Makenene Lounge — Restaurant in Berlin

The food at Makenene was one of the worst dining experiences of my life. I am now 73 years old! We went as a party of nine, plus two children, and the management had received a booking the previous day from one of our party who had previously been happy with the food and service, so they knew in advance that at least eight customers would be having meals. Except for a few other customers having drinks, we seemed to be the only customers who ordered food, at what should have been the busy dinner hour between 7 & 9 p.m.

The drinks service was prompt, except that they were out of the non- alcholic ginger beer which I ordered. We waited for over an hour for any sign of food, although drinks were delivered promptly. The okra soup dish I ordered was a flavourless slimy mess with very tough meat and I could only manage to cut and eat two of the six pieces; the dish was not hot when delivered, and I had to ask for a spoon to eat a dish which was largely liquid. I left over half of the food.

My friend who was very hungry and normally finds most food agreeable, managed to eat most of the vegetable component of his dish but, like me, could not chew the meat and sent it back. I think the meat had been inadequately cooked a long time in advance, and would have been greatly improved through the use of a pressure cooker. Reading through the previous reviews that mention spicy food, I would speculate that there has been a change of personnel in the kitchen. I tasted the fish ordered by one of my friends, and it was flavourless, and in my opinion, not very fresh.

The others were in agreement that the food was not of a good standard, but were shy about complaining to the management. My friend and I did complain, and at first were told that we did not have to pay if we were dissatisfied, but when we carried through this suggestion after no reduction was made in the bill, we were met with nasty aggression by the person in charge, who made an attempt at one point to lock the door so that we could not leave. She could see no validity in our criticism of the food. Threats were made to call the police when we did not pay the complete bill. We departed with very bad feelings, which added a sour touch to my 3 weeks in Berlin.

As someone who spent 45 years working in the catering industry, while I am not an expert in African food preparation, I have worked with African staff preparing typical dishes for commercial sale, and have eaten a great deal of African home cooking in London, where we have many African restaurants. I have also eaten delicious African food at two other restaurants in Berlin. I feel that this restaurant does not deserve to stay in business if they cannot solve their service and food quality issues. It really does not even deserve the one star I have given in order to...

Ce restaurant ne mérite même pas une étoile. Nous avions réservé pour 12 personnes et parlé au propriétaire, qui bien sûr n'était pas présent et n'a pas donné de préavis à leurs employés. Nous avons attendu plus d'une heure pour qu'on nous serve des boissons, j'ai dû les faire aller et venir pour que nous puissions nous faire servir quelque chose. Ils ont simplement bricolé sporadiquement des tables et les ont placées contre un mur. Nous sommes arrivés à 19h et on ne nous a servi la nourriture que 22h après que nous nous soyons plaints et que nous voulions partir. Ce que nous avons commandé était tout gras et sans espoir sur les promesses comme celle sur le menu, qui d'ailleurs était totalement faux. Nous avons payé les prix que nous avons commandés sur le chat, mais qui, selon la serveuse, est dépassée depuis plus de 8 ans. Vous êtes correctement retiré du magasin et vous vous débrouillez, inamical et très UNPROFESSIONNEL sauf pour un homme qui a fait un effort pour nous aider et s'est excusé. Les dames à la réception à ce sujet, je pourrais écrire au moins un livre entier de non-professionnalité et de méchanceté. Je ne vous recommanderais jamais ce magasin et ce magasin n'est pas fermé, mais le personnel est complètement licencié. Ahh et avant que j'oublie, une facture est imprimée sans vous demander comment vous voulez payer. Et si vous voulez le payer divisé entre les gens, ils disent non, les frais sont déduits pour cela et déduits du salaire de l'employé.

Dieses Restaurant hat nicht mal 1 Stern verdient. Wir hatten für 12 Personen reserviert und mit der Inhaberin gesprochen, die natürlich nicht anwesend war und auch ihre Mitarbeiter nicht Bescheid gegeben hat. Wir haben über eine Stunde gewartet, bis wir Getränke serviert bekommen haben, ich musste die hin und her rennen, damit wir was serviert bekommen. Die haben uns sporadisch einfach irgendwelche Tische zusammenbasteln und gegen eine Wand hingestellt. Wir kamen um 19h an und haben erst um 22h das Essen serviert bekommen, nachdem wir uns beschwert haben und gehen wollten. Das, was wir bestellt haben, war alle fettig und hoffnungslos an Versprechungen wie das auf der Speisekarte, die übrigens total falsch war. Wir haben Preise bezahlt, die wir auf der Katze bestellt haben, die aber laut die Kellnerin über 8 Jahre veraltet ist. Man wird in den Laden richtig abgezogen und richtig, unfreundlich und sehr UNPROFESSIONELL bis auf ein Mann, der sich Mühe gab uns zu helfen und sich entschuldigt hat. Die Damen an der Rezeption darüber könnte ich mindestens ein ganzes Buch an unprofessionellalität und Unfreundlichkeit schreiben. Ich würde euch diesen Laden niemals empfehlen und dieser Laden gehört zwar nicht geschlossen, aber das Personal komplett entlassen. Ahh und bevor ich es vergesse, eine Rechnung wird ausgedruckt, ohne euch zu fragen, wie ihr bezahlen wollt. Und wenn man es geteilt unter den Leuten bezahlen will, sagen die nein, es werden Gebühren dafür abgezogen und von dem...

Pros: *When you go places like this what's most important is for the food to taste as close to home as possible and they did good with that, then you want your friends to still have options and tastes that can warm them into your culture and that's also achieved here. Then everything else was alright, polite folks too. *The idea behind all Africa restaurants is to make you feel like you're at home not at a restaurant, so expect a lot of nice words, super attention to your needs, careful explanation. Just relax and eat the less spicy stuff😉

Cons: *Did not like the continuous music and video streaming that sold the culture as being profane. *Theme inside is a bit too dark, some energy saving blue or white...