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| - I was quite excited at the prospect of going to Bantu. I've recently been learning about African culture and cuisine and was looking forward to tasting it.
I can't say I'm happy with the results.
The location is decent; close enough to downtown to be convenient. Parking is plentiful.
The decor is not what I would call African. More an amalgam of all previous incarnations of restaurants at this location; Mediterranean, Italian, French.
The dining room is quite small. There are a few tables for four and one large raised table that seats approx. 10. The patio is quite spacious, but there is a considerable amount of traffic noise from 7th Avenue.
The waitress started me off with fried plantains and a spicy sauce for dipping.
The plantains tasted and felt like what I'd imagine a banana flavored potato chip would taste and feel like. Not at all unpleasant, and I ate several.
The sauce, while spicy, was more reminiscent of Latin America than Africa.
Still, it was a nice complement to the plantains.
I ordered coconut stew with chicken, and rice. It was quite tasty, but mildly unpleasant in that the chicken was almost as much bone as meat. Other diners I was with shared that complaint.
The rice was good; fluffy, properly cooked.
I was quite disappointed when I ordered what the waitress said was an African beer only to learn that it was in fact a Vietnamese beer.
All in all the experience was enjoyable, but the food was hardly enough to draw me back.
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