Abj For JJCs: Review of Blu Cabana

Hey guys, so I decided to take my sister’s advice and start reviewing the services and products of the different services and products that I use in Abuja. Hopefully it would make life easier for all you Abuja JJCs and even the older Abujan who are looking for new places.

So for my first attempt, I decided to review a restaurant called Blu Cabanna, nestled in the Jahi area of Abuja. So I would try to talk about the service, the food, the ambiance and basically any other thing I can think of.

Who I went with?

I went with my parents, my sister and an old family friend who is like a father to me. My family friend was visiting from Benin and so on his last night with us, my dad decided to treat him and the family to a night out of lovely dining.

 How I got there?

I drove behind my parents with my sister. I have been to Blu Cabana a couple of times and every time I have to drive on that road; I am surprised at how horrible the road is. Apart from the bad road trip, the direction and signage are poor. The direction given on the website is poor, and the first time I had a baby shower to attend there, I had to drive on the horrible road at least three times and I eventually had to give up. They also have no signpost along the road signifying that you were going in the right direction. So the only way to get there, is to either go with someone who had been there before or to have someone who is really good at describing, describe it to you. The website wasn't really helpful, I had to turn to friends on my BBM for help.

What I had?

For the starter, I had goat meat pepper soup accompanied with buttered bread. The pepper soup was heavenly, it wasn’t too spicy and the goat meat was properly prepared, it wasn’t over or under cooked and it wasn’t sandy as you would get in some places, the pepper soup wasn’t burning hot. For my main meal, I had, grilled prawn served with fried rice. The prawns were out of this world, they tasted really nice, and they tasted like heaven. There was no dessert for me, when I was done demolishing my appetiser and my main meal, there was no room left in my tummy for even a little piece of cake, I had to take more than half of my prawns home. I washed it all down with a glass of lemonade.

The service?

The service was amazing. We were served by a well-mannered young lady, who smiled the whole time, she was quick help whenever helped was needed. I think she is some sort of a magician, LOL, somehow she managed to get everything to the table, yet you could always find her when something was needed. In Nigeria where customers are used to being treated like animals, its refreshing to know that you can still receive good service for your money. The only problem that I had was that we were forced to pay a service charge, leave a tip in other words, you were forced to leave a tip even if you received very horrible service, that cant be right. The service charge came up as part of your bill and I am pretty sure it went to management not the waitress who served you well. Don’t ask me how much our meals cost, I am a daddy’s girl, his pocket took the hit.

The ambiance?

If I use the word, heaven or heavenly to describe any other part of my visit to Blu Cabana, I would surely get shot, LOL. But honestly, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t heavenly. We had our meal by the pool side, the light were dimmed while lovely music played softly in the background. The night was cool unlike the regular Abuja night, there was a light breeze so it was not hot but it didn’t get too chilly.

Verdict.

If I were to give the whole experience at Blu Cabana a score over 10, I would give it an 8. I would keep the remaining 2 marks to myself, yes I am a little stingy, but those 2 marks are for the difficulty encountered while trying to get there and also for forcing my hand, my dad’s hand really, with the service charge that was added to our bill. I remember the first time I ate there; I went with my sisters and friends. As sensible young ladies, we looked at the menu and picked meals we knew we had money for, you can imagine our surprise when the bill came and it was over what we had all picked, thanks to the service charege we knew nothing about, we had to start searching and bringing out all the five Nairas and ten Nairas we had in our pockets since a place as big Blu Cabana had no provisions for card payment, that’s one more point out of the 8 I initially scored it.