Nzuko — Restaurant in Watertown

The food and drink served here deserve Michelin Star attention. I have eaten at star rated restaurants that don't come close to what I tasted at Nzuko.

The space is very well designed. Hip, without feeling pretentious. Fun, without seeming tacky. Neon letters and banana peel ceiling fans shouldn't work, but here they do.

That are not perfect though. We got our appetizer, the conch fritters, long before we saw our cocktails, finished it before our drinks ever arrived.

And those fritters were the worst part of the whole meal. It was as if there was no conch in them at all. Just spicy breading. No flavor or texture. On a bed of some kind of jalapeño aoli which clashed with the spices of the fritters.

I could have attributed dichotomy of that let down, followed by everything else, that made everything that followed seem even better, but it really was just an anomaly.

The cocktails were excellent in formulation and execution.

The entrées were masterful.

You look at my other reviews and you will see I am quite picky, to an almost hater degree. This place blew me away.

I had the lamb shank in a sauce I can't even explain the flavor of. Just...red wine and spice mined from Dune. With smashed, perfectly crispy potatoes mixed with the sauce from the lamb, given body by couscous.

The Jerk chicken is so tender and flavorful I cursed loudly and rudely out of surprise.

The fish led a journey of flavors that never went to expected places, but delivered you to a land of "very nice".

The cocktails were exquisite. One tasted like a fluffy sweet mint cloud, and the other like a spiced liquefied plum. Plus the tempranillo red wine was perfect with the lamb.

This place has possibly the best food and drinks I've had since I moved to the area.

There is one thing that knocks this place down a peg though. The Front of House does not stack up to the Back.

The service feels both lazy and apathetically rude. Totally lacking any energy or charm. I thought at first our server might have been autistic. We weren't even greeted. He just walked up and stood there till I said "ok... hi!" Then ordered.

While the rest of the staff had the same attitude. It was almost unwelcoming. It's not like they were being run ragged. We were one of 4 tables.

Logistically, the timing for things was off. We finished our app before we ever got our cocktail. I had to stop eating my lamb, or I would have not recieved my wine in time to pair it.

Worse, I didn't even have a chance to order it before my friends finished their meals, because no one came to check on us. They wouldn't even look us in the eye and barely spoke to us. There isn't a host station when you walk in the place. You just stand awkwardly until someone notices you. This weird vibe is all that's keeping the place from pure success.

Don't take my bashing of the service and fritters too far. The food and drink quality so heavily outweigh it, I didn't even ding them a star.

Yet... the one qualm I have in giving a 5 star review, is that if a friend of mine went here on my recommendation, and got the same quality of service, I would be embarrassed and feel I would lose credibility.

Still, if the chef and bartender are the same? Worth an hours drive just...

I think this place is a hidden gem. I made a spur of the moment decision to go here with a group of friends for a celebratory Saturday brunch. I was encouraged by the very positive reviews and my own curiosity of the central question posed by Nzuko’s menu: “will Caribbean and Mediterranean flavors go well together?”

The answer is almost always yes, if you give it a chance. First, for an odd location the ambiance is bright and super clean, minimalist with a few nods to the mix of influences in the lighting, overhead fans and pattern decor, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect from the exterior.

Highlights from what I ordered were the slow-cooked pork component of the Caribbean mezze plate, and the garlicky quinoa mixture that my prawn (shrimp) kebab came on. Absolutely superb. The hummus trio is also wonderful, and the flavors rival one of my other favorite modern Mediterranean places. My friends who ordered the grilled lamb and the jerk chicken were speechless over how good their mains and potatoes were. The composition of all the plates was deliberate and sophisticated without being excessively showy, which is hard to nail but I really like, and everything was fresh and bright. So it really did taste like a home-cooked meal dialed up to eleven. A small menu like this means that you can’t go wrong ordering anything.

We tried a handful of cocktails as well, which were mostly designed to be on the sweeter and fruity side, but they were distinctive. I don’t know how often that menu changes or if daily specials will get added but it’s good to be adventurous with it. You can also just order a classic drink.

There are some great vegetarian options from the apps, salads and sides but I did expect to find a vegetarian or vegan entree on the menu, and I think for that you still might have to mix and match or ask for a substitution, so if your whole party doesn’t eat meat or fish you may be limited somewhat.

I think I can see what others have said about the pacing of the meal and the attention to service—though it is typically the most variable part of any new(ish) restaurant—but I agree that it’s the one area that they could improve upon, based on my limited visit. As the place filled up more during our meal, our server looked like he could use another person to cover all the tables, or a dedicated bartender. But it may be different for dinner service. Such is life! For that reason I didn’t rate the service since I don’t think my experience was typical.

Overall, I like this place a lot. It’s got a super unique concept, and I would certainly recommend going here to enjoy the excellent menu, before it blows up and becomes the new hot...

It would be easy to miss Nzuko if you were just driving by, but you shouldn't. We stopped in on a whim on a random Sunday and are very glad we did.

First thing to know, Yelp might take you to a close, but wrong address. So unless you want to make some random friends with people at an apartment complex you may want to just look it up in Google maps.

Second thing to know, you can park in the lot and the parking garage next to the restaurant. The spaces are numbered which made us think they are reserved, but they are not. The list of times I'm wrong seems to never end which I was reminded of on the long, unnecessary, walk back to the car.

When you walk through the door you are greeted by a cool, chic vibe. Looking for a good place for a date night, this is it.

We looked at the drink menu and trepidatiously ordered a cucumber and Hibiscus cocktail. I was afraid they would be over sweet and taste fake. The list of times I am wrong grew again. The drinks were fabulous. Refreshing and not overly sweet. A perfect sipper on a hot summer day.

Many of the dishes are sharable. We got the vegetarian delight platter which came with 4 large falafels, pita bread, an assortment of hummus, or whatever the correct pluralization is (hummuses, humussi?), Grape leaves, olives, and plantains. It easily served 2 people.

The falafel was moist, a nice departure from many others we've had, and packed with flavor. The grape leaves had a bright lemon zest to them and the hummus/hummuses we're delicious. The icing on top was the plantain.

The owner came out to talk to us and is an incredibly interesting, sweet, and kind person. I would eat there again just for the chance to talk to her.

We left Nzuko happy and full. I'd highly...