Buka - Menu

We came here from out of town and had a terrible experience. The waitress did not know any of the food on the menu and once we ordered the food was not what we... read more We came here from out of town and had a terrible experience. The waitress did not know any of the food on the menu and once we ordered the food was not what we had expected. The grilled talipia had no taste and they served us cold food. Would not recommend any of the stews as they are not as advertised. The owner is extremely rude and really give Africans a bad name which is quit unfortunate.

This was a disaster. Our server was nice enough, but couldn 't answer basic questions about menu items. I 'm not the chef, he said when we asked about one dish... read more This was a disaster. Our server was nice enough, but couldn 't answer basic questions about menu items. I 'm not the chef, he said when we asked about one dish he was unfamiliar with, and he didn 't offer to go ask the chef on our behalf. He then repeatedly got our order wrong when repeating it back to us, though I THINK what we were served was correct.The menu has no prices on it, so when I asked for prices he gave a range for entrees and a range for appetizers, but noted that there were exceptions. This was not very helpful. (You can see actual prices if you order online. Before we ordered our lunch we asked a question about the steak suya entree, and then a few minutes later he came by and told us he had ordered it for us (which we had not asked him to do because it takes a long while to cook. This was odd, because it actually arrived two or three minutes later. And it wasn 't the steak suya entree it was a very tough suya appetizer, though I 'm not sure if it was steak or lamb.The place is physically unappealing and was very noisy, even though virtually no one was in there. (Thankfully, they agreed to turn the very loud music down when we asked them. The food was . . . eh. I got the chicken egusi, which came slathered in tomato sauce, which is not how I 'd had it the one previous time I 'd ordered Nigerian food. And the chicken had what to me seemed an off taste, as if it had freezer burn.My son got the goat 's head in igbo spices, which had good taste but warning: I had imagined that this was going to be the meat from a goat 's head (the cheeks, say , but it was lots of parts of the goat 's head eyeballs, tongue, lips (I think . If you like that, great. If you 're not up for that, now you know. We also ordered the snail appetizer, which we had had in a Nigerian restaurant in London and loved. This one was tiny portions and much chewier than what we had had in London. And they charged us $26 for two thumb sized portions of snail!That was our entire meal: one entree, three small ish appetizers for me and my two kids. Total cost? about $78 before tip, and, adding insult to injury, they classified the three of us as a large party and added a 20% tip. So, $92 total for an unsatisfactory meal. I probably would have given the 20% tip on my own, because I was raised properly, but this was unseemly.I can 't imagine I would ever go here again, and will look elsewhere for good Nigerian food in NYC.