Cafe Zanzibar - Victoria

The menu offers quite a bit of choice and they have some interesting dishes from Africa and South Asia. Contrary to most of the reviews, we found the service to be attentive and they recommended a few dishes to try which we found to be excellent. The food overall was good and the place is worth visiting again

We ordered the Lamb Merguez hash special and chicken tandoori salad. I hate to give a 3 out of 5 because the food was excellent but the service was absolutely horrible and needs to be fixed because I want this restaurant to succeed! There were 20 free tables and it took the server who seemed very confused 6-8 min to seat us. Then another 18-20 minutes for someone to take our order. We are starving by now and decided not to order drinks we just got to make this quick. 10 minutes later our food comes but I got the wrong dish and the server just takes mine away and then we find out we got the people’s behind us so both tables 1 person ate for another 15-20 minutes. I’ve never had such bad service and thought it could be a one off and then I come to TripAdvisor and see tons of reviews like this. To the owners, please figure this out, you have great food and a great venue but the service is everything in the restaurant game.

The food at this restaurant is consistently excellent! However, I have a small suggestion for improvement. The server could have been more attentive. We were not asked if we wanted more water or bread (last time we visited, the server did ask). I even placed the empty water decanter and bread basket next to me for visibility. As a former hospitality professional, I would have noticed. Just a bit of feedback for better service. Other than that, we had a wonderful evening!

This restaurant setting is fairly rustic, with two small patios in the front and back. They deliver a small complimentary basket of fresh baguette pieces with Olive Tapenade. I ordered the Lamb Biryani. While the portion could be considered small, with minimal pieces of Lamb inside, the Biryani was flavourful. It would have been nice if the portion was slightly larger. Service is where this restaurant seems to lack. Server lacked knowledge of menu items. I’m not sure if there is a disconnect between the servers and the kitchen, but they just couldn’t seem to get my wife’s order right. Due to food sensitivities, she ordered a mixed Green Salad, with only mixed Greens, Cucumber, Strawberries and grilled Chicken Breast. After writing down the specific order, the Salad came with the addition of Onions and Peppers, which my wife could not eat. There was no apologies and the server didn’t seem to acknowledge she made a mistake. They did send it back to remake it, but I had finished half my meal before my wife was served hers, so it wasn’t an enjoyable dinner.

The food, ambiance, and service were fantastic and attentive. I will definitely be returning! This hidden gem is conveniently close to home.