Muffin Man Caribbean Express

one of the best jerk wings I’ve eating aside from home made. I haven’t tried anything beside the wings but I mean outstanding. The only reason I cannot fully give a 5 star review is because of the process of ordering the food. I mean you can use a credit/​debit card but it has to match your name on your drivers license, for security purposes I totally understand, but its such a hassle. I had to go to my car and grab my ID.
Other than that one little problem, I love the food. I travel from Burtonsville to Lanham, when I’m craving the most amazing wings ever!

I used to love eating here, but I can no longer patronize this establishment. The quality of the food has gone down and the prices have gone wayy up. The only two things that have remained consistent are the amazing muffins and the nasty, rude, lazy woman behind the counter.

By far one of the best Caribbean restaurants I’ve experienced. Was greeted by a friendly smile and asked if I was a 1^st timer. Was encouraged to order their jerk and ziggy wings with rice and beans. Jerk were on another level in terms of spice, but were absolutely delicious! The entire meal was swallowed in about ten minutes. Loads of great flavor. Finished the meal with a signature Muffin Man muffin– chocolate chocolate chip! Simply amazing! A must try spot.

Food is always good… But waiting for over 30+minutes for my take-​out order is unacceptable. Very disappointing to wait that long for your order

Terrible customer service if you can find a day that they’re open. Slow one line, then attitude at the register, then a 20 minute wait for your food. And the food is average at best.

(3.5 stars) Oxtail, rice & beans were delicious!!! Cabbage needed seasoning & were overcooked (simple fix). Lack of stars are more for the long wait after ordering. Over the years, the wait has increased, thus I don’t come as often as I use to. Online ordering may be an option the owner (s) would like to explore.

GREAT MUFFINS, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!
First and foremost, I would just like to state that I am a firm believer in supporting small local businesses within the community. Nothing is more inspiring to me than the entrepreneur who has utilized his/​her talent and turned it into a thriving business.
Maybe I went there at the wrong day. Maybe I caught the lady at a bad time, but I have never experienced such rudeness in my life before. The lady I am talking about wears glasses and has short hair. MEAN! MEAN! MEAN! I get to the front and I greet this lady. From the jump, she was giving me attitude as if I had murdered her newborn baby and slaughtered 5 puppies, rolling her eyes as if I was just another nuisance looking for trouble. Ok, fine. I ask for 5 Strawberry Strudel Muffins. I pay with my credit card and we both proceed over to the muffin area so that I can specifically pick which muffins I wanted from the tray. Now, I admit that I made a simple mistake by not verbalizing the muffins I wanted. Instead, I pointed with my fingers. Immediately she responds with «I don’t know what all of that is,» referring to my finger pointing. Mind you her tone was so rude and she even made sure that I knew how much she HATED me by the disgusting look she gave to me. Immediately I was taken aback. The way this woman treated me from the jump was as if I was the scum of the Earth, a homeless crackhead wandering into the establishment. I could not believe it. I took my muffins and I left determined to write a review on this specific woman.
Perhaps there are other people who work at this establishment who exude excellent customer service skills, but I have seen this woman before and she wasn’t so nice then. However, the way she treated me today was so disappointing and shocking to me that I felt it was my duty to write this review.
For the sake of this establishment, I would suggest that the owner, Mr. Roderick O’Savio (and I hope he sees this review), replace this mean woman with someone who at least knows the basics of customer service. I don’t want to see this establishment lose business over one employee who is literally ALWAYS angry. FIX IT now before it gets worse later.
SIDE NOTE: Look at the average number of customers who frequent ‘The Muffin Man’ and compare that to ‘Just Jerk,’ an establishment which is right down the street. LIKE NIGHT and DAY. Never listen to anyone who tells you that CUSTOMER SERVICE does not make all the difference. Just Jerk’s customer service is superb. They don’t have any of the great muffins, but I can assure you that their business is always filled with customers from opening to closing. The Muffin Man is like a ghost town most of the time, with a small influx of customers in the evening.

I went to this restaurant today for lunch and the food was average, I ordered the zingy wings with curried vegetables. The zingy wings were good but the curried vegetables weren’t how I expected them to be.

This is the first place I have ever been to where they actually asked for a tip at the checkout. Mind you, this was before I even finished paying. I won’t be returning.

I use to be a regular at this restaurant. I always got the jerk chicken or ziggy wings, and they were always cooked to perfection and delicious. But I must say over the years the service has gotten worst. Their extremely under staffed so expect a ridiculous wait in the evenings. The lady at the counter seems to always have an attitude and they are not very accommodating to customers needs. You can’t do a spit payment, you cannot ask for just flat pieces or drumsticks, you cant call in an order, and when you walk up there is a counter full of signs of things you can’t order and can’t do. No doubt that the food is good… but the service makes me never want to return again

The food is good but the service is terrible. Ridiculously slow and disorganized. Nice enough staff and they are friendly but they need to hire some more help or something. And they’re always outta something

Yes the food here is good but way overpriced and their customer service isn’t good and the staff moves very very slow. I’ve been up there twice in the past week during their working hours and they were closed. I tried calling and got a plain voicemail, which didn’t give any message stating they were closed or nothing. That was my last time going to muffin man. Yes you can have great food but customer service must be number one.

Do you know the muffin man? When I was a kid my dad would always bring home a dish of spicy chicken with rice. I loved it growing up. As I got older and hadn’t had it in years, I plucked my dad’s memory until he recalled the name of the restaurant. The Muffin Man! I set out on a journey to get another taste of a delicious meal from my childhood. Arriving at the location I’m like oh boy this shopping center looks a little outdated. However, the shopping center was very crowded. The establishment was quite big with plenty places to sit and eat. We walked to the back until we saw the cashier who greeted us with a menu. We ordered the curry and jerk wings with cabbage. The wait was about 20 minutes. Not bad I guess. The food was nice and hot! The first bite was amazing and it brought back so many memories! Omg I can’t wait to go back! I haven’t had the muffins but I will try them next time!

This review is for the muffins only, as I’ve never tried the other food. My family and I drive hours out of our way just to get these huge, beautiful, sweet muffins. The lemon is by far the favorite because it has such a moist, sticky texture unlike any other and tastes magical. Seriously, the lemon muffin tastes how you would imagine the illustrated food in fairy tale books would taste. It is decidedly lemon and definitely unreal. By the time you finished the muffin you’ll think you imagined it and it’s time for another muffin despite being full! The second favorite is probably the cranberry walnut with streusel crumble. But really you can’t go wrong with any of the flavors. Just make sure you’re ready for that pricetag because a huge box of muffins is not cheap. And you’ll need at least a dozen because picking flavors is not easy even when half must be lemon. If I ever become ridiculously rich, I’ll have the lemon muffins flown down to FL just so I can always have a stash. How can you have any problems when your mouth is full of fairy tale lemon muffin?

Ok I will tell you. There is a reason that Muffin is first in the title of this restaurant. First review despite being there a few times. The muffins are outstanding. They are huge and full of flavor with an assortment of flavors. In fact the muffin can be a whole meal for you. The food is ok but I will easily put Pimentos or Weakness for Sweetness above Muffin man. I went with the curry shrimp (my go to) with cabbage and plantains. As I said it was good but nothing that will make you say wow I have to go back. I also got a few Ziggy wings as it was suggested that they are a must try. I have to say that the wings were something I could have skipped. Some people are a fan of fall of the bone meat but not I. They were just doused in seasoning and it seems as if it was kept cooking too long.

I cannot speak to this but whenever I am in there I hear people complaining about how long they have to wait but I think my longest wait was about 15 – 20 minutes which is not that bad. Still I will not make excuses as it seems that every time I have gone there is only one person working in the back. More time could be spent with customers and taking their orders if it was not for certain customers arguing as to why they cannot use a credit belong to someone else. So good on you Muffin Man for a little security. Speaking of security don’t get turned off by the armed security guard watching everyone at the Bank of America ATM. Many people are missing out on great places to eat and support because they are in «sketch» areas. Overall not a bad place but it can be hit and miss just as anyplace.

Typically when you go to a Caribbean restaurant, you know what you’re getting: good food and iffy service. I love my Carribean brethren but I have NEVER ordered food in-​house at a Carribean spot and been happy about the time it took to get my food. With that being said, I feel the only fair way to judge one of these places is on the quality and selection of food. And the Muffin Man serves a wide variety of delicious, authentic Caribbean cuisine. They can ease up on the spice a little though because it can be overpowering in the jerk, but maybe that’s just my preference.
The BEST part, however, is the selection of softball-​sized rainbow colored muffins for which the shop is named. Muffins as big as a baby’s head, in flavors ranging from piña colada and guava to blueberry and chocolate chip. You can get a mango flavored muffin here, guys. I just don’t know what else to say.
4.5 stars from me because of the excessive spice and the prices going up since I’ve been there last.

We went during the early afternoon on a Saturday so there wasn’t a line or a long wait time. The customer service was fine, nothing over and beyond but nothing horrid either. They did mess up my order and gave me a side I didn’t ask for but by that time, I was too hungry to try and have them correct it. The food was tasty and not overly seasoned. The prices are high compared to other similar restaurants I’ve been to. They do give you a nice healthy portion and aren’t selfish with the meat. Oh… we did dine in that day. Tables were clean and the atmosphere was cozy. Nice overall sit down lunch with the hubby.

I agree with all negative post. This place has went down and prices keep going up. They have their own hours. I was there yesterday 10÷5÷2015 at 5:30 and they were closed. They do have too many rules for ordering. You cant go there for a co-​worker and used the card if someone is treating you. Its just a place I would rather not give my money to.

The muffins were good and the food was a little salty but still nice. The customer service was horrible. There’s not enough space to explain everything that happened but I’ll explain the things that bothered me the most. We were so excited to come here, even with the negative reviews on here we wanted to experience it ourselves. First impression of the place is very nice and clean, when we got up to the cashier she had a ugh why are you here face. No hi how are you nothing, just a stare we had to say hello to her first and still nothing. We proceeded to order and i don’t eat cabbage so I asked to substitute it for plantain. She goes no substitution the meals cannot be modified. Ookkk? Well can I have plantain on the side as a side order? She goes no we don’t have plantain. We tried to ignore her attitude so we kept ordering and kept trying to make the best out the situation and explain why I don’t like cabbage. This lady was not happy I tell you.
We wanted to try the muffins so we picked out 3 and when we got to the chocolate muffins she responded like ok chocolate I have differ bet chocolate be specific. It was really puzzling how this lady can be so rude to us but nicer to older people that came in well maybe regulars. We were first time customers and I believe we could have become regulars because the muffins were very good and tasty, the rice and peas was very well cooked and the brown stew chicken was flavorful, the jerk wings were fall off the bone as well. I just hate the experience we had… Oh they have signs that said don’t ask for extra sauce due to high demands we can’t give you extra sauce or something like that, no substitutions the meals are as is. Lol so one question what if someone is allergic to something and wants it removed? They will have to bend their policy then right? Smh
The only reason this review got 2 stars is because of the food, if the food was tasteless then this review will easily be a 1 star review. The worse part about it is we were talking to the owner (cashier). Customers make your business, without customers there is no business. People need to appreciate their customers first timers and your regulars.

Nuh lang ago mi decide fi get food at muffin man. One of mi favorite foods curry goat suh mi figured mi wud guh wid dat. Mi also orda curry chicken fi mi lady an also get a orda of beef patties an coco bread. Mi must of really tink mi a true jamaican dat day cuz fi a jink mi orda di ginga pineapple. Mi haffi admit dat while mi did eating di food mi tink it did amazing. Di portions did genorous an seasoned perfectly. Di store did clean an di people behind di counta did very friendly. Half way through mi meal mi figured dat mi had find mi new favorite spot fi jamaican.
Wi dine inna an afterward wi head back home. Mi nuh sure wah happen between muffin man an di ride home, but by di time mi arrive at home mi stomach did pon fire. Mi mean dis day truly teach mi di difference between just feeling sick an being ill. Mi wi spare yuh di details but mi spend di next two days outta wuk. Needless to sey dat mi cancelled all future trips to muffin man an mi nuh been back since. Mi nuh been able to decide eff mi tink it did di pineapple gina jink dat mi had or eff it did sup’m inna di food (which mi wud really hate to think). Eitha way mi nuh been able to bring myself to dine at dis spot eva since.
Howeva pon seeing all di decent reviews dis place gotten since pon Unilocal,mi may end up making a return howeva mi tink mi wi just orda a soda dis time an si wah happens. Maybe mi tink mi did a bad mon an find ut mi nuh rasta at all. Mi ave just neva had an experience dat end suh unfavorably afta eating inna restaurant before. Afta mi visit again mi wi definitely update mi review but dis a probably di best review anyone ave eva gotten form sum’ady who end up nuh feeling well afta eating from a establishment. Eff yuh wondering why mi write mi whole review like dis mi ave no idea, but yuh ave a problem wid it… guh suck yuh madda!

I didn’t have to wait because a coworker picked up my food. So all that I can do it talk about the taste of my food.
Jerk chicken wings– Awesome. They were fall off the bone tender and super spicy!
Rice & peas– they tasted as good as any Caribbean rice & peas that I’ve ever had.
Plantains– sweet and soft… mmmmm…
Ginger beer– homemade and strong. I think I have some extra hairs on my chest!
Like I said, I can’t speak on the service as others have complained about, but the food was some of the best that I’ve had. I’ll try it again in the near future!

Food is alright not as good as it used to be but prices keep climbing and they have to many rules just to order some damn food.

Let me make this as breif as possible. This was my favorite spot when I was put on back in 08. The Ziggy wings, the Black bottom Muffin, coc bread, everything was on point and Worth the money spent.
My trip here a few weeks ago killed every love I’ve had for this place. The lady at the counter was rude as _​_​_​_​. I ordered the Ziggy Wings. She wouldnt prepare my food the way I wanted (light rice, mostly cabbage. I got allll this rice and basically no cabbage!!.The Nice lady last time I was here did it no problem!) The food was lukewarm. Chicken hard. And my tummy hurt something serious that night and next morning. Im dissapointed and out $ 15 for stuff I couldve made myself. Goodbye until yall get new management!

What is happening to this place??? Very poor customer service!
I’ve been here twice within a month and both experiences were BAD! I’m done.
Saturday 2÷21÷15: Posted business hours are 11am — 8pm. I was at the door at 11am with another customer and an employee. The employee was banging on the door and calling on the phone to get inside. Once she reached someone on the phone at 11:10 she was told that they were running late and not opening the doors for ANOTHER 15 minutes. The employees inside didn’t even have enough respect for the customers to come to the door and alert us of the situation. I then left without any food.
Friday 3÷6÷15: I arrived at 1:30pm for lunch. There were 8 customers when I arrived and no visible employees. 10 MINUTES passed before someone came to the front. During that time 4 customers walked out without being serviced. The woman who came to the front announced that she was the ONLY one in the restaurant and she was taking orders AND filling them. She proceeded to take all the orders and then went to the back to pack the orders. That entire process took 40 minutes and I’m not exaggerating. JUST TERRIBLE And if that wsn’t bad enough my ziggy wings were hard.
And why don’t they take carryout orders over the phone anyway???
Battled between 1 and 2 stars. Decided on two because I have had some good food a few months ago but the customer service has ALWAYS been on the rude side.

It’s official… the food has gone down significantly. The prices are much higher and the customer service is horrid. The owner sits behind the counter yelling «Next» like your in the IRS office instead of a food establishment. I figured it has been awhile and I would give them a try again. I was mad I even bothered! The food is high. $ 14.50 for ziggy and bob Marley (basically their version of garlic and pepper chicken). The ziggy wings are obviously reheated and hard as a brick. I absolutely hate waisting any food since many people in the world are starving but I was going to throw the food in the trash if not for my beliefs in wasting food. the sad part is these people seem to think customers have to go here and buy their overpriced food and out up with their horrible customer service. At this pace, they will close soon. I’m very angry I waisted my money on their food today.
Don’t listen to the cheerleader postings if you are used to tasty Jamaican food, find a real one. Their are plenty in the area for half the cost of this place. Don’t bother waisting your time. The owners are comfortable. Maybe if they had competition or customers dropped significantly they would get their attitudes together OR save people’s taste buds and close.

Very slow customer service menu is not visible so you wait in line and can’t pick what you want until you in front of register or next in line

They don’t have a large menu posted — only ONE small menu at the counter.
The food is OVERPRICED.
The service is very SLOW.
The food is BLAND.
The customer service is TERRIBLE.
It’s very sad to see a good restaurant go down the tubes like this. In previous years, it was a great place. Now it’s simply awful. Save your time and money. Go elsewhere.

Delicious fish! Ziggy wings are really good. Love the oxtail stew and sides. Of course the muffins are really good and are like cakes. Get the combos or special everything is good.

NOTHING like Jamaican Food.
Im amazed at all the other 4 star reviews. Let me guess those reviewers must be American’s used to buying watered down versions of Jamaican cuisine. Honeychile let me tell yall this taste NOTHING like Jamaican food.
So I walk in and the cashier was friendly and said «Hello, welcome to blah blah, can I take your ordeR?» and IMMEDIATELY I knew the food was gonna be bad.
Why? Because never in my Jamaican life have I EVER gotten good service at a tasty jamaican restuarant. The worse the service the better the food. (Think Sweet Mango Café, Caribbean Market or in FL Marks Caribbean Restaurant or Millie’s Café. Boston — Flames) all poor service but the food is EFFING AMAZING!!!
Maybe us Jamaicans like torture but our attitude sucks and we keep patronzing these places. Its a problem we need to fix especially when serving one another, as soon as they find out Im «Jamerican» (my parents are born in JA) or a «Yankee» (some one from America) I get the rudest ‘tude ever!!!
Anyway so you are probably thinking Im prejudging – rightfully so. Cause when I got my curry goat Roti it was a salty, flavorless chunk of tough goat meat. Curry? What kind of curry did they use? Badia? Spanish curry? Grace curry? It sucked. Every Jamaican knows the best curry to use is «Choice», «Chief» or «BetaPack». Didnt taste any thyme or see any thyme sprigs in my food. And the curry didnt stain my fingers another indicator of poor curry seasoning choice.
Too salty, did I say that one already? Good thats how salty it was. No spice and no flavorful seasonings
So me say to me self «A wah dis me a nyam?» (in my best inner thoughts Patois)
The roti skin was standard so Ill give them a point for that. And they got the second star because the customer service was amazing!
Theres no way Im coming back Ive been to Jamaica a few times and have had real Jamaican food theres no turning back!

My husband and I decided to check out the Muffin Man Caribbean Express as we were in the area (and I wanted to see what else the Seabrook Station plaza had to offer). I loved the Marley motif; there seemed to be a lot of locals doing carry-​outs and ordering in, so that was a good sign. There was only one cashier, so the line was kind of backed up, but we got there just in time to be one of the first. Their menu offers Jamaican/​Carribean specialties, such as jerk chicken, jerk shrimp, seafood dishes, fish entrees, oxtail with rice, goat curry, etc. There were also the ‘Muffin Man’ muffins, that were a generous size and of a gourmet style, behind the casing up at the front. When it was time to order, I was disappointed that they ran out of oxtail (they just sold the last of it to the lady in front of us!!!), so Ms. Juliet, the no-​nonsense cashier, suggested the goat curry. I was a little apprehensive, as goat can be kind of game-​y. However, it seemed to be a popular entrée, so I sucked it up and ordered that. This came with a side of pickled cabbage and rice and beans. I also ordered one Jamaican beef patty (also comes with a chicken filling) as well as 1 Mango muffin (last one left!). The goat curry was very flavorful; the chunks of goat meat had a very slight of game-​iness, but was nice and tender, and the curry sauce itself was very thick and nice — very flavorful — it was great with the rice and beans. I wasn’t much of a fan of the cabbage, though, as it was a little too sour. I bet that the oxtail version would be quite delicious, if they use the same sauce! The patty had a thicker and a drier crust, so it was just okay. The muffin? HOLY JEEBUS! This is where the ORIGINAL MOTHER GOOSE’S MUFFIN MAN has been hiding out all these years!!! I wasn’t in the mood for something chocolate-​y, so I saw that the Mango (and some others) were almost out — I thought it would be overly sweet and that it would taste kind of artificial, but BOY, was I surprised! The muffin itself is big, and it had a nice lovely top — it’s dense and it tasted like a buttery pound cake with a nice mango flavor throughout. It wasn’t overly sweet, and it was REALLY DELICIOUS — both my husband and I were instant fans! :D I would love to try out their other muffins as well as other items on the menu (especially the oxtail!). Orders can be a little backed up, so coming early for lunch/​dinner is highly advised. There are plenty of seating areas and it is nice and cool and dim-​litted inside; loved listening to the reggae soundtrack they had playing in the background. I am so glad I found this place and I’ll definitely be back! :D
+Mango muffin!!!
+braised oxtail: D