Don’t be a Jerk…

Don’t be a Jerk…

Review of: Primo Patio Cafe

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 3

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Jerk Chicken? Check.

Large glasses of lemonade with free refills? Check.

Sort of nasty tasting limp fries that are prone to breaking apart at just the right time to ensure that some of their spiced mayo falls on my shirt to permanently stain it? Check.

Bread that dissolves when you get a Jerk Chicken Sandwich, making sure that a big ol’ chunk of chicken falls onto your shirt, permanently marking it with a turmeric and oil stain? Check.

Of all the lunch places in the area, Primo Patio is the place where I just can’t really get excited to go. I mean, the food is good – get the jerk chicken as a quesadilla and you can appreciate the classic Caribbean flavor of the jerk spices, even though a quesadilla isn’t really traditional island fare. The yellow cumin rice is pretty good, but the steamed carrots are just sort of an afterthought. The ginger beer, what should be a signature drink, is just bottled Stewart’s Ginger Beer and there are much better versions than this corn syrup laden soda.

For me, it’s the place to go when you’re sick of everything else. Put on something you don’t mind staining with various sauces and marinades, get a big tumbler of lemonade and pretend you’re sitting in an island cafe next to beautiful people in swimsuits, not in the industrial quarter of San Francisco sitting next to people in business suits.