Jerkin Chicken

I took a cab to this location after reading the Unilocal reviews and deciding to give it a chance although it was 3.5 stars. Well, I should have listened! I ordered an oxtail with rice & peas which was horrible. The rice was 5 stars but the oxtail was off the scale bad. It was not cooked and very hard. It felt as if I was eating bones so I had to throw it in the trash. $ 28 went down the drain because I ordered one for myself and little sister. I also ordered the shrimp wrap which was bland and awful. Omg this is definitely the worst westindian restaurant I’ve been to. Trust me I should know because my mom is from Trinidad and my dad from Barbados so I’m use to Caribbean flavors. I would not recommend!

The food was great! The woman behind the counter was very nice and informative. My boyfriend got the jerk chicken with rice and beans and salad and I got the jerk Shrimp with white rice and steamed cabbage, both had chicken stew gravy on the rice and a small piece of sweet plantain was included with both dishes. The Jerk Chicken was $ 9.99 and tasted great. Everything was flavorful but keep in mind that they really don’t give you a lot of shrimp I only got 6 pieces for $ 13. I felt that was a bit expensive for such a small amount which is why I gave it 4 stars but otherwise their food, service, and atmosphere was great!!!
Be advised the bathroom is for customers only.

The food is ok. The restaurant itself was really dirty and gross. I’m glad I ate before noticing how filthy the place was otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it.

Craving for some West Indian style curry goat roti I ventured out with my Waze and ended up at this family run joint on west side of Jersey City helmed by a sweet Chinese Jamaican lady.
I came in for a curry goat and ended up with a table full of very generous portions of oxtail stew, curry chicken and goat with the fixins. With a liberal sprinkling of house scotch bonnet sauce I was in flavor heaven. Each bite was a flavor bomb. Beef patty was delicious albeit a bit on the thicker crust side but made fresh each morning. tip: these are handmade on premise and not the frozen kind so make just enough to sell that day so get there early.
Restaurant is clean and spacious, just across the street from new NJCU development. You can take hudson lightrail to westside ave and walk about 10 minutes.

This place is pretty amazing! As a Puerto Rican, I am a sucker for any Caribbean cuisine ranging from Spanish, Trini, Haitian, and of course Jamaican food; Jerkin Chicken is not only wholesome Jamaican food but it is one of the finest eating establishments in North Jersey.
The food is out of this world amazing and the staff is also very accommodating as well. The first time I visited Jerkin Chicken, I had the Jerk chicken, stew chicken, and a side order of sweet plantains. The entire meal was great and the stew chicken gravy in particular stood out. The second day I had the Jerk Chicken dinner combo along with the gigantic Jerk Chicken Wrap. The portions of food are quite generous and the people that state it is a little pricey are looking at the dollar amount but failing to take into consideration the quality of the food, sauces, sides, and the overall generous portions of food. You pay for what you get, and what you get is worth the money.
I have been there twice in the past weekend and I am probably going back either today or tomorrow with a couple of friends. Jerkin Chicken is a great place, and I highly recommend it, Respect!

Great food, great food, great food and a lot of food for the money. Top notch service. I would recommend them to everyone. Did I mention great food? Love it!

Never been here but felt the need to call them out for terrible customer service. I called to place an order for delivery. I gave my address then was promptly put on «hold» for more than 5 mins. I say «hold» because i was able to hear employees bickering and yelling in the background while i was on hold. Finally someone else picks up the phone and asks what I would like. I tell them I’m trying to place an order for delivery and just gave whoever put my on hold my address. She then apologizes and tells me they dont have a driver right now and are not making deliveries.
Terrible. Nothings a bigger turnoff then terrible employees and lack of care for you customers. I’ll never give this place a try now.

ovely Jamaican eat in and take away. Love the jerk chicken wrap.

Was excited to eat some Jamaican jerk chicken and some sides. Very disappointed that this was so horrendous. After being forced to spend a $ 20 minimum, I found myself getting lunch and dinner for the day. A small price to pay for quality chicken if the case may be. I ordered a Jamaican jerk chicken wrap which contained zero chicken. I actually opened it up to see if there was anything in it beside salad dressing and lettuce and I was wrong it contained the squishy chicken liver that is not edible. I moved over to the mac and cheese that contained no noodles. Not quite sure how that is even possible, but this container of guck, along with a under cooked Jerk chicken lunch special completed my $ 20 to get an order delivered. Very disappointed, would not recommend.

Let me just say this… IGNORE THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS (THEY’RE FROM BITTER HATERS)…
This place is AMAZING! Staff is so nice and polite and the food is SLAMMING!!!
This is NOT a chain restaurant so you will definitely get your money’s worth.
Doesn’t get any better/​authentic when it comes to FLAVOR.
I have tried everything from the Jerk Nuggets to the Shrimp and it’s great.
I LOVE THIS PLACE; DON’T EVER CHANGE :)

I’ve gotten food here a few times, the «stewin’» chicken is the absolute BEST.
I tried the jerk chicken once and it was dry and lacked flavor. I believe I had the oxtails once. But the STEW chicken has me hooked. The jerk chicken patties and beef patties are also good.
They’re a bit pricy but I think it’s worth it for the stew chicken.
Did I mention I love the stew chicken?

The food was way too expensive, lacked flavor and was cold when I ordered it.
I ordered the curry goat (the special of the day) and they didn’t have any. Bait and switch. So I ordered the curry chicken. It was lacking salt and the curry was thick and pasty. The roti was soft and gluey.
I also ordered the famous jerk chicken. They only had breast meat. The seasonings were subpar. No real spiciness. They just covered it in BBQ sauce and called it Jerk Chicken.
I was the only person in the store (No competition/​lines) and it took them 15 minutes to warm up/​package the food. The service was just poor.

I was excited about going here but that soon was over. The food is overpriced for the portions. I got oxtails, rice and cabbage. Best part of the meal was the cabbage. I am like 99% sure I was given goat and not oxtails! They were too sweet and the rice was like white from the Chinese restaurant, I will not be back.

First time here but certainly not the last! Great family joint with authentic Jamaican flavors. Sorrel juice and jerk chicken are the closest I’ll get to real jerk chicken from the island. Only thing missing is the roasting it with the wood in open air just like Jamaica.
Oh yes, if she runs out, she runs out which is a great sign of no old food served the next day.

I’ve eaten here plenty of times… it’s a saturday indulgence after work. I usually get the jerk chicken or jerk pork and a side of mac n cheese. The jerk is well seasoned and cooked well. The food is pricy but for me the portion is two meals worth… so it’s ok. The staff is pleasant n friendly which is always a plus for me. However, the last two weekends the food was a tad salty :-(. Hopefully next time its not as salty

I came here after passing by it many times… first the mascot caught my attention. Haha, I know. It seems silly but I’m a fool for marketing.
We came at a random hour so it was basically empty even though by the time we left, we saw a few customers.
We ordered the jerk chicken meal, oxtail meal, and the pattys.
Jerk chicken was yummy — may be a little on the dry side but seasoning was good. It wasn’t what I remember from Jamaica but I wonder if the jerk seasoning varies btwn families. Either way, it was still delicious with a nice crispy skin. The oxtail was alright… having had many different variations of oxtails in the past, I don’t know if this was my favorite. Their cabbage was surprising good! It went well with the dish. I had the rice and beans and yellow rice. All normal.
Their beef patty was alright (I’ve been diluted with the american version where the filling tastes more like sloppy joe so this version felt strange). But never having had the chicken patty — i was pleasantly surprised by their blend of spices and flavor.
Their specialty drinks were also delicious! I had the ginger blended with the red stuff and also tried the pineapple blended with the red stuff. I love ginger so it was great!
The portions aren’t huge but for lunch they left me satisfied.
I definitely will be back to try their curry and their other dishes.

The best curry chicken, so tender, so juicy, and great music! The owners are so nice and attentive! Authentic and we’ve been to Jamaica so we know!!!

I was relieved not to see any Jerkin Chickens when I walked in.
At the time of writing this, there are only 3 other reviews besides mine. What surprises me is they didn’t mention anything about their Jerk (in) Chicken!!! Jerk chicken is quintessential Jamaican food and should be the baseline of any Jamaican restaurant.
This place jerks their chickens well! I ordered food here with no expectations, just craving jerk chicken. This. Hit. The. Spot. Moist, tender, and wonderfully spiced. Could have been spicier but that’s just personal preference.
Also ordered the Curry Roti. It was… Okay.
Last words: I’d come back for the jerk chicken again once the craving comes back and I’m to lazy to make some. Because they did their chicken pretty well, I’ll try some other things out, too. But don’t be a jerk, order their jerk chicken!

I went back with a craving for spicy un-​fried wings. I see their interior looks a bit different since the opening. A bit cluttered behind the counter, and soda condiment area is unusable ‘out of order’. Still no distinguishing smell of a Caribbean kitchen. No one who was in there was determined to stay and eat, all waited like i did for takeout. Staff of 2 women head-​scarfed in jamaican flags, and Jamaica t-​shirts. Everyone who ordered before me had to pick an alternate food item, cuz they were out of what was wanted. This was worrying me, cuz of the bad experience I had months ago.
I ordered the 5 jerk baked wings. A stew chicken roti. A homemade sorrel, (i knew that would be good).
Wings were excellent this time, right spice, authentic flavor, right texture, perfectly cooked. A definite go-​back.
The roti… ugh, c’mon people! The roti was rubbery! If roti could be mass produced by a machine, that is what I expect would be the result. The stew chicken filling had a nice sauce, seemingly tomato-​based, almost BBQ saucy. I thought, this is tasty but not at all Jamaican stew chicken-​like. So I dug further with fork. Bones. ok further, more bones. And not like a drumstick cut in half bone, like a chicken back bone, bones with no meat to suck off or salvage. SERIOUSLY?! Not even any veggies to make me feel like I should finish it.
Oh mannn JC, u are sooo DEAD to me. If i need a crap-​load of jerk wings for a gathering I may give them a call, but they really, REALLY shouldn’t cook anything else.

I loved the cabbage and the jerk on the baked wings and jerk shrimp satisfied my pepper/​heat/​flavor buds to the max.
Nice folks. Nice ambience. Easy in and easy out.
Made a call for delivery too and the food arrived within 20 minutes and the service was excellent.
I am always happy to support a business owned and operated by people of african descent. I hope the JC community supports this venture, it is good food at good prices. You can feel the love in every bite.