Jolloff Etcetera — Restaurant in Landover

I am from out of town. Four years ago, I visited Jolloff Etc and was so impressed with the food and the owner's kindness that I left a glowing 5-star review. Sadly, my recent experiences have forced me to change that rating to 1 star, and I have no plans to return. I hope the owner sees this.

During my recent visit, I was eager to revisit this once-great restaurant. Unfortunately, what I encountered was extremely disappointing. My day, which was going well, took a downturn after visiting Jolloff Etc.

Summary: This used to be a favorite spot because of the excellent food and exceptional customer service. Now, the food is just ok, the wait times are excessively long, and the customer service is abysmal.

Dine-In Experience (July 3): We were a group of 5 and spent over $200, but the experience was a 5 out of 10. We were ignored for 30 minutes while others who arrived after us were served. Two waiters asked if we had been served, and despite saying we hadn’t, nothing was done. After 40 more minutes, our order finally arrived, totaling a wait time of 1 hour and 10 minutes. Half of the menu items, including the main dish we came for, were unavailable.

Take-Out Experience (July 5): I ordered two portions of amala, ewedu, and gbegiri, however, the served dish was missing the gbegiri food item. We drove back to the restaurant to resolve the issue, only to encounter a different staff member. I didn’t collect the receipt earlier as I am one of those who always says no to receipts for takeouts as I like to save on paper. The new lady at the counter was able to successfully pull up the receipt. However, on looking at the receipt, she said she could see that although we paid for 2 orders of gbegiri, she found that the previous lady only charged for 1 plate of amala. Instead of trying to resolve the issue of the missing orders, she instead kept focusing on the error in the charge which was their fault. Despite clear evidence on the receipt, she implied that I was trying to get something for free and was dismissive and rude in her comments. I tried to explain, but she refused to acknowledge their mistake and insisted on seeing the second order, which was already being eaten by my wife. I left the plate of amala and ewedu with them and went into the car to tell my wife what had happened. I stayed in the car while my wife went in and showed them her almost finished plate of food as evidence that we had ordered 2 plates of food. While my wife was trying to resolve the issue, I already lost my appetite so I called my wife that we should leave their establishment.

Before writing this review, I went back to the dine-in part of the business to speak with the manager. I explained the situation and hoped for an apology from the attendant that was rude for the treatment we received. Though the manger took time to listen, she was very defensive of the employee. She asked what we wanted and I said an apology is all that was needed for her attitude and insinuations. She then said if we needed an apology we would need to go back to the take-out part of the restaurant which was in another building entirely. At that point, we expected her to call on her staff into the building where we were so the issue could be resolved. But to our utmost surprise, she asked us to go over to her at the building where she was. At that point, we had had enough. The manager then offered to refund us $6 for the orders of gbegiri that was missing, thereby, missing the point entirely – it was never about the money (which we refused by the way). It was about a loyal customer who came in from out of town to try to relieve an experience and was severely underwhelmed.

By the end of this ordeal, I was exhausted and unhappy. We left without any resolution, and I ended up eating fast food instead. I...

I have had west African food so I wasn’t entirely new to this cuisine. My most recent experience being from Nando’s so I wanted to try a non franchise west African restaurant. So this past Tuesday night my daughter and I went over to Jolloff Etcetera in Silver Spring. First off the decor is very somber and uninviting with lots of matte gray tones and an oddly placed grass ceiling. We got there about 7:10 and were the only 2 people and were seated right away. Our server gave us the menu and we looked it over for about 3 minutes and had some questions, mainly about the Egusi and Okra soup/stew which we had never tried and couldn’t decide which to get in addition to our meal. The server informed us we could get a smaller side order of both which we agreed. So we placed an order for 1 beef meat pie, 1 side okra soup, 1 side of egusi, 1 platter of Jolloff rice with chicken and plantains, 1 Malt , 1 sorrel and 1 bottle of sparkling water. We then sat there for 25 minutes in the empty restaurant with no water no drinks not even silver was placed on our table. While the server aimlessly walked pass our table or sat in the back of the restaurant. It was only after I walked outside noticeably annoyed did a another lady went to my daughter and asked what we ordered. Only then over 30 minutes later we got water and our-drinks. The sorrel was warm so I had to ask for ice. 10 minutes later all the food was brought out. We had to ask for silverware because none was placed on our table. Another pair of dinners came by this time. We noticed that we didn’t get any fufu with our whisk and okra stews/soul so we called over the server and she said we didn’t order any. I was under the impression that fufu came with the okra and egusi soup/stew but okay there were no spoons wrapped up with the silverware so how were we to eat those things? We then watched the server place our fufu on a table in the back and continue to take the other parties orders who were seated two tables away from us. We wanted another 5 or more minutes before she gave us the fufu. Unbelievable. The beef pie was delicious with a nice bit of spicy heat. The Jolloff rice was awful with a strong overpowering smoky lighter fluid taste. Seems they are using too much liquid smoke. The chicken was basic. The picture in the menu showed the chicken in a rich red sauce with onions and bell peppers. What we got was 2 leg quarters no peppers or onions and a dollop of sauce placed on each piece of chicken. The plantains were okay. The okra soup was nauseatingly slimy with no flavor. The egusi we asked for plain came with fish but tasted okay. Between the horrible service and the smoke pit Jolloff I was over this place. Asked for the check. The server then stood there eye zoomed in watching me fill out the tip. Very awkward and uncomfortable. After I filled out the tip section and signed she then asked if I can pay the tip in cash because the restaurant doesn’t process tips from credit cards . To which I said I don’t have cash she then she said I could Zelle it which I don’t have either. Plus why didn’t she say this before? It was divine intervention because she didn’t deserve any tip. I give them 1 star I will stick to Nando’s for...

I have been literally waiting to eat here for months since an American friend of mine told me about the spot. Then last month I stop by and talked to a host who talked up the spot... Let me tell you the anesthetics are really nice it has a Paris feel.

I decided to take my uncle for his birthday yesterday to the resturant and was the biggest mistake I made. The waiter warned my uncle and I by stating the place was not as fancy as it looked when I tried to order water with lemon and something else to drink. I should have took heed and left out.

We tried to order catfish bake and was told it was sold out. Then we tried to order puff puff told it was sold out so I looked over menu more. We decided to go with gizardodo, cow with stew ($22), chicken with stew ($25- to go)) and scotch bonnet ($5- to go), zaboo ($5), & and sparking cider ($5). Ok so the waiter comes back 5 min into us waiting to say the don't have gizardodo. So I tell him it's okay we will just take everything to go. At this point I was annoyed since they didn't have things in wanted to begin...

While we were siting waiting for our food the host was yelling In the front end of the store with an uber delivery driver because they have him the wrong order.. it was too loud and that conversation need to be had in her in door room voice. Patrons dining should never have to hear that kind of dispute... Now to our food, it was in small dishes for the price we were charge and that baffled me giving the fact the first host i talked to compared her resturant to another and stated theybgive too small portion for the cost. Pictures were over exaggerated.. scotch bonnet showed two but only came out as one ( if that was the case put the actual count in description). We got our food. My baked chicken for the stew was over seasoned and stew had a bad after taste. I ended up washing chicken and throwing out my stew...my Uncle 2 cow foot that he got in his soup were too strong, so we had reboil it for an hour to get it to soften ( is as though it was steamed and not boiled or cooked) smh... but my one scoutch egg was bomb!!

I will not return... the sever was ok, the ambience was elegant, but the food was not and will.never be my cup of tea if that's how it's always done. I am hoping this was a singular problem and I just was there at an off night. I...