A Bit of the Caribbean in West Allis

Nate and I had a little date night Saturday night. We did some bar hopping in West Allis, which isn't far from our house, and then ate dinner at the Painted Parrot. Neither of us had been there before, and I had picked up a http://www.restaurant.com/ $25 gift certificate a while ago. We had to spend a minimum of $35 (which didn't include alcohol (gasp!)). It was kind of fun to splurge and try a few different things.

We started with the "island snack," which was pretty much mozzarella sticks in a wonton wrapper with a side of "spicy" (not really) Jamaican salsa and some sweet potato fries. It was good, but I think it was mostly good because we haven't had mozzarella sticks for a long time.

For the main courses, Nate got the jambalaya, which was really good, but a bit soupier than versions I've seen elsewhere. This version included rice, veggies, shrimp, crab, andouille sausage, chicken and spices along with garlic bread.

I ordered something I love having at Caribbean restaurants: jerk chicken, and pork, too, in this case. I got the "We Be Jammin' Jerk Platter," which included a huge portion of chicken and pork, some plantains, rice and steam veggies. It was really good, but I would have prefered it to be spicier. I added hot sauce to the leftovers I had for lunch today. There was no hot sauce on our table Saturday night.

We still had to get to $35, so we ordered the peanut butter panic dessert: peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter mousse, chocolate sauce and chopped peanut butter cup. It was delicious, but really rich. I forgot to take a picture right away, so this is what it looked like when we were done with it.

In addition to the food, we each had mojito--I had the passion fruit and Nate had the pineapple. The drinks were almost as much as the entrees--they were $8 each!

The restaurant was really pretty good, and the service was good. I'd definitely go back. There's a lot more on the menu I'd like to try.