Black Nile Seafood & Soul Food — Restaurant in New York

My family and I decided to go to this restaurant in hopes of getting some good food at a new spot. We were greeted with a warm welcome and was serviced quickly. But then a private party came in for a separate event in the back and all focus was directed to their needs. The nice young lady working there (I didn’t get her name) took our drink orders. Then about 10mins later the owner of the shop came and took our food order. When taking our order he was in such a rush to accompany the party in the back, he forgot that I ordered the shrimp loaded fries as my main course and requested for it to come out as the same time as my mom and sister’s food. The waiters didn’t check on us at all. There were several times I had to get up and go to the bar-like area to ask for what I needed. In which was a cup of ice, a top for my cup, syrup, water, etc. But I understand because these young ladies were new workers yet the owner/manger left them in the front with no assistance and help, to accompany the party in the back. My mother’s food came about 25mins after mines and my sister’s food came out about 10 mins after her’s. I wanted to wait for my family to get their food so we could eat together but the food was brought out so far apart from each other that my food got cold. My mother’s order of chicken & waffles was bland and the chicken was burnt. My sister’s catfish was also bland. However, the crab cornbread was good as well as the loaded shrimp fries. All in all that experience was a 5/10. I definitely won’t be...

I've walked past this place for months and never knew what a gem this place is. Service was A-1 and Hassan the owner was amazing.

Two things to note, #1 Black Nile doesn't serve alcohol but you can but you can bring your own and #2 Everything is made to order so expect to wait at least 20+ minutes for your food. It is worth it though.

The venue is small but the decor is nice and sexy. It can be a nice spot to hang out with friends or have a date night. The music was loud and lively. Our party of six order many of the items on the menu. Fried chicken, fried catfish, lobster, salmon, shrimp, crab cakes, wings, mac and cheese (regular and seafood), greens, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, potato salad, cornbread (crab and blueberry). We tried the punch and lemonade as well as the peach cobbler and banana pudding. Everything was delicious and we were all satisfied. Hassan kept us all happy and satisfied.

I ordered the fried chicken with the creole gravy with crab meat. It was tasty but overwhelming for me because it was too much gravy. The chicken was fried golden perfectly. I realized I personally don't like smothered fried chicken and prefer chicken plain. The gravy and the chicken both was a little too salty so it didn't work well together. My friend said her crab cakes were salty. We all enjoyed everything else. My favorite thing was the crab cornbread a.k.a. Black Love. We demolished it so quickly I couldn't take a picture of it when it first came out.

I can't wait to go back to try the...

First thing - Food is amazing! Loved the Shrimp Fries with Cajun Sauce. Cater To Me (salmon, shrimp and crab cake. They were out of Mac and cheese so I subbed in garlic Parmesan pasta) for was really good as well! Hands down; food is AMAZING! I wanted to give them 5 stars, but because of some other challenges, had to give them 3.

Now the not so good. Like other reviews, service is SLOOOOW. Was given water and silverware and then waited at least 30 minutes before a customer at another table pointed out that we hadn’t had our order taken and they were taking the order for a table that sat down after us. Lots of staff around, and wasn’t very busy, so confused as to why it took so long before our order was taken. We thought maybe they were a new restaurant, but I’ve seen reviews from at least a year ago. The young man that took our order was friendly, but not terribly knowledgeable about the menu.

The restaurant is clean, decorated fairly well, but was pretty hot. Add that with the incredibly long wait time to order and it becomes frustrating. The saving grace was the food finally arriving. One bite and I almost forgot about the slow service!

I hope they figure out the service and speed issues because they have some delicious food on the menu! Oh and they were out of quite a bit… particularly the Mac and cheese which made me...