Sagal Restaurant

Minimalism at its best. This comfortable café has ample seating at big tables, televisions featuring the evening news or nature shows (a nice change from sports or sitcoms), and amazing espresso! Local residents come and go, chatting quickly or sitting to watch the news and visit.
They don’t aim to be yuppie, or anything for that matter. But this simple, unadorned eatery satisfies your appetite.
I’d come back again when I’m in the neighborhood.

This is definitely a «hole in the wall» type place, but it is awesome! I love going to this place because it has character. The staff is super nice and service is pretty quick. At first, I was intimidated to go inside because the place was full of Somali men and no women at all, but one of my friends took me in for some tea and sambusas. The Somali tea with steamed milk is soooo good and sweet. It’s better than a lot of chai lattes I’ve had at more pricey places. At Sagal, you can get a tea and sambusa for only $ 2. I’ve heard they’ll throw in a banana sometimes, too!
I’ve had one meal there, which was a chicken dish with the chapati and salad. Th serving size is quite generous, but the chicken could have used more salt. I am assuming there are different people who cook, which is why every time I go, the food I get tastes different. Although there is no flavor consistently, price is great, serving size is awesome, and staff is nice.
If you want to sit down and eat, I would recommend taking a friend. If you want to eat by yourself, it might be awkward at first, but you’ll get used to it.

If you are looking for knives, décor, menus, prices, a light meal, food cooked to order, a leisurely wait for your food, a place with women, or with people talking quietly and only to those at their own table, then read no further. If you don’t need any of these silly things, then you need to get yourself to Sagal.
I was a little intimidated to go inside — a nondescript white room full of only Somali men talking loudly, sitting around bare white tables. One might get it confused with a Somali men’s center. But I went up to the counter and asked what they had for lunch. «We have chicken stew, beef stew, cheese-​steak, BBQ chicken.» I asked about the BBQ and he did some motion about this arms, only now that I’m writing this do I realize he meant the chickens’ arms, but they turned out to be legs.
I picked an empty table and within 1 minute he arrived with one huge plate of rice, salad and some pasta I didn’t recognize, and another plate with 2 full drumstick/​thighs. It was so quick I gave him a quizzical look, as if to say, «what the hell, that’s magic.» I wonder what he interpreted my look to say?
My second trip here I got the fried Tilapia with Spaghetti. The fish was a bit dry (I’d stick to the chicken), the salad more dull than the last time, and there wasn’t the extra side (but of course I got the banana and drink gratis). This time though the food took 3 minutes to arrive, they’re slipping. But where else can you sit down at an empty table and end up eating with 3 other people? (who respect you’re desire to talk to not talk).
And don’t be alarmed by level of noise here, when most Americans hear Somali men talking it sounds like angry yelling, but that’s just the way they talk normally. At one point a woman walked in to tell one of the cooks something, and as she progressed through the room the volume went down. It was spooky, like someone with a very steady hand slowly turned down the dial, yet no one moved or looked up a her.
FYI — when ordering at Somali fast food places don’t pay until you leave, and I find it easier not to ask about prices. Every entrée I’ve ever gotten was good, huge, and $ 9 – 11; you won’t get ripped off. Just order, eat, give them a $ 20 and wait for your change.