Rating on GoogleReviews often mention
oxtail(16) chicken(16) drink(16) candice(13) recommend(12) plantain(10) cheese(10) caribbean(10) flavour(10) mac(9) poutine(9)Amazing flavours, ambiance & service. Our server, Oresta, was super helpful - she was kind enough to let us know about halal items on the menu. A great place for some great food & vibes!View more
Tanya
We decided to finally try Tropikal & went for the thanksgiving dinner. The first thing we experienced was looking at the menu on the server's phone since the menus didn't arrive on time. We then tried to order a Red Stripe only to be told they had no bottled beef left, they had sold out the night before. It was a bit shocking the server didn't know this & only found out when they went to the bar to submit the order. The liquor & beer stores were open on Sunday so I would think that someone could have picked up some using petty cash. The house beer we ended up ordering was not great & I was glad they were only $3.
When we received our food, my friend had a hair in the stuffing. The server immediately apologized & took the plate back to the kitchen. Since we were sitting next to the pass through window we could see 3 people checking out the plate instead of prepping another plate of food. It took a very long time for my friend to receive a new plate of food so I was left sitting to wait to eat mine, as I wasn't going to eat without her. It wasn't busy & there were at least 4-5 people in the kitchen, so it was confusing what took so long for them to prep a new plate. Once my friend got her new plate of food, it was disappointing to see she was given the turkey wing without the drum stick, & she had almost no meat. The server said my friend's meal would be comp'd for the hair, which was really nice, but they gave her the worse piece of the turkey. From here the meal was ok. All sides were cold, we couldn't taste any jerk flavour on the turkey & the stuffing was definitely not corn bread, tasted like a really well made stovetop stuffing. The rice & peas were good but where were the peas. The Calallou & pumpkin was ok but very woody. I think the stalks & leaves may have been cooked together at the same time & the stalks didn't have enough to time to break down. The gravy was alright but such a small amount given. The sorrel cranberry sauce was, hands down, the best thing on the plate. It had really great flavour & a nice consistency.
Overall, the server was really nice but the food & "house" beer were disappointing. Might give tropikal another try & order from the main menu but won't make it a priority to return. Feels like the focus is more on the night life/bar vs. a restaurant.
Not sure what happened. We attended Tropikal in June on a double-date & everything was fantastic!! We all shared the jerk calamari, coconut shrimp, Rasta Pasta, oxtail poutine, griot & the rice & peas. My hubby wanted to go back for his bday but last night everything changed. We had the jerk & spicy mango wings, they were great! One of our party had the oxtail tacos, & said they were really good but the Rasta Pasta was completely different this time around. In June it was reddish in colour, nice & spicy.
This time it was bright yellow (maybe curry), not as spicy & a different taste. My husband only took 2 bites, didn’t like it & was disappointed because he ordered it based on having it last time. Peas & rice were good but the griot this time had no flavour & really greasy. The Mac & cheese was okay, the jerk poutine was good.
The service was also very slow & the restaurant was not busy, two groups, 4 at the bar & us. Based on the last experience, we told everyone we know to check it out, the atmosphere is always sweet. Not sure we want to go back, may try it one more time & try other things, because we always want to support.View more
Tropikal delivered a meal worth remembering. A combination of traditional Caribbean spice that warms the soul & modern twists that enhance the flavour without overwhelming it.
Two of us shared an Ox Tail platter & Jerk Chicken that proved to be a perfect portion (we took some home).
If you’re lucky enough to sit at the bar, Matt’s service rounds out the experience with playful charm & perceptive attentiveness to his customers. After mentioning we weren’t interested in an Alcoholic Beverage, Matt crafted a Blueberry Colada mocktail that I hope makes it to the menu one day.
10/10 would recommend!View more
My husband & I went to Tropikal for date night & from the moment we walked in everything was amazing. The atmosphere & decor is fantastic, staff were friendly & the food was insane. We started with the coconut shrimp & mushroom appetizers then followed that up with the jerk chicken, griot, mac & cheese & plantain. The flavour combinations were perfect. Would highly recommend everything!View more
Food is amazing, the flavours that leave me wanting more. Candice & the rest of the staff were so welcoming !! Will definitely be back.View more
Ashley
The restaurant is very nice, staff was great however the food was not good. Mac n cheese had an odd taste, salt fish fritters had no flavour & was under cooked, the tacos were good once we removed the extremely hard avocados at the end of the day I would not return to eat
Victoire
Thank you for a lovely night at Tropikal. The ambiance was fantastic, & the presentation of the food was lovely. However my partner & I were disappointed by the food. The mushroom based starter had a good sauce, however the mushroom didn't taste very flavourful. It tasted like it was added to the sauce at the last minute & hadn't absorbed any flavours. We were also disappointed by the size of the very small pieces of garlic bread that came with the mushroom. Secondly, the truffle fries were quite burnt so were less enjoyable. Then, the snapper fish we had as one of the mains was also not very flavourful on the inside. However the red peppers that came with the dish were really good. Finally, the jerk chicken main was the best item we had. The sauce that came with the chicken was delicious, but the chicken on its own was ok. All in all, we would rate the food experience on its own as a 5/10, therefore we wouldn't come back here to eat. This was disappointing given that we have heard many people rave about the food in the Montréal location. The ambiance & drinks were good though so we may come back for that another time. We wish you best of success with your restaurant. Take good care!
Andrea
I had really high hopes! Unfortunately It took over an hour to get our entrées. We got our appetizer fast & it was hot & delicious! 10/10! But then waited 50 min more for our entrées. This would be okay if it was slammed but people who were seated much after us got their entrées first (the same entrées fyi). I have a spinal injury so sitting for this long gets painful for me, I expected fast service since there were tons of staff. Like 2-3 people were hanging out by the expedite bar at all times (seems weird to allot that many staff to expedite given you have servers as well) The waitress apologized a few times reassuring us it was on the way. Idk if she forgot to fire our entrées or what but it was clear this was not the norm since other tables were being served more timely than us. The tacos were delicious but the only thing is that the hot sauce kind of dominated the other flavours on the taco. My partner wants to add: "The food was delicious although the poutine size was TINY. There is no world in which a poutine that small should be cost that much. I understand thaf oxtail is expensive, but you could have served the same amount of meat on double the amount of fries & it would have been incredible. That's not a meal; it's a side. That poutine size is what most places charge 4-6$ to add as an upgrade. If I'm paying 20$ for a poutine I expect it to be a meal. Your servers should warn patrons about the size at the very least if they notice them not ordering anything else as their main."
Would overall rate 3/5, I know this place could be incredible but needs a little work on ironing out the kinks. Less staff standing around, increase poutine portion size, make sure your staff are properly trained on your ordering/firing system, communicate better with patrons about what the hold up is. I would love to come back eventually & try some more food but this has really put us off from visiting again. Maybe takeout will be a better option for us. Idk. Best of Luck! :)