Kallaloo

How I heard of this place: A friend of mine mentioned it about a month ago, when we were comparing notes about great dining establishments in Seattle, specifically in the south end. The parents of one of his students opened the restaurant five years ago. We arrived in the nick of time, as the delicious, only authentic Caribbean taste in town was set to close its doors the following day.
Type of cuisine: «Kal Gellein does the cooking, but it’s his wife Gail Williams’ Caribbean roots that inspire the menu: homey stews and fragrant curries; pan-​fried chicken and spice-​rubbed fish; tropical salads and a slew of hearty, vegetarian-​friendly side dishes. Giddy with tropical colors, the room is as pretty as a hibiscus blossom and as comfortable as a veranda.» — Providence Cicero, The Seattle Times
Ambiance: Brightly colored, full of verve, locally painted wooden chairs, tables and tableware in a large, open setting. The kitchen is open to the rest of the establishment, through large window-​like openings, where the glorious dishes of the Caribbean await delivery to patrons. Framed work by local artists is also displayed throughout the space, as decoration and for sale, complementing the colors and feel of the space.
What I ordered: Feeling the need to sample a little of everything, being our first and last time at Kallaloo, our party of eight selected the following. For lunch, one dining companion and I split the Cuban pork sandwich ($ 7.95), roast pork and sliced ham on French bread, with Swiss cheese and chow-​chow relish, and the carne asada steak sandwich ($ 8.95) with a jalapeño mayo and mixed greens. Each sandwich was served with thick-​sliced and lightly salted potato chips. On the side, we had to sample the macaroni pie ($ 3.95) and the callaloo — a creamed spinach consistency of taro leaves in coconut milk, topped with a spattering of freshly diced tomatoes. Two of our dining companions ordered the Creole fish ($ 11.95), pan fried red snapper filet with Creole sauce of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and spices, cou-​cou and callaloo. The dishes came with two sides including beans and rice and cassava in garlic butter. As an additional side, one of the two dining companions selected more cassava ($ 3.95) and a Jamaican patty ($ 5.95), flaky crust turnovers filled with spiced chicken, to start. Among our other dining companions, we had one order for the vegetarian plate ($ 9.95), a combination of three side dishes, and a Grand Anse fish sandwich ($ 7.95), pan-​fried seasoned catfish on sesame bun with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and cilantro sauce. For dessert, we had one Cassava Pone with Crème Anglaise ($ 4.95) and a cheesecake of the day ($ 5.95), a candied ginger cheesecake with thick, homemade graham cracker crust.
What I loved: It’s hard to pick just one thing, and it’s even more difficult to think that Kallaloo is no longer going to be serving Columbia City and thousands of others throughout the Seattle area. I thoroughly loved the cassava in garlic butter, the steak sandwich, specifically the jalapeño mayonnaise. And, surprisingly, the cheesecake was a fabulous, lightly sweetened treat to end the meal.
Why I loved it: The owners, one to seat us, one to serve us, were friendly, loving and welcoming. We were warmly greeted, seated and served with Caribbean embrace and friendliness. The food was out of this world delicious! It’s a shame this fine establishment has closed its doors…
Cost: Average ($ 5-​$ 12 per lunch option)

This is some seriously good Caribbean food! I have been to Kallaloo 4 times and the food has always been excellent. I highly suggest ordering one of their rum punch drinks to go with dinner.
As far as the service goes. kind and slow… just like the Caribbean. «Island time» man!

I love Kallaloo! We walked in about 30 minutes before they closed looking for some dinner and they welcomed us with open arms and gave us amazing food and drink. I highly recommend Kallaloo!

Bowled over by how scrumdidlyumptious the food was here! Incredible spinach dish [Kallaloo, natch], the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted, and jerk chicken that delivered the spicy. Cocktails awesome sauce.
Blahdeblah service slow but nice out of things — who cares? This is INCREDIBLE food and the price is right.
Don’t be whiners, Unilocalers. This. Is. The. Place.

What do you do when you’re in Columbia City jonesing for some Caribbean cuisine? You obviously go to Island Soul.
But what if Island Soul has a 1 hour + wait?
You go to their competition, Kallaloo. That’s the spirit of capitalism.
However, the laws of economics played us like fools that night because I can see why the demand for Island Soul is much higher than Kallaloo.
We sat down, we ordered our drinks, an appetizer, and entrees immediately. It took over 15 minutes to get our drinks and then another 15 minutes to get our appetizer. At the 1 hour mark and with our entrees still not here, we were finally told that they ran out of what we ordered… it was definitely time to go.
Except trying to get the bill for our two drinks and appetizer took another 15 minutes.
Fail.

Didn’t suck nearly as much as I thought it would. In fact, pretty darn good!

My Haitian husband and I have tried almost every Caribbean restaurant in Seattle and Kallaloo is both the most authentic and satisfying to date. I love, love, love their Jamaican patties and cannot step through the door without ordering them. I also love their Grilled Jerk Pork Chop and Creole Fish which are both perfectly savory and spiced.
The best part of Kallaloo is the fact that are open to many different Caribbean cuisines (not just Jamaican or Trinidadian as many other local restaurants).

If the pastelone is on the specials menu that night: order it and you will be glad that you did. It is like a lasagna but instead of pasta, Kal uses plantains.
AND they always have Joyce’s Rum Punch on the drinks list so we always do order that.

I had dinner here 2 nights ago with my mom and sister. I’ve never eaten at a Caribbean Restaurant before, so my first experience leaves feeling like, «wow»! I had the stewed chicken. SO JUICY! I had never had callaloo before and it was quite delicious. But honestly, the #1 item I had was the house salad. Mangos and a hibiscus dressing had me licking my fork!
Very nice décor with an interesting and tasty menu has me wanting to go back before I fly back to LA in two days.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I came here the other night with my friends, but I was pleasantly surprised, for the most part.
We were seated right away (on Saturday night) and the service was very friendly. The server answered our questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. We placed and orders (I had the jerk chicken special with red beans and rice and callaloo) and waited patiently for our orders. And waited. And waited. I guess they had some problems plucking the feathers off my chicken.
But when the food finally came, I devoured it. The jerk chicken was excellent. Two plump, juicy chicken thighs with a flavorful jerk seasoning that had just enough kick, but not enough to knock me on my ass. The red beans and rice were well flavored, but I think the beans were a tad overcooked. They were kinda chewy and exploded. The rice was nice and fluffy. I think I was expecting it to be a bit more moist, like Cajun red beans and rice. But apparently not. Callaloo is a leafy green vegetable, which they chop up and prepare with okra and spices to make something like creamed spinach, but healthier and delicious.
I would definitely be back here, especially for the happy hour, which includes food and drink specials. Parking can be a pain at times, though, especially on weekends.

I’m certainly no expect on Caribbean food, but this place has some fantastic dishes. You do pay for the exotic ingredients but in my opinion it’s worth it. And it’s certainly a wonderful benefit to have such reasonable (and regional) cocktails as well. I recommend the Cuban Mojito. Yum! Likewise, if you order an entrée that does not come with either red or black beans & rice, I’d definately suggest ordering one of those two as a side. You could always try them off your spouse or friend’s plate but once you do, you’ll want your own plate of them! You can’t go wrong here with the food, the drinks, or the atmosphere. Last night was my first dining experience here with a small group of friends and it will certainly not be my last, in fact, we’re already talking about when we’re going to go back… ;-)
PROS: Everything! Food, Ambiance, Service, even Parking is easy!
CONS: Drinks were a little slow in coming, but certainly nothing to deter me from going back.

Last night was a night of firsts.
It was my first time in Columbia City.
It was my first time trying Caribbean food.
And it was my first time devouring callaloo.
The initial plan was to grab a pie at nearby Tutta Bella’s, but walking down the street it was easy to hear Michael Power’s jazz guitar emanating out of Kallaloo’s large open windows and the decision was made to pop on in.
After one sip of my refreshing Mojito, I can only imagine Kallaloo would fill up on a warm summer day with customers looking to mentally escape to a warm, sandy beach.
I ordered the stewed chicken, which the menu boasted would be savory and sweet. Unfortunately, the meat was dry. The herbs and onions didn’t give the flavor that I was looking for. It came served with a side of macaroni pie, which was fine, and a side of callaloo. Callaloo looks like something that you shouldn’t put in your mouth, but I am so glad that I did. The spinach gloop was bursting with flavor and I loved it.
The service was a bit slow, but nothing short of friendly.
All in all, you wouldn’t have to twist my arm for me to give Kallaloo a second go.

Unilocal seems to give this place a bum rap, so I’m doing my part to lift it up to «average/​worth trying.»
We came in a 17-​person group. The restaurant was nearly empty on arrival.
The chef had asked us to pre-​order a few things to make things easier on their small kitchen. We did the jerk chicken, crab dumplings, and halibut, along with red beans and rice, the black beans and coconut milk, and vegetarian callaloo. We also had some kind of puff pastry dish. The roasted eggplant was quite nice. The mango salad with hibiscus dressing was way more interesting than I was expecting. We ran out of a few things before everyone could try them, but it was easy to add on a few more orders of things.
For a vegetarian, it wasn’t a very exciting menu, but adequate. The seafood eaters in our group devoured the halibut, and we ran out of jerk chicken twice. The crab dish was a harder sell, but mostly because it required a bit more surgery to eat, and people were being lazy; those who ate it were fairly impressed.
Vibe? A little austere, maybe a little too quiet. Cocktails? Drinkable, not memorable. Price? A reasonable $ 24/​person with tip and a seafood-​heavy order, not counting drinks; vegetarians would probably get out of here on a lot less.

Nestled down in Old-​School Columbia City, an authentic and very delicious island food. The only place in town, that I know of, to get Blenheim Ginger Ale. Just for having Blenheim they get me as a customer and a extra star. I love spicy beverages, but if this stuff goes down the wrong tube prepare to start convulsing.
I do love this place and I am very nice to the few I love but honestly there service is not so good. Went there one time and the cook decided to take off for an hour so they said come back in a hour and you can order. Not me I don’t wait when I’m hungry. Went there last weekend and they were out of Kallaloo, but wait how can you run out of Kallaloo that’s what your restaurant is called? It was early on a Friday night and there were only two other tables? Fine Ill substitute for the red beans and rice in coconut juice. But I ordered chicken stew and my server dropped off a creole fish instead. Normally I would strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger, but I was tired and my lower back was a little sore from too much fun at back to back Devotchka shows. So I smiled and thanked her very much. The creole fish ended being very tasty and I’m glad she messed it up. This is a family run joint so I do understand why there service is not the greatest. If they hired some servers with experience could be a great spot.

Um… I don’t get it.
Our appetizer was a «flaky chicken puff pastry «thingy. (glorified Hot Pocket)
It all tasted Ok but it was boring all hell.
The fried plantains were super greasy.
The wait staff needs to be spanked as TWICE he tried to take my plate away from me mid bite. They hovered like to get rid of us and the place had only 4 other customers. WTH?
Not impressed

I headed down to Columbia City last night pretty late. I’ve been working non-​stop for about three weeks, and the idea of cooking and eating at home when I’ve been cooped up there for close to a month was totally out of the question. I got to the intersection of Ferdinand and Rainier. Hmmm… BBQ? Mexican? Pub food? Pizza? Italian? Or… how about Caribbean! I’ve wanted to come back and try some more stuff out at Kallaloo.
I headed in, let the gal up front know I was a party of one, and headed over to the bar to grab a paper. As usual, they had a stack of reading material for us loners, damn I love that. They gave me my choice of bar or dining room seating, I opted for dining room. There was a fair sized crowd in tonight, but all the tables were clean and ready to go (I deducted a star previously for the dirty tables). I got seated and almost immediately my waitress showed up to take a drink order:
«I’ll have a Margarita.»
«Great, that’s my name! Now that that’s covered, what would you like to drink? Just kidding.»
Big smile. Awesome. Nothing puts a little pep in my evening than a cute, friendly waitress with… um… pep? What the hell is pep anyway? Do you get pep from drinking pepsi? Pep pep pep… wow write or stare at that word long enough and it starts looking really weird.
ANYWAY, Margarita returned with my margarita. I was ready to order, but she cracked a big smile and I totally forgot what I wanted. Dear God, why did you wire the male brain that way? Yet more physiological evidence that we’re just a bunch of dumb apes. OooOOooo pretty shiny OOooOOOooo. I remembered that I wanted some kind of chicken dish. She listed them off… oh yeah, fried chicken. With mac and cheese, and «Kallaloo.» Whatever it is, it’s the namesake of this place, so I’ll try it.
Read my paper for a bit, chuckled over an article about an out of work security guard posing as a federal agent and busting meth heads in MO. My food showed up, as did another margarita — the drink I mean. They don’t have two waitresses named Margarita, though that would be something.
Kallaloo is a spinach dish. I’m not a big fan of spinach, though I did try to eat as much of it as I could knowing that it’s healthy. Not fair to knock stars off of something that you wouldn’t like anyway, right? The mac and cheese was GOOOD. So was the fried chicken, omfg!
The music playing was also pretty good; different styles of Latin and Caribbean music. I heard a reggae cover of the theme song of Thundercats, and had to laugh. It was good though. I also noticed the island style faux storm windows around the bar area. Gives the room a really great feel.
It was 9:30pm by the time I was finished, half an hour past closing. Margarita was trying to eat dinner, but jumped up and headed over every time I looked her way to make sure I was doing ok. I had also noticed she had taken great care of the other patrons in the busy dining room, so apparently they’ve noticed their serving woes that other folks have reviewed and done something about it.
So… great service, great food, great atmosphere. I may just head over for lunch right now…

I visited Kallaloo over memorial Weekend. We started off with an order of rum punch and tried to order appetizers. As we went down the list, it turns out that the only one available was the curried crab. That was acceptable, who can really have issues with crab?
When the crab was served, the chef had also managed to salvage a couple of pieces of the jerk chicken wings so we were even happier. The chicken was paired with a small piece of watermelon which perfectly balanced the spiciness of the chicken.
For my entrée I had the crab & dumplings. As I said, you can’t really go wrong with ordering crab. It was wonderful, the curry was just right and the dumplings were great.
this was all washed down with the best tasting rum punch I’ve ever had. I didn’t try any of the cocktails, but they had an extensive drink list and the liquor was top shelf and reasonably priced.
Service is a little slow, but it’s very reminiscent of island life. The only thing missing was the beach.

My husband and I have been there 3 times now.
I’ve enjoyed the curried crab twice (the little dumplings are the best) and the crab cakes are delicious. I can’t for the life of me remember what else I’ve had there, so it probably was not very good– but my husband has had the steak and pork chops, and those were good.
My husband and I went one night and it took an hour to get our food, and on another night the same occurred, so we know now not to go there if we are starving.
We live in Columbia City, so it’s a semi-​nice little place to go with friends in our neighborhood.
I didn’t give it more stars simply because the service isn’t all that great, from what I’ve experienced. The food has not been disappointing though!

Kallaloo is a decent place for a casual meal. With its large windows and open space, the seating area was really enjoyable during the cool, late summer evening we went. The service was fairly attentive, but the place was mostly empty.
We arrived at around 6:00 PM on a Thursday night and were seated promptly. The server informed us that 3 out of the 5 items on the appetizer menu had run out, so we decided on an off menu choice of Jerk Chicken Wings to start. They were very good, which makes me wonder why they’re not usually on the menu. They’re the right combination of smoky and spicy.
For an entrée, my husband ordered the Garlic Halibut, which was pretty good. The fish was prepared correctly (perfectly flaky and tender), and smothered in a buttery sauce with TONS of minced garlic. They weren’t kidding when they named it Garlic Halibut. What they should have called it was «Not Getting Laid Until You Brush Your Teeth Or At Least Chew Some Gum Halibut.»
I ordered the vegetarian plate — not because I’m a vegetarian, but because it allowed me to choose three different side dishes. I chose the Macaroni Pie, slightly oily, but a good rendition of classic mac n’ cheese; Black Beans and Rice, which was good though needed a pinch of salt; and the Callaloo, which are greens stewed with ham hocks and roughly pureed to a baby food consistency. And that’s all I have to say about callaloo. Don’t get me wrong. The food here is good, but I felt a twinge of sadness that I wasn’t shoving pork ribs into my piehole at Jones BBQ.
All in all, it’s a decent place. However, for the type of food and the preparation, I’d say it’s a tad overpriced. It’s definitely not haute cuisine, but it’s still a nice casual place for a weeknight dinner.

Out to celebrate my step-​daughters birthday last Friday night. Never an easy crowd when you blend my parents who frequent Mistral and my step-​kids who have been raised primarily on McDonald’s and Taco Bell.
My brilliant idea was to go to Jones BBQ — we all love ribs right? It was a fool proof plan, right? Nope. My oenophile step-​father comes bounding out the car with his bottle of cab in tow, all ready to throw down his corkage fee and sip away. Well, Jones does not have a liquor license — so we opted to try Kallaloo next door. I was excited, a new place to review and all that.
I tried desperately to Unilocal it on my Blackberry as we sat down, but did not use the mobile version and it looked to have 4 stars for some reason. Oh — the — humanity.
We started by browsing the menu for about 15 minutes unattended by our waitress — she was trying to figure out how on earth to charge a corkage fee. When she comes back she informs us that most of the things we have picked out are unavailable, Fried Chicken — the one thing the kids are into — being one of them. Bad sign #1.
We put in HALF of our drink order next — two Root Beers for the kids. I am going to let it go that she did get one from my hub and I as she probably assumed we would be having wine. 15 minutes later we ask where the soda’s are and place our Diet Coke order. Bad sign #2 — and a half an hour into our experience. We quickly place our appetizer and dinner order. Maybe ten minutes later our beverages come. So 20 – 25 minutes from time of order. GRRRR.
Another 20 minutes and we are wondering where the hell our apps are — we have taken the mini hero for a walk around the block. The kids are playing Rochambeau. Twiddle, toe tap, fingers drumming on the table. We have stopped counting strikes against them — we now know it sucks.
The crab cakes and fried plantains that we ordered for apps show up. Fuck — they are really tasty. We were hoping they would taste like piss honestly. We want nothing tempting us back. About 20 minutes more and another walk around the block for the mini hero while we wait for our salads to show up — we see salads go to a table that arrived WELL AFTER we sat. Eventually our salads do arrive and they are delicious. God dammit.
As soon as they hit the table, I tell the waitress to please get the entrees fired — the mini hero is now throwing things and telling everyone to shut it. «Oh yes», she tells me, «everything is underway.» I have my doubts, but am ever hopeful. 20 minutes more and we ask the waitress where our food is — 3 to 5 minutes she tells us. 15 minutes later my step-​father is wandering back to the kitchen — we fear the worst. Whatever he did made our food appear about 10 minutes later. I love that man.
My step-​daughter had the New York, but requested that the blue cheese sauce be served on the side. It was all over her perfectly cooked meat. «Scrape it off — there is no way we are sending it back now!» My mother’s and my steaks were perfect. My hub’s halibut was AWESOME. Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck.
So here is the upshot — the food kicked ass. I want to go back so I can have the dishes that weren’t available — stuffed plantains, fried chicken, etc… I want to get it to go and sit in the parking lot across the street. The service at the Rainforest Café was like Canlis compared to that of Kallaloo.
Salt in our wounds? We were a party of 7 — the grat was included at 18%.