Akwaaba Restaurant

Superb! Definitely a low-​key venue which makes the experience that much more true. A great group of people that all were checking in on us to make sure we had an enjoyable time and good experience. So much food and such a reasonable price. Will definitely be back for another fun adventure!

One of the strangest dining experiences I’ve ever had.
I ate in, but I’ll probably get it to-​go next time. Like other reviewers have said, the dining room is spartan, but I like the art that they have on the walls. If you’re adventurous, you won’t mind, because the place, by any estimate of the clientele (the cook spoke mostly in French to the other customers), is extreme authentic.
If nobody is there, knock on the door on the left when you walk in, and the cook will take your order. I got goat stew with rice, and it was $ 13. The stew was fantastic, very spicy and meaty and especially good on a cold November afternoon, but it was a little too close to lukewarm to have been perfect. I heard a microwave alarm several times in the kitchen, which makes me wonder if they re-​heat the food for each customer. For stews (and there are several on the menu), I don’t mind this, especially since they improve after a night in the refrigerator. There’s no way that I could make it myself.
Had lunch cost under ten dollars, I’d have given five stars. But it was very good and a pretty big portion, so I’ll give a recommendation and four stars. I think this may be the only West African restaurant in the Twin Cities, and I’m very happy to have tried it. I’ll be back.
Some guy recommended the palm butter and palm wine to me, for what it’s worth. I googled a lot of the dishes and found nothing, perhaps because of the idiosyncratic spelling («thieboudienne» is rendered sans the «h» on their menu).

I have had West African food countless of times and when comparing this to others W. African restaurants in the US in terms of authenticity and quality, I give it a ³⁄₅. When factoring that this is one of the very few west African restaurants you can get in the twin cities, I would rate it higher at ⁴⁄₅.
Like others have said, just do a take out. The dining experience is non-​existent and not pleasant with the market attached right to it and this being all the way at the back of the windowless room. Place your order and wait …
My favorite and regular to go orders are: —
1) Pounded Yam — which goes well with Egusi soup and your choice of meats and I prefer goat meat. This is essentially the «mashed potatoes» of that region and the accompanying soup can be either Egusi (some sort of crushed seed I believe) or an Okra based soup or regular tomato based soup. When I got it, they unfortunately only had the tomato based soup.
2) Jollof rice — this is a variation of Paella rice in the west African region with their unique blend of spices. This comes with a mix of different meats in it and was a tad greasy.
Both dishes are very filling and should serve two people with left overs. Try to finish up the pounded yam in one sitting though, it’s better fresh. The food has flavor but if you want that pepper-​spicy kick, add some of the ‘hot-​sauce’ which they will give you in small containers.
It takes them 25 – 35 minutes to prepare these two, so just keep that in mind if you are pressed for time. Perhaps phone in your order — i should try that the next time.

I was craving Cameroonian stew, but couldn’t find any around town. The closest thing I found was Nigerian /​Liberian food at a few small restaurants. I decided to start with Akwaaba.
This place is kind of a restaurant, but not quite. There is no host/​ess or waitstaff. It’s not clear where the «restaurant» is or how to order. Here are some instructions:
— - — - — - -
Go inside the store labeled «African Market.»
Ask the person behind the cash register on the left where the menu is. This person will lead you to an empty back room that looks like a half-​finished basement with tables and random things stored there.
You’ll see two poster-​sized menus. Every item has a picture, but no prices are posted. A picture of the menu posted in Jan 2014 is outdated. See my pictures for the current menu.
Tell the person who works there what you want. They will disappear into a closed-​off kitchen and cook your meal.
You can eat at one of the tables or order take out.
Pay at the cash register at the front of the store.
— - — - — - -
I ordered the goat stew with rice, which came out to an even $ 12. This order is about 2.5 meals for me. But… there is going to be a lot of extra rice. (Think ~2 portions of stew and ~6 portions of rice.) Next time, I think I’ll need to order two dishes to match the amount of rice that’s given.
The goat stew was spicy, rich, and tasted like it had been slow cooked for the day — though I wouldn’t say the goat meat was tender. There were some bones in the stew and I even got to taste a little bit of marrow. You’ll also find some goat skin and cartilage. Watch out for sharp bone pieces!
I am giving this place three stars because the food is solid, but there are so many things that doesn’t make this place a restaurant. And it seems like this place is primarily a small convenience store with one aisle of dried goods and two freezers.
I hope the owners consider improving the menu and giving more attention to the restaurant part of the market, considering how much unused space they have. So much potential!

We took 12 returned Peace Corps volunteers to dine here. Despite asking for a couple days’ notice for large parties, the owner was incredibly gracious with our last minute request and accommodated our party with only a day’s notice.
The platters of food were hot, brimming with flavor and reminiscent of all the dishes they remembered. We had okra sauce, fufu and pepper soup, attieke, cassava lead, aloco (fried plantains), collard green sauce and kill of rice. (I’m sure I missed something.)The service was perfect and they even had palm wine! We highly recommend this restaurant, tucked in the back of an African goods store. Explore both and appreciate a little more about what makes Minnesota so special.

Tucked away at the back of a tiny West African grocery this restaurant seems like a cross between someone’s personal dining room and a roadside diner. Very friendly service and tasty food. Don’t worry about the lack of spit and polish… the ample portions of flavorful West African food will make you forget that.
We had individual servings of plantain and fufu then shared bowls of okra, palm butter stew and spinach. The okra came with what was either beef or goat. The palm butter had ham while the spinach had chicken and beef.
We will definitely come here again.

I will admit, the venue does seem a bit sketch when you first get in. It’s located at the back of an African store that’s nestled between two east African restaurants if I’m correct. It definitely come across as a little family run place, but the the waitress who serves us was very friendly, something that I think is always huge.
Foodwise, my party got some fufu, some palm butter soup and some tomato and goat stew. I have to say the food was pretty dang good, very flavorful, well seasoned and just in general, awesome. As some one from the Caribbean with West African heritage, I have to say, this place grades out.

It was snowing heavy outside yesterday, and I trudged through it to grab a plate of food from Akwaaba, a neighborhood West African restaurant tucked in back of a grocery store so narrow and nondescript that one might pass it 100 times and not notice it’s a business; it has the look and aura of a place no one is supposed to find.
Sometimes the person working the cash register is the waiter is the cook. Very pragmatic, if a bit offputting. Everything about the place declares «don’t eat here.» And yet, the food has been delicious the four times I’ve been. I’m obsessed with African Fu Fu, and their spicy okra and spinach stews. The meat is slowcooked, succulent, plentiful. The spices are not overwhelming, though the dishes are a bit saltier than I prefer. This is West African food on a block that features a couple of East African joints, and the cuisine is quite different, so take careful stock of the menu before you order.
The dining room has the ambiance of a school detention hall. I strictly order to go. The cashierwaitercook yesterday looked just like the rapper Kurupt, and he had oversized hands that made his spindly body look all the more cartoonish.
It struck me on the way home I can’t say for sure whether I feel deep empathy, love, disdain, or terror for other people. It was cold, the streets were a mess of filthy snow mush, and urban life seemed as bleak as the sky was overcast.
And yet, and yet, and yet: once I got home and unwrapped my meal, that delectable spinach and meat stew and fu fu took the edge off the world. Akwaaba serves food hearty and delicious enough to absorb your focus. In that sense, they’re cooking up a special kind of comfort food.
Give this place a try at least once.

I’m a fan of any restaurant that sits in an antiseptic, windowless, rectangular room hidden behind a tiny unassuming grocery store.
This is West African food, as opposed to the two Somali (East African) restaurants less than a block away). I’m no judge of West African food or whole baked fish, so I won’t attempt an actual review. Check it out, it’s clean and friendly.