YaMon

I’m giving this place 4 stars mainly because I loved the curry goat. Probably also because it’s Friday night and I’m feeling generous.
I will go back to this place occasionally, when I have the time and a serious craving. I have to have *time* though.
I called my order in. Gave it 15 mins past the estimated time… Still had to wait. Another 35 mins. Total time from call to take-​out: 1 hour 10 minutes. I’d rather just be given a long estimated time and adjust my arrival accordingly. Just keep it real. :)
I have had the curry goat, stew chicken, and jerk platter. The curry goat was perfect. So good. Put my Caribbean craving to bed. The stew chicken was different. Def not like I am used to. It wasn’t bad. But it also can’t compare to the great stew chicken experiences I have had in the past elsewhere.
My jerk platter did not come with shrimp. Maybe you ran out? Next time, just mention it, give a heads up, an fyi. I’m not even all that mad about it. (See? Good mood.) But I’d rather you just say, I’m out of shrimp. I would have just ordered straight jerk instead. Just keep it real. :)
I wish the jerk was better sauced. It was good. Could be better.
Everything came with a healthy portion of rice and peas, plantains, and a mini salad on top (lettuce/​tomato). The price is def equal to the food you receive.
I will go back here. For the curry.
Next time I will try the Mac and Cheese and a longer arrival time.
I’m quite sure my experience here didn’t turn me off because I didn’t have any unreasonable expectations. I’ve had enough experiences in some Brooklyn Caribbean spots to know to expect some bumps in the road to a good meal. This place lived up to that.

Stopped in after work. It was late, around 9pm and I remembered driving past a Jamaican restaurant, so I retraced my path and came in. The one and only guy in the restaurant was welcoming. He said «Hi mon.» sounded like Jamaican accent, I figure the food has got to be pretty good.
Curry goat — not bad. portion was a little small but the taste was not bad.
Di Real Jerk Chicken — not what I was expecting. I expected a moist chicken sitting in a good jerk sauce. The chicken was a little dry and sauce lacking.
The biggest disappointment was the Patty. How do you screw up on the Patty, mon? It’s like the egg roll is screwed up in a Chinese restaurant, the Mai Tai being screwed up in a Polynesian restaurant, the Canoli being screwed up in an Italian restaurant, or a waiter being friendly at a French restaurant. How do you screw that up, mon? The crust was okay, but the beef was missing mon. What little meat that was inside the Patty was very bland in taste.
4 stars for Curry Goat. 2 stars for Di Real Jerk Chicken. 0 star for the Patty.

Very very good. Contrary to everyone else the service was speedy and the owner extremely friendly. I ordered the tofu and my mother the jerk chicken. We also had cocobread. Each order came with plantains and they were deliciously sweet over the rice. My food was amazingly well seasoned and my mother said hers was as well. The owner/​cook was very welcoming and offered us ice water and was just all around very pleasant

I was very surprised with their Vegan Menu, I’m happy that I can enjoy Jamaican Good again with my husband who loves this place Jerk Chicken.

So I called because I was told the food takes forever. The man said it would take 30 min, an hour goes by and I am mad I did not just order a pizza. The oxtails were pale, very pale. They tasted old and nothing special. I am mad that I spent the money and almost wish I left the place as this magical place in my mind. This is not Jamaican food. My parents were born and raised in Jamaica, I grew up on this food, and this place does not represent Jamaica. Do not do it. Just order the pizza.

Arrived at the restaurant and placed my order. My 3 person party left and went to the local comic book store for about 45 minutes and then returned to yamon. Our food was not yet ready. We waited around for 20 minutes then asked the staff member if we took a 20 minute walk would the food be ready and the staff member said it would. We left and walked (in the brutal cold) for 20 minutes. When we returned our food was still not ready. We waited another 15 – 20 minutes in the waiting area before our food was ready. The food took almost 2 hours. The staff member also asked to bum a cigarette from our party –Kind of weird, off putting and unprofessional .
I got the «Bigga» herb man Mac and cheese. The size ended up being too large for me I wish I had gotten the «ikkle.» The food was good but not two hour wait good. The restaurant could be decent if they could get the wait time down. There was not a single soul other than my party of 3 and the one staff member in the restaurant any of the time we were in there. It was baffling to me that it took almost 2 hours to prepare 3 meals.

Food is good. Service is horrific. Only order if you have an hour to wait for your food in the resteraunt after already calling ahead. Maybe not unprofessional in other countries but it is here.

Some seriously wavy Jamaican food. Definitely a great spot in worcester and a place that I’ve become a regular. At first I was frustrated because it does take a little while to get your food depending on what you order and what he has ready, but the food is well worth the wait (sometimes it can be more than 30 minutes). Its byob so I bring some beer and kick it while listening to some good vibrations waiting for my food.

Called to place an order for pick up — was told the wait would be half an hour. Showed up 40 minutes later (leaving a 10-​min buffer) and the food wasn’t done. Waited in the restaurant for an addition 50 minutes before deciding to leave without the food. There was nobody else at the restaurant the entire time I was there. Half an hour into waiting there, the man asked me to remind him of my order. Technically by this time he had even cooking it for an hour.
An hour and a half later, no food, no apology for the wait. No chance in hell I’ll be returning.

We love it here. The food is amazing, but be warned; it is extremely spicy. I am not a total wimp when it comes to spicy (I buy my salsa «medium») but Ya Mon is almost too spicy for me. That said, the flavor is totally worth it.

This place made me want to go back to Jamaica. Food was great! Prices are reasonable. We got the mac n cheese with jerk chicken, yum! We also got the jerk chicken with rice and it came with fried bananas, delicious! Great to have some authentic Jamaican food in Worcester! Someone else noted food was really spicy… I thought the amount spice was perfect. I have had jerk chicken a lot more spicy… this was the right amount!

I was afraid to go in at first because the outside was a bit sketch, no windows to see anything that was going on inside. But once I stepped in the atmosphere changed, it’s a very very casual spot, a couple dining tables at the end. Reminded me of the Caribbean spots I’ve been to in London. There was only one girl working and she was really friendly.
I had the jerk chicken with rice and beans and plantains. The chicken marinade was delicious, nice and spicy, and the sauce definitely added the perfect flavor. Plantains were really sweet, and it also came with a small side of shredded lettuce, which was good to offset the spice.
I also had the papaya smoothie with pineapple and ginger syrup, (which came in a hot coffee paper cup). It was different, definitely tasted the ginger. Don’t think I’d get it again though.
The only downside is my take-​out took kind of long, I suggest calling ahead. Although it was a Tuesday at an off time (4pm) so maybe it was just a slow day and they didn’t have everything on the grill.
Overall, great food so far. Will definitely be back to try everything else! Especially their sandwiches and different mac n cheeses.

Don’t be sketched out by the looks of it, because this place is probably the best Jamaican food you’ll ever have in the states. The service is on the slower side (as most Jamaican places tend to be), but well worth the wait. I’ve tried their beef patties, oxtail, jerk chicken and curry goat and they are all excellent. Their sweet plantains are so addictive. Sometimes I am tempted to go down to Worcester just to eat at this place and Armsby.

The food is AMAZING, the jerk chicken is my favorite… That being said, the atmosphere is meh (music is playing VERY loudly). but my biggest warning is about the amount of time you wait for your food. I have been there four times, and each time ordered takeout and waited between 45 minutes and an hour! I’d say the food is well worth the wait, but I would never go here if I had somewhere to be.

Freshly cooked food, very good. The atmosphere was not inviting. I suggest take out, because from what I have heard delivery takes a long time. The food was worth the troubles.

I didn’t actually go to the restaurant to try the food but they were set up shop as a vendor at the Worcester common. I decided to give it a try since I’ve driven by the place a few times and always wondered… The guy was super slow, prepping things. There was another girl in front of me, in which they started chatting…(hello, I’m on my lunch break!) He charges the girl in front of me $ 3 for her food then he charges me $ 6 for the same small 5×5 container. Wtf? Anyways no biggie… I ordered the curried chicken w/​rice, I started eating my food… tasted okay then half way through found a piece of hair in my food. Uggh Gross! Eat there at your own risk!

First of all, let me say that I recommend One Love on Main Street any day over this place. The chef/​waiter/​cashier didn’t know what food he had for the day (he had to check all 6 fridges to give us a confirmation. So once that debacle was over we ended up waiting about 25 minutes for our food to be served with foam plates and plastic ware. I had the jerk chicken (which was as dry as a tumble weed in a sand storm) with white rice and my friend had the curry goat with white rice which wasn’t that bad (considering I’ve never had it before). Simple canned coke for us both washed that down. Overall its not the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to but it’s not my favorite.

Five stars for the food, one star for the service.
I’ve eaten in many Jamaican restaurants before, in Boston, New York and Jamaica. I expect slow service, but this restaurant was staggeringly slow. It took 45 minutes for my friend and I to receive two jerk plates to go, and in that time, the party of four who ordered before us only got one of *their* orders.
The cook kept taking the food out of the kitchen and down some back stairs to where there was, presumably, some sort of prep kitchen. He did this for every single dish. Neither of the two women who were working there seemed to be helping prepare the food in any manner whatsoever.
The woman who took our order had no idea what food was available («Cabbage? I’ll have to check»). and another woman disappeared after five or ten minutes, never to be seen again.
At one point, while we were waiting, a family of three came in and was studying the menu while, literally, there was nobody at all behind the counter, or anywhere in sight, for at least five minutes. They eventually gave up and left without ordering.
When we hit the 30-​minute mark on our orders, we started debating whether to leave or not (we hadn’t paid yet), but we figured we were committed, and stuck it out.
As I say, I’ve gone to many West Indian restaurants before, in Cambridge, Mattapan, Dorchester, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and this was by far the slowest service I’ve ever seen. I mean, all of this food is pre-​prepared. Nobody is cooking jerk chicken or curry goat to order, but it still took 45 minutes to put our order together (while the previous party was still waiting for 75% of their food).
Fortunately, the food was actually delicious. Some of the best jerk I’ve had in the USA and exceptionally good rice & peas, too (with a lot of black pepper, to give it an extra zing… not the traditional preparation, but I really loved it).
For that reason, I will go back to Yamon, but I’ll make sure that I’m really, really, really not in a hurry.

Homemade mac n cheese with jerk chicken? Yes please. We ordered two servings of that and the large jerk chicken. Really really delicious. The jerk chicken was awesome and spicy (but it could have been even spicier). The guy had just put the chicken on, so we waited maybe 30 or more minutes … But it was okay by me — the music was good, the atmosphere was good and the people working were very friendly. We fed three of us for under $ 25 and the servings were big… I will definitely go back. Bring a coat because I don’t think they have heat!

I had the Ya Mon jerk platter. It contained Jerk Chick, Pork, and Shrimp. Really delicious, perfectly savory. It wasn’t as spicy as I wanted but I like a really spicy dish so its probably up the alley of most Worcesterites. Portions were really big, much more than I was expecting for under $ 10. They usually serve the combo with «Festival» which is a type of corn fritter, but being out of that they gave me rice&beans, and plantains. Rice was good, plantains were excellent, next time I go back I am going to get a side order of those.
Their menu helps explain the philosophy of the place, and how they are trying to source food locally. They almost apologize for saying they have to import Allspice from a farm in Jamaica because it doesn’t grow in Worcester, but they work with Farmers within a 100 mile radius for other ingredients.
People working were really friendly. Only two people on staff, one at the counter and one in the kitchen. Kitchen is open so you can see them prepare the food.
They menu has same daily specials that they only server once or twice a week. Its worth looking at the menu on the web before you go to make sure you can see what is available.
YaMon feels like a special little spot, probably best for take out or a quick informal lunch. I can’t wait to go back.