the whole red snapper ended up being a small fish for the price.
–Ordering is a little confusing. You are not sure if order at the counter and sit at a booth or if you will be served. We ordered at the counter, but then found that there was some table service. Simple signage would clear this up.
This could be more of a taste preference. I found the flavor here to be very good, but not as WOW as compared to a place like Mango’s in downtown. However, I would return here for a Jamaican fix because they are so close to home.