Africana — Restaurant in New York

Terrible customer service. Today marks the LAST time that I will be buying anything from this overrated place.

First and foremost, the woman who owns the restaurant has always been very stingy, especially when it comes to giving one vegetables. Secondly, the owner is extremely rude and arrogant. She is money hungry, yet does not fully respect her customers - even the regular ones.

Two weeks ago, my father ordered appetizers from Africana on Uber Eats (ie; fish pie, akara, puff puff). Prior to placing his order, he called prior to confirm that they had the items he wanted. Lo and behold, Africana suddenly no longer had those items available. Since my dad ordered through a third party app, he had to go through the trouble of figuring out how to receive a full refund - including delivery charges.

As to avoid this incident from happening again, I decided to pick up the food in person like we usually did. Per usual, I called Africana to make sure they had what my family wanted prior to traveling there. One of the owner's workers confirmed that they had what we wanted. To my greatest surprise, once I arrived, I was told by a worker that the two items I wanted was no longer available. After a 40 minute long, traffic-ridden commute, I found this to be highly unacceptable.

Thereafter, I demanded to speak with the owner of the store. She rudely brushed off my frustration and concerns, stating "My worker already said sorry to you" and "We don't have, I don't see what the big deal is". The woman had the audacity to say this to me AFTER 1.) telling her what my dad went through a couple weeks ago; 2.) emphasizing the long, stressful trip I made to reach her restaurant.

As I was still speaking with the owner, she turned her back on me. This drove me to the point where I had to raise my voice in the middle of her restaurant. The woman escalated the situation because she clearly showed that she couldn't care less about the hassles me and my father went through due to being misinformed by her and her workers. It is not surprising that she did not try to offer me anything (ex; personal apology, future discount, extra food) to try to make up for the back-to-back errors that occured on Africana's behalf. This is not the way good businesses run at all.

Congratulations to the owner of Africana for permanently loosing me and my family as customers! Last but not least, congratulations for loosing any respect I ever...

It was a very cold but sunny 2nd Saturday in January. I had finished with JFK airport, and had a few hours to kill before busing back to Philadelphia. So I decided to treat myself to some traditional Nigerian cuisine. Looked up Africana and walked there quickly yet gingerly (leftover snow and ice was all over the streets).

I showed up a few minutes after they opened. Ordered the egusi soup w/ pounded yam (dine in), and yam porridge w/ spinach instead of meat (to go). I also had a little ginger soda. My total came to $37. NYC is expensive (no surprise there).

Summary: Unsmiling cook/owner, impatient attitude, decent service, capped by a DELICIOUS meal. Clean bathroom, too. Good location, only 10 mins easy walk from Jamaica station.

"But Chinedu..." (you ask slightly puzzled) "...why give it 4 stars if they had a less-than-great attitude"?

Well because nobody in their right mind goes to a Nigerian (or Chinese) restaurant for good attitude or patience. Nigerians ESPECIALLY have a really difficult time being nice/kind to one another (without some ulterior motive, I mean). Additional layer: New Yorkers are world-reknowned for being naturally rude anyway (and proud of it)! Point is, forget about "American standard niceness to customers", not only in this particular restaurant Africana, but across the socially-wretched dUSA in general. The ONLY exception I know of, is the unexpectedly-professional restaurant staff at Lagos Island Cafe in Houston TX. I hope the pandemic didn't shut them down.

Anyway for eateries like Africana in NYC, it's best to CALL and order food To Go, which is what I observed while I was enjoying my lip-smacking grub... At least 5 people came to pick up (or order To Go, wait for it, pay, and leave).

In summary: if I lived in NYC, I'd rarely dine in at Africana, and I'd definitely not bring a date here 🙃 but I'd definitely order To Go A LOT, over the phone, knowing EXACTLY what Nigerian dish I want. And I would DESTROY the tasty, flavorful, delicious meal like it owed me money 😜

And at the end of the day, isn't THAT what it's all about? The...

TThe owner pretends to not see customers We walked in while she was dealing with a customer. She dealt with him then went to the back to call a worker to deal with us . She ignored our presence the entire time we were there . She did not even wanna serve our food . The server that dealt with us (the Indian girl) she was the reason we stayed there . If you’re not African don’t go there expecting good service . Ps they don’t even have menus in the restaurant. You’re expected to go on google to see...