Yassa African Restaurant — Restaurant in Chicago

My 2nd time dining here. I came back because the food is decent. Trust me when I say this will be my last time eating here. The service was horrible! I still tipped though because I'm a huge advocate for small businesses and its workers. Plus I could not have foreseen the events that occurred afterwards.

So let me tell you . . .

We arrived at about 9:20ish which was about 1 1/2 hour before the posted closing time of 11pm on a Friday. We ordered about 10 minutes after being seated. Ordered appetizers and entrées. We waited about an hour for our food to arrive but that was no problem because I figured it was made fresh. Appetizers arrived at the same time as the entrée . . . Still not yet a problem. The problem arrived when about 10 minutes after our food arrived we were brought carryout containers, bags and the check. I literally had to stop eating to wipe my hands, pay and sign the receipt as the waitress stood right by me and waited for me to checkout. It was exactly 10:36pm. The posted closing hours is 11pm on Friday. I proceeded to ask if I could finish my food. She says that they are closing soon and that I had until about 10:35 to 10:45 to eat. Annoyed now! So I continued to eat and the workers proceeded to gather in the front of the house with their bags, distributing money, turning off the lights obviously preparing to close while we were still eating our food. The waitress even caught my expression of disgust and rolled her eyes at me and continued to play and laugh and ask, who I imagined to be her superior if she could go home. Je told her that she could. We quickly left since we didn't feel like we were welcomed anymore and besides my experience was ruined and I was turned off. I wanted to avoid writing a bad review rather i think direct and immediate feedback is what small businesses need more of vs. public criticism. However, all of the staff seemed to be of the same caliber . . . rude, unprofessional, and not concerned with the customer experience because all were packing up,shutting off lights, playing and laughing loudly in the dining area around us. . . As we ate.

None of the staff that was present seem to care about the success and sustainability of this business since their actions made ot very clear that the customer didn't matter. They just wanted to go home . . . Keep in mind it was still at least 20 minutes before the posted closing time.

It was quite unbelievable. One of the worst experiences I've had at a restaurant. I will spend my dollars where it is appreciated and valued because Yassa's obviously does not value...

Found this location while trying to find a good grilled fish spot & i hit the Jackpot. The red snapper dinner was super delicious & the gentleman that took my order was the most respectful & customer friendly waiter i’ve came across in a looong time. I guess he could tell it was my 1st time here & even though my order was to go, he set me down & offered several samples of some homemade drinks. The samples were great & everything was great, & i thought about adding one of those drinks to my order, except there was ONE WAITER that was kinda very rude. The sitting area wasn’t crowded @ all, but there were only a couple of tables that were able to mostly sit 2-3 people.. i was @ one of the tables & there was another table literally right next to me. The ONLY difference was the other table had their water pitcher & a few other lil items that i guess they serve their seated customers with. Well, two gentlemen came in & they were waiting to be seated. That’s when the OTHER waitress (MR RUDE), came up to me & asked if i was dining in or ordering out..@ 1st i was confused to why he was even asking me that...So i replied “Im ok, another waiter took my order & it’s to go.” I turned back to my phone & he got my attention again & told me that since my order was to go, can i sit @ the other table. I was like D*M, this mofo that lazy that he cant remove a few items from the next table to sit customers??? I didn’t say anything. I just looked @ him & moved. My whole perception of this place CHANGED IN AN INSTANT!!! My very 1st time here & i spent $40 (including tip), on JUST FEEDING MYSELF, cause i wanted to try some new foods. After Mr Rude made me move to sit the two waiting customers, i had already made my mind up that I WASNT COMING BACK!! Not long after, my 1st GREAT waiter brought my food out & reminded how great customer service should be! So i told myself i’d give this spot another chance, BUT ONLY IF THE FOOD WAS GOOD!! MAAAAAAAAAN, the food WAS DELICIOUS!! Let’s just say that the young GREAT waiter with the short box-cut dreaded haircut & the nice jewelry, along with the GREAT FOOD, SAVED U A NEW CUSTOMER!!! I will return for that Yassa Red-snapper...

TERRIBLE experience went with my family was sat immediately by the host who was also a waitress and were given 3 menus for a party of 5 then left and never came back, never checked on us and we finally called her over we asked her how yo pronounce names of dishes..and she couldn't. Then we place pur orders where I ordered future with my meal and my brother ordered jollof with his meal and it came with shrimp. But, when the waitress finally brings the food she randomly hands people plates, she couldn't name the food she's passing around her reply was 'I don't know actually'. Terrible service. So when I get my plate after waiting a long while for it to come, I have jollof on my plate and I saw to her I ordered future, so she looks irritated and reached to take it back,but I was just like you know what nevermind, I waited too long I'll just eat it. But when my brother gets his food and he has fufu and bo shrmp that was suppoed to be with it. Now this wasn't acceptable so we tried getting her attention and she literally ignored and avoided us eventually we call another waitress who get the attention of our waitress .but again she never comes .after we called her finally and made her come over to have her address the issue I asked for a manager who was the other waitress. I told her what happened and they took his food and brought him back the new plate and he finds paper in it!!!! So. We wait to get someone attention for this for like 15 minutes until we get the owner attention and we explained the problems we had had he was dismissive, and treated us like we were out to scam. He offered to take off the paper meal but he didn't care about me telling him about the poor service and the fact the food was cold and bland, he cut me off. I would never go back.. food isn't flavored. I've never had to add salt to African...