Cathy S.
Yelp
If you do go here, get the joife rice with beef, that's probably the best thing on the menu.
So I decided to go here because I wanted to be adventurous and try new places to eat and this place had some pretty good reviews. I don't regret coming here, but I don't think I would return for a few reasons, none of which are extreme, so if you get anything out of this, know that it's worth trying if you've never had African food.
So the great thing I love about this place is that it seems pretty authentic from the feel to the food. The owner has African style music playing in the background, and it's small and cozy. He's also really nice, and it seems like a fun place for people to just hang out and enjoy each other's company. But, it is a bit dinghy. I understand that mom and pop shops aren't going to be amazing, but I felt like the tables were a bit sticky, and the store wasn't in the safest of neighborhoods. It was actually in the way back of an empty looking shopping strip and took a second to find. I think it was just the feeling of it not being super clean that kind of got to me.
Food: I didn't know what to expect honestly from this place and relied on other yelp reviews to know what to order. We ordered the peanut butter soup with goat meat and the cassava fufu. The soup had a pretty good taste, it had subtle hints of peanut butter and was rich and creamy, and while the goat meat was tender, there were still skin and fat on it that was a bit off putting. The fufu is like a dough type bread that you use to eat it with the soup, and had a consistency sort of like playdoh. The cassava made it taste a bit sour, but I think that's normal. I would try it with something else, maybe yam or plantain.
We also got the joife rice with the beef which I enjoyed a lot more than the soup. The rice is a soft seasoned rice and a bit oily but tasted so good! It was well seasoned and I could probably eat this by itself. It came with a side of beef in a tomato sauce, and I say side because I felt like the rice was the star of the dish. The beef actually tasted like a ragu type dish and was tender and moist.
I heard the plantain fries were good too, but we weren't hungry enough to order it.
The portions were normal. They don't seem like there's a lot, but I think because there's a lot of starches and carbs in the plates we ordered, it was enough to make us full.
Price: This is probably the main reason why I knocked this place down a few stars.... It was way too overpriced!!! For the amount of food you get, it isn't worth it in my opinion. Both our plates were $15 each, and it just wasn't a lot. Sure, it looked homemade, but that doesn't always mean it's a good thing. The plating was pretty haphazard and plates didn't match. Just overall did not feel like it should be sold for $15. They also don't give free water cups. Water is sold in bottles and is $1 each.
service: the food didn't take too long to get to the table, but I wouldn't suggest going when you're on a time crunch or during lunch. The owner was nice, but because he was the only one there, it took him a while to get the check and stuff. Also, in the back, I could hear him putting stuff on the plate but didn't hear him cook anything, so made me wonder how fresh the food was...
Overalls, worth it to try, but maybe not twice.