Sahil P.
Yelp
If I could, I would give it no stars.
Flew back to Atlanta at 8pm, 9/19/21. Called from the airport and had a craving for West African food. Three items I asked for (cow foot & oxtail soup, jambalaya and 1 more dish- I forget) sold out.
Settled for 2 orders of cassava leaf with lamb, Lamb Dhibi, jollof rice with fish, & 4 ginger/pineapple drinks. Senegalese food.
After reviewing their online website and their menu, I observed the prices. No dish I ordered was over $13, with drinks $2.50.
At max, perhaps $65-$70 with tax.
And I was excited about the food- Family is West African, not from Senegal, but most food items are very similar... at least that's what I thought.
In route from Atl airport to camp creek parkway, the store calls me. This should have been a red flag. The man continues... we have Jollof and lamb, just one left, you want. I'm like why you calling me and offering this. He says- you asked for something earlier we didn't have, but we have 1 item if this left. I continue- ok add it.
Now.... Total I'm thinking $80-$85 max
I arrive- reintroduce myself as the guy who called from airport. My food is already bagged. I thought wow great.
As I now approach the counter- I see under the next to register- a food serving (buffet style set up) with food items (pre cooked and sitting in buffet style metal bins and barely covered.) In other words- food sitting out to be served as opposed to ready to cook fresh per order. Casava was sitting out and some white/ yellowish color rice that looked like couscous.
As I grab the 2 large bags- they were Luke warm.
I'm thinking to myself- I no my African food was not sitting in these metal bins as opposed to be cooked as I ordered.
At anyrate- I ask for total- the man enters each item.... $16 and $17 prices. And $7 each for juice.
The total was about $120.
Nothing worse to calculate a bill based off of advertised pricing to now enter inside a store and being charged different prices. On top of what I observed in the metal bins to be old food.
The register reads- custom pricing next to each item keyed.
I responded- can you confirm if these prices are correct? And why is the juice $7 a piece.
I informed the the man- I didn't expect to pay above $100 on the items.
Next, he looks at the register and says- oh sorry, I keyed in the juice wrong.
And I replied based on your website and menu.... No entree was above $13. Instead of the food item name being listed, why does it state 'custom charge' instead.
He replies, on our website, those prices are old. We have new prices now. I have to get my father to fix that.
I replied, you all need to fix that- that's highly misleading as this is my first time here and I try new food spots based on reviews and pricing and so forth.
Next he goes off- he states, "you want or not... I don't need your money... I'm a millionaire in my country... I don't need to take money from you.
For me- the next minute was critical. I replied, my friend- let's not talk about money as you don't me and I'm trying to give you some feedback on how to market and retain your customers through professionalism.
He was irate/ and I replied, because I want to support African owned businesses, I support, however, be clear, the issue isn't about money, the issue is not taking accountability for your advertising and the principal of having inaccurate advertised pricing speaks to the ethics of the restaurant and also the quality of the food.
He calmed down... somewhat and offered me to take 2 extra drinks. I replied, you don't understand business. I paid the bill.... once entering the car- I got gut feeling the food was going to be rubbish