Irie Café Jamaican Grille

The food was expensive and not that good, which is probably the main reason They are closed and no longer at this location.

My good friend wanted Jamaican food for her birthday, so a quick search led us here.
I like to keep my reviews short and sweet, so here goes:
Jerk Chicken-​A
Rice and Peas-​A
Cabbage-​B
Ackee and Saltfish-​A
Callaloo-​B
Bartender-​A+ (He’s heavy handed with the drinks! I couldn’t finish my rum and coke because I wanted to be able to actually DRIVE home! We ended up sitting for a good hour just to let the ½ drink we finished wear off.)
Service-​A (surprising, because my people aren’t the best at hospitality!)
It’s a nice restaurant tucked away in the corner of a shopping plaza. I’ll definitely return again.

The service is iffy, they are slow, and they are often closed. BUT — we love the two vegetarian options: curried vegetables and vegetable roti. These dishes are delicious and healthy. Also, we really value having a Caribbean cuisine restaurant here in Bowie, as it adds nice variety when most of the options are boring chains.

My friend and I came here for lunch. I ordered the Jamaican Jerk chicken and asked for white meat instead of dark meat and they were able to do that easily. I also had the sorrel drink.
When we arrived, the store opened a little later than advertised but my friend and I did some shopping nearby so it wasn’t a problem.
The place was pretty empty when we went on a Sunday, but it had nice seating and a TV to watch sports. The service was good. The person who took our order also brought us the food. The Jamaican jerk chicken with the rice & peas and green beans was very filling.

This was our 1^st and last time dining here. The service was not good. Our server didn’t care about much of anything… including serving us. I understand the laid back island vibe… but he was actually rude. Anytime we needed something, we had to get up from the table to go ask him for it. Maybe it’s because he is the bartender and not used to serving food? Idk, nor is that my problem. We blame ourselves for not checking the reviews first. That 2.5 star rating is generous according to our experience. What a disappointment. It was atheistically pleasing but too bad the service and food didn’t live up to its appearances. Also had clean bathrooms (actually I can only speak for the ladies room). That’s about the only good thing I can say about it. So if you are looking for a nice looking restaurant with a clean ladies room but you are not too concerned about how good/​bad the food is or how bad the service is, go there!

I went here after some friends raved about it. I am not sure what they saw in it. First of all it took about 40 minutes to get our food. And when we did all we got was the Coco bread. Mine was hot on the top and cold on the bottom, like refrigerator or freezer cold. I sent it back and my waitress was nice enough to retrieve a hot one for me. I took about three small bites and stopped because it was horrible. It had a weird stale taste to it. Next came the appetizers that I ordered as a meal — coconut shrimp and a beef patty. The coconut shrimp had the tails sticking out of some square blocky looking mess. I couldn’t taste shrimp at all and it was about 95% breading. Then came the beef patty. The beef patty was clearly a patty that you get from the store from the freezer section because it wasn’t authentic at all. The waitress/​bartender never refilled our drinks but we can’t really can’t blame her since they had one person serving 21 people. I tasted my friends jerk chicken, rice and peas, and plantains. The chicken was salty, over spiced, and dry. The rice and peas were mushy and overcooked. The plantains were way too sweet. And a day later my stomach hurts and my friend said she has been sick to her stomach. I don’t get the feeling that the food was tainted with anything but it was just an assault on the stomach. This was hands-​down the worst Jamaican food I’ve ever had in my entire life.

We have been to Irie Café twice. First off, I want to say we are so happy this place opened and we will try it again. It has potential to be excellent and Bowie needs more independent restaurants. My husband got the jerk chicken and my sister and I both ordered the curry vegetables. For sides, we had rice and plantains. The curry vegetables were good! I was impressed with the flavor. The rice was a little dry. The plantains were just ok. I love plantains and these were not that great. my husband thought the jerk chicken was okay, not amazing. We ordered some bread for our toddler and it was clearly microwaved and was not fresh. That was a disappointment.
The atmosphere could use some work. It is dark and could really use some lighter paint and more lighting to brighten it up. Both times we’ve been there it has been completely empty. I hope they are able to improve some of the menu, brighten the place up, and attract more diners!

If you want Jamaican food close in Bowie. this is an OK option. .I got Roti shrimp and goat .it was a okay. .I had too many bones and not enough meat… my husband had four shrimp. .I’m gonna give them another try with another dish… it’s okay but not awesome.

fabulous our first time there, the food was really good, jerk salmon and currie chicken was real tasty. veggies are fresh and well cooked salad was fresh and had a lot of veggies too. we would have liked to sit at the bar but it was closed because the bartender didn’t show, that said the food is really good and we would certainly go back. with a bartender 4 star

Complete nonsense. And to think I was actually excited about having a Caribbean restaurant practically next door. I never ordered for the first cpl months because I didnt get how the «lunch special» was $ 13. So I guess after being bone dry for a while, they finally took the hint that their prices were outrageous and decided to offer a more sensible lunch special for $ 6.99. So now I’m intrigued to try it! I’ve never been there before, so I’ve tried to play it safe and order something that you can’t really mess up– curry chicken… What a mess! Not only are the employees a bit rude, the portion size was laughable, the presentation was horrible and the food tasted like something that was defrosted and ripped from a plastic ziploc bag to be warmed up, added water and served as «authentic.» I really hope they fire their chef as the place is in a good location and truly does have potential. But at this rate, they won’t be around too long… That’s the last time you’ll get $ 7 from me.

YAY! Seriously delicious Caribbean food in Bowie. Veggie Roti is outstanding! OMG! So good and ranks at the top of my favorite roti. Staff was friendly and courteous. Lauren, the bartender is a treasure. Beautiful on outside and inside! Will be visiting again and very soon.

Ok, I walked in. No customers. In fact, no one working. Stood there for 2 minutes, no one came out. I’ll redo the review if I come back

Was in the shopping center for a random reason, I saw that this place was open and thought to give it a go! I saw the lunch special sign right out front and thought, SCORE!
When we stepped inside, the place was EMPTY! It was very nice looking inside, but dark. Very nicely decorated to be in a strip mall! However, no one was inside the restaurant except for the nice young lady behind the counter. She was extremely welcoming and very friendly! I ordered the brown stew chicken and it was ready in no time! I grabbed my lunch special to go and was on my way!
First off let me say, the brown stew chicken was very good! Great sauce and very tender chicken! The lunch special portion looked small, but it was more than enough to satisfy! The cabbage and rice and peas were equally as good!
All in all, I would definitely come back for round two! I have a friend who lives very close by and on my time near Hilltop Shopping Center, I will definitely have to stop over in the Irie Café to see what other goodies they have to offer! This was just the beginning of a hopefully wonderful relationship!

I love Jamaican food… like LOVE, LOVE, LOVE — and I love me some Irie Café. I was really disappointed when Muffin Man decided that it would not be opening a second location in this plaza and was surprised to see Irie in its place. I just assumed some non-​restaurant would pop up in its stead. My husband and I stumbled about the restaurant on our way to Chesapeake Grille next door, when Irie caught our eye, so we decided to try it out instead.
The restaurant is deceivingly large. From the front, you have no idea that it will span as much square footage as it does, completely with plenty of sit-​down seating, a full bar, and a dessert counter. The menu will have your mouth watering and your mind confused with all the options. I got the curry goat and my husband got the short ribs and when I say that we tore that food up, I mean we TORE IT UUUUUUUPPPPPP!!! OMG! Was it good! Better than the Jamaican food I had in JAMAICA even! A big olé slice of rum cake for the road? Don’t mind if I do! Fabulous and moist! Just plain delicious!
Since we got our food to go, the bartender took care of our orders. She was super sweet and attentive as we waited (which was only like 15 minutes or so). Since it was in the middle of the day (and they just opened up this past Nov/​Dec), there wasn’t anyone there, but I am sure that will soon change as soon as the word gets out more about this gem.
If you are looking for a date night option or a satisfying lunch with friends, take your date here and really impress. I can only imagine how it is at night. Something tells me there is a band or some sort of live music due to the set up. If not, then let me make that suggestion, Irie. Do that and everyone will feel like they are on a Jamaican vacation.

I did not want to be the first to trash this place but I will concur with what Bill said. I had my hopes very high for this place and ordered about $ 60 worth of food. One to support and two to see if it was any good. Now I must note this was last year a week after they just opened. The spot was suppose to initially go to the Muffin Man but they ran out of money I was told so now it is the Irie Café. Yes I have eagerly awaiting It appeared they had a young boy manning the register and were attempting to get a liquor license so I cut them some slack. I never tasted worse Jamaican food from a «Jamaican» restaurant in my life. I have tasted pretty bad and wanted to be Jamaican dishes in the past but from a «authentic» Jamaican establishment, it was not good. I ordered the Jerk Salmon which had a weird sweet jerk marinate on it. It appeared they baked the salmon, there was not a smoker in sight. Did I mention this was almost $ 20 bucks and came out in a Styrofoam carton, a small size at that. I also ordered the curry goat and the ox tail none of which was good. If you want authentic and tasty Caribbean read my previous review of Jamaican Country Kitchen and travel the extra distance to get yourself some good food. This place will probably not last long and it is a shame.

Was so very excited that a Yardie spot opened up in Bowie. Got my food and went home to eat it and ended up throwing it all away. I asked for peas and rice it was like mush, my curry vegetables were over cooked and to top it off the callaloo had fish in it. As many times as I have this dish I have never had fish mixed in. I told the guy at the register i was a vegetarian so you would think he would have said something.
I guess they had only been open a week or so but they have three other locations. I think they have no chef yet for that location and they are bringing food over from another location and microwaving it. It is my hope that they get it together. Oh did I mention they are CRAZY EXPENSIVE. Come on IRIE CAFE of Bowie get your ish together.