Kingston on business

Kingston is not a resort town by any means. It's the business center of the island, and it is very rough to say the least. However, there are some decent, cheap restaurants in the New Kingston area that are worth checking out.

Quick Tips:

If you are female, do not walk the street alone. Do not talk to anyone who approaches you, no matter what. Try your best to not even make eye contact. Walk in groups, if possible. You will need to convert your money to the Jamaican dollar, which is about for US. The best exchange rate is likely at your hotel. Taxi drivers from the airport will accept US. It's from the airport to the hotel area in New Kingston.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you must use a taxi, ONLY take JUTA taxis. They have red license plates and often have JUTA on the side of their cars. I have heard nightmarish stories about those who took the "gypsy" taxis. JUTA taxis have rates that are monitored by the government.

Walking is OK for short distances and should be reserved only for the daytime. Walking along Knutsford Blvd at night is OK, but again, just watch yourself carefully and stay in a group, if possible.

Renting a car is OK but you MUST have great directions or better yet have someone very familiar with the area riding along. Otherwise, it's not worth being that brazen.

This is the only hotel I have stayed in during my many visits to the island. It is situated next to the other two acceptable accomodations in the city center (Pegasus and Courtleigh). I have had co-workers stay at the other two hotels and have heard some negative comments about both hotels. I definitely feel that if you have a choice for your hotel when you come to Kingston, choose the Hilton. You can find the best rates on Hilton's website (hilton.com).

The Hilton is not quite your typical Caribbean resort hotel. It does have tennis courts and a nice swimming pool on property. It is in the downtown area, right near most of the business buildings. There are many different restaurants on the property, all of which are somewhat pricey.

The overall service of the hotel employees is better than average. The rooms around the pool in the courtyard are not nearly as nice and desirable (and safe?) as the rooms located in the Tower. I'd highly recommend paying a little extra to get yourself a Tower room. Many rooms cannot be relied upon for having an alarm clock or an iron. You can try asking the front desk for these items, but you'll be lucky to get them. The cleanliness/sanitation of the hotel is fine.

The Executive Level rooms will give you two free bottles of water and occasionally a turn-down chocolate. If you stay on an Exec Level floor, you'll gain access to the Concierge. You can eat free breakfast and have free cocktails in the early evening. The Concierge breakfast is more than adequate. There are a variety of fruits, rolls, muffins, cereal, coffee, teas...esentially a full continental self-serve breakfast. Steve will treat you well.

The hotel has nightly theme buffets in the courtyard, where the music can play until 10PM. So be warned if your room faces the courtyard from the tower or within the courtyard.

For your seriously good value dining pleasure, venture to Jamrock for lunch or dinner. It's within easy walking distance from the three hotels on Knutsford. You can carry out or eat in the bar/restaurant portion. There are many TVs, which sometimes show American sports or other world sports (be on the lookout for cricket matches!).

You can spend US$5 for dinner and be very full by the end. I highly recommend the bammy strips as an appetizer. I still haven't quite figured out what they're made of (likely potato), but they're a delicious fried bite to eat. The fries at Jamrock are unique, yet very crispy and tasty as well. Another good appetizer, if they're available, is a beef or chicken patty. Act Jamaican and order the patty on coco bread. That alone will fill you up good! I usually order a "Nyamwich" for my entree. It's a jerk chicken, pork, beef, or fish sandwich served on Jamaican Coco bread with lettuce and tomato. Pretty large and quite good. Though, I must warn you that they seem to frequently run out of chicken and beef. I have no idea who or how, but it happens. I have had a burger and a tuna melt here. I didn't find them very appetizing. They also have other Jamaican/Caribbean entrees on the menu, but none that I particularly cared for (or didn't really want to spend a little more money for), including oxtail.

Note that the beer (Red Stripe) is actually cheaper than the soft drinks.

Definitely give this place a try despite the crazy vendors in front. No one will bother you once you get inside. The service is usually good. The food is so cheap you won't mind leaving a 25% tip.

The Bullseye restaurant is probably New Kingston's finest steakhouse. It serves both South American and USDA steaks. I didn't find that it was necessary to be dressed up to frequent this restaurant.

The one time I went was with a group of co-workers. We got the onion loaf. That was steakhousely fantastic! We also got an order of the nachos. Those were good, but a bit disappointing. They also gave us fresh bread to start out.

For our entrees, we all got USDA T-Bone steaks. They were cooked to order and were pretty good. They could have been better cuts, but we were satisfied due to the size of the overall meal. We got an assortment of side dishes from mashed potatoes to mixed veggies to mushroom caps. All were delicious!

For dessert, we got the Death by Chocolate, a ridiculously drowned in varieties of chocolate garnish cake. It was indeed quite yummy, though difficult to finish off due to our already very fully tummies. It wasn't the GREATest dessert I've ever had, but I'd say it's still a must for any chocoholics at the table.

All in all, this was a very nice place to visit and to get away from the hotel. The service was very excellent.