Calabash African Kitchen — Restaurant in Las Vegas

I recently returned from Africa. I was missing the food! I came across this place on Uber and decided to stop by for dinner. Especially after reading the reviews and also finding out that samples are offered when they learn it’s your first visit. I was so excited. (Samples were not mentioned for me but I did ask)

My excitement quickly turned into disappointment. My experience was nothing like the reviews.

The older black lady was trying to communicate with me all the way from the bar while music was playing. I was at the door. It took a minute to be seated. I was the only one waiting. Everyone was too busy to attend the door.

My waiter was nice but he seemed inpatient and rushed so my questions didn’t really get answered and nothing was thoroughly communicated. .

After bringing my food my waiter disappeared never to be seen again. I was on my own for the rest of the evening.

The women working never checked on me, smiled or acknowledged me. However they were great to everyone else, very strange. It was a diverse crowd and they seemed to make certain people feel extra comfortable.

So, I had to sit for an hour with food that was kind of awful. The waitress was whipping by pretty fast but very attentive to other customers I just wish she would’ve stopped by my table. There were not a lot of people working so I only had two options.

My jollof was very dry and a little hard with a very strong smell and taste of ashes. Very strong burnt taste with no other flavor. So I was just sitting without eating the remainder of my food (the main course) luckily I ordered the seafood empanadas and enjoyed them.

I asked the waiter if the plaintain was ripe he said they are edible. They are out of season etc I just could not get a yes or no lol so I ordered anyway.

I asked him what came with the chicken stew and he said whatever I want to come with it. Eventually he said it came with sides but I was charged individually for everything.

The older black lady was rude and dismissive toward my concerns when finally stopping at my table. I was already wanting to leave at that point. She eventually brought me white rice as requested and still charged me separately for the jollof.

She also tried to charge me for Snapper which I didn’t order. She tried to shame me about the jollof rice and not know it’s authentic taste of “burntness” ? I don’t know….

Just a bad experience. I was alone, new to Nevada and hoped to enjoy myself.

My total was $52 dollars. Chicken Stew Rice Plaintain Empanadas Pineapple...

My partner and I were REGULARS every time we’d visit Las Vegas. Our most recent experience was extremely disappointing. We invited our friends and family to come eat with us. We called to reserve a table which they said would be set up by the time we arrived, however, it was not set up. We had to wait to be seated. After that, we waited 50 minutes to get our food even though we were told it would be a 20 minute wait from our waitress named Jewel. After eating, we received our check and split the bill in 4 ways. We went over the receipt with our waitress to make sure everything was correct. Our bill was correct, until our waitress told us to tap our cards to pay after she supposedly put in our orders and the receipt showed that everyone paid more than they were supposed to. Somehow, in total we paid $40 more than what was in our initial bill. Not only was she unable to explain what went wrong, she took money from a tip jar to give to us disregarding how much we were all actually owed. She did all this while implying we were a nuisance to her and keeping her from other tables. We asked for a manager and were told “our manager can’t come, they are in the kitchen”. By then, it was more than 30 minutes since the time we paid. Our time was being wasted and no one was offering options. We were incredibly uncomfortable. After a long back and forth, we begrudgingly received our refund but were told to repay and be double charged for 3-5 business days until the refund could actually return to our accounts. However, our time was wasted and we were treated disrespectfully. We did not want to be double charged for the establishment’s mistake. Another employee named Brian came and continued to argue with us until he told us we “only wanted free food” and to “get out and never come back”. Not only were we disrespected and treated as an inconvenience when the restaurant made the mistake, but we were told to never come back to a place we once loved and referred to other people. Do better! Disgustingly...

So good! Our first time eating West African cuisine in general. So lucky for us, we get to try the Senegalese & Gambian tastes of West African cuisine (SeneGambia). My only regret is not being able to order the whole menu haha Kitchen closes at 830pm. This place is an OE place.... you'll definitely overeat here. I don't even OE at ayce places. They give you your moneys worth in protein, taste, and quality. We definitely had hardcore food coma after. A must try place for locals and tourists/visitors!

$10 Calabash Margarita with salt (or you can pick sugar) has fresh ginger flavors in it. $6 Hibiscus Juice "Bissap Wonjo". $7 Fried Plantains. $20 Grilled Meat 'Dibi Afra/Suy", lamb with +$4 Jollof Rice. Medium rare. Comes with a spicy, and a sweeter sauce. So good!! The Jollof was flavorful too. NO LEFTOVERS was spared. It is a MUST!! We originally wanted lamb chops but they were sold out. $19 Red Stew "Chu" with fufu. Super flavorful. It takes longer to prepare so it was like a 2nd It was our time experiencing fufu, the SO liked it. I'm shock cause he's not very adventurous with soft mushy looking item. He says I reminds him of a mochi + mash potato due to texture. And that actually works super well with the stew. I couldn't eat it due to having diary in it. I ate the red stew with white rice but he says fufu is the way to go.

Love that they offer delicious vegetarian and vegan options. I'm adding this to a must eat list for LA/SoCal friends. Next visit. I want to try everything!! We need a party big enough to order everything so that we can have a taster of everything.

$9-$12 cocktails. Happy hour Tuesday-Friday 4pm-6pm with 25%off alcoholic drinks. Events: Friday & Saturday night 6pm-830pm, Sunday night 1pm-7pm. For 2ppl, it's possible to get a table or bar seating. But for larger parties, you may need to RSVP...