Daniel B.
Yelp
Rodney's Jamaican Soul Food has been in my Yelp bookmarks "To Try" for a while. This Jamaican and soul food "fusion" restaurant has been around for nearly a decade (opened 2011, I believe). It's located in Cumberland Square North, the shopping center with Goodwill and restaurants like Olive Garden, Pho Dakao, Tacos La Villa, The Pirate's Boil, and Yakitori Jinbei, on Cobb Parkway across from Best Buy. My friends and I agreed the dinner we had from this restaurant was delicious. Service was great too.
Along with serving lunch and dinner, Rodney's also functions as a late-night hangout spot (club/lounge) on Friday and Saturday nights when the business is open until 2am next day. They bring in DJs and host various events. Check out their Facebook and Instagram pages for more info.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Rodneys-Jamaican-Soul-Food-140704136029076
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rodneyscuisine/
Inside, this restaurant has a spacious dining room with large, U-shaped booths, ideal for large groups and parties. They have a bar too, with plenty of TVs all around. In addition, they have a covered outdoor patio (storefront), but it was closed during my visit (the outside furniture was stacked up and put away). This is a casual place with a relaxed, comfortable, laid-back atmosphere.
My friends and I referred to the dinner menu on Rodney's website (https://www.rodneyscuisine.com/) and I called in our order for a Wednesday 6pm pickup. Our order was ready around 6:10pm and I paid in person. There were no issues with the order and the person I spoke with on the phone (the server name on my ticket says Darius, but I think someone else rung me up) repeated my order back to me for confirmation. I've had mix-ups on takeout orders at different restaurants recently, so I'm glad he did that.
Here's what we got:
* Brown Stew Chicken ($14.25) - pan-seared chicken slow-cooked in brown gravy with collard greens and steamed rice
* Jerk Chicken ($15.25) - grilled chicken marinated in house jerk seasonings with steamed cabbage with vegetable medley and fried plantains
* Jerk Pork ($15.50) - grilled pork marinated in house seasonings and topped with country gravy with cream corn and fried plantains
* Oxtail Stew ($20.50) - braised oxtail slowly cooked with vegetables and butter beans with callaloo and fried plantains
* DG Jamaican Ginger Beer ($2.25 per bottle)
Around the table, everyone talked about how delicious their food was. My friend who ordered the Brown Stew Chicken, she's a picky eater and even she said she couldn't stop eating it. It was that good to her. I heard both the Jerk Chicken and Jerk Pork were nice and spicy. Meat portions were generous, especially for my oxtail. I've had oxtail several times in/around Atlanta -- this oxtail from Rodney's was by far the meatiest and heartiest I've tried. I was impressed with how thick and chunky the pieces of meat on the bone were and how tender and flavorful it was too. The stew was rich and savory. I should have ordered some rice for myself to mix in and not let any of the tasty stew go to waste. Based on our reactions, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the above entree selections.
All dinner entrees come with a side. I was a little underwhelmed with the fried plantains. They were plain and not very flavorful. I had to dip mine in the oxtail stew to get some flavor on them. The callaloo was outstanding. I highly recommend it. If you've never heard of callaloo before, it's a popular leafy green Caribbean vegetable dish. The version I had from Rodney's contained a little bit of carrot and some (I think) white onion too. I likened it to creamed spinach. Yummy and addictive. The "steamed rice" on the menu is white rice.
The prices we paid are generally what you can expect at dinner, though they do have more expensive dishes like Rodney's Surf & Turf ($32.70) and Jerk Lamb Chops ($32.20). You can get many of the same entrees for less at lunchtime, Monday-Friday, 11am-3pm. For example, at lunch, the Brown Stew Chicken is $11.75, Jerk Chicken $12.25, Jerk Pork $12.50, and Oxtail Stew $16.00. And lunch entrees come with two sides too. I'm not sure how much the portions differ. Aside from Jamaican and Caribbean fare, Rodney's also offers vegetarian dishes like Curried Tofu, salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, and pasta. Soul food comes in the form of sides like black eyed peas, buttermilk mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese.
I had a couple friends in Smyrna notice the pictures of the food I posted from this place on Instagram and Twitter. They'd known about this place, but have never been. I'll write here what I said to them -- the food was very good. If you like Jamaican food, I think Rodney's is definitely worth checking out.