Discussions

This is an honest review of Irie Kaya. I am NOT a reviewer but just a regular old person going in to experience a diffent taste culture.  
 
Upon walking in, the place was comfy and well-decorated in a Jamaican theme - warm and cozy with vivid, warm paint colour on the walls. There were sporadic wall decorations, some of which included interesting posters of Bob Marley. It was such a nice haven from the cold and we felt comfortable.  
 
There were different homestyle & bistro tables within the eating area, which I liked a lot as it felt homey like Mom's home. As the lighting is glaring in a strip mall, the flouresecent light panels in the ceiling were ingeniously disguised by beachmats that hung from the standard flourescents, somewhat disguising the bright glare and adding to the ambience of a beachhouse. And what a nice ambience is was. A very good idea to soften the place. Seagrass blinds also graced the front windows, diffusing the light.  
 
In the middle of the ceramic tiled restaurant is a nice leather seating area on carpet. A kind of oasis to sit and enjoy coffee or tea while reading newspapers - just like home and very comfortable and inviting. This homey seating faced a large screen TV, not on when we were there, although pleasant Jamaican music was playing the whole time - at a perfect level throughout the restaurant speakers.  
 
The ambience was nice, the food (Roti) was lovely, served on nice square plates with genuine cutlery. Everything homey, although I noted the salt and pepper consisted of little packets stuffed into a bowl on the tables. Somewhat different from all the other homey touches. It was odd that salt and pepper shakers didn't grace the homestyle tables.  
 
The kitchen was as clean as a whistle and the washrooms clean and pleasant.  
 
The only thing I would have rather seen was a welcoming hello, which did not happen at all, even though we were the only people in there at the time. We felt as though we may be intruders and were asked after our meal when we were ready to leave (no waiting customers)...no "how was your meal?" to which we may have replied "terrific".  
 
So, if I may, I would tell people to support this restaurant as it has so much going for it!  
 
I would just hope that the attitude and welcoming or even just speaking to customers in a normal & friendly way when they patronize your restaurant will improve. That's the only negative we experiened, which is such an easy thing to improve on!  
 
Customer Service is the way to go. No gushy welcomes required...just a hello or friendly banter versus a cold and unfriendly glare when we were happy to be there and depart with our money, which amounted to about $10 each.  
 
I give it a thumbs up.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Of all the good things, the totally indifferent and unfriendly attitude (when we were the only people in there) was off-putting, but we loved the food and ambience and will give it another go.