West Bank Diner

Japati was slamming and at $14 with fries and a drink included, it's a great value too. Staff was very friendly and attentive. Vibe was very chill there and they gave us a table with a shower curtain that afforded us privacy while we ate. Not luxury but that's not what I would expect from a place like this. Definitely check it out if you're looking for East African comfort (you should be).

My sambusa was delicious. The staff was so kind and friendly. The prices were great. The quality of the ingredients was also great. West Bank Diner has a relaxing atmosphere that anyone could love. 5/5 stars easily!

Portions were very large. We ordered the somosas, goat, chicken steak, and chicken suqaar. The goat was tender and cooked to perfection and the flavors of both chicken dishes were delicious. The mango lassi and tea with milk was perfect with the meal. It was my first time trying somali food and definitely not my last.

I ordered sports food however the and the rice is full of aluminum and the meat portion is to small don’t much with the rice portion I’m disappointed with this purchase never go there !

I was recommended by friends to eat the chicken kutlayetti, and it didn't disappoint! It's sliced fried chicken with rice and a ranch sauce that is so addicting (which you put in the rice). I found out later that I had to also have it with banana but I didn't knew about it as it was my first time having Somali food. Very friendly staff and the patrons who attend seem like regulars there but were also friendly people. The atmosphere felt like I was hanging out at a friend's house. It also helped that there was a big futbol match happening. FYI it seems like they're closed for a little bit in the early afternoon on Fridays.

Amazing food, huge portions for the price. Shah tea is fabulous. Service is friendly. I felt like I was transported to another country, would definitely return. A truly amazing cultured eatery that is worth visiting.

First time here and I was not disappointed. Even with the language barrier, the employees got me my order and the portions were huge and tasted fantastic. The atmosphere was very nice too! Everyone was just relaxing or doing their own thing. Would definitely recommend!

If you want someone who doesn’t know how to operate a cash register, doesn’t know how to tell the guys in the back that all you want is a burrito, then tries to charge your card twice and then asks for your cash back and also won’t provide you with a receipt after trying to rip you off... then this is the place to waste money on Now that I have my food I am very pleased to say that sharp, broken plastic material is cooked into my burrito as well.

Covid concerns: No social distancing. Masks not always worn by employees. Patrons don't sit apart so there will be someone sitting next to you. They don't give plastic utensils..using silverware. Meal review: After all that, I ordered the chicken sukar in size half yet the meal was still generous so I would recommend sharing or having some good leftovers. It came with two sauces: ranch for the small salad and a zesty fresh hot chili sauce that completely compliments the already deliciously flavored sautéed chicken and bed of rice. The rice has raisins, carrots, peas, green beans and onions and is tasty on its own as well. I probably would recommend taking it out to be safer otherwise the meal is definitely worth tasting Ask for the ladies bathroom key if you need to go otherwise you will be waiting forever not realizing it's locked on purpose. Soooooooo go ahead and order but for takeout or delivery instead. Hoping won't get sick with all the exposure.

I love Najibs (that's the owner). I go there for my breakfast, the service is great, better portions for the price and West Bank diner/Najibs as been a staple in the community. Best Somali food in Minneapolis!!!

Been going for years and it's soooo good. I usually get the chicken kutulayti (breaded chicken pieces over rice) or chicken sukkar (sautéed chicken over rice). Both are amazing and you get a ton of food too. Their ranch is also super addicting. Great halal / Somali spot!

Food is hot and delicious. I have lots of questions and they have no problem answering them. I think the food is a great value. You get an entrée, side, salad, and a drink for less than 8 dollars. I've only had their chicken suqaar and chicken steak meals. I haven't tried their burgers or sandwiches.

This place was fantastic! No pork on the menu as it's run by some very wonderful Somalis(I think). Not just a greasy spoon, the ingredients are quality and their slightly different take on the dishes is awesome. Go here for breakfast! The only thing you might be disappointed with is that you might be the only people in the place when you go. They're a new business so hopefully people will realize this gem is here shortly. Fresh squeezed OJ and very well made Peace coffee are enough to get me to come back.

My good friend Sara S. has been talking up a storm about West Bank Diner so I had to check it out. We went on a weeknight around 8 pm, unfortunately not the greatest area to find parking in, $3 in the lot behind the building and a bit sketchy at night. This place doesn't have set hours and only a Facebook page and their Yelp page right now for details. I had the Red Curry Chicken and Belgian Waffle. I split the Waffle with Sara. It was large, crispy, and light but super filling. The Red Curry Chicken was great, not overly curry or saucy, a good sauce to rice, veggies, and chicken ratio. The veggies were crunchy and the portion was large. Atmosphere could use a lot of work. It's a large space and doesn't seem homely and could use some more light. The staff, a Somalian couple, is friendly and does their best to welcome students, there's event a 10% discount with a student ID. Otherwise, I will be back to try the french toast and eggs benedict as I've heard great things about them.

This place is a hidden gem. I had never had Ethiopian breakfast before. The spices were really good, it was fast, and it affordable. I just had a egg and beef breakfast wrap and it was so good!

This is place to go if you want the most for your money. The full Sport is great family meal. You will have enough for 3-4 people with this option. The yellow rice is seasoned and the meat varieties are a great compliment. I recommend the chicken sukar for starters in Somali food.

A lot of my friends are Somali and they introduced me to this restaurant. Located 1 street away form the Carlson School of Management, West Bank Diner is a restaurant where the food is prepared with love. The portions are every generous and I don't think I've even been charged for a drink there, which also have unlimited refills. Their meat is cooked very well and I had my food out extremely quickly. Highly recommend trying this place and supporting the local food.

Was over at Mayday Books and as I was leaving I caught the smell of some good cooking. Walked by this place and as I'd never had Somali style food before I decided to give it a shot. The decor isn't anything to write home about but places like this rarely spend a lot on fixing a place up, it mostly functionable that way less money is spent. The place was full of regulars so I had a seat with my stack of books and was promptly greeted by the young man working there. Ordered some chicken which came with some rice and a banana. Other than the obvious Med spices the dish could have passed for Mexican food. The chicken had bite but wasn't too hot. It came with what could be called a nice salsa verde. The drink I ordered was basically a sandia jugo. Next time I go back I will be sure to try some other things. Very reasonably priced. The people inside are nice so if you have a problem with Africans or Muslims do the rest of us a favor and go somewhere else, otherwise stop in and enjoy some good cooking.

I absolutely adore this place. It's one of my favorite places to eat on campus. The food is incredible. I recommend a half plate of rice with goat or chicken suqaar.

After discovering that the Noodles & Company nearby had moved to a different location, the large group of people I was with was without a place to eat. And then we noticed West Bank Diner. We decided to check it out since it was apparently a new restaurant and it would be nice to try something new. We were the only customers there on a Saturday night at dinnertime, but that was alright with us. The TV up front was displaying CNN and later sports, but there was a noticeable lack of music like most restaurants have to liven up the place. Anyway, a man who knew English as his 5th (wow!) language took our order from a menu with a variety of staple restaurant foods including burgers, sandwhiches, pastas, and all-day breakfast items (which is always a plus). After we all ordered, it was almost a 30 minute wait until we got our food. Normally, this would be unacceptable, but since there were about a dozen of us who showed up at once, and there was probably limited room on the grills/friers/etc., it would easily explain the wait. Now, maybe it was the wait that did it, but there was just something about the food when we got it. The waffle fries had this great crunch to them. The wings had a spice, but were not so hot that you couldn't enjoy them. The chicken sandwich had nice juicy meat, great bread, and just thinking about it makes me want to have it again. Seriously, the food was an amazing change of pace for a group of college students who normally are stuck with dining hall food. The next time we go out to eat, this will definitely be up there on our list of where to go.

After reading the Yelp reviews for this place, I thought it would be worth it to give it a try. So, I convinced the BF to try it out for lunch one Saturday when we were craving greasy diner food. It was 1:30pm when we walked in to a completely EMPTY diner. I take that back...there was one sinister-looking fellow at a table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Honestly, it felt like I'd stepped into a creepy horror movie and the man behind the newspaper was going to turn around with a decayed face and suck my blood or something. Seriously, it was weird... We seated ourselves at a table near the counter, and a waitress handed us menus. We looked them over, and although the all-day breakfast was somewhat appealing, we really came for burgers and waffle fries (which I'd heard are quite good). So, we ordered our drinks, and we waited and waited for them. The waitress actually came by to take our food order before we had our drinks. We ordered our burger & fry combos, but a few minutes later (still no drinks), she returned to tell us they had no burgers! What?! Seriously? It's lunchtime and you have zero ground beef/beef patties...and you had to wait nearly 5 minutes to determine that and inform your customers? The BF glanced over the menu before finally deciding we should've gone to a nearby place we are familiar with instead. Since we didn't even get our drinks in the 10 minutes we'd been at WBD, we opted to leave. So much for trying someplace new. I was really disappointed. I have a restaurant.com gift certificate that is good for dinner only--I will give this place one more try (if for no other reason than to use the GC). Maybe they're just too new, aren't busy enough and haven't worked out the kinks yet. I sure hope so; otherwise I don't see them lasting very long.

Not that I'm trying to do a meta-review here, but comparing my own experience at WBD, I tend to think everyone is right. The decor (if you could describe the mostly barren place as having decor) is not notable. On my visit, the place was empty (with the exception of one guy reading the paper, not that I found anything creepy about him). Service was a little off. I was hoping to get in and out fairly quick, but the waiter seemed to think we wanted to linger. When I think diner, I think quick and efficient. Not so much. The chicken breakfast burrito was excellent. The chicken was perfectly moist and tender, the eggs cooked perfectly, the potatoes salty and perfect. A real crowd-pleaser. The waffle, less so. The waiter preemptively apologized for it, saying they were having some trouble with them, and comped it. Coffee was good (it was Peace Coffee). So, overall impression? Place is nothing special. It's cheap, some of the food is good. Nothing to go out of the way for. I'd be interested in trying a few more of the items before definitively weighing in, but I'm not sure if I'm motivated to. Maybe when one of the more reliable breakfast places is too crowded.

My wife and I visited West Bank Diner last Tuesday evening around 7:30. We were one of the only guests in the diner at that time. I was tempted by several items on the Breakfast menu, but I ended up getting the Cedar Burger because of a special they were running (including fries and a drink). My wife went for the same special, but asked for mushrooms on her burger. I found the food to be average overall. The burger was not especially tasty, more like a seared slab of ground beef. My wife said she enjoyed her breakfast. The fries were a little better. As I think about my experience, my observation is that the breakfast menu seems to be somewhat more inaginative than the lunch/dinner menu. I intend to visit again at some point in the future so I can try a breakfast item.

I want to like west bank diner, but I am afraid they are off on a rocky start. The atmosphere is kind of weird. The walls are nice and bright, the tables are very diner like, the lamps are darkish and totally at odds with the rest of the decor. The menu is typical diner and they serve breakfast all day. They have more than a couple of interesting dishes on the menu and breakfast all day is always a favorite. However, what we got was rather under seasoned, even if I have to say that the hash browns were crisped to perfection. The service was slow. It took us almost one hour for lunch. One of the waiters clearly didn't speak English well enough to understand us and the manager seemed to be a bit lost running between the kitchen, the tables and the waiters. He also got our check wrong, but promptly corrected it when we told him. I think I will give them a couple of months to improve on their service and food and give them another try, but I think they need to get a firmer grip on their business.

Only been once for dinner. Got the Red Curry Chicken. Was quite good, chicken was nice and juicy, the curry had a little bit of kick without being "hot" spicy (although your average Midwesterner might disagree). Rice was at the perfect consistency and everything kind of came together very nicely. Kind of an unusual dish given the rest of the menu (sandwiches, burgers, chicken wings, and breakfast), but I'm not complaining. Service was a little slow considering it was not very crowded, but not unbearably so and probably magnified because I was very hungry. The waitress and the manager were both very friendly and accommodating. No complaints. Prices are reasonable and they also have a 10% student discount. Edit 12/8: Been here a couple more times more in the past few days. I had the beef hash (very good) and the California Burger (meh but the fries were phenomenal). My buddy got a mushroom omelet (meh but the hash browns were great) and we shared an order of french toast, which was fantastic. On the whole, a little hit or miss, but their hits are VERY solid and the misses are just mediocre with some saving graces. I agree with another review that says the lighting could use work. I get the aesthetic they're going for but it feels like a cave. When you walk in during lunch hour it suddenly feels like it's late evening.

This place is great! We were the only ones there during a weekday lunch, but I predict that business will pick up very soon. This is a no-frills diner with a surprisingly varied menu (and they serve breakfast all day!). Offerings include your basic burgers, french toast with your choice of berries, and popcorn shrimp with aioli. I had a chicken sandwich with waffle fries. I'd go so far as to say the waffle fries were perfect. Our server was as sweet as can be, too. Prices are very very reasonable to begin with, but students get a discount. Check this place out!

We enters the restaurant and it was awkward all the employees were on their phones. Eventually they came up to us and asked us what we wanted and we ordered. But ordering was very difficult they didn't have a lot of the items. Also we had to show the waiter pictures so he knew what we wanted. We ended up waiting for a half hour and never even brought us drinks. Ended up walking into the back because nobody was out front and they were all on their phones. Then to realize they never even started our food! We asked if we should leave and he said yeah. While we were walking out one flicked us off. We ended up going to the Asian bakery next door and that place was marvelous. I recommend going there.

Great conversation with true soccer fans about the election of Infantino to the FIFA presidency as I enjoyed an authentic Somali breakfast. I love the West Bank.

Very friendly and easy to get a seat here. Breakfast menu items are exceptional. I enjoy the french toast and order it every time I'm in town. It's just starting up so there are occasionally a few quirks to the experience, but in time I think it will be a fine addition to the diner scene on the West Bank.

My wife loved her breakfast burrito. I ordered the Belgian waffle and curry chicken. My waffle was okay, but dry and my curry chicken was super flavorful, but unfortunately was heavy handed on the salt and ruined the dish. The fresh squeezed OJ I ordered was fantastic. The service was really good even with the language barrier and the chef came out and chatted with us a bit which I thought was a nice touch. I just wish the food was a little more consistent.. (Oh, my wife wanted to mention their restrooms were very clean.)

this place is awful. the food is bad, bland and poorly made. they seem to run through servers constantly, or the ones they have don't know whats going on. they are often missing items and are really slow. i live in this neighborhood, this place is really not worth the time. their breakfast burrito is a joke. cold, bland, fatty cheese, wilted vegetables. the eggs were hard in several of the dishes? the soda from the machine was flat. I ordered waffle fries only to have her tell me a moment before my meal came out that they didnt have them and were substituting hashbrowns. i dont like hashbrowns, which is why i had ordered waffle fries. thanks. honestly there are dozens of other good restaurants in this neighborhood that deserve your business. hard times, afro deli, the weinery, the acadia and the triple rock are all superior. don't waste your time or money.

My family and I went to WBD on a Sunday afternoon for a late breakfast after getting a Restaurant.com voucher off its website. We arrived to an empty restaurant but immediately greeted by a nice Somalis woman. At that time I let her know we had a voucher. Although the food was solid, we encountered various problems. The service was very slow since the server was the only one in the restaurant, therefore, she needed to stop and answer the phone, greet new customers (only 2 individuals). We received our food in shifts. We sat a watched a tv show about children in third world countries waiting for surgery for a cleft palate. Not overly appetizing but I can overlook that. What seriously bothered me was when we asked for our check and I presented our voucher, she immediately told us that they were no longer affiliated with the program but she would take our voucher. Later when I examined our bill more carefully, I then realized she had increased the cost of 5 of 6 meals. I am assuming she did this to cover some of the $25 voucher we used. I would have gone back to eat at this establishment but after the dishonesty of my check, I can't.