Reviews of Sanaa Lunch/Dinner – Kidani Village
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Menus at Sanaa
Reviewed by FoxgloveDt Review Date: 01/25/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We ate here on 1/8 for dinner on the DDP (3 adult women, no children). We loved eating at Sanaa, the atmosphere is lovely and feels very intimate. Our server was fantastic, very helpful and informative. We are family that loves Indian food and Sanaa did not disappoint. Even though we were on the DDP we got the bread service with all 12 sauces. It was delicious. I had the Slow Cooked in Garvey - Butter Chicken and Spicy Durban Chicken. The spicy chicken was SPICY but very tasty. My sister had the Tandoori chicken and said it was the best meal the entire 8 day trip. My mom also had the tandoori was very pleased. For dessert I had the Tanzanian Chocolate Mousse which was artfully plated and delicious, though I was jealous of my sister's Chai Cream. Everything should come with Chai Cream! I would certainly eat here again, in fact I could eat all my meals at AKL. If your nervous about the Indian flavors don't be everything is prepared well and the chefs are very attentive. We saw them come to two separate tables to answer questions and talk with guests.
Pros:
Food, Service, Location, AtmosphereCons:
—Reviewed by mgt Review Date: 01/25/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
The food was tasty. Not too spicey. Desserts where fantastic. We had a late lunch so the resturant was about empty when we finished. Saw lots of animals out the windows.
Pros:
atmosphereCons:
noneReviewed by drosenbe0813 Review Date: 11/28/2013
Rating: (0) Recommended
I hate to be rain on peoples parade, but I'd have to say that my wife and I were slightly disappointing with Sanaa.
First, let me say that we live about 10 minutes from a large Indian populated area, so there are several Indian restaurants very close to us, that we enjoy, so that certainly tinges our thoughts. This is not a negative review per se, but I wanted to express a critical view.
First, the good stuff. We decided about noon to go to a sit down restaurant that evening. Jiko is our favorite restaurant on property, but we wanted to spend a little less, and I had heard such great things about Sanaa. The earliest reservation that we could 'get' was 6:30, which was too late for us. We got through to the actual restaurant, and were told that if we just showed up at 5pm (opening) that they would probably be able to seat us. We arrived at 4:55, were given our beeper, and 5 minutes later, we were brought to a great table by the window.
Our server, Sam, was great. Very personable, and knowledgeable about the menu.
We ordered the Naan service with all of the sauces. Sam explained what each one was, and rearranged the sauces by 'hotness'. We liked 6 out of the nine, but all were tasty.
We were not that hungry, and wanted to save ourselves for dessert, so we shared the Slow Cooked platter, getting Butter Chicken (my favorite) and Beef Short Ribs. One great thing that the kitchen did, was to bring the meal to us, already divided and presented in separate little dishes. That was great.
Unfortunately, the butter chicken was missing 'something'. My wife and I both agreed that something wasn't there, but we didn't know what.
The short ribs meat was outstanding. I usually shy away from dishes like this because, many times, the meat is low quality, but it was excellent. Since I don't usually order it, I thought it was quite tasty, but my wife said that it was also not up to the taste that she was expecting. It is quite possible that the dishes were not as spicy as we are used to, so they tasted bland.
For dessert, we ordered the Rice Pudding. It was not the usual type of Rice Pudding. Sam did warn us about it, and he was not wrong. It was certainly different. Not bad, but it could have been creamyer.
So to wrap this up, I'd have to say that Sanaa's decor, service and location is really nice. But I would probably not bring my family here to eat. None of the food was bad, but for 'Disney' prices, I would rather spend a little more and get an outstanding meal.
Pros:
Service, view, interiiorCons:
main dishes were a little bland for our tastesReviewed by MargieVE Review Date: 11/24/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
I dined here alone for lunch about a year ago and returned with my husband for lunch recently (November 2013). After raving to him about the experience, I was a bit worried that I might be overselling it - but we were not disappointed.
We were fortunate to be seated by the window on a lovely day and there were lots of animals to see. We started with a lime habanero margarita for him and a red wine for me - both were delicious. Along with that we had the bread service with raita, coriander chutney and the spicy pickles.
This was followed by the watermelon, Kachumbari and Bhel Puri salad sampler.
For our main dishes, he chose the slow cooked (fish curry and spicy shrimp) sampler and I chose the seasonal vegetarian (chana masala and seasonal vegetable wat) sampler. We enjoyed all of these dishes, but my particular favorites were the fish curry and the chana masala.
Our server was very helpful in explaining the dishes and making recommendations after asking about our preferences. He also made sure that the service was nicely paced.
This is a great place to get away from the parks and enjoy a relaxing lunch in a beautiful setting.
Pros:
Setting, service, foodCons:
NoneReviewed by TiggerTrigger Review Date: 09/29/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
Rarely does a restaurant live up to all of its glowing reviews...but Sanaa does just that. Seriously...we loved it so much that we dined there twice this last trip. My husband tried the slow cooked meats the first time and I just did the bread service with all of the dips/sauces. The kids tried the meatloaf the first time. On the second visit, my husband had the bison burger, I had the lamb kefta sliders, one kiddo had the shrimp and the other had the chicken. The food was just outstanding. The views were also amazing- just having all of the animals there while you dine. The service was great and love how so many of the hosts and hostesses have so much interesting info on the actual African pieces or functional styling of the restaurant. I think it's safe to say that Sanaa is going to be a must do for us on future trips. A+++++++++++
Pros:
Food, Service, ViewsCons:
NoneReviewed by AndyE Review Date: 09/21/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
Dined here on 20th September, can't fault this place as it is our third visit, we both ordered the lamb shank , this was cooked to perfection then followed by the chocolate mousse and Banana Sundae. The waitress couldn't be more helpful. A big thumbs up in our opinion.
Pros:
Service, Food and Everything we can think ofCons:
A little (just a little) coolReviewed by lenette830 Review Date: 06/03/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
My family of five dined here on May 30th and we had a excellent experience. The hostess told us that it would be 90 min for a window seat but we only waited about 15 min and got a amazing table.
Our server, Christopher, was so nice and knowledgable--(he knew all the animals by name!)He also had lots of recommendations and really knew the in and outs of the menu.
The food was outstanding. We had the naan service to start and all of the spreads we tried were great.
Next up for entrees we had the slow cooked meals. I tried the Durban Shrimp which I thought was flavorful but VERY spicy and the Fish with Goan Curry which was good and had a smoky flavor. Now, I have to say my ONLY disappointment for the whole meal was that the green curry shrimp is no longer on the menu. I had that back in January and it was literally one of the best dishes I've ever had. I don't know why they took it off the menu and hope they bring it back.
Nonetheless, my husband had the butter chicken and bison masala and both were great. My daughter had two vegetarian options that she loved and my younger kids both got kids meals , the tandoori chicken pot pie and the meaty loaf. I tasted both and they were really good and I was so happy to see a restaurant offering something other than chicken strips and pizza!
We finally had dessert. We shared an order of the chocolate mousse and a dessert trio with all chia cream (sooo goood). It was wonderful!!!
My only complaint(besides the missing green curry shrimp) was that the after dinner teas are somewhat overpriced but we considered it paying for the ambiance as we got to stay and enjoy the view and animals longer. We love this place and can't wait to go back!!!
Pros:
Food, service, view of the animalsCons:
No more Green Curry Shrimp 🙁Reviewed by 1283alex Review Date: 05/23/2013
Rating: (4) Recommended
Food was good, but portions were too small! We were still hungry after shortly after we left. Only saw one animal as we were dining. Nicely themed & decorated, but would not go back again.
Pros:
tastefully theme decorCons:
small portionsReviewed by konslerg Review Date: 04/09/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We've dined at Boma and Jiko and love both. Sanaa is every bit as good! My only caution is that, if you don't like spicy/hot food, ask your server to point you in a milder direction. I had the durban spice shrimp and it was almost too spicy hot for me and I love heat in my food. It was delicious, but one degree more heat and it would have been too much. So, steer clear of durban spice if you don't like heat. Husband had tandoori lamb and it was excellent too. For dessert we split a banana kulfi (sort of ice cream) and I could have eaten about three all by myself it was so good. I have only one complaint (or I would have rated it a 10), there is a bread service on the menu, 5 different naan breads and 5 sauces for $10. I assumed (wrongly) that it you didn't order the bread service, you'd at least get a roll, small piece of naan or some sort of bread with the meal. Nope, no bread.
Pros:
The food is outstanding; so is the view of the animalsCons:
Believe them if they say something is spicy! No bread unless you order the $10 bread service.Reviewed by lizzie1974 Review Date: 02/08/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
This is the place to dine if you like your food flavorful. We had the bread service, the appetizer sampler, and the duo with green curry shrimp & the lamb.
The downside was that the waiter was not particularly good. When you get the bread service, you get to choose 5 of the 10 sauces to accompany them. One of the sauces we received was not what I ordered, but I didn't realize it until we were done. The waiter did not identify them for us when he brought them out! Had he done so, I would have let him know that one was incorrect. I mean, yes, I ordered them, but I don't eat this everyday so I didn't know which ones were which.
I was a little bummed that the wait staff were not African or Indian, despite the theme of the restaurant. The ladies at the hostess station were African. That is the initial impression of the restaurant so you kind of expect it to continue on through the dinner.
The food was outstanding though. It's worth the effort to get there at least once.
