I went to dinner with my family and our friends the other night at a Jamaican restaurant called Kingston 11 located in downtown Oakland. Kingston 11 started from a small pop up restaurant in Berkeley and then moved to Oakland when they found the right spot. The owner and chef, Nigel Jones has dreamed of opening this restaurant ever since his grandmother taught him how to cook. Kingston 11 is a warm restaurant with a comfortable vibe. The wooden tables are put together in long rows to encourage family style dining - which is also great when you are a bigger party! The lighting looks like lanterns you would find in a friend's backyard and is enjoyable to look at while dining. The pictures and photos decorating the wall make you feel like you are at home. Kingston 11 serves traditional Jamaican food including plantains, oxtail, and jerk chicken. The night we had dinner, we ordered jerk chicken, oxtail, curry, and plantains. We also got rice and beans. The food was all very comforting with rich flavors. I really enjoyed the food and thought it was delicious. I have never been a huge fan of Jamaican food until I had Kingston 11. Kingston 11 is a bigger restaurant located next to a few other restaurants that have been in this area of downtown Oakland for a long time and some other restaurants and parking lots. I highly recommend going to Kingston 11 if you are in the mood for delicious Jamaican food with an amazing vibe.

Really good Jamaican food! Loveee the oxtail stew, so yum. Sadly they just closed their restaurant doors, but they still do catering and have a sister restaurant called Calabash! Check them out!!

I've seen this place so many times and had yet to visit. Was very happy to get a chance recently and was pleasantly surprised. Overall, this restaurant has all the right things going for it: central location; decent space; the right ambience; live music; attentive service; and tasty food selections. Here's my breakdown review: 1. Cleanliness: 4/5. The restaurant has an older feel to it but everything from the front of the house to the tables was nice and clean. The employee staffed with bussing plates and tables was like a hawk- very attentive and made sure tables were turned quick. The 2/4 seat tables are smaller surface space so his quick action made it much easier to handle our multiple plates. One point dock on this because the men's bathroom didn't look clean and had hand paper towels scattered around the base of the toilet. 2. Service: 5/5. Our server Mackenzie rocked. She covered lots of tables but I'm convinced she had a third eye watching everyone. Between recommendations and a genuine personality, she made the dining experience great for our first time. As well, the young guy bussing tables was nearby us and as soon as we'd finish, he'd promptly collect the plates. Great partnership to keep the clients attended to. Past reviews mention slow service or attentiveness issues. Let's be real- do your homework about what you want to try (read the menu ahead of time) and be deliberate with questions to the staff. They aren't mind readers so cut them some slack. 3. Food: 4/5. We ordered the following: - Chicken Wings. The drumstick and the flats came connected- a big plus as it makes the flavor much more rich! Bold flavors, not spicy and sauced just right. I devoured these and scraped the bones clean. - Salt Fish Fritters. They were so soft and hot. I've only had salt fish a handful of times but this was so enjoyable. Even gave me an idea on how to fix a fish fritter at home! - Plantains. Such a staple dish and done very well. Black bean sour cream was added with it- very new to me. Great bites! - Oxtail Main. She got the oxtails and looked very well done. The one line review was: this hits the spot. So very good! - Goat Curry. I cleaned this plate off. Not a morsel of rice left. Unfortunately, the kitchen was out of hot sauces and scotch bonnet (unheard of!) so the heat was not there for me. As well, the goat while tasting wonderful, was largely just curry sauce and some bits of meat. Lots of jagged bones that tells me it wasn't a clean butchering. Also, the bits of meat I got were tougher, perhaps it was an older goat. I think it was very curry heavy with bits of meat scattered. I'd like to see more meat served in this plate to justify the $24 price point. Definitely will visit again as I'm always around W Grand. Give it a shot!

The Oxtail Stew is finger lick'n gooood! Nice space inside. Lots of greenery and artwork. Good music. Casual date night type of vibe. My boyfriend and I tried their Curry Shrimp, Jerk Chicken and Oxtail Stew. Everything was good but the Oxtail Stew definitely stood out. The meat was so tender and just fell off the bone *drooling* For cocktails, we had their Old Jamaican and Old Harbour - both enjoyable drinks. Staff took really good care of us. We had a little hiccup during our dinner, and our server did her best to make sure we left happy. We really appreciate the effort, and we will definitely be back if we're in the area craving that yummy Oxtail Stew :]

I ordered a veggie patty and plantains since I wanted to get something relatively cheaper off the menu and to get to try more than one thing. The plantains are decent, somewhat sweet and comes with sour cream and beans which help balance out the flavor. The patty is yummy and salty and savory inside, a good option if you like foods like empanadas, but I just wish it was bigger.

I love consistency & I know I can depend on Kingston 11 to give me the flavors I need when craving Jamaican. We had dinner here recently after being out of town for over a month and it was a great reminder of why I love my great city! I will mention that I do wish they had a brown chicken stew option! Even in its absence, the menu has some solid staples. Honorable mention: Kingston 11 participates in Dining for Justice, so 100% of the 1% surcharge goes towards providing community meals.

Oxtail stew rice and peas with plantains Amazing. Really goood amount of food feeds 2 people easily. Rice and peas go really well with this. Plantains here were top notch/ juicy and slightly sweet 90/100 Wings Tender juicy flavour in the sauce was nice and there was a good amount of sauce 90/100 Home brew ginger beer Pretty spicy / slightly sweet 85/100 Plantains Not as good as the ones that came with oxtail soup Just slightly dry but some of them were perfect 75/100

Ordered online takeout from this location for pickup at lunch. I've been craving jerk chicken for 3-4 months now so I pretty much inhaled (consumed food without properly chewing it) upon receiving and smelling the food. I ordered the jerk chicken + rice with beans + plantains. The jerk chicken was tender and had a nice Smokey taste with some seasoning. I have not tried jerk chicken at a lot of different places, but definitely thought it was delicious. The plantains were on the ripe side, super soft and had a sweet taste. The rice with beans made the meal filling and wasn't dry. The people there were really nice. The vibe was nice with a lot of open space and natural lighting. Good for group gatherings or a solo meal if that's your thing.

This place is such a good find. Ate here today and I'm Glad I did. I've been wanting to eat here for a bit. Staff is exceptional very attentive, gave recommendations and just friendly! Today I had the curried goat! Huge portion with carrot, potatoes and rice. They also threw in some plantains. I also had the salted fish fritters! They were very tasty and I loved the green sauce it comes with. I'll definitely be back that goat was to die for! Can't wait to try something new....