talking drums african cuisine

mediocre - service needs a lot of work. i hate to write a bad review for an independent place like this. i hope my experience was exceptional. went with a crowd of about 14 which despite the fact the restaurant only had one four topper in use when we arrived, completely overwhelmed the staff. they had been warned several weeks in advance that our group was coming to try the place out and had to reason not to be better prepared. more than two hours after we arrived, we were still waiting on some of the people to get their food.

my dish arrived after only about an hour. i had to ask for silverware which was only provided to those that asked. even as hungry as i was, i didn't find thefoodmemorable.

a male, apparently the owner, came out after our host went and complained and was quite defensive rather than being apologetic. i can understand that a crowd can overwhelm a small restaurant but they were given the option of how large a group they could accommodate and refused to set a limit. nothing was comped, no sincere apologies were offered nor were we given any discounts for the terrible experience.

i'm sure that this place would be fine for a group of four or less. avoid it like the plague if you have more than that.

horrible, horrible, horrible. my wife and i decided to try talking drums for dinner last night. we were looking forward to trying their jerk chicken and jamaican patties. what a mistake!!! you enter the restaurant through an outside door, then you have to go down a narrow hall to get to the second door. this is almost impossible to navigate in a wheelchair. then you come to a sign that says "wait to be seated". there was no one in front of us and it took 10 minutes for us to be seated. the decor of the restaurant is drab at best. once seated and our order was taken our waitress literally disappeared. after 30 minutes of not receiving our drinks (we ordered water and cokes) i flagged down the only other waitress and let her know that the other tables received their drinks and were even starting to get theirfoodand we had gotten nothing. she let us know that she would let our waitress know. another 15 minutes passed and still nothing. let me add that there were only about 10 dinners in the restaurant. i finally got up and told the second waitress that we were leaving and she told us our drinks were on the way. when i told her she said the same thing 15 minutes earlier all she did was apologize. my wife and i left in disgust. i wish i could tell people thefoodwas great, but i can't even comment on their water since we got nothing. do not go to this restaurant unless you plan on a 4 hour dinner!! all of my co-workers are waiting to hear how thefoodwas and now i will return to work and let them know not to waste their time.

excellent food, friendly service. i have been looking for ethiopianfoodin albuquerque for a long time and was excited to try talking drums. we ordered the injera with a sample of all 5 of their ethiopian choices and every one of them was excellent. the service was excellent as well

a new taste. i finally had a saturday off to go try this place with my friend. my friend is from zimbabwe. the owner alex was very friendly, a great host and took the time to go over the menu with us. thefoodwas excellent and my friend from africa was impressed as well. i tried the jerk chicken and my friend had some goat with greens and fufu. this place is definitely worth visiting - da bomb!

nasty food. this is the worst excuse of africanfoodi have ever had the displeasure of eating. thefoodis overpriced and tasteless. i ordered beans and plantain and the unprofessional rude owner actually had the nerve to set down in front of me burned plantain and cold beans. i will never ever eat here again. i am from houston and have tried many african dishes and never have i experienced such lazy cooking and unprofessional-ism. it is like he is not even trying anymore somebody please open another african restaurant in albuquerque because you guys obviously don't know what good africanfoodtastes like. he has this huge restaurant and its always empty. time for him to get out of business and keep his disgustingfoodto himself. i have attached photos of yam i bought from the store that he refused to exchange for ones that were not rotten!! he actually sells rottenfoodto his customers.

very good!!! i am born and raised in the carribean and as such, usually avoid carribean restaurants outside the carribean because they tend to lack authenticity--not the case here!! the ambiance is similar to what you would find in the carribean and thefoodis rich with flavor. a must stop everytime i am in albuquerque.

i've been reading other reviews and the negative ones are dated close to the restaurant's beginning and from what i can tell they have solved their problems: thefoodcame quickly and was very good. i was provided with everything i needed for a satisfying dinner.


-----10 apr, 2013-----

thefoodis delicious and the staff (the owners) are very nice. the menu is vegetarian and vegan friendly and the meat(if you eat meat) is also very tasty. i highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to expand their culinary horizons and to anyone craving authentic west african cuisine.

amazing food! truly unique! if you have not tried this place out yet, you have to. the service was good, the guy (alex i think) did an excellent job explaining thisfoodthat we had never tried before.

i will def be coming back.

the fried plantains are worth the trip alone.

bad experience.foodwas so-so and slow. we were the only two people there. got lectured by the guy at the cash register about god. wtf?

talk about redemption! we went there back in april and had a decent experience: goodfoodbut lousy wait time and atmosphere. looks like they've made huge improvements since then. again, i ordered the jerk chicken with plantains which were just as tasty. this time, though, the service was quick and more professional.. not to mention some apparent changes to the vibe of the place itself. our initial visit had me rating them a c but they've moved to a- in my book. give them a try.

thefoodwas terrible. i hate to post this review and hopefully this small business gets their act together by making sure thefoodis tasty. i ordered egusi soup and some puff puff and other items. i spent over $20 and was excited to check out the food. i have eaten egusi soup and puff puff many times and both items tasted terrible.the puff-puff tasted old and not fresh. the egusi soup was the worst egusi i have ever had. i will never go there again.

a must try!!. i have never had africanfoodbefore and i decided to take the chance and check out this talking drums. i came in for dinner and was promptly greeted by some very warm and friendly staff. i had a ginger beer and peanut soup with pounded yam fufu with a few slices of beef. when thefoodcame out the staff eagerly encouraged me to eat it the traditional way and eat it with my hands and i am very glad i did(they have silverware for you more traditional folks). thefoodwas delicious and fun to eat, certainly nothing like it in albuquerque.

alex, who i think is the proprietor, greeted me cheerfully for lunch. as i'm not an africanfoodveteran, i asked him to explain the menu items to me, which he did, and patiently answered my questions. i chose the red beans and plantains with four pieces of goat meat. thefoodwas out in about 15 minutes, which i used to sample a jamaican ginger beer (not alcoholic), which was spicy but delicious. thefoodwas amazing...the goat was stewed in what seemed like a tomato base and was tasty and tender, if a bit gristly, but the meat was easy to separate with a fork. the plantains are not the sweet kind, but they were done just right. i was stuffed when finished.

great place, kind service, and a real treat in abq. i hope they make it...i highly recommend trying it out!

delicous culinary adventure. i am no expert on african cuisine but i know goodfoodand this fits the bill. the resturant is set up so you order your entree which is always vegitarian and then have the option to add meat. they have about 7 different meats that you can add i had the goat which was pretty good ( i have had better). my dining partner had the chicken which was amazing. as for the dishes we got. well i cant remeber the names but i will tell you this i will definately be back!! also they have lots of drinks imported from africa that are super yummy and i have never seen anywhere else.

my only complaints is the decor is pretty lame and definately needs some work. however both thefoodand ther service were excellent.

nice and spicy. good jerk chicken and beef patties. spicy.


-----02 apr, 2012-----

nice addition to abqfoodlineup.