Tropical Bowl

We ordered from this Jamaican restaurant for a party of eight on the same day, and we were blown away by the experience. The food was fresh, flavorful, and of the highest quality. The service was outstanding—prompt and attentive. The owner and staff were incredibly friendly, when food was picked up. We will definitely be ordering again! I can’t say enough good things about this place. Highly recommend!”

I saw this place on Google after looking for red snapper. I had red snapper prepared in Jamaica and I was craving that same taste. So I gave this place a try. The place itself is small, they have a menu with a number of items and they offer authentic Jamaican soda. I ordered 3 snappers prepared differently, stewed, fried and steamed. My biggest gripe is, I was told 30 mins to prepare and it took an hour and a half. There is one cook who prepares everything. The food was really good but the wait will keep me from coming back. The staff were very friendly, and helped in deciding the best options for me. The cabbage was not for me and the rice and peas were decent. I don't want mixed veggies in my cabbage and I'm used to Jamaican cabbage being a bit sweeter. I did add a Mac and cheese and if you're like me, baked Mac and cheese is the only way to go. This was more of a boxed Mac and cheese and I could have saved my $7. I used the stew sauce to help juice up the rice and peas. Now I've never had rice and peas that weren't dry so I think that's just how they're made. Give it a try!

People, get on this local hidden gem now! We were looking for a place to eat after church and this restaurant popped up. After looking at the reviews and menu, we went to visit. The place is small and clean; more for takeout than dine-in, but we dined in since there was a table available to seat the four of us. We ordered $122 (includes tip) worth of drink and food since it was our first time there, excited to try what we could fit on the table 😆 : jerk wings, curry chicken, jerk chicken, curry goat, and pepper steak. We ordered medium sized entrees and they were filling! So much food, we had leftovers; one ate all their container of rice, veggies and pepper steak! It was that delicious. The rice, peas and veggies are great on their own, but the star for me were the fried plantains - sweet, velvety texture that complements the savory dishes. I'd order more of that. The wings were the last item served as they are fried fresh to order - they will take some time but worth the wait though! During our time there a little after 1pm, the line and orders began to pick up. You get the vibe that these were customers that frequented the restaurant - laughing with the lady (owner?) at the window, making conversation, saying "hi" - the support for this establishment was nice to see and hear ☺️. After we were finished and packing up, the lady checked in on us, asking if the food was good and if it was our first time there. She was so nice. We were impressed with our first experience there and will be back when we can to try more food - thank you for the hospitality!

I’ve always considered this spot one of the best places for Jamaican food in the state, but unfortunately, my visit tonight was a big disappointment. When I arrived around 4:30–5:00 PM to grab a meal, nearly everything was sold out cabbage, oxtail, curry goat, multiple flavors of wings all unavailable. The only reason I’m not posting a picture is because I want to show some grace. There was only one person in the back running everything cooking, answering phones, and handling orders and she looked overwhelmed. I don’t want to come down too hard on someone working that hard by herself. That said, the curry chicken I received was extremely dry and bland. There was no juice or sauce, and honestly, it tasted like food that had been sitting out for a while. As a paying customer in this economy, that was disappointing. Still, I do appreciate the effort of the staff working under those circumstances. I’ll chalk tonight’s experience up as a loss, but I’m willing to give Tropical Bowl another try before deciding whether or not to stop coming back altogether.

I’m giving a three star review to remain neutral because I’ve patronized this spot for some time now. I loved it, and definitely thought this was THEE most authentic Jamaican food I’ve had in MN. . .until recently. I saw someone say they must have changed management and the restaurant replied that they hadn’t. Well I say you have definitely changed cooks. It’s been a while for that very reason. Hope you get back on track.

Open sign wasn't on so wasn't sure if they were opened, but with someone eating inside, I opened the door and went up to the counter and ask if they were opened. After taking a min I put in a ordered for the ox tail and chicken wings! Asked for 2 sauce mango habanero and strawberry. Cashier said no strawberry, thus I changed my wing order from 12 to 6 wings. After paying and waiting for a few minutes, he comes back and says they're out of wings. He asked if I would like the jerk chicken as a replacement. Chicken was on the drier side, but the jetk sauce (glad I took it when he asked if i wanted it) helped out a lot. The ox tail was ok, soft and tender. The bed of rice and bean drench in the ox tail juices was good. By itself it's just rice and beans.

Excellent place, service and food is delicious! We ordered some jerk chicken, oxtail, and chicken curry last minute for a team meeting at our office, and the owner was amazing and got us hooked up with some great food at such a short notice. Highly recommend!

Never again! I tried this place after trying the first Jamaican restaurant that I really love. I wanted to give this place a chance too. So I ordered through DoorDash. I ordered the large oxtail meal, and Mac and bake jerk chicken. I was not expecting the jerk chicken to be mixed inside the mac and cheese. That didn't make sense to me; I thought the jerk chicken would be on the side, so I could experience the jerk flavor. The oxtails, we're not good, did not have no flavor to them. Just plain out nasty! I'm sorry to say, but this is not my place to go to for oxtails. I will continue to go to the other place that I was going to by a guy who actually does the cooking. I traveled to jamaica a few times a year, so I know how jamaican food is supposed to taste, and what I was told once before by a jamaican man that the jamaican men cook wayyy better than Jamaica women. When my dasher arrived to the store, he waited at least 15 mins for my food which I did not understand because it's not like she had to cook it. They are always talking about they are out of something or they ran out and if we would like an replacement. She tried to say that their oxtails are the first to go. I don't't believe this after tasting them. I just feel that they can't afford them from time to time. I originally ordered white rice and she called me and asked me if I wanted the rice and beans. The oxtails had no flavor they were not as tender and barely any meat on the bone(mostly grizzle) and I ordered a large and felt like I only got about maybe six bones and some mini sized ones. Thank god I got a refund from doordash. A lot of their reviews are fake. You can tell. Don't waste your time.

We ordered ox tail bowl (large) during our visit. We also ordered the specialty burger, mac and cheese for the kids, side of plantain and coco bread. The kids really enjoyed the coco bread. I liked the ox tail - it was cooked to tenderness and has lots of rich flavors. I know it's hard to cook ox tail as they tend to have lots of fatty parts but they made it just right. The burger we ordered was overall basic but the jerk sauce is a great addition to change its flavor. The portion is large. The restaurant is very small has about 3-4 tables. They might mainly do carry outs. At one point the restaurant seems to be a bit smoky, and they do not have restroom and high chairs so might not be as kids friendly if you are dining in. Owners and chefs are super friendly.