Hajara's Kitchen — Restaurant in Virginia

Hajaras is golden! Honestly the best African food restaurant in Virginia, The portions are a great size & you can truly tell the food was made with love. I can tell through the flavors that they use quality ingredients and do not skip out on certain, specific, & critical ingredients or steps to give the food that authentic Affican taste as the food totally tastes like you bought it from a local cookery (resturant) in Naija or even Sierra Leone (my country) or like your aunt or mother who can cook really really well made it, so it is DEFINITELY worth every dollar because of that element, i literally want to hug the lady cooking this.

We ordered:

Acheke with grilled fish platter: which is such a great experience, the grilled fish was seasoned very flavorful, the plaintains were moist and sweet, even the side salad was delicious as they used a very good salad dressing. It wasn't ranch but something creamier. Also came with pepper sauce, mayo & ketchup with lime.

Fried Okra stew with BASMATI RICE: (YES, she gives basmati rice!!!) & let me tell youuuuu, THIS WAS SO GOOD! I'm totally not a huge fan of okra/slimy foods but the fried element adds such a difference it also had a great amount of fish & beef in it. I believe surprisingly it may had been my favorite?! Hmmm

Suya Kan Kan Kan beef: Absolutely amazing!! The powdered seasoning & peppers they put ontop of it is absolutely flavorful but not too spicy. Came with a side of cucumber, onion& tomatoes. Can't wait to try the lamb

Peanut butter stew with fufu: which was delicious but my least favorite thing as I don’t feel as if it had enough peanut butter but it was still good And the fufu was freshly made. For reference this is like a Thai peanut sauce in soup form.

Cassava leaf: absolutely delicious and seasoned well. Which also came with plenty basmati rice. Even got kanda (cow skin: which is so good). Highly recommend this.

Meat pies: which are an African twist to empanada and they were filled with beef, sautéed onions and small bits of potatoes, SO GOOD! & make for a great snack.

I would recommend to call ahead and check on what's available for the day before placing an order online as they were out of something's i initially wanted like the potatoe greens but it does also say those are specialties & only available certain days so I believe they just forgot to update their menu online, no biggie at all as they promptly called me to let me know & I was able to change my order around. So good customer service too.

Although it did take a little longer for me to receive my order (about a hour & half) they were honest about that upfront plus i live a bit over 20 mins away & it's expected as making some of these African dishes take time so that was no worry for me! So heads up..I'll say order a hour/ hour & half ahead depending on your location too otherwise maybe you’ll have to wait.

I normally keep it light at every other restaurant of this type in this area and go for just acheke or the side orders or a peanut butter soup or jollof as it's pretty hard to mess those things up, and I've had not so great experiences with the green sauces at other places so i don't even bother with those, just keep it light haha. but by looking at the pictures on Hajaras Facebook page something told me to give hers a try and I'm not disappointed AT ALL so I cannot wait to try her spinach soup and potatoe leaf soup next time. Heck, I can't wait to try EVERYTHING on the menu.

Really happy & sad I found this place because now I'll be shamelessly craving this place daily.

I’ve ordered 3 times so far & each experience has been the same.

Tips: -Call about 30-45 minutes ahead for pickup

-Make sure you have the right location as they have a...

The Cassava leaf stew is delicious. I'm American and my best friend in high school introduced me to African cuisine years ago. I haven't had good tasting Cassava leaf stew since then. This reminds me of her mother's cooking. This is the best African restaurant I've been to so far! Authentic and delicious. I'll be back!

Update....I live in Fredericksburg and when I travel to Woodbridge this is one of my favorite places to stop and eat. I ordered the okra stew, and specifically asked for mild. They told me they wouldn't make it spicy. It was incredibly SPICY!!! Im still dealing with heartburn 3 days later! Americans aren't use to that level of spiciness/heat. They should ask how spicy would we like the food when taking orders! I paid way to much money, and live way to far to deal with this. I can't continue to waste my time and money on food I can't eat. The spice level is out of control. Unfortunately I can't continue to support this business. Its not hard to minimize the spice level. Not to mention the portion I received, for the amount of money I spent isn't worth the drive. They were very nice and welcoming when they first opened. Since then I've experienced attitudes, and lied when they said it wouldn't be to spicy. I've referred so many people here, but unfortunately I can't do that anymore. This post isn't to belittle this business. But to make people aware of how spicy...

An hungry me tired of cooking, also heading to work, so decided to check out Hajara’s kitchen for the first time.

This is an honest review from my end, the reception 5/10, I met a certain lady on the phone trying to wipe the table with crumbs on it, she practically had to throw it on me as I walk. But then met people at the counter who I placed my order with and they were helpful.

After placing my order I asked “how long does it take for the food to get ready” and trust me nobody answered. I waited for like 20-25 minutes that is when a lady told me that my food will be out soon. The food came and I left angrily cause I was late for work.

I arrived at work, took my food out from the car and realized that the bag is torn my food almost fell off. I worm the food up cause I like my food at a certain temperature. Eating the food I realized the way I told them I want the meat in the soup was not the way they packed it.

During the ordering process, I asked them what they have in the soup and they explained it to me. So I ordered a mixed of everything they have in the soup and they answered ok. Also the food was too spicy and the meat was too hard to chew. Trust me I would have appreciated it, if I was asked how spicy I want the soup and the meat tenderness. I honestly felt like that was a total waste of my...