Hodma Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Paul

We were a little worried when we walked into this restaurant. I went to check their website and it sent me to a Facebook page, with no access to the menu. From there I noticed a listed webpage, but that site is private, requiring a login. Guess we're flying blind.

We arrived, and the whole place was empty and the staff were sitting at tables. Not a good sign! But we were there on a recommendation, and carried on with ordering. The two large tv screens above the front counter were turned off, and had to be turned on and the input adjusted to see the menu.

We placed our order at the counter, two sambosa ($2 each) and 'the federation/sport' for two ($35), and sat down at a booth. We were quickly served two bowls of goat broth soup. After one spoonful I was incredibly surprised, it was delicious!

After quickly finishing our soups, our sambosa and main course arrived. Stewed goat, pan fried tilapia and deep fried chicken drumsticks over a healthy bed of rice. EVERYTHING was delicious.

The sambosa were seasoned so SO well, obviously made in house and not purchased externally. The goat was incredibly flavorful and tender, the fish was perfectly seasoned and cooked, and the drumsticks were crunchy and also well seasoned. Even the rice was seasoned perfectly. Everything was made to order from fresh, which is outstanding!

In short: more people need to try this place and get it busy! It was a little weird walking in, but we left completely stuffed and with two large takeout cartons of food for later as well. Absolutely great value, service and ingredients. We will...

I’ve been going to this restaurant for over 2 years now and even though I’ve had more negative experiences than positive, I kept giving them a chance for a few reasons mainly because they are one of very few Somali restaurants in St. Paul and as a resident of the St. Paul suburbs , I rather not go into busy south mpls for authentic Somali food when we have a local spot here. That being said, the quality of food, the portions, and the price is ridiculous. Almost laughable. Everyone knows that authentic Somali food must have proper seasoning (xawaash), and garlic and cilantro is always the base. If you order Somali pasta, expect to get noodles in ragu sauce. If you order stir fry (suqaar), Expect to get meat with no veggies mixed with tomato paste. If you order a wrap, expect dry meat with no seasoning. It’s an embarrassment to Somali food honestly. There shaah (chai) tastes like sink water. The list goes on. The only thing that tastes good from here 7 times out of 10 in my experience, is the rice with chicken. At this point, I’m basically giving them free money. I will be driving the extra 20 minutes to minneapolis to get Somali food from now on. I’m no longer a...

Place is nasty and a huge rip off. I should have trusted my gut on all the 1-star reviews. I asked for extra veggies, they gave me a small handful of chopped up veggies. $20 for chicken and rice, and it was the lowest quality kind of food anyone would expect from some random home kitchen.

Rice was soggy. Chicken was just chicken strips with no Somali cuisine flavor, just salt and disgusting old flavor from other dishes previously cooked on their dirty pans and grill.

I hate this place and will never come back. Thanks for the water and banana, but that ain’t enough to save anyone from coming back. This nasty Somali joint needs a makeover and new menu.

Don’t eat here, just look at the other reviews that have highest attention to detail on food...