The Little West Indies

Words don’t do justice. Do yourself a favour. Give them a call and order ahead. You have my word! Best Caribbean restaurant out of the east end. I’ve tried the jerk chicken, oxtail, curry goat and recently the stewed snapper. Which tops them all as the most flavourful fish I’ve had in Canada to date.

Ordered Oxtail via uber eats, food prep & delivery was fast.

Food was only okay. Dry rice, small portion of meat for $15 ($24 after uber fees & tip). Will give it one more try with a different menu item before writing it off completely.

Its not often a place has excellent customer service and perfect execution store decor and layout. I haven't tried the cooked food yet but i will update my review when i do. Sometimes devil is in the jerk chicken ;).

The Little West Indies Food Market in Bowmanville is a must visit, beautifully arranged and attractive store with many of your Caribbean foods buy and takeout meals to boot! Divided into two sections, grocery and beauty, it's one West Indian store that should be on your "often return to" list

Unfortunately, some items are pricey, but considering the quality and condition of the products, foods and takeout, the warm and welcoming attitude of the staff and owners, and the clean and attractive store, we're willing to pay a little extra for all that.

It is wheelchair accessible being on the ground floor with a smooth transition from sidewalk to store. However, the automatic front doors are a little tight and awkward to fit/pass through. There are also a couple of areas in the store that would be tight to maneuver around in a wheelchair and quite difficult if the store was busy.

Parking is on the bustling, main street by parking meters, and over the holidays there's 3 hours free parking available.

Here are more details:
The food section of the store is small, super clean, and well stocked with well known, Caribbean, grocery items, fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, breads, buns, meats and sweets. It's well organized too, so that with a brief look around you can easily find what you need.

If you can't locate something you need in the canned, produce or fridge areas, the very friendly staff and owners of this family run business are able to find it instore for you or willing to special order it in.

There's also a large beauty section off on to one side of the store stocked with nail products, wigs, hairpieces, brushes, combs, creams, perms, sprays, clothing, jewelry and much, much more. We're told they even do beauty workshops there too.

Let's not forget the take out section of this store. Set behind a tall, clean and attractive counter, takeout offerings are many, well priced and with good portion sizes.

We tried the vegetable rundown with potato and ground provisions, the rice and peas and stew peas with pigtails, and the fried chicken meal- all were authentic in taste and delicious; Kudos to the chef(s)!

Plus we were there when the in-season sorel drinks were just being put on the shelves; cold, just sweet enough, full bodied (NOT watered down ) and with the right hint of bite... Listen, if you haven't tried the Little West Indies Food Market's sorel drink done Jamaican style, you're missing a real treat!

Overall, this store delivers plenty on what should be the normal practices of every store everywhere - attractive clean store, in stock good products, and great customer service!

CON: a little on the pricey side, please reconsider some of your prices to gain competitive advantage!

PRO: I don't even like red peas soup but I after trying theirs I love it (ordered it twice now!) But let me tell y'all about yesterday, I decided to try the seafood soup because it sounded so unique and intriguing; damn, I was not disappointed every spoonful was great!!! So great, I had to take pix to post with this review. Firstly, the abundant variety of ingredients we got was amazing: crab, mussels, shrimp, lobster, cho-cho, okra, yellow yam, irish, spinners and carrots! My God was it soup or a boil!?! Honesty, I was blown away and enjoyed every single bite. Everything was perfectly cooked not overdone, rubbery or fishy tasting. Job well done and hats off to the all the food prep staff here, compliments to the chef, also special mention to Rochelle. She gave me exceptional customer service and I'm well satisfied!!! I am now officially a regular customer!