Africa Experience

The food was fine but unfortunately our experience left a lot to be desired. Wait times are extremely long. We arrived around 7:20pm and by 9:30pm we were still waiting for our main dish… We waited over 40 minutes to place our order (waitress took orders from people who came after us first…), then had to wait over 40 minutes for the appetizer platter which required 0 cooking. The only “cooking” was heating up the pastries and bread, everything else was premade. By 9:30pm we were still waiting for our main when tables that arrived and ordered 1hr after us got theirs…we eventually got tired of waiting and just asked for the main to go which they did in 2 min by just scooping out the already premade food onto a disposable plate… Haven’t had an experience like this in Italy until now. They also didn’t bother to waive a drink or cover fee and the take out portion of our main looked a lot smaller than what other tables got. If you have the time and are willing to wait, the food is a nice change from Italian food. But our last few precious hours in Venice was spent just waiting in that restaurant watching everyone else eat before us.

Good food for vegetarians. I loved this place. The ambiance is very pleasing with great decor and peppy music from all over Africa. It was a long walk from our apartment near San Marco but we enjoyed discovering new neighborhoods along the way. The food was delicious. We started with an antipasti for two and then two main course dishes: one with okra and a side of rice and lentils and the other cabbage and lentils on top of enjara bread. I wish I could have finished it but we ordered tooooo much.

Let's just say that If you are not African or familiar with the original dish you will find this restaurant amazing, but if you have been eating African food all your life and know how certain dishes should taste like, you'll be highly disappointed. The dishes were certainly nice but nothing exceptional and the authenticity of the dish was missing. I had a Hibiscus drink and my boyfriend had ginger and pineapple if I'm not wrong but it was too too watery, could not taste pretty much anything. Prices were ok, not too expensive; what I liked the most was definitely the decor, it is really well done. I loved it.

We ate dinner at this place on a whim after finding most of the nearby Italian restaurants wouldn’t take diners after 10.00 PM. And what a boon that was for us. This food was delicious, with a fusion of different African cuisines and the chef’s own take on staples (such as falafel in the antipasto). The antipasto is indeed a highlight, and the chef is confident enough of her dishes to outright refuse to allow you to order secondi that don’t complement the primi piatti. (And, she was right.) If you feel like something a little different after a surfeit of Italian, or just want a good feed at a reasonable price when other restaurants are closing or closed, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with Africa Experience.