Oba Oriental Cafe — Restaurant in Bozeman

Just had my first, and probably only, trip to Oba's. A friend recommend I try the place as I'd never had Brazilian foods before. He said the little cheese balls in Brazil where he's been were amazing. He even gave me $5 and asked that I get him an order of them!

I walked in and got in line. In front of me were two mothers and three kids. I did behind them for 20 minutes watching one employee make a smoothie and little tiny bowls of precut fruit. I'm not sure why this is such a time communing process. Meanwhile the line behind me began growing. At least one person left without ordering.

The employee was obviously frustrated with having to work the counter by herself. When one young child ordered a "fruit surprise bowl the employee snidely asked, "How about a fruit sunrise bowl?" Obviously the young girl misread the sign.

When my turn to order finally came up, 20 plus minutes after entering, the line behind me was about 10 people deep. I asked the employee of their "Bites" menu was premade or not. Her reply was a curt, "What do you want?" I told her I wanted 3 pastels and two orders of the cheese balls to share with coworkers. She said something about an oven and disappeared into the back. She later returned with plates of hot pastels. I asked for 3 of the beef variety. I then watched for two minutes while she put each into its own paper baggie. With such a big line she never did anything with any haste.

About then another woman walked in the front door and asked if she could help on the register. The lone employee then tells her she needs help and had been busy for 45 minutes. The new woman seemed surprised. In not since it is 12:38pm! The new woman then tried to ring me up but needed help from the employee to do so. Having been given $5 by my friend I asked if I could pay in pay with that $5 and use a card for the rest. My total was over $17. Neither lady could figure out how to do that. With 10 people behind me I told them to just use my card to pay the whole balance. It wasn't worth making those poor folks wait any longer than necessary.

I then left with a coupon for one free item on my next return given to me by the new mystery woman. I'm presuming perhaps she is a manager or owner. I know this is common for businesses as their way to apologize for poor service but - honestly it does nothing for me.

Next hurdle then was to head back to work and sit down to eat. The pastel was, okay. Definitely not worth the wait for though. The cheese balls? Basically a ball of dough with a touch of cheese flavor. Again, not worth the wait.

My co-worker tried them too. I didn't tell him about the events until after he ate them. I wanted his honest input on whether they were anything like the ones he had in Brazil. He told me they weren't. He said these tasted like bread with a little cheese flavoring. Exactly my description.

So, why two stars instead of one? Maybe this was an off day for Oba. Maybe others think this food is amazing. Perhaps more granola types than me will love the atmosphere and paying $4 for a cup of fruit. And maybe honestly this kind/style of Brazilian isn't my thing.

I hope for Obama sake they get some more staff and teach them to operate more smoothly. I know good help is hard to find in this...

Absolutely horrible service. I had to call them three times to try to specify what I needed for my order, and I ended up paying three times what I should have for food that I could not even eat the first time they delivered it. They don’t tell me that they cover their sushi in sesame seeds which tons of people are allergic to, and I specifically spoke with the manager and chef and I asked what was on the sushi before confirming my order, nobody said anything about sesame seeds, so of course I was upset when it came and it had all of those seeds on it so I couldn’t eat anything. Having a specific sushi order that the owner/manager tells you they can cater to and then delivers the wrong item a second time after I had to speak with them three times is so unprofessional, and I will likely never order here again. I cannot believe the way they treated me or the lack of regard to their ingredients and service...

The original owners were so welcoming and offered quick service. Now that the ownership has changed I feel frustrated every time I “pop” in and it ends up taking 30 minutes for an açaí bowl.

Also, their opening times are not consistent, so I would call ahead to make sure someone is actually there before you go....although you may end up waiting extra long because they were not in before Opening times doing prep work.

I’m currently in now waiting with my kids as they cut up the fruit for our OBA bowls leaving me plenty of time to write this review. I don’t think we’ll be back much at all this year.

The product is always great so I’m sad to see the experience not so great. Wish the new...