I don’t think the Rumbi Island Grill is supposed to represent any particular island, but everyone greets you with a big “Aloha” on the way in the door.
This is a new place that just opened up 2 weeks ago near the corner of 44th Street and Indian School.
Their menu generally consists of rice bowls, tropical salads and sandwiches.
I chose a “rice” bowl and, I have to say, the menu is more confusing than it need be. I don’t think it is just my imagination, as they actually give you instructions.
For starters all their bowls are “…served with your choice of white or brown rice, and fresh sautéed vegetables. (broccoli, carrots, zucchini and red pepper)”
Given this basis, we start with the instructions:
“1. Choose a flavorful island preparation below”
It wasn’t immediately clear which of the below items were “flavorful island preparations”, but it turns out the boxed items are them, I chose the Jamaican Jerk, which is a “…sweet, spicy glaze infused with a blend of tropical herbs and spices served with Rumbi Rice (coconut rice & red beans)”
“2. Choose half or full size”
Half sizes are $6.29, Full sizes are $7.29. Whenever I see a difference in price between sizes of only 15%, but one can be inferred to be twice as much food as the smaller, I’m very skeptical, so I chose the smaller size.
“3. Choose chicken, steak, luau pork, veggie, organic tofu, or shrimp”
Well, if I’m going to an island place, it’s gotta be the luau pork.
“4. Choose white or brown rice, or add (emphasis added) noodles for 79¢”
Here’s where it all went wrong. For starters, my Jamaican Jerk flavorful island preparation comes with Rumbi Rice, so really the white or brown rice question is not relevant. I also chose to add noodles.
You can see from the picture here what I got: Some pork, but not a whole lot, the sautéed vegetables and a bowl full of vermicelli noodles.
There was no jerk seasoning of any kind that I could detect, there was absolutely nothing on the noodles, they were as plain as sauce-less spaghetti.
The pork was quite good, the rest of it was bland and flavorless.
Another in my luncheon party had the Jamaican Jerk Sandwich, and so I got to sample it and it was pretty good, but it proved that they had put no jerk seasoning on my bowl.
The sandwich was good enough that I’ll give them one more try before giving up on this little slice of the islands.
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