Island Foods - North York

Island Foods carries a smaller menu than many other Caribbean restaurants, but what they do , they do well.... The roti (Dhal Puri) , both chicken and goat , were delicious, and the portions were generous, with a better price than many lesser places. Service was pleasant and polite. Definitely one of the best rotis around!!!! The doubles were smaller than most places, but again, the quality was superlative.

Service and food was very disappointing. Visiting family in Toronto and decided to pop into this place since it came highly recommended. Walked in, said hello and ask where the washroom was, lady behind the counter responds with an unfriendly look on her face that the “customer washroom” is there. In hindsight we should have left at this point but we stayed the course since we heard it was sooo good. We thouht perhaps the food would make up for the rude service. We ordered two oxtail and a goat roti. It was not consumable!! Rice was mush, oxtail was tasteless, roti was mush and tasteless. My cousin in Toronto makes both better. It went in the garbage. Money down the drain.

Roti with fresh ingredients is moist tasty I had a channa roti (chickpea) and potato which I had ordered as spicy assured dubious server that I understood spicy and it was scrumptious well worth the drive from Markham.

Island Foods has been my go to Roti place in the Don Mills and Lawrence area for a decade or more. I only get there once or twice a year as I'm not in the area and in need of food that frequently. I'm saddened that my most recent visit was a disappointment. A family member and I were going to a baseball game at Bond Park nearby and were looking forward to getting Roti from Island Foods beforehand. We arrived around 6PM and both ordered goat roti, mine with pepper, his with extra gravy (no pepper). The order taker was maybe in his early 20s and must have been new-ish as he got flustered when the cash register tape ran out and needed to get help. Our orders were started by the first person and finished by a second who replaced the tape and took our money. Our plates arrived quickly. We had time and so decided to eat in, it was about 30C outside with a 35C+ Humidex and we were going to spend the next few hours on a ball diamond so the advantage of an air conditions space for dinner was compelling. We were disappointed in our rotis for two reasons. Reason 1: we received chicken (we ordered goat). Reason 2: servings are less generous than I remember (also wetter). My current favourites for roti are Roti Hut and Mona's. Both are in the McCowan Rd. and Sheppard Ave area and are more often on my way to and from places. Both make excellent roti and both provide a less wet and more generously filled roti. Of the two, only Roti Hut has a real seating area. Both are normally packed also. Against this standard, Island Foods came a distant 3rd. I'm saddened as my memory of previous visits had all three neck-and-neck for quality and serving size. Perhaps it was an off day with less experienced staff. One other thing, I hate foam plates. I'm happy to pick up my roti when I get one for take out. However considering how wet the filling was and that one of the roti was ordered with gravy having it on a plate was a better choice. That better choice is, nonetheless, not a foam plate. Something that can stand up to being cut on (like a decent paper plate) is needed. Having to concentrate on not cutting too deeply to avert staining White baseball pants detracts from enjoying the food. I'll likely go in again next time I'm in the neighbourhood and hungry for roti. However, next time it better be better. Otherwse I'll be done with Island Foods.

We always come for the chicken roti! Delicious perfect portion size! Staff is absolutely wonderful! Prices are fair!