Jah Jah in Thanet

visited Jah Jah in July with my family after a day out to Margate from London , the sun was out and the restaurants Kool vibe and authentic Caribbean look caught my attention immediately, the attention to detail in the restraint area made you look forward to a amazing culinary experience, we ordered various dishes from the menu and I ordered the curry goat , but when we started to tuck into our meals ,what a disappointment, all that anticipation and expectation quickly evaporated and fell flat , tasteless ,bland, wrong consistency no flavour are just some of the first things which come to mind , what a let down after they got so many things right , like the Dominos on the tables great idea ! we spoke to the waiter and told him that the food wasn't up to scratch and we wanted our daughters meal taken off the bill as she wasn't going to eat any more of it , which was met with a lukewarm response and some confusing comments & no real apology either ? to be fair it was taken off , but what a shame, they need to get a experienced Caribbean chef in place who knows what carribeanfood tasteslike , as the place has so much potential .

We had a really tasty meal here and nice cocktails, nice laid back atmosphere with really cool interior. Everyone was friendly and helpful and we’ll definitely be back.

Went before seeing Craig David. My wife and I had a lively time. The food did take a little while to come. But it's cooked, fresh, and had a very laid back atmosphere. Portions are very big. We ordered way too much food. Nice cocktails. Rum amd Ting, Jamaican style. Food was really tasty. Nice background music. Friendly staff. We had a really nice time. And I thought the prices were also very reasonable.

I’ve eaten here before and was looking forward to returning. However, our experience this time was a shambles. Ordered 2 mains ( Jerk chicken with rice and peas- 3 thighs) and one portion of mac and cheese to share. Drinks arrived okay. Happy to wait for food when it’s freshly prepared but 30 minutes later the waitress brought out one plate of jerk chicken and the mac and cheese. Asked where my meal was to be told that they’d got the order wrong and thought we’d just ordered one. I can forgive that but instead of taking the rest of the food away until the whole order was ready, my son ended up eating his alone and I had to wait another 30 minutes whilst mine was cooked, only for it to be missing a thigh. When I questioned if I was told that it was up to the chef? The menu quite clearly gives an option to order 2 or 3 thighs. The guy took my plate back and returned with the additional thigh. Really disappointing experience. We ended up eating our meals separately. The mac and cheese was supposed to be to share with our meals but obviously that didn’t happen. The first bill I was given was wrong as there was only one meal but they soon changed it to reflect the missing one. I ought to have asked for a discount but feel that it should’ve been offered anyway. Won’t be returning again il afraid

Amazing food and really good (and strong) cocktails. Cant fault service. 100% worth a visit if you’re in Margate, as it’s arguably the best food in the whole town - and right by the beach with tables perfect for sunset spotting.

Came for brunch with a friend and honestly... The food was really good cannot fault. The prosecco was flowing which was also good for bottomless. However we were literally the only people in there... the DJ was really loud especially for 2 people and an empty restaurant. Just didn't have the atmosphere you'd expect. The lady who hosted us was really nice and friendly. Unfortunately I wouldn't come again.

Waiting over 45 mins just for a drink. Rude staff and cold mediocre food. Salt fish dumplings need to be reported to trading standards, no salt fish in them whatsoever! Curried Goat should be called curried bones, barely any meat on them, and such a small amount if sauce.

The food & drink were well priced, but they say you get what you pay for.. and I’m sorry to say I didn’t get that. The lovely waitress took my order for starter and main course.. 10 mins later.. comes back and said that they don’t have any of my starter left. I order one of the others.. none of them left either. So have to settle for something I don’t really want. 30 mins in our chairs and we eventually get our drinks. Over an hour in, waitress comes to the table and says ‘sorry we have no rice, you’ll have to have chips’ With respect, I didn’t come to a Caribbean restaurant to have chicken & chips. At this point we’re over an hour in, starving, so reluctantly accept but made it clear we weren’t happy, we rightfully said we wanted something off the bill. I asked for the manager, the guy said ‘we’re all managers here’, arrogantly. Told him the issues, the attitude was awful. Took no responsibility and effectively said it wasn’t their fault they run out of rice (?!?!), missing the point we’d had to sit there for an hour. He took absolutely no responsibility and refused to make any changes to the bill to compensate. Effectively he said we’re lucky we got our food. Amateur hour from the off. Avoid.

Awful. Placed and paid for my food and drink order in at 6pm and it never came! Worse still the server wasn't apologetic and instead accused me of queue jumping (I didn't) and was so rude about it that another server took over. I was annoyed and got a refund, whilst another server though seemingly apologetic told me I could go elsewhere! Nice. Fresh order would take 20min still faster than traipsing around Margate to find a spot during the busiest time of the evening. So I reordered a couple of snacks. The halloumi fries were decent and plentiful with a cute side salad. OK 👍🏾 The saltfish fritters were awful.The serving was 3 oversized lumps of greasy seasoned fried flour and not ONE piece of saltfish did I find! Overall the vibe was nice. Sweet reggae music and rum based cocktails probably more responsible for that than the food, which is bordering on cultural appropriation. I walked in with so much anticipation and was sorely disappointed. Fish n Chips next time. I reckon. Then here for a cocktail..maybe ..

Slowest service ever! Waiting 35 minutes for drinks alone! Even when it was quiet. Waiting over an hour for food and didn’t even get it all. Then when questioned about, it was as if they had forgotten. Needed refunds and half our party still did not have their food. Staff were inattentive and quite frankly rude. We were sat down with no cutlery just wouldn’t recommend unless you like waiting with no drinks or food, only good thing was the music and the food was okay once we got it (if we got it)!

My kids had mentioned this place and we were looking forward to it but sadly we will never be back, it was such a poor experience from start to finish. On approach there was the unmistakable smell of cannabis swirling around outside and on entering we were shown to our table by a very uninterested lady without so much of a greeting. We sat for about 20 minutes and no sign of anyone coming to ask if we wanted a drink. I went to the bar to ask and was told she was busy making other drinks and would be over when she was finished. Another 20 minutes passed before she finally came over and took our drinks and food order. It was over an hour before we got our first drink. I should have listened to my husband at this point and left but given it was already now past 9pm we stuck it out. I must add that we were told we couldn’t have our meal with rice as they had run out, so chips or salad was the only option. Not sure how they managed to run out of rice on a not so busy Tuesday night when it’s clearly a staple on the menu! Our starters eventually came about 1hr 40 after we had arrived, we were so hungry we ate it all but the calamari was cold, overcooked and nothing special. I asked for our main to come out as soon as it was ready when the starters appeared and luckily it did 5 minutes later. Again, food was mediocre and chips could have been shop bought for all I know. Apart from apologising once for the wait when she came to take our order, there were nothing further from the waitress. There was no offer of another drink after we had clearly finished our first round and we couldn’t be bothered to ask at that point as we knew how long we would have to wait. The ladies loo had no toilet roll, the flush did not work and it all felt very grubby. Overall, we were not made to feel welcome, the customer service was poor and the food average at best. I would save your money and go elsewhere, we won’t be back and I won’t be recommending this to anyone.

Absolutely terrible. Was in there an hour and 20 minutes waiting for our meal, we finally walked out when a member of staff said we would have to wait longer because they were waiting for the rice to cook, I suspect they meant that they were waiting for the rice to grow. None of our party [5 of us] will ever go there again.

Food was cooked fresh, so a little wait but nothing untoward. The food was good and honest, I had the jerk chicken thighs with R&Ps and my wife had the jerk chicken burger. It’s not fine dining, doesn’t pretend to be, but it was fine to eat. We really enjoyed it.

Great food, great cocktails. Friendly service. You must come and try the food. The place feels like you are in the West Indies.

Amazing food, great atmosphere, feeling so lucky to have this gem at the end of our road. Incredible food!!!! Would highly recommend!

This place gets full marks for being the worst eating experience I've ever had. As a person of Jamaican heritage I can say there is absolutely nothing Caribbean about the meal I had. The saltfrish fritters looked impressive when they arrived, only to discover they tasted as if they had 0.5% actual saltfish in them. Really, they were glorified fried dumplins. The ital stew didn't have one pinch of seasoning, not even a pinch of salt. I had to add salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce just to get some kind of taste. The "jerk chicken" was anything but authentic. It was not cooked on a jerk pan and was not even seasoned with real jerk sauce. In fact, it was actually roast chicken (which you can tell from the slightly crunchy exterior) that had been wiped in some sauce that probable came from the local Tesco. If you're looking for authentic caribbean food, you will absolutely not find it here. No amount of red, gold and green and reggae music playing is going to change that. I find this place insulting to my culture and hertitage; in particular to name the place in such a way that implies it has anything remotely to do with real rasta or caribbean culture. The only positive is the young lady who served us was polite and professional.

Not great if you want good & quick service. The food was nice when we got it, but waited nearly a hour for mains. I think it got to 40 mins for drinks too (I asked after 30 mins where they were and got ignored. When our chips came we asked again and got one for our drinks, with the others coming a further 5 mins later). Loaded fries were great. The others I was with liked their food a lot and my main was nice but nothing special. Felt like it was more of a hanging den for people who needed to use the loo an unusual amount of times. And others who needed to take a lot of calls to meet people briefly. I had high hopes but sadly I won’t be back. 🙁

One of the worst customers experiences I have ever had. Visited with my sister and Dad for a Father’s Day lunch. We were shown to a table, table was not cleared (had to do this ourselves). Sat inside for 25 minutes, no drinks taken, no menus bought over. Asked for tap water while we waited in which we were told you have to wait your turn. First and last time I will ever visit here.

We stopped in here on a warm day for an early dinner. The restaurant had not been open for long, just a couple of weeks, I believe. Nice table for two by the door, could sit and watch the world go by. Drinks were a little slow in arriving, but very punchy! I think there may have been a bit of an issue with the ordering system as we had a bit of a wait for food. When it came, I had to ask for mine to be reheated as it was cold. They brought me a fresh plate which was fine. Flavours were good (brown stew) and bf had the goat curry, said it was fab. I think we’ll let the teething problems sort themselves out, but we will definitely go back to Jah Jah. It’s authentic, well located and reasonably priced and the staff were lovely. They have a good menu and I’m excited to try some different dishes next time.