Sahel Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Lowell

This is the second time I've tried to order from this restaurant and couldn't. First time I ordered online for their oxtail plate, after waiting a while for my order. Tracking the online order I noticed it was automatically changed to the jerk chicken dish which I did not want. I guess they ran out of oxtail, but I had to contact the delivery driver to not accept the order. Because first, I was not informed that they no longer had oxtail and if I would prefer a different dish. I let it go asked for a refund and left it at that. This time around the oxtail is no longer available for online order, I noticed it hasn't been since, so I decided to go with two other dishes. The jerk chicken and the red snapper. Online explains the fish can be "baked or fried" but I had no way to make that option to choose. And the picture online also shows veggies but nothing that guaranteed it to come with the plate other than rice. So I had questions, or tried to leave a special instructions, however online they were not receiving special or specific instructions, even if I was to write I have a shellfish allergy since I saw they also carry shrimp inhouse. So I called the restaurant for pickup order through the phone, with hope someone could answer all my questions because now no matter what online method I used like delivery, pick up or carry out I was faced with the same restrictions. I called around 2:30pm, a gentleman answered and said he would call me back in 5 mins but never did, I called many times after that and got no answer. Really sucks because all I see is great reviews and amazing pictures uploaded with reviews that make you want to try their food. But maybe the only way is to dine in. But I would hate to meet the same...

I happen to really like this restaurant, and keep hoping for the best. But lately I felt the need to do this review.

I buy frequently from Sahel, and the tldr is the food is inconsistent. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I would hope that a restaurant has it's recipes on lock.

Sometimes the food comes out good, and sometimes it's just bad, I don't know if the chef is winging the food, or the chefs are being replaced constantly, not really sure what's happening in the kitchen but it's affecting the quality and consistency, in addition, this also applies to your food packaging, yes, we notice.

It's one thing to have slight variations, it's a different thing to have something you order frequently just get switched up completely, the food I got last night was just terrible, and I didn't ask for a refund, but felt the need to drop this review instead.

It became evident to me there was lack of care taken to ensure the food was good. Everything wasn't prepared right. No taste, I've had really good food from your restaurant so I didn't expect this one bit. Same order can't taste different every time. Also assorted meat isn't assorted at all. Same pieces of beef is not assorted meat.

I am really rooting for y'all, please get a good chef to cook the Nigerian food. Document, and iteratively refine your recipes to perfection....

Let me start off by saying I really had high hopes for this place, being one of the first cameroonian restaurants in the area. We drove one hour just to come here. I really wanted to love this place 😪. Let's start with time. I arrived at the restaurants around 6:50, ordered appetizers immediately and didnt get those till around 8 which was quite disappointing. We ordered the suya, which was actually the best dish we had all night. Then proceeded to wait another 20-30 minutes for our entrées. We ordered the oxtail and it was extremly oily and I couldn’t finish it for that reason (it made me very nauseous and I had to chew some gum mid-meal to help with that). Ordered the baked snapper and that was very bland: the stewed sauce was ok and tasted sharp like it could use some more cooking time-would not order again . The spicy sauce though was what made the fish edible. Got Jollof rice and it was good, nothing crazy. They didn't have the drink I chose from the drink menu to order, so I chose another option which they still didnt have either. The place was very clean and tidy and the music was great. I loved the seating arrangement and they were nice to offer complimentary coffee after our meal. Although polite, the server seemed a...