Flame Zambia | East Park Mall — Restaurant in Lusaka Province

Visited Flame, formerly Nightjar after so many reviews of how they had "outdone" themselves with the new decor, name, aesthetics and food, bit disappointed to say most of that proved to be untrue.

It was a Wednesday night, the place had a number of people there, not enough to receive the slow service that I received. I was assigned a waitress who was happy to stand by the entrance and chat with her friends, attend to other tables(even those not assigned to her), but could not focus on being on time when it came to receiving my orders or delivering them. By the time my main course was getting to the table, I had gotten assistance from another waitress(I wish I could remember her name, lovely lady), who was a delight! I appreciated how she stepped in and was helpful in the best way possible. I was quite disappointed at the end of the night that the tip I left was received by the first waitress, I wanted the second waitress to be the one to get it because she was the one who deserved it. They could improve on their service, seeing how much effort they've put into other things, the last thing they need is to still have the terrible service that they were once known for.

The food sure has improved a lot! I had some salmon sushi, salmon and pasta, creme brûlee, cappuccino, and a cup of tea. For a first time "visit" I didn't expect to try a lot out but I have to admit, the minute I had the pasta(add a little/a lot of lemon juice), it was such a creamy taste and I quite liked how it mixed well with the lemon juice, it was the highlight of the night for sure. The creme brûlee was okay, sushi was okay too.

The atmosphere was cozy. It's definitely upgraded, it looks more "fancy" especially for those that would like to have a quiet dinner or get together with friends, it would be an ideal choice. It's super clean and it has a pretty great scent going around.

I would like to note that they are quite pricey on unnecessary little things, I was laughing at a bottle of water being k30(still water) and tea being k40(this is fine) but the difference? Weird.

There is a lot to work on(THE SERVICE!) And I'm sure as time goes by they will make the necessary changes that might actually help them detach from their predecessor and the little things that drove them to closing their...

Arrived on Christmas Day for dinner having made a reservation only to be told at the entrance that the kitchen is currently closed as they got overwhelmed. What is one supposed to do with that info having prepared to have a nice Christmas meal? We decided to stick around in hopes that the kitchen would reopen soon. Ordered drinks. After a while we were allowed to order food. I went with the chefs specialty Singaporian noodles with chicken and prawns. Having lived in Asia for decades I thought i knew what i was getting. Friend ordered a beef fillet with layered buttered potatoes and butternut puree. Major disappointment to say the least. Nothing was as it read on the menu. Soggy noodles with 4 small pieces of chicken and ZERO prawns and a few long stem broccoli. The waited confirmed that there are no prwans present in the dish. A lump of mash potato instead of the butter layered potatoes and no sight of butternut puree. Sent back the noodles and was told the chef forgot to add prawns. No answer was given as to where was the butternut puree or layered potatoes. Decided to order the same fillet as my friend as seemed a safer option only to be told that what my friend had was the last piece of fillet they had. On Christmas Day!!! What happened to being well stocked and prepared? Truly disappointing. For the price they charge for cocktails and mains one would expect a little something complimentary on the table, some bread sticks or bread basket or a few olives. Waiter was the best thing about our evening. Food very avarage and overpriced. Waited for 20 minutes to get the bill as the manager was busy and had to remove my zero prawn dish from the bill. Would...

We came here on a Sunday for dinner. The waitress was very attentive and even swapped out my chair for a larger one and even lowered the blinds when it got too sunny.

But the lackluster was the food. It was quite expensive for what it was. The Indonesian crispy chicken was not very crispy as it sat in the kitchen while the sauce made is soggy. By the time it got to us, it was cold. I had the oxtail which was indeed tasty but it was more bones than meat. I think there was about 3 bites of meat. I was still hungry after that. The dish was 500kwa, I expected to be full from that! My wife had the Portuguese sirloin steak which lacked any sauce. I think what makes it Portuguese is the presence of a tomatoes and a fried egg on top…..?

Also, all of the food was lukewarm or cold when it reached the table. Who likes cold fries?

Lastly we ordered the burnt cheesecake for dessert which was incredibly dry on the edges and quite thin. We did not enjoy it we left it barely eaten.

The mocktails were great tho. The strawberry field was lovely and so was the mango colada.

I don’t think I’ll be back, as no matter how nice the service and atmosphere was, the food was severely lacking, especially for...