Africana Restaurant and Lounge

I would never ever in my life eat here. I would give it –100 stars if I could. Last time I was there for dancing there was broken glass all over which the staff refused to clean up. You think that’s bad? There was also puke all over for the whole entire night that the staff said they weren’t going to waste their time cleaning up until bartime. DISGUSTING. The bathrooms stank of piss (I believe it was all over the floors), the sink lever was busted, the towel dispenser was on the ground under the sink… There was even a bloody tampon sitting on the sink!!! I am going to report this place to the Health Department as soon as I get a chance. How can you even operate a business like this and then refuse to take care of the mess after being asked numerous times? How can you just stand around when there are biohazards all over your damn restaurant? I think I’ve said enough…

We went not long after they opened, so I could almost forgive the extremely slow service and our server’s lack of food-​related English vocabulary. It takes awhile to learn. But the food we (finally) got was inexcusable.
My dinner seemed to be chunks of vegetables stuck under a broiler until burned on the outside, nearly raw on the inside. I thought African food would be spicy, but nope, just veggies. My husband got fish that was so full of bones it was inedible. Maybe there were other things on the menu we would have liked better, but we couldn’t communicate with the server well enough to find out.
The glass of wine was so stingy, a modest-​sized glass only maybe a third of the way full, that I sent it back and got a bottled beer instead.

I went here a while ago and was not impressed. As many have mentioned, service was slow and inattentive. The food that we had was just not flavorful and not memorable.
I do admit – I went to their webpage, and perhaps they have improved a bit. They now advertise stuff like free wifi and they also now have a lunch buffet, which would interest me more to see if it was just the dishes that we had that I disliked.

The food is delicious. I like the variety in flavors. The service is a slower than I am accustomed to but that may simply part of the African culture (benefit of the doubt).

My biggest complain was the service: slow with lots of mistakes. It took over an hr for our appetizer to arrive, while one party of 3 who came later of us already finished and left (and another party of 6 had their order 20min earlier). We were too hungry, and we asked for bread. Took them in total 40min to get us the bread.
Water was never filled until we asked and it came 10min later.
There were about 5 tables at the peak time that night with 2 servers. Then there were the owner and his family. The owner came to apologize after us waiting for almost an hr, saying he’d check on the meals, but he never came back with a follow-​up. At the end, he offered dessert on the house, but they were out of the one we wanted. He didn’t offer to not charge our appetizer. Not sure how sincere he was about his apology.
Food was ok. Décor was ok. Due to bad service, I would not go back.
Mistakes they made:
(1) 1hr wait entrée
(2) 40min wait for bread and appetizer
(3) water was never refilled
(4) entrée were wrong

Just went this past weekend. Yum. My dad’s a carnivore and I’m vegetarian — we were both very pleased with the food and service.
First, my drink. I think they mix even the virgin stuff, because I got a delicious, FRESH mango lemonade. SOOOO good.
Next, the appetizers. I got the fried plantain. I love hot sauce, so I was irritated at the small amount of it. Then I tried it. Let’s just say a little goes a LOOOOONG way. Good =]
I had the Maffe — no meat, nor any mushrooms. I had it with rice. It was great, but I agree with the other reviewer — a lot of sauce vs. vegetable. Oh well. Still fantastic.
I wasn’t big on the «fufu». Reminded me of play-​doh.
The flan was delicious. Small for the price, though.
My dad enjoyed his meal. He had the Nem (rolls, looked yummy but had meat in them :(), Kedjenou, and couscous. The couscous wasn’t his favorite, but that’s just him. I tried it, the preparation was spot-​on, just not his thing.
We went late in the afternoon, so we got there before the majority of dinner diners were. Service was good, keeping in mind that the bartender is also the server. Unless they have more employees on busy nights, I can see how service would be a bit slow.
All in all, very pleased with the service. Aside from a few minor pricing complaints and such, we enjoyed our dinner and will return.

I went here on a Saturday afternoon and sat at the bar. The bartender seemed a little overwhelmed and it took me a little while to get his attention.
The décor is a little weird. Mirrors on all the walls which I hate when I am eating, but other than that it was very nice. Big TVs tuned to soccer so it would be a good place for that if you are a fan.
The jollof rice with chicken was very good. The sauce had just a hint of spice and was very savory.

We ate there for the first time this weekend– service was good, if a little slower– OK, they don’t have a lot of staff. Now you know. Our server, though, was very good, and offered some recommendations to us first-​timers. Our drinks were good, reasonably priced at about $ 4.25 for call mixers. I can live with that…
I had the Maffe with chicken, and while there was quite a bit of sauce, I thought it was a plus, since the rice soaked up the leftovers overnight and it was sooo yummy this morning! The owner did make the rounds of the tables and seemed to really care what people thought of the food and the restaurant overall.

I agree with the first reviewer on all counts. This restaurant needs to mature. The service took forever, and the food is indeed much too saturated with oil and sauce. However, the flavors are rich and new to us. For us as well, the owner visited our table.
I would like to see this restaurant offer smaller tapas like dishes for $ 5 – 8 at dinner. I think these would be more popular with the target audience. I am not sure how dishes are prepared in Africa, but it’s hard to believe that this much sauce is the default.

We recently tried Africana on a Tuesday night. The restaurant was packed with only two servers hustling about. Our food was interesting which is why we chose to check it out. However it wasn’t memorable and my dish had way too much oil. The owner/​chef came out and personally asked us how our meal was — which is always a nice touch. It’s definitely a break from the norm and the plantains were sooooo tasty.