Miss Lily's 7A Cafe

"There’s a good chance you’ll end up on the dance floor at some point during your night at Miss Lily’s 7A. You might be sitting at a booth in the colorful East Village Caribbean spot eating jerk chicken and curry goat, or standing next to your table drinking piña coladas when the dancehall and rockers blasting through the speakers finally inspire you to join everyone under the disco ball. Before fully committing, we recommend getting one more order of cod fish fritters. They’ll help soak up the sneaky amount of rum in the cocktails." - willa moore, sonal shah, bryan kim, neha talreja, will hartman

"I love how the restaurant is not too classy or expensive. It's casual and it's a vibe. I really love the wings with the rice and beans and ripe plantains. That's what I had the very first time I ate from Miss Lily's and I was hooked. I was like, 'Wow, finally, some good food outside of Jamaica.' It's never 100% authentic if you get it outside of Jamaica, but [Miss Lily's] was 99% there. I really love the shrimp as well. There's this sauce that they do, with a really garlicky red sauce—like a hot pepper shrimp. Their juices are really fire as well, and the oxtail." - brennan carley

"Miss Lily’s is what would happen if Major Lazer made a restaurant. That’s a pretty specific music reference, but it’s also pretty damn perfect. A Jamaican restaurant, Miss Lily’s is modeled after the West Indian eateries in Brooklyn and The Bronx and is owned by the dude from La Esquina and a few nightclub kingpins. The result of that combination is a very sceney place where good looking people can go eat spicy Caribbean food and stare at each other. But despite that being the case, we couldn’t help but be impressed with how well the concept is executed - and how tasty the food is. Most everything we tried landed somewhere between good and great, and the aesthetic of the restaurant is one of the smartest we’ve seen in this town. The front bar area is an excellent facsimile of a jerk chicken take-out counter, and the vibey back room is papered with old ska and reggae album covers, much like my living room might be if I smoked more weed. And even though it tends to be a little hot and sweaty, this is an undeniably cool place to hang out. Just don’t expect it to be your go-to spot for jerk chicken on the cheap. Miss Lily’s is ultimately most Perfect For impressing those who like to see-and-be-seen and don’t mind paying for it. Food Rundown Jamaican Corn Think elote from Cafe Habana or La Esquina, but Caribbean-style. There is some toasted coconut on there, and it is awesome. Red Snapper Ceviche A nice and delicate ceviche with big hunks of red snapper. Our only complaint here is that the plantain chips this comes with do you no service other than to litter your ceviche with broken chip fragments. We’ll use our forks, thanks. Ackee Dip & Plantain Chips Ackee is a fruit from Jamaica, and this dip was a white starchy substance that was also very garlicky. We liked it, but probably wouldn’t order it again. Been there done that. Curried Lobster Tacos Three little tacos in a red basket with a pretty piece of lobster in each. These were delicious. Ackee & Saltfish Tacos Another successful round of tacos, these ones were spicy and tasty, though the ackee has a texture that might turn some people off. Not us. Hellshire-Style Fried Whole Fish This whole red snapper has an incredibly tasty Caribbean spiced skin and is something that one of you at the table needs to order. You’ll have to work around some bones, but it’s worth it. So good. Vegetable Curry More flavorful than we might have expected, we loved this... especially the okra. This dish had a nice level of spice to it but wasn’t too intense." - Chris Stang

"Lots of restaurants promise to mentally transport diners to another place via their menu and atmosphere but few are as successful as Miss Lily’s and Miss Lily’s 7A Cafe, a Jamaican rum shack with stellar, vibrant food compliments of chef Kahari Woolcock. Menu standouts include glazed pork ribs, scotch bonnet shrimp, and oxtail with broad beans." - Korsha Wilson, Brianne Garrett, Ryan Sutton

"Cocktails, reggae and Caribbean fare, Miss Lily's Restaurant is a Jamaican style diner with checkered floors, vinyl booths, and walls decked out with album covers. Check out the VIP section accessible through a secret passageway. The "Variety & Cafe" next door is a casual West Indian record store-themed gallery boutique, Jamaican patty bakery, and take out annex, featuring legendary Melvin’s juice box organic juice bar. The front of Variety is home to Radio Lily internet radio station. A portion of all Miss Lily's Variety sales go to the Rockhouse Foundation a US registered charity supporting Jamaica's children and teachers." - 345 Design