Barka — Restaurant in Makadara/Mji Wa Kale ward

I very very rarely, if ever, give a five star award on these reviews. Barka is an exception

Ticked every single box of what a dining experience should be

We came in. Immaculately clean, easily accessible hand basins to wash hands

Greeted with a warm friendly smile. Genuine. Not just one practised for the jambo jungus

We sat down. Clean table and good quality seats.

Given a couple of minutes to relax. Our waiter came over. We laughed, he was so kind and friendly yet professional.

We joked about Uhuru and his chicken biryani. Asked if Ruto would be given mursik, ugali and managu when he comes.

I ordered mbuzi biryani, samosas na fanta. My wife ordered the chicken biryani.

We chilled. Looked around the room. Talked about Ramadan and how all the mombasa street kids get a fat belly for free here and upstairs seating all to themselves. Good people doing good things.

The food arrived. Perfect portions. Perfect seasoning, perfect texture to the meat. Tamu in every single possible way

We ate til our ancestors whispered "that's enough my child!" and we relaxed. Happy people with full bellies.

The table was cleared and we continued to sit back and enjoy the experience. We couldn't eat another single bite.

We paid via paybill and then waited for our waiter to be finished with his huge amount of happy feasting customers. He didn't even have a second spare to come to us.

We understand. Excellent service means we are super popular and our time is so precious.

Eventually he comes to us. Seems worried as we have already eaten and paid. Asks if everything is OK. We smile. My fren. Put your mobile number in here. We want to tip you.

He looks confused. Shows us the paybill number. No my fren. You are the best waiter we have ever had. We have eaten out literally thousands of times. Nobody ever made us feel as happy and our appetite sated as Barka did

We tip him a fat number. He deserved every shilling.

He beams the most happy appreciative smile. Karibu my fren. You earned it all.

We leave. Very VERY happy customers.

It's a shame the Google rating only goes up to five. ...

Came across this restaurant by accident - we were looking for Island Dishes - we followed the map and it took us to this street, but we found that Island Dishes was actually back from where we came (Fort Jesus). Since we were tired and hungry, we walked into this restaurant after seeing it was one of the restaurants on tripadvisor serving local food - this gave us some confidence as the area outside looks a bit dodgy and dirty. It was absolute chaos - although it was not completely packed; the waiters seemed occupied with everything but serving us. We had to ask around as to where to sit and how to order (you have to place your order with some cashier in a corner before you sit) and after doing so, and sitting for a while, no one came to bring the order or even wipe the table. We left after seeing how the waiters were handling the dirty dishes; the area was just unhygienic and nauseating. The locals don't seem to mind and seem accustomed to the rudeness and lack of customer service; which may explain some of the management's don't care attitude. To be honest, coming from holiday in Tanzania, it's a rude shock to see the complete difference in mannerisms and approach by people in the two countries - from service staff in restaurants etc. even in the local restaurants. Tanzanians seem to be more hospital and good natured while Kenyans are simply not - this is informed by a few interactions in the few days I've been here, and my experience in this restaurant is just...

Service here was awful, I have been here several times and I liked the food and the pocket friendly prices. However, my two last visits made me vow to keep off this place. On both occasion we couldn't find a place to sit & there was no one to assist us, when we finally got a table it was dirty & we had to ask several times for them to wipe it. They seem to have run out of the items on the menu though it was still early (7 pm), so we ordered what was available. Lo & behold the guys next to our table who arrived long after we were seated & made our order were served before us with food items we were told were not available. When were finally served the food got cold while we were waiting for spoons. I think these guys discriminated against us either because we were not Muslims or because we were not...