Ollie's Jerk Shack & Cocktails in Brighton and Hove

Great place to eat food is amazing and staff so friendly there is a great atmosphere and Andy the owner is lovely makes you feel so welcome

I'd been to this location a few times in its previous incarnations, when there was no shade on this rooftop although it's a pleasant spot in the middle of the Lanes. Now, in its latest guise, it has a large canopy which is very welcome on a hot day. There are also sofas to lounge on (a little too low to eat from at the tables though). This otherwise enjoyable ambience is ruined by the excessively loud music. We asked for it to be turned down, but this was unfortunately not done. We had to raise our voices to talk. This is not good. The choice of cocktails was limited on the day we visited. I tried a rum cocktail, which looked suspiciously red, but was assured that it did not contain Red Bull (a beverage I detest; there was another cocktail on offer which did contain the said substance). There was just one waitress who was left to cope by herself - she did her best and was very helpful, but as more and more customers arrived she was probably a bit overwhelmed. We had a jerk chicken salad, which I'm sorry to say was mediocre in the extreme: some sub-standard chicken thrown together with some salad leaves and then anointed with some sort of dark brown thick sticky dressing. I have to say that the food that other customers ordered did look better. On the plus side, it was 'Happy Thursday' and everything was half price. Come along for a drink if you don't mind loud music; incidentally I love reggae and Caribbean music but this was not good reggae! There's so much better out there. All in all, a missed opportunity.

I got charged twice for the same order on Saturday , I have just realised a few days later and contacted them on Facebook as there number isn’t working. the person was unhelpful and rude and told me to speak to a manager and I said I would be happy to can you get them to call me and gave my number, they said no just call and I explained I tried to call them and it wasn’t going through and gave them the number I found on Google and asked if that’s the correct number and then they read the message and ignored it. So I have paid twice for the same round of drinks and no one will help me.

We were excited to try this venue and a family of three with our son who is 8. We came along at lunchtime and it was pretty quiet at 12 o clock when we sat upstairs. We ordered drinks and then chose jerk chicken, rice n peas, plantain and Mac cheese. As we ordered (shame we didn’t know before we chose) we were informed that there was no plantain and no rice n peas. The food that we did have was lovely, but obviously the 2 items not available were part of our anticipated Caribbean lunch experience… However, we will return again as the experience would have been a 5 rating with a fuller menu. The outdoor area looks like it would be fun and when we left, music was being played and the atmosphere was a bit more lively…

No jerk wings and no jerk chicken, no rice and pea and no plantain so basically nothing but cocktails