Da Reggae Cafe

Located at 815 W. Lee Street in Greensboro, Da Reggae Café offers authentic Jamaican cuisine. The menu includes soups, salads, chicken, seafood, and meat dishes, and the establishment is open for dine-in or take-out Monday through Saturday.

Unless you are looking for it, Da Reggae Café is easy to miss. Tucked amid a block of shops on Lee Street, the location is nondescript. The food, however, is another story. Da Reggae Café offers everything one would expect to find at a Jamaican restaurant and then some: jerk and curry dishes, stews, escovitched fish, and, of course, the ubiquitous beef patties. The food is appropriately spicy, but the dishes offer more than just heat. The jerk pork and jerk chicken are tender and not dried out while a side of cabbage adds a nice complementary crunch. There are no fountain drinks here, but the bottled soda selection (including ting and ginger beer) makes up for it.

Da Reggae Café also delivers plenty of bang for the buck. Entrees come on a plate packed with rice (or rice and peas if you prefer), cabbage, and plantains. They can be had for as little as $9 (most of the meat and chicken dishes) and no more than $12.50 (fish and shrimp dishes). Lunch offerings are even more economical.

Aesthetically, Da Reggae Café is a small but brightly appointed place. The tables are few and plain, but the wall posters (of Sean Paul, Bad Brains, and other musicians) are many, and the music (take a guess what kind) is perpetual. The establishment does not have a lot of staff, but servers are polite and attentive.

Da Reggae Café won’t win any points for its location, and woe unto you if you don’t like spice, but for those up to the task, it offers rich rewards at low prices.

8/10