It was my birthday a few weeks ago and my team decided to take me out for lunch.    Christina suggested Riddim & Spice over on Commercial Drive.  It is a small Caribbean restaurant that also does quite a bit of take-out.  Christina has been going there for years and highly recommended it.

The restaurant was about half full when we got there so even though there were about seven of us, we didn’t need to wait for a table.  The menu is pretty small and basic, making it easy to navigate.

I decided to have the jerk chicken with coco bread.  It was quite popular with several people in our party.    It also came with a small serving of green salad with an onion dressing.  The chicken wasn’t very spicy and was cooked very nicely.  The meat fell off the bone and had a nice helping of jerk sauce drizzled over top.  Christina recommended that we stuff the meat into the coco bread, creating a jerk chicken sandwich.  The serving size was quite generous and I wasn’t able to finish my dish even though I was quite hungry.  My only complaint was that I was used to the fried coco bread at The Reef on Main Street.  I’m not sure which version was more authentic but I liked the taste of the version at The Reef more. 

Jay ordered basically the same thing as me except with roti bread instead.

Christina ordered a curry chicken in a roti roll wrap.  I think her dish was the biggest out of all of ours.  She was only able to finish half and ended up taking the other half home.

Lorie ordered the curry chicken with roti bread.  It was spicier than she anticipated and she had to be careful to pick out the chicken bones from her dish.

Overall, the meal was quite good.  I wouldn’t mind coming back here to try their other items.  Even though it was a Friday afternoon, the restaurant was quite empty so I can only assume it gets busier during the dinner hour.   Service is a bit laid back so it does take a while for your food to come so if you are in a rush, be sure to let them know.

Details:
1945 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Tel: 604-215-9252

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: $