Review: Calabash Island Eats

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were driving around downtown kind of looking for somewhere to eat and he spotted Calabash. I knew about the restaurant for a long time but never got around to trying them out. He decided that he wanted to try them out, but knowing him, I didn’t think that he would completely enjoy their cuisine. If, for some reason you don’t know, I’m from the Bahamas. Since moving to Houston, I have been subtly keeping an eye out for food that I’ve been used to for the majority of my life. So when I noticed their sign up a little less than a year ago, I was a bit excited. I tried to contact someone about attending their grand opening but no one ever reached out to me. Nevertheless, I followed them on their social media and kept up with their opening progress but still never got around to trying them out.

We were able to park in the parking lot right next to the building but later found out that their parking was only on the street and the parking lots did not belong to them and we’d have to pay. Although it was Sunday and parking was free, if you visit them on a weekday, expect to pay for parking or spend some time finding street parking where you’ll still have to pay the meter $.30/hour. We walked in and it wasn’t crowded whatsoever, which was kind of okay but at the same time, I wondered if it was a reflection of their food and/or service. But again, it was Sunday. A waiter greeted us right away and was pretty friendly. I asked to sit on the upper outdoor deck because it was a nice day out and downtown’s skyline is by far my favorite of all the US cities and the restaurant had a great view of it. We got seated and the waiter told us about all their popular dishes and the ones that were his favorite which is always appreciated.We didn’t feel like drinking and none of their virgin beverages were appealing to us, besides the Kola Champagne  which I would’ve gotten if I were drinking soda (I’ll explain in another post). So we stuck to water with lemon. For review purposes, all of their cocktails were $9 besides one which was $12.After looking over the menu, I decided on the Oxtail Po-Boy, which came with ‘cou cou fries’ (deep fried cornbread sprinkled with their Calabash seasoning) and Alton decided on the Calabash Pizza. We soon ordered and found out that the pizza was currently not being served because they did not anticipate the high demand for it, so he decided on the Duck Jerk Wings instead with a side of their macaroni pie.

I had never eaten oxtails growing up and the first time I actually started to was after moving to Houston and discovering Reggae Hut. Now they’re my usual order whenever I do visit them. So that was the only thing that I could compare this oxtail experience to. Unfortunately this sandwich was not my favorite. The oxtails shreds were under seasoned and I did not like the bread. It was almost as if it were not baked long enough or maybe that was just the type of bread it was but I did not end up eating it after two bites. The ‘cou cou’ fries were actually pretty good so I was able to finish those with no problem. On the other hand, the Duck Jerk Wings were by far my favorite. They were well seasoned, and although my boyfriend ordered a small (3 wings), they brought him out what looked to be a medium (he had about 8 wings). They weren’t as spicy as I think jerk should/could be but they were very good and I would order them if I visited again. The macaroni pie (upper right corner in oxtail po-boy photo) was also really good. I had recently explained to Alton that I have only liked one macaroni dish since moving to Texas (served at Dave & Buster’s) because Americans make their macaroni so differently than Caribbean people, so its fitting that I would find some at an island restaurant that I really liked.