Chef Trini's Restaurant

"SUMMARY: Enjoyed Chef Trini’s very much — but is Wagshal’s managing this establishment well enough? Very, very good, hearty and well-priced Caribbean food, but a number of rough spots cry out for management attention. DETAIL: Dinner for 2 at Chef Trini’s on a very quiet Sunday night (only 2 tables occupied.) *Excellent: Mai tai cocktail — beautiful blend of fruits and rum. Salt cod fritter app with spicy mango chutney on the side: light and crisp-coated, savory interior beautifully set off by the fruity chutney which delivered a nice hit of heat. A delicate crème brûlée. *Very, Very Good: Wines by the glass. Oxtail stew, lamb curry, coconut rice with pigeon peas. The oxtail stew and the lamb curry had excellent ingredients, were generously portioned and were well-priced and well-executed. (We happily took home leftovers.) The dishes were so mildly seasoned, however, that the Caribbean lilt was all but missing. We asked for and eventually received hot sauce, which upped the flavor profile considerably. Would be lovely if Chef Trini’s served hot sauce and/or other condiments with the entrees, so that patrons could add punch if they wished. Alternatively, allow patrons to order their dishes spiced mild, medium or hot. The coconut rice side dish was beautifully seasoned, but the promised pigeon peas were sparse and warranted augmentation. *Misses: A number of items suggest haphazard management, at least during off-peak hours. The dining area was a bit chilly on a cold Sunday night. The “greens” side dish was actually a medley of mixed green vegetables. Disappointing that the dish was not the promised greens. Is the menu inaccurate or described insufficiently, or did the kitchen run out of actual greens? Iced tea was strong and bracing, but no refill was available. The kitchen, the server said, had run out. Our crème brûlée, while delicious, did not match the menu description, either (no sorrel was discernible, no ginger cookie was served.) Service was well-meaning, but slow. It was the server’s first night on the job, and they appeared to be in need of additional guidance from management. Conclusions: Chef Trini’s has the potential to be an extremely good restaurant, and is a welcome addition to the Spring Valley dining scene. We enjoyed our meal and the rough spots that we encountered could be easily rectified. We hope that management cares enough to make the necessary adjustments."

"If you are West Indian do not eat here. There is nothing authentic or trini about this place. Paid 100 dollars for curry flavored water with a side of chicken. The rice they used looks like parboiled rice which no West Indian is using. Everything about this food is wrong and more of a mockery to the cuisine than anything. If u want sweet plantain I guess be more specific bc I somehow ended up with thin deep fried plantain chips that we West Indians would even eat with our food. They also had no roti so Just NO. Go to The Caribbean Flavor in Germantown or literally anywhere else."

"If you’ve never had Trinni food or even Caribbean food, this is unfortunately not the place you want to be introduced to it because you still won’t have had the real experience. The food was just food. It was not Trinni food. It was not carribean. Just a collage of flavors from all over the world, not in a good way. There is no clear flavor that can be used to describe what we ate here. We had the phoulorie, doubles, and shrimp for appetizers and shared the oxtail stew. Nothing was extraordinarily delicious. Bland would not be fair just unexciting and not Trinni. I really wanted this place to be a winner. It unfortunately was not. Save yourself the trip and your money if you want the rich mouth pleasing flavors of Caribbean food."

"I wish I could leave a review without a star cause I would give this place a ZERO for Trini food. The absolute worse representing of what Trini food is, the doubles is garbage, the pholourie garbage. Please learn how to make these items the right way. Because what you are serving customers is trash. Trini good is amazing and that mess is garbage. I can teach y’all how to make proper doubles and pholourie. Pleas do better. Please. I had to throw everything away. It was under cooked and not seasoned, pholourie was under cooked smh. I am born and raised is TRINIDAD so y’all need to do better sheesh. I will not recommend this place for Trini food at all. Yuck."

"Channon is the bomb! This is a hidden gem. Loved the sprinkled flavors of west Indian influenced dishes. We enjoyed the different options. We found that they have just the right amount of different ideas we are looking for and the fried sweet plantains are a beautiful staple. Would come back and soon! Dinner please!"