Radio Africa & Kitchen

Came here for a delicious lunch with my neighbor – it’s her favorite restaurant and I can see why. The space is open and inviting with huge windows letting in great natural light. The white wine sangria flavored with herbs and flowers is fabulous.
Best of all is the owner, Eskander, who sat and chatted with us at the slow end of lunch service (and didn’t make us feel rushed though we stayed late). He shared his vision for creating an open space to intersect his passions of Food, Art, and Science. He wants his restaurant to be a place where people come to share and learn.
There is a beautiful chess set and we offered to donate a Scrabble game. He said, «Yes, because it is educational.» Let’s educate people to appreciate good, healthy food, he told us. And his food is all those things– a feast for the eyes as well!

There’s no better combination that an informal atmosphere and great food, very reasonable price and great food, family-​style community tables and great food. Radio Africa is now open for lunch. It is great.

Tried once and fell in love with their jambalaya. Tried several times after, but they we’re closed. The food is great, but their business hours are very unreliable. Wish they could commit to the hours.

Oh my lord. SO delicious. I wish I could eat here every day. Three of us went here for lunch, and shared all our dishes. They were phenomenal. Delicious lamb, eggplant terrine, and white bean tagine (so light and lemony — amazing). Also a lovely space, and the owner came over to chat and was so friendly. Sounds like he’s trying to make this a space that engages and supports the local community (library of cookbooks, community nights on Tuesdays, etc.). I have never left a review on Unilocal before — I logged on today specifically to write a review.

Went here with my cousin yesterday! Good music amazing food dessert and portions right on! Go here

Tuesday Community Nights are amazing — especially the last Tues of each month for comedy night

Super friendly folks and the food is really wonderful and very healthy at the same time! I will be back. I also love how they had a local brewery beer on tap!

Amazing food, healthy and lean. Very rich flavors and the owner is an absolute delightful person. Highly recommended. Will be back, many times :)

I came to Radio Africa tonight for the first time, after TWO years of saying I was going to try it. All I can say is that after tonight’s experience, I’m kicking myself for not eating here sooner. Chef Eskender has outdone himself with first-​rate food in a homey and very clean space.
Apparently, coming here on a «Community Tuesday» gets you a $ 10 prix-​fixe meal. I ordered the arugula & beet salad, and salmon with quinoa. The salmon was cooked to perfection! Our male server was very nice and greeted us with a HUGE smile. Who could ask for anything more?
I wish more of the Black neighbors would support this business, because Radio Africa is quietly uplifting and elevating a stretch of Third Street that has long been plagued with shuttered businesses, crime, violence, and hoodrats hanging on corners and going nowhere in life. I hope Radio Africa has a long and prosperous run in this location, and I will be coming at least once a month from here on out.

OK so, if you read my reviews you know I’m passionate about what I like especially if it’s good. We’ll with that said, if you see this place or are even considering this place and don’t stop by to check it out… YOU ARE TRIPPING! This MAN and this KITCHEN are s&!+! The quality and flavor of each dish is amazing! The time he puts in so worth the wait.

This is probably the best restaurant in San Francisco, no exaggeration. If you haven’t been yet come quick before they blow up in popularity and you are kicking yourself because there is a six month wait for a reservation.
It really is that good.

My boyfriend and I went for dinner. This restaurant has Moroccan/​Ethiopian/​New American food with fresh vegetables. You order at the counter off the daily whiteboard and they’ll bring the food to the table after it’s thoughtfully prepared. The chef and hostess are friendly.
I had an eggplant tartine with lentils and my boyfriend had the chicken jambalaya. To drink, I had hibiscus lemonade and my boyfriend had the saison on tap. Both were refreshing, and the sangria also looked tempting. The prices were very reasonable for delicious food. Our entrees were healthy and had so much flavor! The décor is cozy and romantic, and the greenery inside adds to the pleasant ambiance. Even the bathroom was pretty, with vanilla tea light candles. They’re open daily from noon to 8pm so also a good lunch option. It’s a little ways outside of the city but directly next to the 3^rd street/​oakdale/​palou Muni stop. We can’t wait to go back!

Fantastic food and friendly atmosphere. Renovation looks great. I only wish it was located closer to the city. I will definitely be back.

Came here for lunch during my volunteering at Family Mosaic Project down the street. A little history: this owner had a food truck and got grant from the city to open this restaurant! He cooks and runs the place himself with only two helpers — amazing!
We came in and ordered at the counter. Utensils, plates, to-​go boxes, cups and water are placed on a table along the wall for self-​serving. Our orders get delivered to our seats by the chef/​owner who was super warm and welcoming! He made all our food quick and even had the chance to speak to us all and truly cared about the volunteer work we were doing that day. I had the chicken jambalaya with kale and hot tea. The tea was in a large mug with a cute tea steeper. My plate was super generous for $ 12 AND with more chicken than rice! The flavor was soooo refreshing and tasty!!! I would definitely return for that jambalaya! Highly recommend and love the personal hospitality with the owner.

«Whoahhhh this is some flavor I’ve never had before» as I told my mother during our good bye dinner. She and her husband are NOT adventurous esters by any means and somehow I dragged them out to an African restaurant in a part of our neighborhood they’ve never been before. They live in Shanghai for the majority of their time and rarely eat anything besides Italian or Chinese or American food.
I love love love new places and had been dying to try this place out. It’s not what I expected with their café style of ordering. You order at the counter and grab your own utensils and sauces. They have a house made hot sauce you have to try!
Considering the prices, it’s reasonable but very much priced as a sit down restaurant. There was only one other table the night we went although it feel like place should be more popular. Service is very nice and friendly. The cashier had just started and didn’t know we could order wine by the bottle but the owner told her we could. They even have African wine! The shrimp dish was by far our favorite and you have to watch out for the tuna one because it really does taste like something you’ve never had! I ate all of it regardless. Will definitely come back. Love supporting my neighborhood!

This place is absolutely amazing, some of the best food I have had in the city! I have tried the short rib, salmon, smoked trout cakes and jambalaya, all were really really good, both, in terms of aesthetics and most importantly flavor.
The key is that you are getting quite sophisticated dishes for a price of an Ikes sandwich (10 – 12 $ per dish). To give you an example, just had the salmon and it was baked salmon, couscus, rice, fresh salad and 3 – 4 home made sauces with home made spices. I would have no idea how to prepare any one of these things with such quality, but at Radio Africa they are all perfect individually and mesh together really well. The portion size is also great, you get full but not stuffed.
The chef is a really cool and friendly guy to talk to. You can see that there is no ulterior motive or pretension, he is in it because he likes experimenting with and cooking great food, which is quite refreshing in this city.
Overall, I cannot recommend this place highly enough.

I had a delicious soup that I forgot the name of and the Chicken Jambalaya! It was very tasty!
The staff is super friendly and helpful. The environment is clean and cozy.
I will definitely be coming back!

Comedy and 2 course specials!
I had a delicious soup that I forgot the name of and the Chicken Jambalaya! It was very tasty!
The staff is super friendly and helpful. The environment is clean and cozy.
I will definitely be coming back!

Delta blues and 60/70’s soul goes well with my Chicken Jambalaya.
#africanbusinessesmatter

Yummy healthy options and they are open for lunch now too. Wonderful!

Fabulous eatery !! Great food, relaxed and inviting surroundings, and truly wonderful (and attentive) staff !! The food is perfectly spiced and the flavors are amazing. This is a restaurant that’s *almost* too good to share — but well worth the trip. As a bonus, every Tuesday night is styled as «Community Tuesday», with a $ 10 prix fixe two-​course menu that is just as good (and as plentiful) as their full-​priced offerings. I will definitely be back for more! (P.S. — not only is their food top-​notch, but if their hibiscus lemonade is still on the menu when you go, its highly recommended!!)

Ok… so… décor is a bit different from what I was previously posted but still bright, colorful and nice to look at.
Menu is smaller than previous ones in the pictures. Strange thing… not your typical sit down… As soon as you order the food they make you pay for it right then and there… so I guess I’m not ordering dessert… which by the way I guess isn’t even an option for tonight.
The male server was nice. Big friendly smile!
So I ordered the butternut squash soup and the lamb. The total came to just under 20 dollars.
The important part… presentation and taste. Large white plates and colorful bowls. The soup has a nice kick to it. Lots of exotic seasonings but could use just a pinch of salt. The flavor of the butternut squash went great with the evoo. The lamb dish was seasoned well. Delish actually! The couscous was cooked perfectly. The meat wasn’t too gamey but some pieces were a little chewy. Overall I’d come back!

The own/​chef is amazing for very nice presentation. New life to Bayview thumb ups. Food is great but the fly’s are a bit of an issue.

Absolutely wonderful! !! Great environment and the host and chef most hospitable! The food was excellent!!! Reasonably priced, great proportions and the flavor was so full and rich without being overwhelming. I will go back and highly reccomended this place for a great meal!!!

Flavorful food, inventive combinations, open dining space with tropical accents. Prices are very reasonable. Should get a lot more business than it does. Convenient parking or access from the T line.

This is my second Unilocal review ever, but this place is worth writing about — and enjoying! I had the potato-​leek soup, jambalaya, and cake at a fixed-​price community event. The staff was so warm, the space is beautiful, and the food was truly some of the most delicious I have had. I can’t wait to go back!

The food here is really quite delicious. It’s nice to have a variety of African country cuisine to choose from in one place. I’ve had several of their dishes and all of them were great.
The neighborhood isn’t one of the better known ‘hoods in the city. It’s also not one of the most affluent. I feel like this restaurant is a little out of place in that the price range probably prevents most of the people that actually live in the neighborhood to frequent it.

Very good food with high ingredient quality. Eating here feels like eating a delicious (yet healthy) meal at a friend’s house (if your friend were a professional cook).
The meals are spiced and seasoned with great balance and simplicity; none of the flavors will knock you over, but you will taste each ingredient. When I went, we got a nice arugula salad (which had just enough dressing to add flavor but not mask the peppery spiciness of the arugula), a trout terrine (where the flavor of the smoked trout was abundant, without tasting fishy), and the lamb (perfectly cooked and seasoned with some herbs).

Just went out with my friends on a Friday night. We ordered the smoked trout and mushroom crostini. Both appetizers were great. I order the jambalaya and my friends ordered the eggplant and salmon. All 3 dishes were AMAZING. It tasted like a home cooked meal. It fed our souls!
Definitely coming back for more! What a treat in MY neighborhood (yes, born and raised in Hunters Point)!

AMAZING! My boyfriend and I came on a Thursday night because mom had sent me a groupon for a five course meal for two. My boyfriend was a little iffy on coming because of the neighborhood but whatever he got over it lol. The restaurant itself is pretty modern looking and there was only one waiter and one cook. We told him our groupon was expired but he reassured us that it will still be honored which was nice.
As soon as we sat down the food kept coming out! It was nice but strange to us that after every course we were given new plates and utensils. We both had a hibiscus lemonade that was delicious, more hibiscus than lemonade. Our first course was two soups, celery root cauliflower, and a chicken with pomegranate. Both were really good, esp the pomegranate one, who would’ve guessed that pomegranate in chicken soup would be the perfect combination. Next we had prawns with green beans and smoked trout bacala with red cabbage, apples, and bread. Both were good, the bacala was kind of like a warm tuna salad. Our third course was mushroom crostinis and beets with fennel, mandarin oranges, and arugula. The mushroom crostinis were soooooo good! I’m not big on beets so I just ate the arugula, but the citrus was a nice touch to the salad. Our main course came with grilled leg of lamb with cous cous, salmon with quinoa, and butternut squash with Swiss chard. The lamb was seriously the best I’ve ever had in my entire life! I personally dislike lamb and would never order it but this lamb was so tasty and just melted in my mouth! I thought it was a filet mignon it was so tender and did not have they gamey taste AT ALL! For dessert we had honey roasted pears with mixed berries, chocolate, and citron cream. Amazing amazing amazing everything we had was amazing! We thought we’d still be hungry after but we indeed left full and satisfied. Excellent service and excellent food. Everything was made with super fresh ingredients and we felt like we ate a lot but didn’t feel bad because of how healthy it was. If money wasn’t an issue we would eat here everyday. No joke.

Great service, great food with unique flavors, a chance to check out Bayview, all with a live classical guitarist serenading you — I’ve alway
THE COST: $ 100 for a 4-​person chef’s tasting (TravelZoo deal). We had a 5^th join us for dinner & they got added on for only $ 36 (normally $ 50) — there isn’t really an option for one person to order things a la carte though. With drinks (at least 6 or 7), tax, & tip, the TOTAL came out to be about $ 250. A great deal!
THE SERVICE: Although they lost my online reservation, we still got a table for 5 at 7:30pm on a Friday. When our two tasting menu entrée plates came out, which should have the same thing, I noticed that one of them didn’t have the little eggplant sandwich that should come with the lamb. I asked about that & the server immediately said she’d take care of it. The chef came out himself & served us a HUGE additional free platter of food, which was very awesome & unexpected of them!
Our free platter:
MUST-​HAVES: Appetizers: White corn soup, Sauteed prawns. Entrees: Grilled leg of lamb, Black lentil samosa.
APPETIZERS (we got to sample all of them)
* White corn & leek soup w/​green garlic ($ 7) — 4 stars
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Subtly sweet, grainy thick texture, really nice!
* Satueed prawns w/​okra, green beans & spice almonds ($ 9) — 4 stars
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The prawns were super crunchy & fresh. The green peans had a good crisp, the okra seemed a little older though. The almonds added a good crunch.
* Smoked trout & Dungeness crab w/​grilled jicama & pri pri ($ 9) — 3 stars
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Having trout & crab together in a little savory cake form was interesting & worth trying, but not worth going out of your way to get. The jicama was definitely not grilled — just raw with some cilantro (it was tasty! Just not as advertised).
Mushroom crostini + Heirloom tomato salad:
* Mushroom crostini w/​sugar snap peas & parmesan cheese ($ 8) — 3.5 stars
A good filling & heavier app, crostini with a thick heavy topping. I don’t remember there being sugar snap peas.
* Heirloom tomato salad w/​arugula, sumac ricotta & cucumber vinaigrette ($ 9) — 3.5 stars
Tomatoes were very delicious & very fresh. Overall a very simple salad with few but quality ingredients that worked well together. I couldn’t really taste the vinaigrette. Could use some sharper flavors. The ricotta could have been broken up into smaller chunks, & the tomato cut into smaller chunks (they were quartered).
* Edamame hummus w/​chestnut tahini ($ 7) — I don’t think we got this!
MAIN (we got samplers of three of these)
* Wild barramundi w/​pistachios & saffroned spinach ($ 17) — 3 stars
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I found the texture of the fish to be a little too overcooked/​hard. The spinach was cooked soft. All of this was a little lacking in flavor.
* Grilled leg of lamb w/​Summer squash, eggplant & garbanzo bean ($ 16) — 4 stars
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Very nice, & great flavor (some sort of pesto-​like sauce on the lamb). The lamb was cooked a little hard to my liking, but that’s just me being picky. The eggplant didn’t have much flavor.
* Black lentil samosa w/​goat cheese, shiso & red cabbage salad ($ 12) — 4.5 stars
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The surprising favorite of the night! A soft taco shell with a black lentil filling. Very unique, interesting, & great textures/​flavors inside. The red cabbage salad on the outside wasn’t super memorable.
DESSERT
* Roasted lavendar honey apricots w/​blueberries, strawberries, dates & citron cream ($ 7) — 3.5 stars
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Looks very delicious & promising. This was pretty good & felt pretty healthy for a dessert. The cream was dense yet light, & had a subtle sweetness to it. It also had a layer of dark, intense melted chocolate! But this was mostly a plate of mixed fruits & didn’t satisfy my sweet tooth quite as much as I’d hoped.
Menu:

TIP: They usually have a livingsocial for a tasting menu for 2. Where else can you find a Michilin recommended restaurant that does that?!
I want to love this place. I really, really do. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. Let me just say right off the bat: this place is great. The tasting was definitely worth it — 5 courses comprised of: (1) 2 soups, a mild cauliflower and a slightly spicy butternut squash, (2) sauteed prawns with a crab-​smoked trout spread served with bread and beet salad, (3) a standard green salad to share with 4 crimini mushroom crostinis with baked parmesan, (4) an extremely generously portioned entrée tasting plate, and finally (5) flourless chocolate cake a la mode with pear.
We liked everything except the black lentil samosa, which could just be a cultural thing, but it had a funky aftertaste and didn’t really mesh with the other entrees. The Wild barramundi looked fantastic, but needed a little salt, as it was kind of flavorless beneath the skin.
We loved the lamb shoulder with couscous, and the eggplant with pearled couscous was tasty as well. The lamb was perfectly tender, and the eggplant was seasoned extremely well and blended perfectly with the couscous.
Unfortunately, nothing really «popped» for me. Admittedly, I am no connoisseur of African cuisine, but in general I wasn’t SUPER impressed with the service or the food, which came out to ~$ 110 for two. That being said, the livingsocial brought it down to ~$ 60, and I really can’t complain about that. ⁵⁄₅ with a coupon, ⁴⁄₅ without.