Naija Jollof Downtown Queen & Bathurst — Restaurant in Toronto

I was pressured by the owner to delete my honest review and do not feel good about that seeing as it could save any future potential employees from wasting their time. I would not advise anybody to work here if you value your peace and have bills to pay. Oscar, the owner of the restaurant was a decent person himself (until he made false accusations about me) but unfortunately decency doesn’t pay the bills. I and other staff members would never receive our payments on time, sometimes taking up to almost a week to receive our paycheque. We were also told conflicting stories as to why we were receiving late payments, I was told that there was a fraudulent transaction that went through our POS which caused the funding to be delayed, yet 2 other staff members were told that their paycheques were delayed because business has been slow. There was no transparency. In addition to that, we would be told our schedules of shifts days before or sometimes even the night before, making it hard to make other plans. Also, we constantly would run out of important items like gloves often and be told to just “make do” without them for days or a week until we could get gloves again. Serving food in a restaurant without wearing gloves is completely unsanitary and just a small reflection of the numerous health code violations that went on in the establishment. Lastly, although I never received any of the actions firsthand, I did witness how the owner of the franchise, Beauty, spoke to some members of our staff in an unprofessional, inappropriate and condescending manner. Many of our staff had complaints about how she spoke to them and they did not feel respected by her. The food here is great because of our amazing cooks, but that’s the only good part. The service will most likely be slow as all of our remaining servers, including myself, have now quit. After I quit, the owner, Oscar, gave out my phone number without my permission to a customer in attempt to pressure me to take down my first posting of this review. which is illegal. Do not believe most of the the 5 star ratings you see, as many of them were posted by the owner of the store, his friends and family, the owner of the franchise and current/former staff that he pressured to give the restaurant 5 stars. So this is just a warning to anyone considering working here, you’re better off finding a better...

Day 1: Ordered swallow and egusi soup which was fresh and delicious. Ordered moi moi which was mid and totally burnt underneath.

Day 2: Ordered swallow and egusi soup but okra was sent which was tasty. Ordered beans and plantain which was okay. Ordered coconut bread which was nice and ordered a pack of moi moi which was mid and still burnt underneath.

Day 3: Ordered yam pottage which was fresh, delicious and the quantity was decent. Ordered 2 meat pie which was Horrible!! Underneath was burnt, top dough wasn't properly cooked and the filling was super salty! I had to throw it in the garbage!! Ordered 2 coconut bread which was really STALE!! It didn't have any coconut particles like the previous one and it felt like it was from days back. Had to trash it.

Day 4 (April 26th, 2025) Ordered yam pottage again.... this time, I was served the leftover from the previous day and it was also salty on this day! The painful part is it was put in a tiny soup bowl with 3 small and miserable pieces of yam, then 2 stale, over fried and dry chicken was put in the plate to fill up the space. Ordered snacks combo. I got a call from the restaurant that samosa was not available so it was replaced with spring rolls, cool. Meat pie wasn't available so it was replaced with doughnut and egg roll. The egg roll was rotten, couldn't eat it, had to trash it. The combo was supposed to come with peppered chicken, rather, same stale dry chicken was packed with the order.

Considering the fact that each order cost me about $50/60+, it is rather disappointing!

The only reason why I continue to order is because it is the closest Nigerian restaurant to the hospital where I am...

Disappointing Experience – Misrepresentation of Nigerian Cuisine

Our recent visit to Naija Jollof was, unfortunately, quite underwhelming. To begin with, the jollof rice served bore little to no resemblance to authentic Nigerian jollof — it would be more accurate to describe it as Senegalese jollof. The predominant flavor in nearly every dish we ordered was salt, which overshadowed any other potential seasoning or taste.

Customer service was also lacking. We experienced a significant delay before our order was taken, only to discover that staff had to be contacted by phone to come in and attend to a growing line of customers. This was highly unprofessional and contributed to a poor first impression.

A particularly off-putting moment was noticing the puff-puff left sitting out on a shelf. It appeared to be self-serve or forgotten, and I had to inquire whether it was even for sale — not a standard one expects from a food service environment.

The Ofada rice and sauce were especially disappointing. The “Ofada sauce” was essentially a watery, salty pepper mix with only a single piece of beef included in the serving. To add to this, the boiled egg that came with it was unusually small — comparable in size to a quail egg. Traditional Ofada sauce is known for its richness and oil-based texture, none of which was present here.

In summary, there was no ambience, no authenticity, and very little to encourage a return visit. In comparison, other Nigerian food establishments — such as those in Edmonton — offer a much better experience overall, both in terms of food quality...