Mama Jamaica Cafe & Grill

Neighborhood: Kearny Mesa

5447 Kearny Villa Road, Suite B
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 279-5375

Hours: Mon. - Thur., 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Fri. - Sat., 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

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Buzz about Mama Jamaica Cafe & Grill

  • eh
  • don't like it

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aunderscorek wrote about Mama Jamaica Cafe & Grill

There's got to be something really special done to chicken before I can be expected to give a damn about it. As Anthony Bourdain once said (I think), "Chicken is the meat of the indecisive." I endorse that wholeheartedly. Feel like chicken? Chances are, the same enjoyment (if not greater!) would be experienced if meat were skipped entirely. Its health benefits overstated, its potential to dry out otherwise fine rice understated, I really don't care about chicken much.

With that in mind, I enter a Jamaican restaurant, Mama Jamaica, whose specialties include Jamaican jerk chicken, naturally. And so what do I do after all this fanfare of debating chicken and telling the reader that this place prides itself on a mean jerk chicken? I order the pork. I can't say that I was terribly thrilled with it, but I imagine the results would have been the same for the chicken.

Why? It doesn't matter how hard or well you spice a meat if it's cooked to bone-dryness. And if it's cooked to bone-dryness, chances are the meat was of a less-than-impressive quality, which is what I can kind of expect from a small, fast-food, business park cafe/grill of sorts. But really, white meat needs to be moist, or it needs to be sauced considerably. There are no other options.

I guess my main point is that I would order tri-tip, or something else red on the menu. That is, if the palate desires something that won't simply chafe at the roof and tongue with brittle, flaky dryness. I have really nothing else to offer about this restaurant. It's not very good and it hurts me to say so.

posted on August 19, 2011

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The Buzz Snapshot

  • eh

    What exactly is 'eh?'

    Eh. I don’t feel strongly about it either way. I don’t hate it or love it, I wouldn’t recommend it or dismiss it, it just is.

  • don't like it
  • 1
  • 3