Jambo Africa Restaurant

Delicious! Jambo Africa catered breakfast for an event I was at and it was amazing. The chicken and gravy was full of flavor. The chicken was juicy and tender. The cornbread was on point. The root vegetables were so good. Mash the veggies and then pour some gravy over it, delish! Chef Simone Chambliss really made us a fabulous African breakfast.

My recent visit to Jambo Africa, left me with mixed feelings. The restaurant has a welcoming atmosphere. However, the food was inconsistent, with some dishes lacking authentic flavors. Portion sizes were also small for the price. It's an average dining option but not exceptional.

Atmosphere somewhat off putting, kind of a nightclub nights I guess. Food was excellent, we had the coconut curry with red beans and the whole tilapia with fried sweet plantains. Delicious and legit.

Their ugali was well prepared; because it is rarely offered even at "African" restaurants it made the dinner worthwhile. Likewise the goat stew was decent and similar to what one would find in Kenya or Tanzania. Greens were cooked enough but had little flavor or seasoning. On the other hand, the service was poor--especially considering we were the only customers seated at the place and there were as many workers as customers.

Consistency is how you measure a good restaurant. This was our second time ordering here.The first time, everything we ordered was delicious, however customer service was poor. The second order, we ordered chicken/dried rice, and it turned out the chicken was stale. We also ordered beef fry (Karanga) and plantains. Both the beef and plantains were stale and not fresh. We drove from another city and was dissatisfied with the food quality and customer service. Lastly, staff and some customers were not wearing masks inside the restaurant.

Oh, boy, where to begin?In summary, a general state of DISREPAIR throughout, SLOW service, BORING food.GOOD:1) The restaurant seemed clean.2) Our server was friendly.BAD:1) Confusing when you enter: no sign at the front desk to say you should either wait to be seated or to seat yourself. No staff appeared, and a customer (waiting for takeout) actually told us you can sit anywhere. In hind sight, this is when we should have turned around and left.2) The server was SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. We waited for a long time to be acknowledged and greeted (even though there was only one other occupied table).3) The menu is very goofy. The funniest thing is a full page (in the MIDDLE) that advertises a Chiropractic service. I've never seen this before in the United States--too funny! Can they at least put this crap on the back page?4) The server was dressed very unprofessional (not in a charming way) in a baseball hat, blue jeans, and tennis shoes, making it hard to identify him as staff.5) There was a SEVERE communication problem. We could hardly understand his accent and he seemed to have a very hard time understanding both of us. It was somewhat comical.6) Appetizers took half an hour to arrive. And when we finally got them, they were pretty boring and not worth the wait...and we were already irritated.7) Never refilled our water or soda...sitting empty.8) Disrepair... The backs of the booths are all floppy and don't seem to be attached correctly. The tables are mostly all wobbly and not balanced. The room divider between the restroom entrance and the closest table is simply a large (stained) piece of corrugated cardboard with a section of cloth draped over it. The divider behind the front desk looked similar. Where did they get this stuff--the Salvation Army?9) The rest of the decor is similarly tacky and possibly, suspiciously, against some sort of health code. For example, is it okay to have a thin Rayon window curtain as the door to your kitchen???10) The African Chai Tea arrived 40 minutes after ordering. Plus, it was mostly milk or cream and you could hardly taste the tea. Again, not worth the wait. At this point, my wife (who LOVES tea) was totally pissed off.11) They were still trying to figure out the coffee at 45 minutes, when we told them to forget it...we'd just square up on the bill and leave. I was looking forward to at least having a nice strong African Coffee. Oh, well.SOOO disappointing! I was really hoping this place would be good. I don't understand all of the four and five star reviews at all. I work hard for my money so I won't be spending any more of it at Jambo Africa.-Daddy Maxx RetroP.S. I apologize for the crappy quality of the photos. I only had a cheap cell phone with me. But I think they make my point.

Had their food 2x. I've had Egusi soup w Fufu & jollof rice & chicken. Both dishes were really good. Egusi was flavorful but the chicken could use a tad bit more seasoning. Every attempt after those 2 tries I could never get an answer on the phone. When I did finally get an answer the young man working the counter tells me "we are busy tonight can I call you back?" What type of business is being ran here? I've called 3x in one week & was told the exact same thing by the same young man. Today I decided to drive over because the hours of operation stated they were open. I drive 25 minutes to get there and they are in fact NOT open. This is disappointing that they never answer the phone. There aren't many west African restaurants in the twin cities & I thought this would be my Go-to place but I was wrong.

Terrible food. We actually ended up throwing everything away. Even worse customer service

This was perfectly warming on a cold Minnesota night. I ordered the Curry Chicken, substituted ugali for chapati and it was excellent. I almost did not come in after reading the reviews... I do not see a grocery store here so that feedback was accepted. I will come again, next time with the family. My service expectations are mellow, a correct order and a smile meet my needs, and those were on point.

My family and I love their food however, their service is terrible.. it's close to being a deal breaker. I've been here many times but it's starting to be too much, to the point that I'd rather go elsewhere.When you call to put in a takeout order they either never answer or they ask you to hold and NEVER take you off. Then if you call back they won't answer. Then when you come in they are slow and will have you waiting 30+ minutes for food. Hopefully they get their service together or I will have to go somewhere else.