Safari Njema Restaurant

Food is amazing amazing amazing. I always end up getting the fried fish. It comes with two sides that you can choose from, my favorites are the pilau and collard greens. Ugali is fun for a different texture but is pretty flavorless. The goat curry is also a top pick for me! Beware if you're dining in... THE WAIT IS FOREVER! They're always so understaffed, unfortunately. I wish they had more resources. It's such a shame that the food is so amazing but folks probably get pretty turned off by the wait. I think the last time I was in, we ordered at 7:05pm and got our food at 8:00pm. Left around 8:45pm. Was just thinking we should get Aunty Jane and the whole restaurant some front of the house folks, or even on one of those restaurant optimizing Gordon Ramsay shows I want everyoneeeee to come eat here, so make sure you come at an off time so that the wait isn't too long. It's not a bad idea to hop next door to either Flying Lion for a beer or Full Tilt for dessert before dinner :PTruly if the food was just meh and service was like this, I would give this 2 stars. But Safari Njema has 4.5 stars for a reason... their food is damn good.

Another Columbia City gem. Safari has a decent range of choices, and the chef said she'd make some vegetarian curry for me next time.Delicately seasoned with a decent hot sauce on the side. The collards and spinach (Sukuma) were the highlights. I'm always down for some greens. The mixed veggies were just right. Ugali is a starchy mix not unlike grits or fufu but Kenyan style. Very filling and enough to take home.Not pictured is the cold ginger drink, which is not too sweet and refreshing. The chef is cook and hostess; they do a lot of take out. Friendly and good to chat with which is always a plus.Everything is made fresh, so be prepared and patient. Good things take time :)

Awesome food had a lot of flavor and tasted fresh.Great service Small restaurant, good for party up to 4.

This is one of the first times I have actually had Kenyan food, and I enjoyed opening my eyes to a lot of unique dishes offered here. My friend and I were fairly hungry so we got some appetizers - beef samosa, veggie samosa, and bhajia, as well as 2 entrees - samaki with pilau and Sukuma mix, and mbuzi with ugali and tz zege.Appetizers: the beef samosa and veggie samosa were great. I love the fact that a lot of cuisines have their take on these samosas. Here, the samosas themselves were not too spicy or salty, but their house spicy sauce that has some ginger in it amplified these samosas. The bhajia is thinly sliced potatoes, which tasted somewhat like fried potatoes / fries, but they were hearty chunks of potato.EntreesThe samaki is tilapia, flash fried. We opted for pilau which is a spiced basmati rice and Sukuma mix which is collard greens and spinach. The mbuzi is goat, where we chose ugali (similar to grits) and tz zege (omelette potato) for our sides. We decided that the goat be prepared in curry, which is an additional charge, but it allows us to try both the dry and wet preparations for the respective dishes. The tilapia is very flavorful and crunchy, and they already pre-squeezed the dish with lemon juice (which can be good or bad depending on if you like lemon with the fish). The rice is well spiced and the Sukuma mix is very fresh and nicely salted. The goat curry is also full of spices, though fortunately not really spicy, and pairs well with the ugali as it did not have too much flavor. The tz zege is a very filling side and is of good value as it is one of the pricier sides but it is complimentary as one of the 2 sides when you order the entree. They prepared it to my liking as the eggs are cooked to medium. Service is somewhat mediocre. It is understandable (and I did not dock a star off for this) that food comes out very slowly, about 30 minutes minimum, as there are just 2 workers operating the entire restaurant. However, I'd have liked if they gave the water (it was free, even though they gave water bottles) shortly instead of much later, and if they gave us utensils and plates sooner than later, as we were waiting minimum 15 minutes for it so that we can fully enjoy the appetizers without making a mess. These small touches of service would have made the dining experience much more enjoyable, but regardless, I am a fan of Kenyan food in this restaurant.

Food: AMAZING. Bursting with flavors and spices.Service: Depending on the day, can be normal (10 min); can be slow (15+ min)Order the matoke and the goat side. The goat is so tender. The matoke was really good too. Kind of reminded me of yuca. As for what to avoid ordering, I thought the chicken was kind of dry. Sukuma (collard greens and spinach) was a bit too salty. Came here twice for pickup and dine-in

This review is quite late but to this day I still think about that fried tilapia in coconut sauce! You HAVE to try it! I grew up not too far from here and let me tell you, Columbia City is no longer the Columbia City of my childhood. I'm happy to see the plethora of businesses thriving in this area, and next time I may spend an extra hour or two solely in this small complex, which also houses a Full Tilt and Flying Lion Brewing. We came early with a visitor from out of state in tow (there were only a couple of orders in front of us) and ordered to-go so we could have a picnic at Seward Park. Everything was well made and seasoned perfectly from the beef samosas to the greens and veggies to the fish. But the star of the show was the fish, which was crispy, fatty, sweet, and slightly acidic thanks to the lime. Every bite was the perfect bite. We descended on it like vultures after the first taste and picked it clean down to the bones. Of every meal we ate during our guest's visit, this was the best. I can't wait to go back since I missed that they also have dessert. Highly recommend!

I so enjoyed this new eating experience. This is a Kenyan restaurant in the heart of Columbia City in South Seattle.[disclaimer: without the menu, I can't communicate the Kenyan name for the items on my plate. I apologize in advance for any offense]Atmosphere: friendly and kind to a newbie. It's was an unique experience to be in a restaurant that all of the staff was from the African Diaspora. The conversation and the different languages was so special.Food!!!! Excellent...no complaints. The fried fish was amazing!!!! I just was to eat that with the bread. Wait time: we waited 45 mins for our meal. We were Warner in advance that it takes a long time to be served so we were prepared. But 45 mins is a long time. It was worth the wait - the food was so good and the conversation was great! So warning ...you will be waiting for this good meal. I'll definitely go back.

Can't believe it's taken me this long to get here! Been wanting to come for a couple years but finally came in and I will definitely be coming back after this first visit. Food is made from scratch by one woman who takes the orders and cooks at the same time so don't expect anything to be fast, just enjoy the ambiance and flavors. Highly recommend the cold ginger drink as it packs a punch! Asked for the wet fry tilapia not knowing what it meant and and I'm so glad I did! I think dry fry would be without the delicious tomato sauce they put on top of the fish which really made the dish for me. The owner/chef is extremely welcoming and kind and you can tell she puts love into this food. Can't wait to come back and try more of the side dishes as they all looked so good.Warning: I came with 3 people and we all got our own entrees and shared. My fish alone was enough for two more meals after so come hungry or order a bit less!

I had the curried chicken, cabbage, chapati and ugali. Everything I tried was amazing. The chicken was so tender and flavorful. Can't wait to go back and try the curried goat and samosas. The ginger drink was also delicious!

Some of the best food I've ever had in Seattle, a true hidden gem! It was my first time eating Kenyan food and I'm very impressed. The curry is a proud entry in the genre with beautifully tender chunks of goat. It was bone in, which I don't care but is authentic. The fries are big meaty hand cut potato wedges, with a habanero dipping sauce- this is a great restaurant for spice lovers. The kachumbari is a salad that reminded me a little of pico de gallo, it was good but got outshown by the other dishes. The portions are large and easily make two meals for meThe woman behind the counter is the SWEETEST. It's the kind of personal service you used to get at Italian restaurants that you rarely see in Seattle or anywhere else these days. I cannot recommend this place enough, go there, they deserve all the success in the world