Atlanta and the metro area feature a robust African food scene with restaurants serving a variety of dishes from a range of countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Togo, Morocco, and South Africa. Dig into spicy stews and soups, barbecued and grilled meats, and traditional West African dishes such as jollof rice and chicken or beef suya, and even partake in traditional hand-washing and tea-pouring ceremonies, at these restaurants around Atlanta.
Toyin – Nigerian cuisine
In addition to moi moi, dodo (plantains), and butter bread — must-eat Nigerian dishes — this petite Marietta restaurant is big on specialties like cow legs, cow tripe (shaki), okra stew, ewedu stew made with jute leaves and popular beverages like Guinness Malta and Vita Malta. With 48-hour notice, Toyin Takeout will even cater your next party.
Tracxx Grill and Lounge
For folks craving a taste of home, and others who have an appreciation for the flavorful dishes of Nigeria heaped with fresh spices and peppers, this Cobb County restaurant is a go-to for Nigerian food. Choose from dishes like jollof rice with meat to chicken or beef suya to moi moi and okra stew at Tracxx. Always order a little extra to bring home for later.
Bamba Cuisine
This West African restaurant offers a taste of Senegalese food in southwest Atlanta. People can dive into specialties such as braised lamb shoulder in caramelized onion sauce or chicken meatballs served in a delicious tomato-based vegetable stew known as thiou boulettes. Not sure what to order? Go any day of the week and order the daily special at Bamba, which includes spinach chicken on Mondays and okra soup on Fridays.
Nema Kitchen
The great thing about this southwest Atlanta spot is it also features a retail store chock-full of ingredients used to make the dishes for its restaurant, which also means people can replicate these dishes at home. The menu is generically defined as West African, so expect to find palate-pleasing options like palm fish stew, fish patties, peanut butter stew, and nanburu, a Gambian dessert akin to rice pudding.
10 Degrees South
Justin Anthony opened this South African restaurant over 25 years ago. Now, Anthony’s restaurant roster includes Biltong Bar at Ponce City Market and Yebo Beach Haus in Buckhead, which also lean into South African fare and flavors. But it’s at 10 Degrees South in Buckhead where Mediterranean, Malaysian, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch, and Indian flavors meld to create a South African menu that features peri-peri chicken spring rolls, a range of braai (South African grilled meats), and specialty dishes like ostrich medallions with a red wine and rosemary reduction.
Biltong Bar
Named for the South African beef jerky, this Ponce City Market restaurant and bar offers six versions of biltong, including garlic, droëwors sausage, and peri-peri, as well as rolls filled with beef and pork sausage, spicy beer mustard, and tomato relish (chakalaka) with fried onions. While beer and wine are available, come to Biltong Bar for the critically acclaimed cocktails like the rum and vermouth mixture Do People Still Drink Midori Sours and a bourbon and spiced rum drink known as See You Space Cowboy.
Embilta Cafe & Restaurant
For late-night Ethiopian food in Atlanta, head to this Lindridge-Martin Manor restaurant for an array of tibs and fir-fir served with hearty amounts of injera until 11 p.m.
Kategna Ethiopian Cuisine
Put this Buford Highway Ethiopian restaurant on your list to try, which offers hearty meat dishes alongside robust vegetarian and vegan platters and stews served with plenty of spongy injera. Lunch specials are also available Monday through Friday, starting at 11:30 a.m., featuring tibs and rice plates for under $11.
Desta Ethiopian Kitchen
With two locations now in Atlanta, this restaurant institution focuses on traditional Ethiopian dishes. Founded by Ash Nega and Titi Demissie, Desta began life as a bite-sized restaurant accommodating only eight diners inside. These days, the sprawling Briarcliff location and the newest location on Marietta Boulevard serve Ethiopian breakfast staples like kinche (cracked wheat porridge with Ethiopian butter and spices), as well as sambusa stuffed with minced beef or lentils, goden tibs (short rib), dinech wot (potato stew), and beef or salmon kifto wraps. There’s also a full vegan menu and a variety of drinks to choose from, including Ethiopian tea.
Bahel Ethiopian Restaurant
Diners will find staples like doro wat (spicy chicken stew) and asa tibs (grilled fish topped with vegetables and cheese) at this Ethiopian restaurant near Briarcliff Woods. Injera and coffee aren’t listed on the menu, but are available and absolute musts at Bahel.
Little Lagos
The name of this restaurant is kind of an oxymoron, as Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria. The quaint space is only outdone by delectable entrees and soups like fish pepper soup and ogbono and a hearty mix of ewedu and gbegiri made with beans, crayfish, palm oil, and pepper. Other Nigerian staples like plantains (dodo) and jollof rice are also on the menu and available until 2 a.m.
Piassa Restaurant & Mart
For a conventional Ethiopian dining experience with farm fresh dishes and live entertainment, head to this Scottsdale restaurant. While there, order customary drinks such as honey wine (tej) or tella (fermented beer). A traditional coffee service with servers decked out in Ethiopian dress is offered on Sundays.
Cafe Songhai
Located in Peachtree Corners, West African restaurant Cafe Songhai offers a profusion of diaspora dishes primarily from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. Appetizers like beef suya (a seasoned street meat popular in Nigeria) and meat pies will feel more familiar to diners new to Nigerian food, but the best of the menu is found in traditional dishes like egusi (meat-based spinach stew), palm nut-banga soup (tomato-based meat soup), and red red (black-eyed pea and tomato stew). Opt for jollof rice with protein options like chicken, beef, fish, or tripe, and make sure to save room for puff-puff — a doughy fried dessert sprinkled with powdered sugar. Expect live jazz performances on Fridays.
Influence Restaurant and Lounge
Owner Alexi Anin, a native of Burkina Faso, recently opened this upscale Norcross restaurant which mixes African flavors with Caribbean and Latin American dishes. Locally sourced produce and other ingredients yield dishes like grilled prawns AfroPanama with vegetables, rice, and tostones in coconut milk, Caribbean mojo pork, and rabo encendido AfroCuban, a hearty braised oxtail served with yucca mash, sweet plantains, and asparagus. Order passion fruit pound cake or coconut flan for dessert. Cocktails, beer, and wine are also available.
Fufu Catering Kitchen and Grill
What began as a catering service, evolved into a food truck and then a restaurant serving flavorful Nigerian food with a smattering of Jamaican dishes for Caribbean flair. The menu rightfully skews toward traditional Nigerian dishes such as goat pepper soup, chicken pepper soup, meaty plates served with jollof rice and plantains, and amala (a swallow food dipped into soups and stews before eating). Mornings call for kickstarter breakfast plates like boiled yams with fish or egg sauce and ogi with moi moi, which is a fermented corn dish often sold locally on the streets in Atlanta, but now brought to you from this kitchen in Norcross.
Le Nouveau Maquis
Founded by a Togolese mother-daughter team, this Stone Mountain West African restaurant offers a homey vibe paired with equally homey dishes on the menu. Expect dishes like debee (grilled lamb) served with jollof rice or fried yams in a savory onion sauce, the jollof broken rice dish thieboudien served with a medley of fish and vegetables, stews like egusi, and chicken yassa cooked in mustard sauce.
Imperial Fez Mediterranean Restaurant & Lounge
Moroccan restaurant Imperial Fez relocated to Berkeley Lake in 2020 after 30 years in Buckhead. But people can still expect to enjoy the same food and festive atmosphere, which features belly dancing and hookah, at its new location in Gwinnett County. Sit on plush pillows while indulging in a five-course meal that includes appetizers, kebabs or fish dishes, and dessert. It begins with an old Moroccan custom of washing hands with warm water infused with fresh lemon juice and rose water. A full menu of a la carte dishes, including tajines, Moroccan couscous, and kebabs, is also available. Reservations highly encouraged.
