I ate dinner at this new establishment after a day at the horse races. The location is behind the…read moremall, so it may be a bit hard to find. Nonetheless, we walked in and the female owner was meeting with someone else, but greeted us, and we sat down immediately. The waitress was fairly nice. She gave her recommendations after we inquired. I drank water, but my friend had a a drink. She said it was good. My one con is that they didn't have any diet soda products, so water was my only option. Food: samosas as appetizers were okay 7/10, o. soup and pounded yam were 10/10. Very delicious. My friend had fried chicken and jollof rice (I had a bite). The rice was 8/10. Very smokey flavor, but good. The chicken was fried VERY HARD, tough and difficult to eat 1/10. The food didn't match the images on the menu. Review the pictures... The atmosphere was okay 7/10 (see pics) but the place was a bit small. However, the music was good (Afrobeats) with the music videos playing on the huge screens. The bathroom was clean. Overall, since the food I had was so good, I would recommend it. Nice, little spot where you can enjoy a local vibe.

Tried out the new Nigerian/Ghanian restaurant in Laurel. Yaye, Laurel for all the new food spots to…read moretry! The inside was decorated nicely, a little small but very intimate feel. Service was pretty efficient and quick. I was not a fan of what I ordered, although I am still learning the basics when it comes to African food. I went with the "fried chicken" and Jollof Rice. The fried chicken was HIGHLY disappointing.. I would encourage to remove from the menu entirely. They were cut into pieces so your essentially paying more for less and extremely dry, like it was fried repeatedly. The Jollof rice was not bad but it did have a smoky flavor that I just personally am not a fan of but I wouldn't rule out the Jollof! My friend a certified Nigerian enjoyed her food thoroughly so that's a great reason to check them out!

Please read! I wish I would have read reviews before ordering that afternoon. I cannot believe I'm…read moreeven writing this because I wanted to support this business . I ordered the jollof rice with tilapia on Sunday, and the fish came undercooked and watery . Not long after eating, I got painfully food sick for two days. I won't be ordering from Zion Kitchen again, and I hope they take this seriously before someone else ends up sick too. I

This restaurant is a bit confusing to identify. Your GPS will get you here but once here, you may…read morequestion if you're at the right place. It has 2 names. There are 2 restaurants in one. I did choose to eat from the Zion Kitchen menu which on the day, I regretted. I am not a big African cuisine consumer so I wasn't aware that it was going to be HOT. The menu didn't mention everything was going to be hot. It was so hot that I let it touch my tongue only twice and then told them to bag it. I did request some rice because I figure if I ever do get the courage to eat it, the rice will help. Everything is a-la-carte and if you don't know to order something, you just have a very sad meal. The menu hints at telling you, you should order all 3 parts but you could expect your stew to have something in it but it will not. Your stew is a soup or better yet a broth of sorts. You have to also order a starch and a protein unless of course you only want the blazing hot broth. Not only was it spicy, it was scolding hot which amplifies the spice. Once I got it home and warmed it up the next day, I added some honey to it to cut the heat and it worked perfectly. I'm sure it did however change the intended taste but if the intended taste is fire, that's not my cup of tea. Also, there wasn't a lot of meat on the things that I ordered but the "beef" was good. I tried the combo but that had a little piece of beef and cow foot which is a type of fat that you have to bite off the bone and then something that was similar in texture to the fat on the cow feet but I think it was ... I don't even remember what it was. It wasn't bad but it wasn't meat.

Very Unprofessional. The Owners son Bolu is bad for business and they have him handling business…read morematters. He's a young out of control hot head. I paid for their event space for my bday party and the night before my party he told me there was a outage. He told me that it wasn't getting fixed until the next day a couple hours before my event and he wasn't sure. It didn't make sense to me. He rebooted somewhere else for half of the money I paid him and less time than I was contracted for. I paid for my event from 10pm to 2am. And when I was in the new event space that owner came n told me Bolu only paid for up to 1am. I was so furious because I had to pay $150 extra to have my event to 2am. And when I spoke to him about it after my event he cusses me out and called me names. I went to tito spice haven to speak to the owner, his parents and no one was there. The business is CLOSED. Thats when I realized that they didn't have the business anymore in laurel. And instead of telling me that, he rebooted my event somewhere else 31 min away, I lived 7 min for tito spice haven. Very Bad for business and I see why they are closed down. ​This is the worst experience I've ever had and I've never felt so disrespected in my life. He robbed me, lied to me and cheated me. No wonder they are Closed down. And he never gave me back the extra 150 I was conned into paying for my event that I already paid for. They are Theifs!

Food is not as advertised. Ordered the village rice and was so excited to try. It was nothing like…read morenative/village rice. The menu says included is banga fish, goat and shrimp. There was only goat and it was dry. I was disappointed because i was looking forward to this. The suya was simple. The Asun was cooked well but it didn't have chopped todo/pepper on it at all. Just grilled beef? Willing to try again but operating for 7-8 months as i was told i would expect better. Staff was very friendly.

Stopped by Swahili Village with a group of five after taking a pottery class at Moonlight Studios…read morenearby and it turned out to be the perfect way to end the evening. It's only about a five minute drive away, so the location worked out great. This was everyone's first time trying Kenyan food and we were all blown away. The flavors were rich, comforting, and beautifully balanced. We ordered several appetizers to share and then entrees including the salmon, oxtail, goat, and snapper. Everything at the table was delicious. Our server Diamond was wonderful. She was warm, helpful, and really guided us through the menu since we were new to the cuisine. Her service made the experience even better. Such a great introduction to Kenyan food and a really fun group dinner. We will absolutely be coming back.

Several reviews were mixed for Swahili Village so we decided to give it a try. Stopped in the Rhode…read moreIsland location. Unfortunately, it was disappointing. Started with a Margarita cocktail which was $16.00 and terrible. Low grade tequila and store bought margarita sour mix. Service was very slow and one of the mangers was drinking and having a long conversation with the bartender. We decided to try the Jollof Rice and Suya bites. The rice was very bland. The Suya had some flavor but seemed to be missing something. I decided to take the leftovers home but unfortunately the Suya bites got very hard overnight so were not enjoyable the next day. Since eating out is pricey you may want to choose a different restaurant to try.

I was catching up with a friend and decided to meet at this random Black-owned spot--and it turned…read moreout to be Bingo-shots night. The bar seating was full, with a few other guests scattered around, but the space itself was open and very roomy. Best part...YOU CAN SMOKE!! We ordered food and drinks from the beautiful bartender and host Leah, and about 20 minutes later, we were told they'd be closing early. We wrapped up pretty quickly and were getting ready to head out when we learned that the owner, Yancey, was actually closing early to take both staff and customers to another Black-owned bar in Olney that doesn't get much traffic on Wednesday nights. We decided to join, and I'm glad we did. When we arrived, the owner of 5 Sisters generously covered our first round of drinks. Overall, it turned into a really fun and unexpected night. I will return to 5 sisters as long as the young people stay away!!!

This is definitely a . . . neighborhood . . . . possibly . . . . hangout spot . . . I think. I've…read morebeen here a few times before and it's always been the same type of vibe. Barely anyone in there and service blah. I ventured here with a friend to celebrate another friend's birthday. I was warned ahead of time that the drinks were horrible so I adjusted accordingly. They have a good open space and they were hosting the Thursday night football game. There's an area that has a big screen television and some lounge chairs all mostly facing the television throughout that half of the restaurant. They have a very limited menu and I can appreciate that however I did ask if my food was going to be freshly prepared or if it had already been cooked and was sitting under warmers. I was informed that it would be freshly made and I didn't feel like that was untruthful because it was just some fried fish and french fries which you can just throw in some grease. Yeah, nah. It was at the very beginning of warm. That's not hard to make some fresh fish and some fresh hot crispy french fries. But for $10, okay. I was asked to pay immediately after I ordered and thought that this was awkward as well but, okay. If the food was hot it would have been great. The fish was seasoned and I love a crinkle cut french fry. When my server brought the food to me they were about to sit it in my lap instead of putting it on the table in front of me. I thought that very awkward and ask them to just put it on the table please . . . . I don't know what else to say. They serve hookah as well --v--

Two Nigerians decide to try another spot... we went on a Sunday afternoon just after 1pm. As the…read moreonly guest, we were served rather quickly, albeit a small portion for the price. Certainly not fresh food but possibly only a day old. I get that you may desire to make large batches and reheat, but customers can tell. Up the block at KingsWay, the food tastes and looks like it's prepared daily. Rice is Smokey and cooked well, suya is dusted with seasoning but not served like one would expect and not very spicy. The moi moi was a surprise. I bought some food home to my dad and he says, "every Nigerian wants to open a restaurant to make money. It's not easy." Looks like a nice lounge. I really liked my drink. Bartender is good. The waiter was very kind and smiled and answered questions well. I would look at figuring out what you are as an establishment and stick with that. I think I'd go back and try something else.

I wasn't drinking so I decided to try something on the menu. The bartender encouraged me to get the…read moreSuya. Flavor wise it was good but the cut of meat was a TERRIBLE choice. The vibes are great in here and the place has plenty of parking. They just need a better cut of meat and the suya would be FYE. Also, it wasn't even hot which leads me to believe nothing is fresh here.

I usually come here when I'm in the Laurel area because I like their food, however there's no…read moreconsistency in their customer service. Sometimes you get the really good ones and other times, you get those with poor people skills Today I couldn't finish my food, I asked for a to-go plate and the supervisor said i had to pay $5.00. I assumed he was pulling my legs but he told me $5.00 is for the plate in the picture and anything bigger will be $10.00. He then proceeded to get me plastic bag to wrap my meal to go. Clearly this guy has never been to any other restaurant in America so I'm confused how he got a senior role as supervisor and is representing the establishment in such an ignorant fashion . This is not the first time I'm having issues with their customer service. I'm never going back there

I stopped by for lunch hoping for an authentic African meal. While the cashier was incredibly…read morefriendly and even gave us some free meat pies to try--which had a fantastic crust--the rest of the experience didn't hold up. I ordered the Kingsway Rice Entree with chicken for $26.00. Unfortunately, the portion felt small for the price (one small wing and an unrecognizable piece of chicken), and the flavors were very bland, reminiscent of school cafeteria food. The chicken also wasn't cooked to my preference. I had high hopes, but I won't be returning. Sorry I forgot to take a photo.