African Palace — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

This place was a surprise hit for me. I was extremely hesitant the moment I sat down - the restaurant was empty and dark, and the only entertainment was Dikembe Mutombo’s NBA highlights on loop for two hours straight, lol.

Jollof Rice - Rice, tomato paste, pepper, garlic & onion. It’s a sweeter rice entrée & actually quite enjoyable. I’d recommend adding the goat - it pairs really well.

Apapa Efo Riro - Made with spinach, egusi (ground melon seeds), & fish. This dish was full of flavor & easily the highlight of our dinner.

Fufu - A West African paste made from cassava and green plantain flour. I swapped this in for white rice, and it was a great call. The texture is unique, but it blended perfectly with the Apapa Efo.

Overall - I can see why the reviews are mixed. The service was extremely slow - it took 45 minutes for just 2 entrées & there were only 2 other guests in the restaurant. The ambiance is confusing; I’m not sure what vibe they’re going for.

That said, the food was surprisingly delicious! The menu lacks detail, so you’re better off asking for recommendations. Prices could be a bit lower to attract more customers, but the portion...

Worse food ever....I dont know which country people are cooking these foods but worse food ever ... their price are sky high because they know they dont have too much competitive African restaurant around. I had diarrhea the whole night I felt like it was food poisoning. They better serve drinks only instead of serving food. And their soya are not the real soya whole bunch of onion cover on top of the meat and power pepper on it no soya seasoning at all. Their seasoning is also the worse totally waste of money. I would not recommend anyone to eat there. If you are african you should know what I am talking about. You can not be cooking herbs soup or egussi or okra etc...messing up people stomach. I wish the department food and safety know the danger when it comes to african food. And I bet you the FDA inspector all white people so they dont know when it comes to African food. So I would recommend the FDA to start hiring african people in their department when it comes to african or international food.🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️👎👎👎👎🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 never again going there cause I dont...

Gave me old fish meat and when I told the MANAGER ON DUTY.. he said he would let the Cooks know... not remake...no apology.. no discount.. in fact.. they over charged me and I told them to charge me for some RICE and he charged me 20 for rice! I said that's ok. I'm filing a complaint after I spoke to the OWNER and she told me to come back they would remake and charge me again. If you are American, do not go here. They think you know nothing about AFRICAN cuisine and have the nerve to be stupid expensive. NEVER AGAIN. AND I CALLED MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Will post the results after investigation is completed because I got sick later that evening. Terrible service and food. The place is dirty. Update: by the time i received a response from the owner. I had forgotten about the ordeal because I said I would never go back. They don't care. They don't want my American...