YAAM — Restaurant in Berlin

I always used to come to this place when I came on vacation to Berlin, it was one of my favorite places until last night, May 15, 2024, I had a very bad experience in that place. I went to that place to dance as I often did alone because I never felt in danger, I went to buy a bottle of water at the bar when I was going to pay it, I couldn't find enough coins. I was looking in my wallet. When the Yaam worker saw this, he told me that there was no problem, he would give it to me as a gift, I thanked him and went to continue dancing To continue I tried it it tasted bitter, I told a Chilean boy That I met at that moment with whom we were dancing, I gave him a taste of the water and he felt the same bitter taste with his numb tongue, since he didn't know how to speak English well I told him that if he could Tell those who sold us the water that if they couldn't change it and what they did was act in an exalted and rude manner towards us, telling me that I was crazy because I didn't know how to smoke marijuana and drink at the same time, which I have done for many years without any problem, I told the worker to try the water and he didn't want to They were just acting rude and calling me crazy all the time, in a derogatory way. He also said that I had not wanted to pay for the water when that was not the case, he gave it to me. The water was clearly contaminated with something since I started to feel bad, then I gave it to another girl to try and she confirmed that it tasted bitter, at that moment of tension and mistreatment We didn't know what to do, calling the police and keeping the bottle of water would have been the best option but we felt intimidated by the Yaam workers without giving us any solution or explanation just unjustified abuse, I received gender abuse for being a woman and asking for an explanation for the bitter taste of the water, the worker kept calling me crazy, Yaam is no longer a safe place for me, therefore I will not return, It makes me sad because it was one of my favorite places but I feel that security protocols are not carried out in any case. Three of us tried the water and it tasted bitter, it was contaminated and we only received rudeness and abuse from the staff who also tried to intimidate us. A case of abuse of force by the staff had already happened last month, ending his life, now this happens to me thinking I was in a safe place. Harassment and mistreatment are suffered, it is disappointing that a cultural house allows this type of behavior from...

Review of YAAM (Young African Art Market) near Ostbahnhof

100 m from Moxy Ostberlinbahnhof … use M300 bus stop at Stralauer Platz

Surrounded by ongoing urbanization/corporate/investor development, this timeless spot to relax is also just a block from the very hip/endangered hip haunt Holzmarkt (hipsters & hippies)

No pressure experienced but all are asked to contribute minimum €1 entrance “contribution” when checking in … no outside drinks allowed however I was allowed to bring in „to go“ coffee cup with ice cubes/water when challenged by nice security guy

Crowd is definitely 20s-30s … 20-30% English-speaking locals or tourists … decidedly lack of tattoos on the women if that means anything (not the hardcore Kreuzberg street crowd)

Every single person / wait staff I encountered was super friendly, even chatty (at least when speaking with this 60+ year old American from San Francisco)

Did not sample the alcohol (only 9:30pm) but everyone else in this low end of the tourist/local bracket was totally enjoying their drinks … I simply had €2 English Breakfast tea and it was delicious

Music was playing in all the areas of this very large entertainment complex … mellow/happy Jamaican (English) & Haitian (French) reggae … late at night/weekends it is probably very loud Caribbean dance music as most other reviewers report

Checking out their “jerk chicken” by sight and smell, it was authentic … grill master black older hipster when questioned gladly confessed it was not as spicy as he liked, was diluted for local/German tastes … they are still spinning up post-lockdown operations/supplies and regrettably did not have Jamaican beef „patties“ yet … these are tasty pasties you can find all over the Caribbean diaspora

This was Tuesday night… not the wild dance party that Friday/Saturday nights are reputed to be

All in all = very relaxing set of outdoor lounge areas to recharge by the river … even beach lounge chairs if you like … good bar service, great music, happy but not boisterous crowd

(Despite other negative reviews claiming “rats everywhere“ and „drug dealers” relentlessly pushing “grass”/weed/ganja this was NOT my experience) … altho this is Berlin and you expect things to always be a little edgy under the covers, “oder”? Genau! ...

I put a one on the service not referring the business inside the YAAM but mainly the entrance service. The YAAM is such a lovely place with amazing African business and hard working people inside. The bad experience comes in the entrance as you have 2 white girls doing the bare minimum. They can't even say hi because they are too busy doing nothing, ofc they will stop you if you don't give them money to get inside. Today I went for 2min to get some chicken wings, I had to wait for the girls to finish their conversation, I got tired so kept walking and then, they stopped me. I got literally the cash to pay for the wings, I had to anyway pay 1€ to get inside for literally 2min. Then I had to pay the hardworking man that sold me the wings less money, because we live in a world where we reward laziness and poor effort and take effort of hard working immigrants... I don't go to the YAAM often because everytime I go my experience is ruined in the entrance and I don't want to contribute to give money to useless people that does the bare minimum and take advantage of people that actually works. Please fire those girls and raise the payment of the actual workers. I'm so tired of people rewarding poor service and forgetting about the ones that...