Pelican’s Rum

Unfortunately, there’s no Jamaican restaurants in Arlington, VA. I made the trek over to U Street and came across this gem of a restaurant. The food was excellent. I would describe the food as gourmet Jamaican food. The portion sizes were a bit smaller than a typical Jamaican restaurant, but the quality of the dishes made the smaller portion size worth it. Excellent food, very attentive staff. It would be great if they opened a location in Arlington, but until then I’ll visit Pelican’s Rum whenever I crave top quality Jamaican food.

Currently housed in the former Jamaica Joe’s spot, Pelican’s Rum is NOT Jamaica Joe’s.every thing from the décor, presentation, food, and above all attitude and service has been elevated! This is now a real sit down restaurant… great presentation of the food, and oh by the way, almost as good as Jamaica Joe’s. I am not sure any local place can get the jerk chicken to taste as good as «Joe’s» was… but this was close enough for comfort. The rum cake is killer!!! The entire experience was well worth it, and i will return… check it out!

I’ve lived in NW DC for the past 6 years and I am always in search of quality Jamaican food. As I am half Jamaican, born and raised in NYC, I understand nothing is as good as food from back home.
I visited this establishment once when it was Jamaican Joes, and I was disappointed. So much so I never stepped foot back in that place. The food was overpriced, and the authenticity was not to my standards. A friend of mine however liked Jamaican Joes and informed me that Jamaican Joes no longer existed and a new place had arrived called Pelicans Rum. Despite my apprehensiveness, I decided to go with her on a Saturday night and give it a try.
As soon as I walked in I noticed a difference. The décor, the upbeat music, and the overall layout was truly inviting. We were greeted by friendly smiling faces and invited to sit wherever we wanted. (I love that power lol) My friend and I like sitting at «the bar» when we go out to eat together so we sat at the bar close to the entrance. I overheard a man, who appeared to be the owner/​manager, quickly briefing a new employee on what to do when seating new guests. I didnt mind. She followed directions well, and asked for help when she needed. Although my friend and I could observe the administrative duties being carried out, we didnt mind. That can be expected when seated at the bar. We placed our orders and proceeded to chat.
My friend ordered the jerk chicken sandwich with a side of plantains and I ordered the jerk fish sandwich. We were asked only once to repeat our order. And when the food came I received the jerk fish dinner. I politely let the manager know that I ordered the sandwich and not the dinner. The new trainee apparently documented the order incorrectly. The manager did not chastise or reprimand her in front of me and my friend which I respected. He offered a cold beverage (of my choice!) on the house for the mix-​up. I was sold. I ordered a Ting (which is a deliciously refreshing grapefruit sparkling beverage). I was happy, and also hungry now that I was waiting an additional 10 minutes for my food to be served. You will wait quite a bit for your food, but not forever. Once the food was served, my friend and I dived in. Delicious. The fish was well seasoned, and so was the chicken, the plantains were slightly overripe but some prefer it that way. Also, we were given a small piece of watermelon as a nice added touch. Then the manager came over with two cupcakes with forks on small plates. With my mouth full and both hands gripping my sandwich, Im thinking: Its not my birthday… or hers. He sets them down in front of us and says «That’ll teach us to make you wait» We were stunned. Then he added «its red velvet». My eyes widened as I looked at my friend. He smiled at us, and all I could say was thank you. I washed my spicy jerk flavors down with the watermelon afterwards and it provided a cool and smooth finish to the entire meal. The food was hot and the presentation was on point! My friend and I didn’t speak for about 6 minutes, occasionally looking over and smiling at each other. I was happy and I was full. I only ate about half of my sandwich. We asked for our checks which were printed out on lovely paper, we paid our bill,($ 9.89 for me $ 12.24 for her) I complimented the manager on the service, and departed the restaurant with my left overs in tow. As I left, I felt he was trying to make an impression with the cupcakes as an added touch and he succeeded. Here I am writing a Unilocal review right before I finish the other half of my Jerk fish sandwich. I would definitely recommend and return.

I used to get food from here when it was Jamaican Joe’s. The food has always been delicious and one of the best Jamaican food I’ve had in DC. I’m of Caribbean/​West Indian descent and lived in NYC for years, so I know authentic when I taste it. And hands down Pelican’s Rum has held on to that authenticity as well as it did under it’s old name.
I purchased the Groupon deal of $ 20 for 40 and used it last night with a friend. Immediately as we stepped through the door, we were greeted with warm welcomes from two hosts/​waiters and were told to sit where ever we wanted in the dining area (a plus). The décor is beautiful with Island themed colors. Our seats were very comfortable… so much so my friend felt like she could sleep in one of the booths. All the greatest Bob Marley hits played through the speakers and at a comfortable noise level.
As soon as we sat down, our waiter brought us water with straws in the glass (another plus) and gave us the food and drink menus. A few minutes later he came out with red pea soup (had stewed red beans, onion an piece of dumpling). The soup was fantastic! We had the choice to order from the the regular entrée menu or the Quickie menu (take out menu) which had the usual suspects – curry chicken, jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail stew, etc.; all served with rice and peas with vegetable. There was great variety over all and great deals like $ 19.95 for a shared dinner of two whole jerk chickens with your choice of rice or other side with vegetable. My friend ordered the curry goat with a Pineapple Punch and me the oxtail with a Mango Lada. No alcohol in the drinks, but I do think they plan to offer that sometime soon.
There was a delay of 15 – 20 mins for food and drinks to come out together, but well worth the wait. I think since this is a whole new dining concept for the restaurant – they’re getting their footing and will be better with the timing given more experience with their customer volume and feedback. My friend loved her curry goat, great spice level and well seasoned. My oxtail was amazing and my friend and I agreed their oxtail is the best we’ve had (even better than Sweet Mango’s) – stole the show for sure lol. Rice and peas was a little dry, but the gravy from my meats helped that. Our vegetable was seasoned cabbage, which was delicious. Our drinks were delicious too and you can tell they made it with real fruits — very happy about that. Only complaint about the drinks is that they could’ve put more yogurt or a fruit juice base to make them smoother. Too many bits of ice came through the straw. After dinner, we order the rum cake which was a pound cake with rum poured over it. It was a good pound cake, but it lacked on rum flavor. Hopefully, they’ll make it differently when they have enough feedback.
Our waiter was very attentive and open to constructive criticism to help make our dining experience an enjoyable one. His name was Lamar. Hopefully, he works on weekends because he had excellent customer service skills!
Overall, the food and service were a hit and I would definitely come again and recommend. And want to try the jerk chicken.
P. S. I added pics, so please take a look!

jerk chicken was pretty dry, over grilled. but quite spicy. not nearly as tasty or juicy as jamaica taste.
i saw a guy who was chopping what looked like oxtails on a cutting board over the sink. the piece of meat fell onto the floor. he retrieved it and put it into the pile of meat that they were going to cook. you may not get sick eating this food since the bacteria would be cooked away…
the one saving thing for this place is that if you order for two, (they ideally want 2 people to come in), you get two for the price of one during lunch. this is probably on weekdays only. made the jerk chicken platter we got w/​rice and beans, cabbage, half a chicken, and a piece of watermelon to be about 5 bucks each.

I popped in one evening after hearing folks rave about the food. After taking my order, the waiter brought out a sampling of red pea soup – it was delish! Overall, I enjoyed my meal. The food is a little spicy, if you’re not into spicy food this may not be your cup of tea. I asked for some bread and the waiter brought out a plate of coco bread, unbeknownst to me the bread was not free. The waiter should have explained that bc I wasn’t thrilled about paying $ 3.95 worth of bread for one person. They brought out a menu of specialty drinks, I assumed from the name that they were rum infused drinks but to my dismay they were non-​alcoholic. The service was extremely slow, they only had 2 servers and tons of traffic that day. I waited for 20 mins for my check. And the seats were uncomfortable. All in all I would return, but for take-​out only.