LOCATION: 8.5
Really hard to beat this spot – on 5th Street right in the heart of downtown, directly across from the Riley Center. You almost feel like you’re in a big city. On the cool, sunny day we ate there, 5th Street was bustling, with people passing by on the sidewalk, coming in and out to pick up to-go orders, which made for the same kind of scene you might see in trendy neighborhoods in Chicago, Nashville, or Atlanta.
ATMOSPHERE: 7.4
The interior has a surprisingly “big city” feel, while still being perfectly at home in a small town like Meridian. A large, exposed brick wall has a cool, sprawling sculpture mounted on it, give the space some funky sophistication. It’s clean, casual, and nice. The only thing we didn’t like was that some knucklehead sitting at one of the high-top tables was on a phone call with his speaker on, forcing everybody else in the place to listen to his dumb conversation. This isn’t the restaurant’s fault, of course, and certainly doesn’t count against their score, but it makes me wish they had some kind of magic switch they could use to turn off phone speakers or, better yet, make the offending customer disappear in a puff of smoke.
FOOD: 7.7
We had the jerk chicken, the salad with “island shrimp,” the Rasta Pasta with chicken, and a couple of slices of strawberry cake for dessert. Oddly, of the three, the jerk chicken brought up the rear, which is odd in a Jamaican-themed restaurant run by actual Jamaicans. Granted, it’s probably a little out-there for most Meridian palates, and The Island may be trying not to freak people out with intense flavors and fiery habanero heat, but it would be nice to have a “regular” version and a “spicy” version.
The salad was a very generous portion. Of the entrees, the Rasta Pasta was really the winner: Creamy, smoky, and flavorful, and also a very generous portion. The strawberry cake was top-notch.
Probably best of all were the side of greens I had with my chicken. I could have eaten my weight in them. They weren’t “southern traditional” by any means, but anybody who likes southern-style greens will LOVE these. They’re a little garlicky, a little smoky, a little tangy… just flat-out sublime. I begged them to tell me how they cooked them, but they declined (with a smile). I don’t blame them. If I made greens this good, I wouldn’t tell anybody either.
SERVICE: 7.2
Ordering is done at the counter, and drinks are self-serve using a cup provided to you by the cashier. Food delivery was prompt and pleasant. Generous go-boxes and grocery-style plastic bags were provided to us on request.
OVERALL: 7.7
The Island 601 is a hidden gem in Meridian. I heard that it got a lot of exposure during 2022’s Pub Crawl, where a lot of people who had never heard of it got to see and experience it first-hand, and came away impressed. I hope that’s true, because The Island deserves all the business it can handle.