Over 10 years ago Sharon Dyce and her family would drive around searching for the perfect place to eat after church on Sunday. This was when Sharon first had the idea of how great it would be to have a sit down authentic Jamaican restaurant right here in the city. A few years later things all fell into place, her brother-in-law approached her with a business idea and they both saw the same availability sign, met with the landlord, and according to Dyce, “the rest is history.”
“We knew that we really wanted to stay in Colton," Dyce said. “We’ve been so blessed by the city this is where we live, this is where we worship, where we pastor and this is where we found a business idea.”
Sharon and her husband Christopher were inspired from a trip to Hawaii in 2006 to name their business "Island Breeze," they saw it on their vacation and knew it was a good name to bring back. On March 17, 2007, Sharon and Christopher officially opened their authentic Jamaican restaurant in their beloved city of Colton, which they have now remained for 12 years. As Sharon and Christopher celebrate their 12th anniversary of Island Breeze they have kept faith and perseverance at the forefront of their business and are proud that they have been able to keep their food authentic and have stayed true to their motto of authentic genuine Jamaican food at a fair price along with excellent service.
“I do believe that God led me to this. It’s [The City of Colton has] been favorable to us we’ve had our second home and started a ministry here for over 20 years, we started a restaurant 12 years ago and thought of only moving for expansion maybe in another year,” Sharon said.
Island breeze is a warm and friendly family restaurant that puts just as much love and care into their customers as they do in their food.
“People come in and reconnect with each other,” Sharon explained. Many different people from different island countries join at Island Breeze as well as people trying Jamaican food for the first time.
“12 years of the business being here and one of the unique things we found out is we have a lot of repeat customers but every day from the time we opened, somebody new walks into this place and that’s a real good thing,” Sharon said.
Much prepping goes into the food at Island breeze, some of the most popular meats are marinated for two days before it is served to a customer. One of the most popular meats at Island Breeze, oxtail, is small cuts of the tail from a cow that is simmered and cooked slowly in baked beans and is served so tender that it’s falling off the bones. The restaurant's top-selling chicken, jerk chicken, honors the origination of its recipe from Jamaica. Jerk chicken is spicily seasoned with a pepper similar to the habanero and is also layered with a special jerk sauce. Island Breeze also serves a classic Jamaican meat pie, similar to an empanada, a pastry cup filled with beef, chicken, curry chicken, jerk chicken or vegetables, there are many different flavors and any choice is the perfect pick-me-up snack or meal appetizer. These authentic pies are often found in children’s lunches on the island.
Island Breeze also serves a flavorful and perfectly-balanced Jamaican fried chicken. On Friday, Island Breeze has a Jamaican fried chicken special that comes with crispy fried chicken covered with a perfectly combined sweet and sour sauce and delicious garlic.
Along with savory meat dishes, Island Breeze also serves authentic Jamaican fried plantains, Jamaican black cake which is a heavy rich cake baked with Jamaican white rum and wine. The restaurant also provides a variety of Jamaican soft drinks with many different fruit flavors from pineapple, ginger, grapefruit, and coconut.
A visit to the restaurant will include unforgettable flavors of food along with great service and the likelihood that you’ll return to enjoy the delicious authentic Jamaican cuisine again. Island Breeze is now offering the convenience of catering. For any events you have coming up, a graduation, family get together, Island- themed party, birthday, office party or a wedding, call Island Breeze and let them provide a culturally authentic and flavorful meal for you and your guests.
Island Breeze is located at 1063 Mount Vernon Ave. in the city of Colton, they can be reached at 909-514-0771 or you can visit their website is www.ibjamaicancuisine.com where you can find their full menu.