I love their authentic delicious food they cook their food with love. Their very good food is worth driving to! Table service was nice and they treat you well. read more

Flames Restaurant II - Oxtail stew, yellow rice and veggies! - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Came in for dinner and after I ordered my food they told Me I couldn't eat at the table. The restaurant was empty. They forced me out. I thought that I'd support local Caribbean food but I will now look for other businesses that are actually community based. read more

Good food you better know what you want because they don't recommend the cake is the best!

DUUUDE! SPICY jerk chicken! Lovely! Actually spicy, if you get extra jerk on the chicken... whoo, watch out. Also best fried plantains I've had in awhile, nice and crispy , excellent consistency, not rubbery or a chip! Rice and beans are a must have! Cooking it in coconut milk does something special to it. The vegetable curry was also pretty darn good. My vegetarian friends were very happy with the non-meat selection. Sadly I couldn't try any vegetables cuz this weird carrot allergy I have... The food was so good, seriously we walked out looking like a bunch of 5 year olds with flavor stains around our mouths. Entree's are around $9/ea for lunch. Next time beef patties and ox tail! read more

Very bad experience with this place today. My husband and I went there for a take out order, my husband proceeded to greet the person at the food bar and then ask can the orders be separate because they were going different places, the woman snapped at him by saying, what do you want in a very rude tone, i have experienced their lack thereof of courtesy but not to this extent, he demeanor was as if we were begging for the food. She was also wearing a mask with her nose exposed and im thinking she should be wearing gloves as she's working with prepared food. I will not be going back there. I'm sure I can find another Jamaican restaurant near me with better service. M. Puopolo read more

I've visited Flames so many times (all locations) that it may seem I love terrible customer service and disappointing food. I do love inauthentic Jerk Chicken though, admittedly. If I invested every dime I've spent at Flames in Bitcoin early stages, I could afford to fly to Jamaica every week to eat real Jerk chicken. On my recent visit to Flames, I already memorised my order (as you always should before you go into any Flames Restaurant) to avoid heartache on both parties. The server comes over with the usual "awhatcha- wan?" Under muffled silent exhaustion because under Flames' employee handbook, you are only allowed to speak several decibels higher than the sound a butterfly's wing makes. I answered his "awhatcha-wan" with "can I have a medium plate with rice and peas?"And stopped there because if you go too fast, they'll be annoyed and roll their eyes and ask you to repeat (with attitude of course). Again, avoiding heartache. "With mixed vegg and jerk chicken with jerk sauce all over the top". He proceeds with the vegg and asks "ya wan jyerk saace (sauce) on top?" Obviously he didn't hear me the 1st time because I went too fast on his conveyor belt. He goes in the back and requests my order from the Ministry of Jerk flavored poultry and I wait. 7 minutes. No body else is serving and there is a line and everyone is staring at me like I'm the old lady at Walmart trying to pay for Fish Oil pills with a check and 3 CVS coupons. I obviously do the right thing and pull out my phone like I actually have a text notification or something so I can excuse myself from the awkward situation. I look up and my request has been approved and stamped by the Ministry of Jerk Flavored Poultry and here comes my plate! I make my debit card ready for the swipe of a lifetime for this long business deal that has finally reached closing. He swipes...I wait...I wait...he's texting...he's texting...I'm waiting. Then the beautiful approval alert rings on his First Data services merchant POS and it's printing my receipt. "Ya wan receipt?" "No thanks" I say. I try to sign, his pen doesn't work, no other pen in sight. I have a pen at all times. I pull it out mine and sign. He's texting...I hand the receipt back to him...he's texting. I leave it in front of him. My card is still in front of him so I ask "my card?" Which is right in front of him. He responds "ya all set". To which I reply a couple of decibels higher "MY card????"... he's texting. I reach across the boarders of customer and cashier, dive through his designated airspace and grab my plastic electronic money dispenserer and he replies, unconcerned "oh das ya cyard (card)?". I leave. What I've learned from Flames is as long as your food is decent, you'll always have customers. You don't really need customer service until your competition presents itself. With all said, I'm looking forward to some competition because I'm tired of being treated with disrespect when I walk into each Flames Restaurant in Boston. They are so bad that they are consistent around inauthenticity. In conclusion that night, I reached home, and realized my request from the Ministry of Jerk Poultry had obviously been denied because I had been given Stewed chicken instead. read more

Flames Restaurant II - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Today was the last day of us going here after raising the price twice this year and the customer service is horrible .these woman are mean and rude read more

We stopped here while in Boston and a few of us and my group got some jerk chicken, Curry, oxtails, rice and peas, and Jamaican patties with cheese and Coco bread. The Jamaican patties are so delicious! I didn't get to try any of the other dishes but everybody raved about how good they were. Small little joint with a few tables to sit at and about 8 different selections of meats to try and three different prices. Overall pretty good place read more

Good food. Great flavors. They also have 2 vegetarian options. There are three rice options with the entrées - go for the yellow vegetable rice option. :) Good value for money. Large quantity so don't order anything more until you get your plate... read more

Flames Restaurant II - Curry tofu (vegetarian) with yellow vegetable rice. Yum!! - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Bad food bad customer service and lie about the prices. Do not eat at any Flames restaurants there not for our people or our community. Grove hall is the worst Brockton is no better and I'm sure Hunnigton avenue is worse . Stay far away from all of them warning boycott FLAMES read more

Moving from Queens to the Greater Boston area, one of my biggest pains is the lack of West Indian restaurants. However, the handful of ones that I do find seem to always provide quality food with reasonable prices and Flames is no different. We got the jerk chicken, curry goat, 2 different kind of rice, and plantains. The jerk chicken was great, juicy and with a good amount of spice. The rice and beans were also really delicious and felt very hearty. I wasn't the biggest fan of the yellow rice, which I chalk more up to me just not being the biggest fan of yellow rice. The curry goat was okay, it wasn't very exceptional but one good thing was that it wasn't very bony which is the danger of ordering curry goat; sometimes you end up getting more bone than meat. The service was okay, nothing to write home about but no complaints. I'd definitely stop by again read more

Flames Restaurant II - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I've been coming here since 2016. Their curry goat with rice&beans is to die for. Their oxtail is also too good and my rec for first time visitors since the flavor profile is more conventional. read more

Life-altering meal. Holy goodness. I ordered the jerk chicken, rice+peas, and cabbage. It was a plate of perfect spicy greatness x10. Just absolutely delicious. I'll be back ... and back and back. read more

Flames Restaurant II - Would choose this for my last meal (jerk chicken, rice, cabbage) - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

This is the only Jamaican restaurant on my side of town. I remember being homesick and trekking to Dorchester for a disappointing plate of food before finding this place. I was overjoyed and was blown away by my first experience dining here. The jerk chicken was juicy and extremely hot (cuz a so wi like it). The rice and peas was glorious, and the oxtails were tender and meaty. I have been back many times over the last three years, both for dining in and take out. I have even brought friends here and everyone enjoyed their. As other reviewers have noticed, some of the staff can be "attitudy-tudy". However, I find that the best way to deal with this is to ask for what you want in a calm and empathetic, but firm manner. I have seen regular customers who are friendly with the staff get 5-star treatment and learned a few things along the way. 1. Under no circumstances will the staff let you eat takeout in the dining room. If you get takeout, you have to take it outside. They will wait until you are nice and cozy with your takeout box at the table then rush you in the most shaming way. 2. If you are dining in and something tastes off, tell them. Admittedly, this one took some courage to do, but a regular assured me that it l should speak up. The curry chicken I ordered (because I wanted to try something other than oxtails and jerk chicken) was extremely salty. I reluctantly stammered this out to the waitress (with the regular backing me from another table with comments like "yea, shi no like it"). After an eye roll, a grunt and repeating my words to me as a question ("It salty?"), the waitress took it away to my surprise and asked what I wanted instead. Maybe she was having a good day or maybe I have built up some good will after being a customer here for so long. Whatever the reason, I was pleasantly surprised. Update: I dined in again recently. While the oxtails were on point, the rice and peas did not seems fresh and had an overwhelming burnt smell. I asked if it was the same rice on the takeout line and the waitress said yes. She never came back to ask how we were doing. It is not the first time we have gotten rice from here mid-week that seemed old. I think the food is generally more fresh on the weekend. All in all, I really enjoy this restaurant, but it can be hit or miss in terms of quality. read more

We're visitors from SF Bay Area and while SF is diverse, we really don't get to experience this kind of food. So we made it a point to come here. Thankfully parking was easy and got seated right away during lunch time. I can't recall what we all got, I remember getting oxtail, curry goat and jerk chicken. They were tender and flavorful. Loved the sides that came with it. Our server was very flirtatious especially to my friend. It was entertaining. read more

their food is OK. Not a WOW but not bad. The experience was mediocre. They all have attitudes and lack any type of customer service. Never again. Can think of tons of places that deserve my money and give better customer service. read more

Came here for the first time today! Got a small plate of the jerked chicken NO sauce**, brown rice with beans, cabbage, and sweet plantains. Let me tell you the food was delicious!! Everything on the plate was a hit. **i say no sauce because my sister got the one with the sauce over everything and it was just toooo spicy. So much that it was almost hard for her to eat. If you like a lot of spice, go for it!! But if not, just get it without and it's delicious. I asked for extra plantain but they said only 3 came in the order which was fine. When I opened it up the had given me 2 full pieces and one little piece of one. I wanted more!! 4.5 stars if we're just talking about the food taste ONLY. 3 stars because the customer service is honestly so poor that I can't give anything above that. Servers are just plain rude and unwelcoming. read more

Never been to a West Indian restaurant before but I've had their food (thanks to a roommate in college). Plus, my sister is a huge fan of West Indian food. Upon entering, we were seated pretty quick. The staff seems really laid back and seated us...and the moved us to another table. Don't know the reason why since it was just the next table over...and the place wasn't that busy. My sister got the jerk chicken and rice with beans. I got a steak dish with rice and beans. My dish was very flavorful! The concentrated flavor of the steak and the sauce was balanced with the rice and beans. The dish didn't seem like a lot but there was a lot. I could only finish half and took the other half home. I had a nice lunch the next day with the left overs. I also got the beef patties and they were ok. Kind of small compared to the ones I've had at other places. Overall, the place was interesting! The food definitely has a lot of flavor and spices! Staff is pretty laid back...I would say they wouldn't go out of their way to cater to your every needs but that's ok. If you like meat with a lot of flavor...or if you like West Indian food, try this place out! read more

Flames Restaurant II - steak. yum. - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

To be upfront, we didn't even get to try the food. We got there RIGHT at the lunch rush and waited in line at the counter. When we got to our turn, the lady told us that if we wanted to eat in then we should sit down. We were a bit pressed for time but figured that since the place was small and the dining room was empty we could get our food fast enough. We sat down at a table and right after a huge line formed, eliminating any chance for us to get takeaway. The lady behind the counter was not rushing to serve, either. There was a waiter wandering around and he eventually brought us water, but ran off before we could place our order. He paid all attention to the one other table that was seated. We waited for a good amount of time before just leaving because we didn't have enough time to wait hours for our food. I am disappointed because the food looked and smelled delicious, but the slow and poor service means that I will try somewhere else for Caribbean food before I come back here again. read more

This is one of my favorite eating establishments in all of Boston. When people ask to meet in Boston for some dinner, 7 out of 10, we are going to Flames. The jerk chicken appetizer is delicious (but hot!). The curry goat is fantastic. It's always ample amount of food at the end of the day. I think the prices are moderate as well. When I left Boston after 18 months, the last stop that I had to make was Flames. read more

The food is not good. Flames used to be me and my families go to place. Not anymore. Every locations food taste different. Brockton and Groove Hall have the worse food. The last two times I went They were over priced, the rice is over cooked, ox tails were burnt, curry was over cooked. I remembered asking the server how much for a small side of ox tails she said 26.00. I checked the price at other Jamican restaurants between 13-15 dollars. Where are the owners? When they where coming around the food was good. Why open a bunch of franchises when the quality keeps going down. Stop Take a pause and fix the issues then go forward. Murl's Jamican restaurant on Washington street in Dorchester is very good and so is Flava of Jamican in Brockton. These places are very good and they are not over prices and you can speak with the owner. read more

Went there for some takeout. I got the oxtail plate there was more bone than meat. the portion that was served was not worth the $17.00 charged. Plenty of other places i will go to that give you more for your money read more

Flames Restaurant II provides a great combination of friendly service, good food, and at a low price! Located right in the heart of LMA, Flames is a great lunch/dinner option if you're looking for something quick, casual, and different. They have numerous options you can pick from for rice, vegetables, and meats; the staff can always help recommend based off taste as well. My staple here is yellow rice with vegetables, and cabbage. For meats, it's always a toss up! Can't go wrong with curried chicken and chicken stew with fall-off-the-bone meat. Chicken jerk is great if you can handle the heat. Goat and oxtail are home runs if you enjoy either. Don't forget about the fried plantains either! Whatever you decide, I promise you'll leave with a satisfied - appetite and money wise! read more

One of seemingly few Caribbean places in the Boston area, Flames's jerk chicken is jerked to its finest and all at low cost. Take out or dine in, you won't be disappointed. read more

Flames Restaurant II - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Ordered a platter of plantains for an event at work, person I spoke with on the phone was extremely helpful and kind. Called to check the status of the food before I came in got a big attitude from who answered the phone, went in got my food the older gentleman as very kind and helpful. But I guess the chef, dark skinned guy with dreadlocks under a black hat came out with the food was very short and rude. One reviewer stated "Jamaican dude may seem rude but he's not he's Jamaican" not true this guy is rude has nothing to do with him being Jamaican, never met any Jamaican who's like this guy. I have to agree with DJ N "Jerk served by a jerk" lol read more

Subpar Jamaican restaurant. Good is a hit or miss at times. Same with quality of service. Good for something quick to grab that's filling.

We went in the afternoon Friday and it was packed but so worth it! We ate in. I got the lunch jerk chicken with rice n beans n cabbage it was good but really spicy. Addictive! I got their curry goat for later after trying my friends curry goat and it was amazing! Best curry goat ever! Got the Mac n cheese to go for my husband and it was so good too! Might get a whole pan for him next time lol... I'd go back more regularly if it were closer . read more

Food was ok, I'll most likely try one more time too see if I'd like something els. Wasn't impressed

I've been interested in trying out Flames for some time and decided to try it out with my friend this weekend. I was only look for a quick snack before my actual dinner and was excited to see affordable appetizer options. Unfortunately, the waitress wasn't super happy that I was ordering just appetizers, but ended up coming out with beans and rice ($3.50) with jerk sauce and some beef patties ($2). The beef patties were surprisingly good, fresh out of the oven. The rice was rich in flavor but a bit too salty for my taste. My friend ended up getting their jerk chicken which she liked. While the food was decent, Flames' service gets them three stars. read more

Newest Update: 2/15/08 I finally got around to bringing my coupon for one free large dinner as provided by the manager after she read my review here. We were ignored for the first few minutes that we were at the hot bar. Finally a nice younger college age guy helped me out at the hot bar. OF COURSE there were (unapologetically) no plantains or ginger sorrel. My boyfriend had some chick "help" him and she was as unenthusiastic about it as ever. The girl at the register looked at me like I had two heads when I gave her the coupon. Apparently that manager doesn't work there anymore. I finally explained that it was given to me because I'd had a bad experience and she accepted it. I am certain that it'll be a long time, if ever, before I return here. The service and the death glares and the FOREVER missing items are just bad bad bad. ------------------------------------------------- Addendum: Recently a manager at Flames II saw my review and assured me that the service had improved and has offered me a free large dinner on behalf of the restaurant. I haven't had the opportunity to see for myself if changes have been made, but I will soon. I bumped it up to three stars because, of course, I always appreciate when yelp works to the benefit of a business, as a way to indicate what may need adjusting in the restaurant. What is important to customers. I'll re-review once I get over there for my dinner. ------------------------------------------------ 1st review: 1 star "I'd really like to be able to give a higher rating based on the past, but I've endured too much. I am writing specifically about the Brigham Circle location. I have never eaten at the Mattapan location, which seems to be reviewed quite positively. I've eaten at Flames probably 15 times since they opened in my neighborhood. I love jamaican food. I can say that each and every time I've come here they have things missing from the menu. Plantains, Jerk Wings, Roti, Ting, Sorrel Ginger, you're lucky if you happen to go in on a day when they have any of these things. The Stop & Shop has plantains EVERY day in their hot bar, why can't you just consistently have them! Or how about - don't say you have menu items that you don't have. List things that you don't have every day as "specials" instead of allowing me to get my hopes up. The jerk wings are VERY good at flames. Juicy and the jerk is authentic. The Jerk Chicken entree, however, is dry every time, without exception. This is disappointing, but it must be noted that their curry chicken is some of the most tender and moist chicken I've ever had. A note on the curry chicken: moist, but the curry flavor isn't powerful enough. It is kind of bland, and QUITE greasy. Needs more salt and curry. For some reason the cabbage always comes out cold... I want warm cabbage. The beef patties are good some days, other days they taste hard like they've been on a hot plate for days. Today I had 2 beef patties. It was a bad patty day and they tasted all dry, the ends were stale. Today my orange rice had NO flavor to it, it was quite dry and flavorless. I used to be all about this place because the jerk wings and plantains WHEN you can get them together are unbeatable. But that seems to be a rare occurance. And no I don't want the jerk chicken entree. I used to love bringing people here but I am getting worn down. The service: if you can get anyone working here to crack a smile, let alone break the bizarre stare of anger, you're doing good. And these guys definitely run on "jamaican time" -- slow as they wanna be. No matter how long the line is. They are slower than molasses here. And it's buffet style service! I can handle poor server attitude IF and only IF the food is kicking ass. Sadly, I have to report, the best items on the menu are barely there half the time so it's officially no longer worth the abuse of the staff. ADDITIONAL notes: the hot sauce selection sucks and does not match with the flavors in their foods. Oh, and don't bother ordering delivery (the menu says they deliver) but if you call they say NO delivery. When I said "ok, can I place an order for takeout then?" she told me NO and to just come down and order... right, so I can sit there for 20 minutes while you take your sweet time and the cabbage is cold and there are, unapologetically, no plantains!?!!??!?! AAAAARGH flames you lost a customer who was TRYING to find a reason to hang on today. Sorry." read more

Jerk served by a JERK. I tried this place earlier this week with high hopes of addressing my jerk craving. I heard good things about the food and it's also reasonably priced. I anticipated getting a dinner plate with jerk wings and some sides, plantains and rice in particular. Unfortunately, they didn't have plantains. I wound up getting only some jerk wings and I must say, they were very tasty. Nice and moist...and the right amount of heat. So why the 2 stars?? I'd love to give them a higher score, but the service was so rude and disrespectful that I won't event bump them up to a 3 until they get their act together. The man who served me came across as angry, bitter, and was simply not meant to interact with customers. He berated me for not knowing the size of dinner plate I wanted. I asked him to explain the sizes to me and the options, but he got very aggressive and irate almost instantly. It was very unpleasant. No one should be subjected to this disrespect when they are spending hard earned money at any business. The woman who rung me up was much calmer and nice. I feel bad for her if she has to work with him everyday. So, there you have it. Yummy jerk served by a JERK. Proceed at your own risk. read more

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH THE SERVICE HERE. My friend is a regular customer here. Finally took the time to walk over here. And the chef/cook with the dreads in the big chef hat was SO RUDE! I've never had anyone treat me this way. He was slapping the table, and really short. I asked him to move the oxtail around so I can see it and loudly "PSHHHH!" Shook his head and mumbled under his breath!!!! Never in my life have I ever been treated that way! I asked him, is there a problem? He ignored me. I asked him again, sir is there a problem? He said no! Why would you treat a customer like that? So it because I'm not West Indian or black American? Because the customers that were in there seemed like they were being treated JUST FINE. I was so pissed off, I said forget it! I am not eating here! I lost my appetite. Absolutely awful service!! DONT COME HERE!! By the way, I asked my friend if she knew who that man was and she's had two incidents with the same man. She said that she's actually witnessed him going back and forth with the other staff members. He was VERY rude to my friend and my friend requested that someone else serve her. Why is this man still working here? SO RUDE!! It is so unfortunate. Flames has such good food but it sucks that you have such ignorant people working for you. I will be spreading the word to everyone here in the area as well as reaching out to the owner., Jonathan. read more

The service is AWFUL! They are soooo rude! They yelled at me for wanting a table at 9:20 because they close at 10! I believe that was plenty of time to eat a beef patty w a beer.... I stayed... ordered, and got yelled at again because I wanted bread with my beef patty and did not know I had to be 100% decided before he put his pencil down... The food was ok... it was better when I went last year... the rice texture wasn't good... the steak was good reason for the second star. If I go again it would be to the other location. read more

I have nothing but good things to say about this place. This was pretty much my first Jamaican/Caribbean food experience, and it did NOT disappoint. I ordered jerk chicken with rice and beans and broccoli salad. The food was well seasoned, and the chicken was charred beautifully. The food was pretty spicy, and only made it much more addicting. The servings were generous in my opinion, I couldn't finish my plate, so I took the rest to go. We had a really nice sever, and our food didn't take too long to get to us. The restaurant had a beautiful look to it with the art on the walls. When it came to the bill, my friend and I were shocked at how affordable the food was! I am looking forward to my next meal already. My only complaint is that, if you're dining during the cold months, the restaurant door is constantly opening and closing so it can get pretty cold in there. All in all this place is great, and the food is wonderful! read more

Flames Restaurant II - Jerk Chicken, rice and beans, broccoli salad - Caribbean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Co-worker: Where's lunch happening today? Me: Hell if I know. El Pelon is closed, and you're an asshole for reminding me. Co-worker: Shall we venture into the mediocrity that is pretty much every other place to get lunch in the Fenway/Brigham Circle/Mission Hill area? Me: I guess we'll have to. There's a place up the road called "Flames." I'm pretty unclear on what they serve or if they're even a restaurant at all. Let's check it out. [Walk to Flames] Both: Holy shit! It's Jamaican! Co-worker snagged the jerk chicken, I the oxtail. Both good, if not amazing. I dug the rice & beans, especially when I recognized that strange, slightly sweet, very un-rice & beans flavor as coconut. Works surprisingly well. Now that El Pelon is once more in the swing of things I doubt I'll become a repeat Flames offender, but it's nice to know it's there all the same, serving my theoretical coconut-infused rice & beans and oxtail needs. read more

I've been coming to Flames since I was little. Everything is amazing. From the large amount of meat choices, to the amazing rice, to the bomb slaw and it's just an overall win. The plates are a good price for the food you get and they recently changed the sizes so more food!! This one has table service now, which I have never had issues with. They're quick and friendly and the food is always fresh and they now sell alcohol. If you're craving Jamaican food, try here or if you always wanted to try. Definitely worth a visit! read more

First time here . I loved it , great spicy curry goat . Nice inside decor but did takeout will be back to try other things on the menu . I would love if they had takeout menus . my Jamaican food and the staff were very pleasant read more

Nope. Never again! The food in the buffet stand (where everything seems to be dished out from) looks like its been sitting there for ages. It smelled pretty okay, but the chicken was extra fatty. The server/cashier mumbled to herself and would shuffle to the back room while you were still ordering. Very inhospitable. read more

I went in there hungry and proceeded to order just about everything...it was a lot of food. I came to my senses and made some of it a to go order. I'll keep it short. The sweet plantains were on point. Ox tail was good..not bad. Murked the patty and cocoa bread. Overall good food. I have not complaints. read more

If you are looking for real Jamaican food. This is it! The first time I came to Flames was on my first date with my former significant other. He was excited to take me here and I was excited to try something new. The place is a good size. Decorated with nice intimate tables and comfortable wall booth seating. You can call in for a pick-up as well of you don't want to stay. The waitresses are working the front for orders and catering to tables and do an excellent job at both! They were attentive and friendly. Food was served quickly and WOW what big portions! The food was delicious! If your looking for spice... You will get it here. I'm not good with spice and I managed to get through my meal. Of course with lots of water. Lol I've been back to this Flames several times since and always a great time. Parking is a bit of an issue as it is close to a busy intersection and in a residential area. There is a parking lot on the next side over on the right. Or you can opt to park in the shaws parking lot on their 2 hour limit spaces. Great for a date Great for catch up with friends Great for a grab and go read more