Safari Njema Restaurant

1. You have to get the fish.
2. You have to get the fish.
3. Eat with your hands, it’s easier and the food was meant to be eaten that way.

It was quiet, so they gave us extra cabbage to go with the goat and green bananas. Samosas were perfectly spicy.

Here fishy fishyyyyy!!!
This little tiny place serves the tastiest cabbage ever. George and Jane are the owners I believe. And they are so friendly! They also have fantastic memory and remember exactly when you visit them!
Food: its an African/​Kenyan restaurant with emphasis on starches and veggies. Protein is simple: chicken, goat, fish! Whole fried tilapia is bigger than my face. And delicious.
Goat ~ a little less seasoning than I’m used to be still tasty.
Veggies ~ I’m a grown up and I don’t eat veggies: D Well I can choose what kind of veggies anyway. But this place make really tasty veggie dishes. The owner recommended that cabbage side dish that wasn’t on the menu. Oh so tasty! The collard greens are also delicious.
There is this one starch though. Quite dense and filling. Skip that if you don’t want to be overly full.
And their homemade habanero sauce is a must! Food is always made to order and can be slow. But its worth a wait. You’ll be in and out with a huge platter of food for under $ 20! Their samosas are tasty too. But remember, portions are big! Overall, its a cute little mom and pop place with unique food. I’m a fan!

This was a great find and they were open on Sunday! Two of us had the goat and two side dishes. Two had the vegetarian entrée. All were delicious. The vegetarian samosa was wonderful and spicy. We will be back!

I am tepen t.‘s genius girlfriend who found this gem :) The food was incredible. I tried the collard greens and seasoned rice with my meal. The portions are HUGE! (I’m eating my left overs as I type) When I go back, I am definitely ordering the tilapia. Don’t be intimidated by the menu– if you have questions, ask your server! So friendly and warm.

My girlfriend found this place on Unilocal and their food is awesome! She ordered their vegetarian dish and I had the fried tilapia. The house hot sauce is citrusy yum yum for your tum tum. Service is super friendly and they’ve been in Columbia City for 7 years!

My first experience eating here and have to say the food was amazing. Had the goat which was basically falling off the bone. Definitely consider myself a fan of Kenyan cuisine after eating here. I thought the service was great! I do recommend trying the hot sauce, not overly spicy and very sweet. Only complaint, well maybe more of a recommendation would be a bit better airflow in the restaurant. the temperature was just fine but left the place smelling like our meals for a few hours. luckily the food was so good I didn’t mind.

My husband is from kenya. He wanted to eat Kenyan food so I found this AMAZING restaurant on the internet. The food is fabulous and the service is out of this world. We have tried everything here, and everything is so yummy. If you haven’t tried Kenyan food and want good ethnic food, this is the place to come.

Woah this place is good. Never had Kenyan food so wasn’t sure what to expect but so glad we came. Everything was good.

I really liked this place. They are super friendly and will bring your food over to the brewery next door. The food was quite good– we had the lamb, beef, cabbage, collards, potato/​pea mash, and rice. The beef was probably the least exciting thing but still decent. The goat and both the veggies were excellent. I especially liked the cabbage and the nice bright-​tasting hot sauce. Wishing I had tried the tilapia, but I guess I will have to go back. It’s also quite a lot of food for about $ 10.
Only small complaint? There was a decent pool of grease around the bottom of both meats and veggies. I know fat = flavor, but when there’s enough to pool up, it tells me dialing back a little would not hurt the flavor at all.

I thought «oh wow, I have to try Kenyan food. This will be a new unique experience!»
Except it wasn’t that great or new.
The service was friendly but I was disappointed by the food.
I ordered the beef and chose a starch and a veggie, but was told that the veggie I chose was actually a starch. OK…
The beef was a smallish portion of cubed steak with onions and bell peppers. It was kind of dry though and it wasn’t anything special or exotic.
The rice was similar to lipton instant rice with some extra spice. Good, but not if it’s part of an $ 11.00 entrée.
The collared greens were good, tasted like southern style cooking.
Maybe I just chose the wrong things, but I just wasn’t impressed.

Our highlight of the day during our day trip to Seattle was eating at this restaurant. Just thinking about it makes me hungry. I had the Tilapia and my partner had the goat dish and the side dish of our choice. Everything was cooked to prefection, full of flavors and very delicious. We will be coming back again:)

The food is wonderful, the space clean and simple, and the service prompt and friendly.
We had the samosas and shared the tilapia with ugali and collard greens (got a little cabbage mix on the side for free and it was buttery and amazing!). Every single thing on the table was amazing. The fish was superb and cooked perfectly, the ugali was a great starch accompaniment and the greens very flavorful. The samosas were piping hot and very flavorful, the hot sauce that came with it was excellent and now I want a bottle of it for home.

Absolutely delicious. We stopped in here on a whim, having no idea what to expect. This was easily the best tasting and most fun meal we have had in months. Everything we tried was excellent, from the samosas to the hot sauce Millicah recommended for us.
Speaking of Millicah, she is fantastic! Welcomed us as we walked in, and made our entire first experience with Kenyan food joyous and comfortable. We went with her advice on the food, and will look forward to returning to try more the next time!

I have been asking my Mom to open a Kenyan restaurant for years in order to share our authentic food with people. This dream has not come true yet, however Safari Njema has brought it closer.
This place did not disappoint we were very pleased with our meals and experience here.
The restaurant is very well put together and you feel a sense of Kenya while you are dining here. The décor is really wonderful and you can purchase some of the artwork!
The food is amazing, this is as close as you can get to Kenyan. I felt nostalgic as I enjoyed the Kenyan tea, Sambusas and my entrée the Mbuzi or goat meat along with the Pilau.
The hosts were wonderful and welcoming and we even spoke in Swahili which was very humbling and brought everything full circle for our family.
I definitely recommend this place if you are curious and in the mood for some good hearted wholesome food. The only thing which would ‘put the cherry on top’ would be if they served Tusker Beer or Fanta Black Currant!

Welcoming and friendly service, and you feel like you’re really getting a home cooked meal. I recommend the fish, cabbage (if available), collards, rice, and fried potatoes. Ask for some ginger tea as well. When you need a break from trendy and hipster give this place a try.
Note: No alcohol.

I felt like I was on an episode of Anthony Bourdain. Exciting and the feeling of authenticity immediately upon entering, yet a faint feeling of nervousness like it’s too late to back down.
It is in a tiny strip of other restaurants/​bars/​barcade. Parking is free or walk from the nearby neighborhood.
After reading other reviews, I followed suit and got the entire fish. The platter was huge, but completely worth every savory bite. You gotta get it too! Be adventurous and look that fish in the eye… and then pig out!

Where else will you get Kenyan food? This place brings back memories of my safari several years ago — sukuma and ugali — the traditional stable, served with generous helpings of fried fish and goat meat. Yummmm. The couple who run the place are genuine and they really make you feel at home. Husband makes great cabbage so if he’s in the kitchen, make sure one of your plates has cabbage on it.

Kenyan food is like African Chinese food. I’m serious! There’s an emphasis on fried, starches, veggies, and protein here at Safari Njema.
And like some Asian food places, don’t look for fancy ambiance to have an interesting meal.
We started off with a puffed sweet bread (not cow brains) and the fried potatoes. The sweet bread was chewy and lightly sweet, while the sliced potatoes had a nice crusty breading on the exterior. The habanero-​like sauce will never be far from your hand once you try it with the potatoes.
The night we were in, there was one guy doing everything, including the cooking, so if it seems slow it’s because he’s a busy guy. Throughout dinner, he was kind and checked in on us frequently; the only gap was when we tried to settle out (probably because he was doing dishes too!)
The spinach and collards were the best cooked greens I’ve ever put in my mouth! So good; I’d order just that for a potluck. The chicken was okay, nothing too crazy. And the cabbage was recommended as a must-​try dish over the potatoes and mushed peas I ordered.
Safari has piqued my interest; I’ll be back!

What’s not to love about being served authentic Kenyan food on plastic plates commonly found in Chinese restaurants while dining off of a glass-​topped table filled with business cards and ads from the local business community, only to be told towards the end of your meal by the friendly Chef herself that the fish HEAD is the tastiest portion of the fish and that you should eat ALL of it, even as you’re overcome by a massive food coma.
Welcome, adventurous diners, to the Safari Njema Restaurant — not to be mistaken for the Chef’s own house — because when you dine at Safari Njema you’ll be treated like an invited guest and not just another customer.
There are so many things to like about the place — from the brightly painted walls adorned by colorful paintings of idyllic life in Africa on on side… cut to… the huge, iconic and gut-​wrenching Last Supper scene on the opposite wall where Jesus is standing among his disciples, contemplating the futility of another round of Beer Pong if he’s going to die the next day. (You can see it in his eyes.) Unfortunately, Jesus’ last meal on earth wasn’t Kenyan, and it wasn’t at Safari Njema. If so, he might’ve stuck around a bit longer.
The menu is simple, with about 6 entrees and an assortment of sides and a few appetizers. I ordered the fried Tilapia in a curry sauce. Each entrée comes with two sides of your choice — one starch, one vegetable. I had the collard greens (yum) and chapati (blech). My friends had the Cubed Beef with rice and greens and Goat with cabbage (not on menu, but strongly recommended by the Chef) and fries. We also ordered some samosas for appetizers.
Then, things went downhill. «Intestinal Trauma» — usually accompanied by increasing bitchiness — is the the process by which my stomach resorts to slowly and sadly digesting its own intestinal lining, as time marches on and delicious aromas of dishes not belonging to us fly by our noses. Apparently, the chef was ALL BY HERSELF. The only table before us waited over an hour for their food to arrive. I know this, because from the time I checked in on Unilocal and the time they got their food, an hour had gone by. Our samosas arrived about 30 minutes after we ordered — hot and deliciously spicy. And then, like someone who’s just ingested a cow carcass of red meat and is stopped up the next day, the food stopped coming.
When our meals finally did arrive, it was also disappointing. The beef was dry and overcooked and the goat was little bits and pieces on bones. My tilapia was huge — a whole fish — and perfectly deep fried, with a little bit of seasoning. Despite the meats being overcooked they had a wonderful flavor. Basmati rice also very good.
The only reason why this isn’t a two-​star review is the wonderful hospitality of the chef and her cooking. She’d given my friend a cup of hot ginger water when she heard him with a persistent cough. I’m sure if she had some help, the service and food would’ve been better. Would consider going back… but maybe not on an «empty» stomach.