Le Baobab Restaurants

Horrible service, very rude people (they show no respect to the customers, talking over their personal phone while you as a customer are talking to them). When l arrived to the restaurant, l asked to be seated after they point out a table they did not ask if I wanted something drink or look up a menu.
So 3 minutes later l had to ask them for a menu and if l could start with something to drink and the waitress (5 pounds of fake hair and badly bleached skin) with a very rude attitude standing 6 feet away from me was like we only have Thiebou Yapp and Yassa.
l almost walk out, but my husband insist it that l stay. Overall if you care about being respectfully taken care as a customer l would not recommend you go there. Well if you just care about the food, the food was not bad.

Love this place. Delicious meat, hefty portions, and customer service is great. And I love their onions spicing/​sauce! I always ask for extra. It’s a very ethnic place too, mostly West Africans, but with Harlem gentrification, you see a lot of Caucasians too. Also, don’t forget the lemon ginger juice. Delicious kick!

The food was excellent. The service was good and I noticed that there were quite a few Senegalese people eating there… which is always a good sign. The takeout orders were coming in left and right. I will definitely come back again.

So, minor things got in the way for me to go to Africa. You know, things like Ebola, terrorist threats, and God know what’s going with the planet now. So, the plan B is back to Africa, ah hum, at Harlem that is. About this joint, notice I said «joint», it means if you expecting it like Fauchon (see my review), NO DEAR, far from it. But then again, unassuming places gets my attention from time to time. Ok, it’ simple. If they have it, you’ll get to have it. Don’t bother looking at the pictures on the wall. Just ask the staffs either in French or English, or native Senegalese, you do the picking.
So, I ordered a bow of lam with sweet potato and a bow of fish with okra. Both dishes came with plain long grain white rice. Now, here is the beauty of learning other cultures. Let’s start with fish with okra. For those who likes to eat fish and okra, this dish is so delicious but do consume with cautions: VERY spice (hot mama!) and watch out with plenty tiny little fish bones, as an American which I’m not accustomed to. I only ate literally 3 table spoons of it and cannot go further, but it has good flavors. Watch out for the tiny bones! Don’t order this dish for little kids, mom! The lam was the dish I was going for. Yammy! Yum Yum! Between 2 of us, we finish this dish to the last drop of sauce. Ok, honey please for God’s sake, do not expect lamb chops or steak size, it’s more like 3 pieces with some fat and bone on it okayyy… Not spice at all for a low spice tolerance and it was just delicious for peeps like me only can tolerate tiny amount of spice.
Very affordable, each dish was only $ 12 dollars, ok for some can be expensive (reality checked!). We also love the very sweet Bissap juice came in a plastic bottle, $ 3/​bottle. Red like blood and tasted like very sweet cranberry juice with a bit tangy flavored. You can go on their own website to look at pictures. I will go back in few months to try the guinea fowl, which I love also.

Totally turned off by the horrible service …
The pale (bleached) woman at the counter needs to be put in the back she has no business with the general public, she seemed irritated by everything. walked in excited to try something new, she was at the counter on the phone I smiled at her n nothing .no sign of acknowledgement .i waited for her to get off the phone n when she did she looked at me n walked off at this point am ready to walk out but my friend insists I stay n try the food as its good .she gets back I ask for a menu she hands it to me no eye contact no interest in the customer .I step aside n look at the menu go back to her n tell her my choice .“we don’t have that !!” Ok second choice «we don’t have that we only serving dinner «why the hell she didn’t tell me that as she gave me the full menu is beyond me … At this point am irritated and ready to tell her ignorant ass off but a nicer older lady came over to help n in no less then 2 seconds politely showed me what they had, I was so pissed off by the first girls attitude my friend suggested we just leave as he could tell I was far from done with her !!! Please again send this yellow face black foot fool to the kitchen

Food is always good. Best Poisson Friet on 116^th! Dont go to any other Senegalese place on the strip. Its the best. If they dont have wat u want the 2^nd best place is La Savane

The food here is excellent– definitely worth the trip to Harlem.
One word of caution, the portions are quite large. I went with a group and we ordered 4 plates for the 6 of us. We still had a TON of food left over. Everything was super delicious and reasonably priced for the amount that you receive.

I lived in Senegal for two years, and this place is authentic. The Wolof/​Senegalese people stream in and out ordering their lunch or dinner, I never Unilocal; also, the sauces are supposed to be oily. That’s the Senegalese way. I ordered the maffe with lamb for 11 bucks and it could feed 2 people.

Yuck. Service sucked and the food was mediocre at best. The place had an unpleasant smell to it too.

Be open minded and try some non-​trendy cuisine. Le Baobab is legit. I had a lamb stew dish. Very tasty, filling, and only $ 12. I only wish there was more meat because it’s that good. Oh, and… It’s Halal!

I like to venture to random places in NYC and came across this.
The patrons seemed to be a mix of Africans and caucasians.
Yassa chicken was a huge portion. A mix of spicey and sour. Delish. It had this external jerky texture that I completely love.
Baobab juice was really good, a creamy sweet shake with a unique mild taste. I have no idea how they get this fruit in the US. I’m assuming it’s dehydrated or a powdered form.
Ginger juice was really good too, sharp and tasty.

I absolutely love their foid. My son and I drive in from NJ to enjoy it. Wish there was a good place close by me. But until then I will continue to travel into NYC for it.

This place is close to where I live and I’ve been there enough times to put in a review but never got to it until I discovered a new drink on a recent visit. Yes, the baobab drink, so delicious that I looked it up online and found out that the baobab fruit is in fact a super fruit super loaded with stuff good for you! I’m giving one extra star for getting me to know the star fruit.
The ginger drink needs to be mentioned as well — a lil on the stronger side (have had stronger ones), you will feel the ginger bite as it flows down your throat which is good.
They have renovated this year, the place has a brighter cheerful look with the new setup (I need to post pics of the new do)
They are busy with takeouts and seem to have a well organized system of dealing with it though it might look like a bit chaotic
Coming to food, I’ve mostly ordered grilled fish and grilled lamb which have been consistently good. Not shy on portion size.
Never eaten in before so can’t comment on the service but takeout lines seem to managed pretty well

This place was excellent. There were many African people coming in to pick up take out orders, so it seems it’s authentic.
The restaurant makes their own ginger juice which was delicious. They also have baobob fruit juice which was interesting. I was thick kind a milkshake with pulp. Tasty nonetheless.
The food was tasty and cheap. And the portions enormous.
I loved the juices so much I wanted to buy a few bottles to take home… but they were all out.
I will Definetly return here.

I ordered lunch via delivery from here today while getting my hair braided by the Africans on 125^th St. I had the Thiebu djen which is a traditional Senegal dish comprised of Jollof rice, baked fish, a large carrot, cassava, cabbage, eggplant slice & a tomato based onion sauce. The rice was tasty albeit a little oily. However, the fish and tomato sauce was scrumptious. The African ladies asked for the number while staring at my food with jealousy. So I guess that makes it legit.

Great tilapia and excellent service. The ginger juice is tasty too. I would come back.

I loveeee Authentic food. The place is very unassuming, low key and local.
I went during one of the snow storms so it was quiet but lots of people came in for take out… I ordered the Grilled Fish Dinner which comes on a Chinese plate. talk about cross cultural infusion :).
Food was great, portions were huge… Definitely want to go abck here.

I love this place! Unfortunately my favorite Senegalese dish «Thieboudienne» is out after 4−5pm ish in general at any Senegalese restaurant (if they are authentic) but there is a substitute for fish lover. It’s called «Fish Yassa»! It comes with whole fish with onion (if you don’t like raw I would not recommend this dish) and salad/​fried plantain your choice. Only $ 12.00.

Come here for the food or get take-​out and skip the mediocre service ;) I had the grilled fish for dinner, which comes with a remarkable onion mustard sauce. My date had a lamb peanut stew that was incredible. Dinner portions are large and neither of us finished our meals. They’re very affordable and apparently do a ton of takeout. They take credit cards.

Had some Curry Yassa. It was very tasty. Will definitely have it again. But here is the scoop on many of the West African restaurants: Take out your food and eat it elsewhere. Most of them are not so clean. The staff is usually not so friendly even if you are one of them. So the dining experience is nothing short of terrible. Not just in this place but all of them. So you ask me why I return? Married to a gentleman from West Africa and even he feels how I do about the cleanliness (nasty in my opinion. How do they get a A or B rating from the city) and service but if you are interested in food that is authentic these places are your choices. NEVER EVER go into one of the restrooms!!!
I have been wondering if there is any such thing as an upscale African restaurant. Unilocal friends, let me know.