clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Jerk Chicken at Kith/Kin
Jerk Chicken from Kith/Kin
Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.

Where to Find Jamaican Food Around D.C.

Eight destinations for jerk chicken, oxtails, and goat curry

View as Map
Jerk Chicken from Kith/Kin
| Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.

There’s way more to Jamaican cuisine than jerk chicken.

All of the restaurants on this map offer the famous dish. But to get a holistic taste of the island’s multicultural cooking — which draws from indigenous peoples, West Africa, Europe, East Asia, and India — customers should also be consuming oxtails, curry goat, and the national dish of ackee and saltfish. Vegetarians and people who aren’t necessarily into spicy food will find items that work for them, like the mushroom patties at Kith/Kin, or the curried vegetables, vegetable stew, and vegetable roti at Negril.

Did we miss your favorite spot? Sound off in the comments below.

Read More

Negril The Jamaican Eatery (Multiple locations)

Copy Link

This small group of four local Jamaican restaurants has been going strong since founder Earl Chinn opened his first location in D.C. in 1979. Chinn named his restaurant after a resort town in the northwestern part of the island. The most popular dishes include curried chicken with cabbage, rice, and peas, and flaky patties stuffed with beef, vegetables, or chicken. Wash it all down with coconut water or Ting, a grapefruit soda that’s popular in Jamaica.

Curry chicken from Negril The Jamaican Eatery
Curry chicken from Negril The Jamaican Eatery
Shaun Holness

Andrene's Caribbean and Soul Food Café

Copy Link

Kingston-born Andrene Finn runs this family-owned restaurant in Petworth that’s been a neighborhood staple since 2006. She says she frequently sells out of the jerk and barbecue chicken wingettes, so get those if you can. Or swing by for the daily lunch special that includes curried or stewed chicken, vegetables, and a can of soda for $7. Howard students, police officers, postal workers, bus drivers, and military personnel get an extra 10 percent off orders as long as they’re in uniform or can show an ID. A senior discount goes all day Tuesdays.

Jamaica’s National Dish is Ackee and Saltfish, and Andrene’s Caribbean and Soul Food Café serves it with white rice, green bananas, and yam.
Andrene Finn

Karibbean Kitchen LLC

Copy Link

Beef patties, oxtails, charcoal jerk chicken, and coco bread are all available at this Columbia Heights spot. But curry goat meat, falling off the bone in a rich stew, reigns supreme. Sides include rice and peas, cabbage, plantains, or mac and cheese.

Taste of Jamaica

Copy Link

Owner Howard Frampton hails from St. Catherine Parish in Jamaica and has helmed his restaurant since 2003. He’s since moved it twice, citing gentrification surrounding the the original location in Brookland. Taste of Jamaica has been on Georgia Avenue since June 2016, and Frampton says customers crave his curry shrimp, a red bean soup he makes with chicken and turkey, and fricasseed chicken.

View this post on Instagram

Yum yum is all i can say

A post shared by Mo understood turay (@mo2rays) on

Jerk & Juice

Copy Link

Husband-and-wife team Marlon and Trecia McKnight specialize in Jamaican sandwiches at Jerk & Juice, their stall inside Brookand’s Tastemakers food hall. They just launched a Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich, which takes a sweet festival bun and stuffs it with escovitch-style fish, lettuce, and tomato. Curry chicken and oxtail are among the most popular entrees.

Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich from Jerk & Juice
Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich from Jerk & Juice
Marlon McKnight

Jam Doung Style

Copy Link

For 20 years, hungry customers have been coming to Jam Doung (patois for Jamaica). Stock up on staples like curry chicken, sweet plantains, and oxtail at this family-owned restaurant,

View this post on Instagram

Oxtail, To die for !

A post shared by JamDoung Style Cuisine (@jamdoungstyle01) on

Kith/Kin

Copy Link

James Beard Rising Star Kwame Onwuachi’s popular Afro-Caribbean restaurant on the Southwest waterfront features dishes inspired by his colorful heritage in Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria, and New Orleans. Onwuachi serves several Jamaican dishes that skew traditional and progressive, including curry goat, braised oxtails, whole fried snapper, coco bread, an uni escovitch, mushroom patties, and — of course — jerk chicken. The rum cake for two from executive pastry chef Paola Velez fuses chocolate crumble cake with Bacardi 8-Year Rum.

Uni escovitch from Kith/Kin
Uni with escovitch peppers, avocado mousse, crab, and roti crisps from Kith/Kin
Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.

Pimento Grill

Copy Link

The rasta pasta is the most popular item on the menu at this decade-old restaurant. Rotini and penne noodles come coated in Alfredo sauce with a choice of meat (chicken, shrimp, salmon, or tilapia). It packs a lot of heat, but cooks can make it less spicy upon request. If pasta’s not your thing, traditional Jamaican dishes include the ackee and fish cod platter, and the callaloo and cod platter.

Negril The Jamaican Eatery (Multiple locations)

This small group of four local Jamaican restaurants has been going strong since founder Earl Chinn opened his first location in D.C. in 1979. Chinn named his restaurant after a resort town in the northwestern part of the island. The most popular dishes include curried chicken with cabbage, rice, and peas, and flaky patties stuffed with beef, vegetables, or chicken. Wash it all down with coconut water or Ting, a grapefruit soda that’s popular in Jamaica.

Curry chicken from Negril The Jamaican Eatery
Curry chicken from Negril The Jamaican Eatery
Shaun Holness

Andrene's Caribbean and Soul Food Café

Kingston-born Andrene Finn runs this family-owned restaurant in Petworth that’s been a neighborhood staple since 2006. She says she frequently sells out of the jerk and barbecue chicken wingettes, so get those if you can. Or swing by for the daily lunch special that includes curried or stewed chicken, vegetables, and a can of soda for $7. Howard students, police officers, postal workers, bus drivers, and military personnel get an extra 10 percent off orders as long as they’re in uniform or can show an ID. A senior discount goes all day Tuesdays.

Jamaica’s National Dish is Ackee and Saltfish, and Andrene’s Caribbean and Soul Food Café serves it with white rice, green bananas, and yam.
Andrene Finn

Karibbean Kitchen LLC

Beef patties, oxtails, charcoal jerk chicken, and coco bread are all available at this Columbia Heights spot. But curry goat meat, falling off the bone in a rich stew, reigns supreme. Sides include rice and peas, cabbage, plantains, or mac and cheese.

Taste of Jamaica

Owner Howard Frampton hails from St. Catherine Parish in Jamaica and has helmed his restaurant since 2003. He’s since moved it twice, citing gentrification surrounding the the original location in Brookland. Taste of Jamaica has been on Georgia Avenue since June 2016, and Frampton says customers crave his curry shrimp, a red bean soup he makes with chicken and turkey, and fricasseed chicken.

View this post on Instagram

Yum yum is all i can say

A post shared by Mo understood turay (@mo2rays) on

Jerk & Juice

Husband-and-wife team Marlon and Trecia McKnight specialize in Jamaican sandwiches at Jerk & Juice, their stall inside Brookand’s Tastemakers food hall. They just launched a Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich, which takes a sweet festival bun and stuffs it with escovitch-style fish, lettuce, and tomato. Curry chicken and oxtail are among the most popular entrees.

Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich from Jerk & Juice
Hellshire Fish Fest sandwich from Jerk & Juice
Marlon McKnight

Jam Doung Style

For 20 years, hungry customers have been coming to Jam Doung (patois for Jamaica). Stock up on staples like curry chicken, sweet plantains, and oxtail at this family-owned restaurant,

View this post on Instagram

Oxtail, To die for !

A post shared by JamDoung Style Cuisine (@jamdoungstyle01) on

Kith/Kin

James Beard Rising Star Kwame Onwuachi’s popular Afro-Caribbean restaurant on the Southwest waterfront features dishes inspired by his colorful heritage in Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria, and New Orleans. Onwuachi serves several Jamaican dishes that skew traditional and progressive, including curry goat, braised oxtails, whole fried snapper, coco bread, an uni escovitch, mushroom patties, and — of course — jerk chicken. The rum cake for two from executive pastry chef Paola Velez fuses chocolate crumble cake with Bacardi 8-Year Rum.

Uni escovitch from Kith/Kin
Uni with escovitch peppers, avocado mousse, crab, and roti crisps from Kith/Kin
Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.

Pimento Grill

The rasta pasta is the most popular item on the menu at this decade-old restaurant. Rotini and penne noodles come coated in Alfredo sauce with a choice of meat (chicken, shrimp, salmon, or tilapia). It packs a lot of heat, but cooks can make it less spicy upon request. If pasta’s not your thing, traditional Jamaican dishes include the ackee and fish cod platter, and the callaloo and cod platter.

Related Maps