Zion Kitchen

1805 Montana Ave NE B, Washington, DC 20002, USA

Address:	1805 Montana Ave NE B, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Phone:	+1 202-636-9097
Site:	zkafricanloungedc.com
Rating:	3.9
Working:	11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–8PM 11AM–8PM 10AM–7PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 13

Matt Lynn

Walked here for dinner from Atlas Brewery, which was closing early on MLK day. Had a really fantastic experience. The restaurant is not fancy but very comfortable and the staff is warm, courteous, and welcoming. We felt at home immediately. Our bartender, Chin, was the ambassador and teacher about the menu and he could not have done a better job.I was very excited to try Palm wine, which I have read about for years but never experienced...I found it to be good. The Nigerian beer, Gulder, was excellent! The menu allows the customer to build an authentic West African meal using the cultural staples in different configurations. The staff was happy and excited to describe each component and give recommendations based on our preferences. We settled on two appetizers, the puff puff buns and the moi moi. The puff puff buns were fried dough, simple and delicious. The moi moi is a soft cake made of legumes, onions, and fresh peppers...Very tasty. For our main courses we each tried one of the three course offerings (engineered with the help of the staff). I had the oat fu fu with egusi spinach and tilapia as the protein (they were out of goat, which would have been my first choice) and my girlfriend had the yam porridge with cows foot, tendon, kidney. Both dishes were served with the same two spicy sauces on the side, a hot and mild selection which seemed to be pepper based and a had a delicious, complimentary flavor without overpowering heat. The food was delicious...Never thought I would say that about cows foot...And the portions were huge. The fu fu is initially daunting but is actually much lighter on the stomach than it appears on the plate. The staff took great care to teach us how to eat it in the traditional way with our hands and made us feel at ease. Our final assessment is that this is an excellent restaurant for anyone wanting an authentic culinary adventure. The staff could not be any more welcoming, kind, and helpful and the food was a delicious and exciting change from the East African cuisine that is more prevalent in the city. We will be going back to try more and cant wait to take our friends. Also...For whoever may care, this restaurant has perhaps the cleanest mens room that I have yet encountered in all of DC... Including way fancier establishments.

Anonymous User

The food at Zion is ok, certainly nothing special. What they charge you for it on the other hand is just plain ridiculous!!!. Talk about 419. Zion is NOT remotely close to a 4 star restaurant, hell, the surroudings, utensils and the like feels like youre eating at a Buka in Idumota, Lagos. Yet, they charge fancy restaurant prices. A plate of white rice with fish and stew for $14.00? Come on now, Zion. A bowl of pepper soup for $16.00???? I mean come on, Ordinary pepper soup? Convert that money to Naira and see how much you get. They have no set price list so everytime you go in there, you get a different price for the same thing you ordered the day before.. umm....really? They charge you more than the staple DC tax. Service sucks, the girl at the desk is the slowest server Ive ever met. You would think shed be more efficient with a line of people at the door, instead she drags around like a snail. They advertise food on their business card that they dont have in stock. Why would you put fishroll, moin-moin and meatpie on your card/poster when you know its not something you offer everyday, if at all. Why not have an asterisk on the card stating that fact. Instead you purposely try to mislead people. This place needs to revise their tactics. Your horrible business practices is not fair to your customers.

Justine King

Food is tasty & they give large portions but beware. If you order any vegetable side other than plantain they will charge you $5+ more & tell you you should have read the fine print at the bottom of the menu! Yes...their menu has fine print. Basically they charge what they feel like so if you arent in the mood to have your money disrespected try one of the many other West African places in the area like Joyful Heart :) :)

phyllis Colbert

I love African food. Zion Kitchen is good and I live 3 minutes away. Their food is great but their prices is crazy expensive. I rather take the 15 minutes trip to Sumahs because they are just as great tasting but less expensive and they give 3 times more than Zion Kitchen. After the last time I decided not to go to Zion Kitchen anymore because the amount they give you is not worth the price.

Franchelle England

I just love all their food but my favorite is egusi with fufu or wheat and fish pepper soup and the owner knows how I like it very very spicy!!! As a matter of fact my hubby is on his way there now to get me pepper soup! The owner get familiar with what u like and when u get there she already know what u want!!! The place is nice I havent been there on club night but Im sure its well put!

Talika Newbon

Server was in such a rush, rude as well snatching act as though I was holding her up and I was the only one there. Like I just paid close to $17 for a platter of just mainly rice.I heard good things about this place and the food so I figured I would try it out. Food is good but customer service is bad I would rather stick to going uptown to Sumahs where ypu get what you pay for and more.

Storm Alora

I always eat here.nice food and neat environment.. But my last experience was mean and nasty. The sales girl was really in a rush for everybody to make there order..after putting my order and my friends,we got home and found she gave us the wrong soup...wherever you found that girl,pls do teach and educated her...make sales but not a nasty one....

Anonymous User

This zero rated buka is one of the very bad African restaurants around, the meat are not well cooked you might end up in a dentist chair for denture if you dare try to eat the uncooked meat from this buka of a place. I will not recomend it to anyone. Even the name Mama Put is too good for the below par food & service.

Didier Kangudie

This is it! Great African food experience. You guys have restored my African pride. After an ugly encounter at another African restaurant called Sumahs, I was not sure what to expect. I was so apprehensive but the atmosphere, the diversity and the food taste were just 5 stars! Sold out for my whole month stay in DC!

Olakanmi John Aremu

Believe me, Zion Kitchen is a place to be. If you are in America and have not try out this place, you are missing a lot of refreshing and delicious meal that leave memories of great taste in your eat out experience. Zion kitchen is for those who know the value of good refreshing meal taste though.

Bussy Odusanya

Best place to get authentic Nigerian food in DC, hands down. The food is amazing, the restaurant is gorgeous, and the staff are very friendly. The new bar and lounge make it a great place to enjoy the lively atmosphere it creates.

laraven gaymon

Delicious food. I always get stewed chicken and rice with a 6 piece puff-puff. This is the best taste of Nigerian food youll ever experience ! The owner is very sweet as well... you wont regret coming here.

Layla Toussaint

The food tasted good but i recived mostly rice and a small amount of sauce. The customer service was bad the guy who is there mess up my order on more then one ocassion, and didnt seem to care.