In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Half-Way-Tree sits Fish Pot II. Rainforest Seafoods Public Relations Officer Bethany Young explained to Thursday Life that this location addresses two issues facing Fish Pot Cross Roads: “insufficient parking and seating”.

Fish Pot II comfortably seats 56, provides ample space to queue and order, plus a separate counter where customers can buy wholesale frozen seafood. “Pick a piece of fish, some lobster, squid, or whatever you like from our 400 references,” Rainforest Seafoods Corporate Chef Evrol Ebanks informed us, “and we’ll cook it for you right then.” Ebanks oversees the culinary repertoire of Rainforest Seafoods. “Now I’m in Kingston, where I have been training staff and establishing operating procedures,” he told us. “It has been a lot smoother than expected, and customers have been unbelievably positive since we opened three weeks ago,” he beamed. The chef boasted that “last Friday (December 6th), we had over 900 customers between 7:00 am and 11:00 pm”.

The large parking lot on the right side of Constant Spring Road, just before you reach Fish Pot, makes this location very convenient. “There are also far more foot customers in this area,” she noted.

‘Foot customer’, and university student Farin Williams, who confessed to Thursday Life that “I have been here every day since it opened,” likes the food. “I have to fill my belly,” he said, “and I order something different each time.” Williams, joined by fellow student Chrissy Whittick, polished off steamed fish, steamed bammy, fish sticks, shrimp and pumpkin soup, and fries. Neither had been to the first Fish Pot, but they travel through Half-Way-Tree every day. “I like the seating here,” Williams said, “and I find the prices reasonable.”

Whittick added, “The options here are healthy. Plus, it’s so convenient.” An apt word to describe the restaurant, which is not quite ‘fast food’.

“We resist calling it fast food,” Bethany Young informed Thursday Life, “but at Cross Roads, customers complain about slow service. Many of our menu items, like steamed fish, are made to order so they will take longer than fries.”

“We aim to get the made-to-order food ready in under nine minutes,” Chef Ebanks insisted. “We don’t want to lose that homestyle taste, and we don’t want hot food sitting and getting soggy,” he continued. “It’s still one of the key points we have taken into consideration at this location, though.”

First-time customer Peter Lewis had just finished his meal. “I had the snapper burger and it was good,” Lewis praised. “But it could have been prepared a little faster.” Nevertheless, he said that he would return.

There are plans, we glean, for a third location come 2014 — thrice as nice, we reckon. Until then… here’s to the second.

Fish Pot II

7 Constant Spring Road

Half-Way-Tree

Telephone: 876-754-8884

Opening Hours:

Mondays-Thursdays

8:00 am-11:00 pm

Fridays & Saturdays

8:00 am-midnight

Sundays 11:00 am-8:00 pm

*These times are subject to change slightly over the next few weeks.