Callaloo Review

All,

My wife and I took advantage of an evening without the kids and tried Callaloo on its opening night. Here's the breakdown:

Food: Our food was generally good. They lead off with thick bread that tastes almost like hush-puppies with sweet butter. Quite good. I had the Jerk Chicken - great spice and tender meat. The sides were fine, but nothing special. My wife had the Jerk Chicken Salad and enjoyed it. Her only complaint was that they leave the skin on the chicken, which she thought was a bit odd for a salad. Drinks and dessert were the best part of the meal. I'll be turning in my man card for this next statement, but the Mango Daquiri was excellent, complete with blue umbrella. We shared a piece of exquisite, authentic key lime pie for dessert. Top notch. Prices were very reasonable - we paid <$50 for our meals, 2 drinks, and tip.

Environment: Nice, simple island ambiance, though the place is smaller than I expected. The bar only seats 4 people. We sat outdoors on the patio, which is small, but pleasant. We didn't bring our little hellians, but many people brought kids - it seems pretty kid-friendly.

Service: They had the typical hiccups for a new restaurant. Service was a bit slow, but fortunately we weren't in much of a rush. The entire staff seemed extremely nervous. I think they had too many theatrics and special events going on as distractions (see next section). Our waitress was very nice, but as expected, didn't quite have the process down cold yet. I'm sure it will get better over the coming weeks. The proprietors did circulate a couple of times during the evening to see how things were going - they seemed quite nice.

Experience: This is the fun part of the review. As opening night for the restaurant, they decided to stir things up by putting on some special events (e.g. steel drum band in the restaurant, prize raffles, etc.). We're sitting on the patio ordering our drinks when a scantily clad woman walks out. My wife whispers to me "Did they order strippers?" In fact, she was part of a team of fire dancers who were about to perform. Now, fire dancers are entertaining enough, but a logistical twist made them all the more interesting. The owners decided to put the performers right in front of the high-traffic entrance/exit to the patio (literally 3 feet from the door). Therefore, every time someone needed to be seated, ordered a drink, asked for a new fork, etc. members of the staff were forced to 'run the gauntlet' and squeeze by twirling chains of flames and flailing body parts. While we felt bad for the staff - they already seemed to be on edge - the staff was at least as entertaining as the dancers themselves. Running our credit card for payment had turned into an act of bravery.

Overall, we had a nice (and entertaining) dinner. We'll certainly be back in the future to try some other menu items...maybe with the kids. I hope when we return, the staff is not wearing flame retardant asbestos jumpsuits.

 

Wow what a fun experience you made me wish I was there.

I hope they keep the strippers I mean the dancers for future entertainment. Seriously, sounds like you all had a wonderful evening.


Lee j

 

We went last night and enjoyed it. They still had the fire jugglers but they weren't scantily clad. There also was a steel drum band playing outside. The food was spicy but good and the bread was tasty with the honey-butter. The owner walked around visiting with the customers and showed interest in everyone's opinions. I'm not sure what kind of choices they had for children, but I know macaroni and cheese is an option as a side. Our service and overall experience was good - we will return again.

 

Hi Schwarz Family,

I asked about the skin being left on the chicken on your wife's salad. Lorna, one of the owners said jerk chicken is seasoned with the skin on. This is traditional jerk chicken methodology. If she does not like the skin on in regards to the salad it would be OK to take the skin off. Many people will eat the skin.

I ordered the jerk chicken wings and loved them! But I did remove the skin before eating. When we were seated at the table we were given cleaning wipes, as many times jerk chicken means getting your fingers dirty.

Hope this helps!

 

My wife and I went last night.

Simply put, I think it's the best restaurant in the Broadlands.

We loved it!

 

While my meal had good flavor, i could do without the "whole chicken" concept. I guess i just need to read the menu more closely next time. It grew tiresome pulling all the chicken bone pieces out of my mouth.

 

My twin sister and I went last Sunday for dinner at Callaloo Cuisine. I am well experienced with carribean food and for the record, this restaurant is by far one of the best carribean "sit-down" restaurants there is in this area of No. Virginia. I tried the curry chicken and my sister had the jerk chicken. They were both excellent for those who love spicy foods. For those of you on the forum who don't like "skin and bones" on their chicken dishes, let me hip you to some well-known food traditions of carribean residents. Most will tell you that when they cook chicken, they eat the skin, meat, and chew the bones! Nothing is wasted. Also, if you don't like bones and skin on your chicken, don't try any fish cooked carribean style. Most people I know from the carribean islands cook the whole fish...head and tails. Also, eating the cooked fish eyeball is considered a delicacy.

We will go back to this restaurant again. We love the atmosphere and the owners are very warm and friendly, not to mention they are employing several of our neighborhood youth.

 

My kids and I have been there twice. I highly recommend the Barbican Brown Stew Chicken. And the mention of the Frozen Fruit Trio for dessert always keeps the girls in their seats for the whole dinner

 

Love the Ox Tail & Goat Roti.

 

My wife and I went and I also had the Brown Stew Chicken. I thought it was very good. The white meat melted in my mouth. mmmm. My wife had the shrimp....I forget specifically which one, not curry or jerk...maybe a garlic..I don't know. Even after asking for it to be light on the spiceyness, it had a kick.

Didn't have room for dessert. Loved the bread and butter.

 

Delicious. And good, fast, friendly service.

 

Callaloo Cuisine (you know that new jamaican restaurant) is having a Latin Jazz music night from 6-9 this Saturday night. Sounds like a fun place for a date night!

If you have not tried the food yet please make a point to go. It is fabulous!

 

anyone ever try and call in to order something for pickup? we tried on three or four separate occassions around lunch time and no one ever answers the phone there.

 

oooh, sounds kid friendly! Gotta love that!

 

I work with one of the family members of the owner. I'll let her know that you are having a problem.

 

If you're up for some live Latin jazz piano tomorrow night, Ashburn's own Bill Edwards, aka Perfessor Bill, will be playing from 6 to 9 p.m. Bill plays everything - ragtime, classical, jazz and he is just amazingly talented.

He's been part of the music program at Crossroads United Methodist Church for years, but has been doing quite a few out-of-town gigs lately, so I'm happy that he'll be back in the area tomorrow, at Callaloo.

His website is equally amazing: http://www.perfessorbill.com/

 

I always hate putting down negative reviews, but we tried Callaloo tonight and were really disappointed. The whole family is in town so we got a variety off the menu and no one felt they had a good dish. The chicken fricassee was just okay, nothing special about it and the curried chicken and curried goat were not good at all. They had a bit of kick to it but no one could taste the curry! My shrimp had a funny taste and was over cooked. Maybe they have changed Chefs? After listening to these reviews I was expecting much better.

 

Our family wasn't thrilled with our recent dinner either. My husband predicts Callaloo will be shuttered by Spring.

 

We ate there after it first opened, and we were impressed with both the food, and the service. We ate there a few weeks ago and while the service was fine, the food was not nearly as good as the first time (and we had the exact same dishes) - I wonder if they had any changes in cooking staff?

 

Any new restaurant takes time to settle in and be consistently good. Especially from an owner/chef who has never been in the business before. I know that's the chance they take starting a restaurant but I for one will keep going there. Especially since the owner will listen if you had some issues with the food.