Utazi kitchen & bar

We arrived Utazi at 8:50pm and placed our orders. An hour later, our food still wasn't ready even after several prompts to a waitress that seemed very disinterested. This was surprising as the place wasn't even crowded. We had to leave at 10:05pm after the waitress told us the kitchen was going to further delay our orders. At times, she seemed either overwhelmed or confused. This was highly disappointing as we looked forward to dining here on this trip. I'm not a first time customer and last visited in 2022 and got a much better experience then. A customer's time is precious and there's no dish worth over an hour's wait especially when the servers do not understand the need to provide updates without being prompted. Will not be coming back and do not recommend if basic service is lacking and our patience was taken for granted.

One thing ill say is this: don’t go to utazi if you’re exceptionally hungry. Bro! Those people made us wait for hours before we got served. Our waiter said it wait time was for 30-40 Minutes and it ended being almost 2 hours wait time. Also he didn’t come back to us to give any update whatsoever. He just left us for that long. Meanwhile we were getting hungry and impatient. There is a table bell which we kept ringing and no one came to us still. So be prepared, their service can be mid. Anyways, for ambience, it’s okay particularly the ground floor. We went on a Sunday afternoon and said ground floor was already booked by private customers so they seated us in the ‘VIP’ seats upstairs. Said place had air conditioning not functioning properly and weird lighting. For the food, i ordered native soup and poundo yam. The native soup was okay but it was very watery honestly. But i liked that their goat meat was soft. We also ordered peppered snail but it was too salty. Also their ‘fresh’ pineapple juice was not fresh but fermented and getting sour/bitter. I think our experience might have been better if we had a hands on waiter attending to us. Anyways, go and see for yourself if you want but for me, I won’t be going back there.

First of all, as my fiance and I arrived, I was shocked. I thought it was one random place he's been wanting to bring me to. The ambience is relaxing. It has this privacy touch even though the space is open. The waiter was a pleasant soul. Smiling for no reason and very patient. When the food came, we were in a hurry to go out. So we paid and asked that it be kept till we return later. I'll update after I eat. Be ready to WAIT for your food sha. The portions are enormous. Nope, you can't finish the soup at once if you're not a hoodlum (kidding). The music is great at the proper volume. It doesn't interfere with discussions. Sea food okro, native soup and assorted protein, garri and water... Damage was 14k. But we had enough soup to take away and eat two more times each. By the way, the manager Obinna was super helpful. He even offered to serve us.

I first visited Utazi some years back when they were in their old site. The food at that time was amazing and I was really disappointed when I returned there a few weeks later to find out that they were no longer there. To my utmost delight, I reconnected with them again yesterday, and I was reminded of why I fell in love with their meals before. The food was breathtakingly delicious and it was timely as well. I had the seafood okro with poundo yam, yummy! The ambience was just right as it affects you the right amount of privacy without necessarily alienating you from other diners.

I really want to give an extended review but my experience that started well didn't end too well. The waiter made me wait for more than 40 minutes to have my leftover food packed and to bring me my bill. The feedback later after paraing (colloquial language).... Their payment system was not working. Instead of them to communicate that, no one answered me. They kept saying the waiter who attended to me was coming till I threatened to leave and not pay. Now let me give actual feedback about this place. First, they have limited parking but I have to say that it is properly managed by the security 👏. I actually got interested in visiting this place cuz of the picture of their seafood okro and I wasn't disappointed. The portion was a lot so I highly recommend. The food tasted really nice. I had pounded yam and seafood okro. The seafood okro had snail, prawn, big fish and just the right amount of protein to keep you hooked. The okro actually had more okro than sauce 🤤. I had water cuz they didn't have any fresh juice and I didn't want any drink that wasn't freshly squeezed. They served my water with lemon but their lemon was really bitter. Their manager is nice cuz I went on another day thinking I forgot something there and he made sure I was properly attended to and apologized for my last visit. I think the waiters need to be trained to cover up for each other most especially when someone is dropping the ball rather than make it seem like it's not their responsibility. Other than that, I think I liked the experience. I know I usually give prices. I took pictures of the pricelist. My meal was about 7,632.50 in total. Please note that they don't sell big bottles of water. They have the Nestlé bottled water. So I would recommend the food.