I ordered the vegetarian national Senegalese fish with pastels.. first time trying Senegalese cuisine.. loved it!! The spice, the caramelized onions and the pastels with the sauce.. wow!! Friendly and talented owner/chef.. So glad I stopped by.

The flavor of everything was perfect and the spice was just right. I had the Yassa Chicken and tried the Pastels. I enjoyed every bite. The staff was very friendly and attentive. I look forward to coming back with all my friends!

Ordered their Thiebou Djen Jolof (fish with rice) and chicken pastels and loved both dishes! The rice especially stood out as having a full flavor. Can't wait to go back and try more!

This restaurant is really a diamond in the rough. Great food, great service, and great hospitality. Local family-owned halal places are always great, and the owner cooks the food in water instead of oil, and does such in a way so that it is more healthy, all without sacrificing flavor. The owner cares about quality and is very friendly. Definitely a top recommendation if you have not tried Senegalese cuisine. I hope to have a meal there again soon! Salam.

We cannot say enough great things about the service and food. I learned about Badou through a Timeout Chicago article promoting different NYE restaurants to order from. The restaurant reviews were great and I was very interested in trying Senegalese food for the first time. After seeing I could order online, we placed an order for four items. Long story short, when we arrived to pick up the order this evening, the restaurant appeared closed. It turned out the 3rd party ordering system hadn't updated the restaurant's hours for the day and they were in fact closed, HOWEVER with the help of the small business owner next to the restaurant, they contacted the owners of the restaurant and then the owners of Badou said they would complete our order!!! What?! It was over and beyond! I was shocked and extremely appreciative, but I also shared with them it wasn't necessary if they were closed. They insisted they would make the food for us if we were okay waiting just 30 minutes. We waited 30 minutes with no problem and then they called when it was ready. I later learned they had a big catering job that evening/tonight and so was even more grateful and surprised that they were willing to fulfill our order. The food did NOT disappoint and was the perfect way to end 2021 and say hello to 2022! I will 100% be revisiting Badou, and will just make sure I call the restaurant in the future to confirm our online order came through. ALSO, the online ordering company they use is very helpful. The online ordering company was quick to respond when I emailed to see what happened with our order. They originally refunded our credit card, but once we received our food, I emailed them back to ensure that our credit card was recharged. I will also call tomorrow to make sure that the restaurant did in fact get paid for our food order. 5 stars all the way!

Takeaway: Strong flavors, perfectly cooked meat, and reasonable prices combine for an incredible dining experience Context: Dined in for dinner with a friend. I effectively have no experience with West African food and especially with Senegalese cuisine What I Got: Pataya (8.5/10) Perfectly flaky (and so hot) pastry dough filled with spiced chicken, tomatoes, and onions. The stand-out part of this dish, which reminds me a lot of an empanada, is just how great the crust / dough is. You can tell it was freshly baked (fried?) and that made a massive difference. The filling was also great - despite it being a more "wet" mix due to the tomatoes, it held up really well, likely due to it being freshly made. I would go back just to eat more of these. Diby Yaap (8.5/10) Spiced grilled lamb, onions, & carrots over saffron rice. Everything was basically seasoned perfectly here and want to call out the lamb specifically for also being just the right amount of tender. Saffron rice was great with the rice at an ideal texture - not too mushy and not too hard. This was the spiciest dish we got, but definitely not anything crazy. My only complaint is that I wish there was more of it! Jerk Chicken with Jollof Rice (7.5/10) Jerk chicken paired with jollof rice, plantains, cabbage, & carrots. My favorite part of this dish were the vegetables - the plantains, carrots, and especially the cabbage could be a standalone dish - as with everything else, perfectly seasoned and cooked. My main complaint, if you'd call it that, here was with the jerk chicken. Don't get me wrong, it was still great and cooked / seasoned well, but maybe pales a bit in comparison both to the other dishes I tried as well as some of the more dedicated Jamaican restaurants in town.

The pastels are incredible. They're made to order so they're really fresh when you eat them

The national dish and pastels were so amazing!!! I wasn’t sure what to expect but the food exceeded my expectations (and I can be pretty picky : ). Fresh fish and perfect blend of favors. Badou and his team also offer excellent customer service. I’m now a true fan and will definitely be back soon!

I go to so many restaurants but going here and meeting Badou and Paula has to be at the top of my list. Incredible food and incredible people! It was wonderful sampling the amazing dishes that Badou cooks up and getting to know him and Paula who are the kindest people around. Excited to come back to the Chicago area to say hi and to try more dishes!

Oh my Gosh. What a wonderful surprise. I went there not expecting anything fantastic to happen. Not good, not bad. Just expected to get a meal after a long, hard, day at work. Well Surpise, something fantastic did happen. The food was delicious. I have to put this on my list of places to revisit. I ordered Jerk Chicken and Jolaf Rice. The chicken was spiced just right and the rice was fresh (not that hard, bottom of the pot stuff. No this was a softer texture and was very flavorful). I'm sure they can bring spice flavors down if you don't like spicy. But check their menu. The have lots of flavorful looking dishes.

I have loved eating food made by friends from Senegal, so when I came to Chicago I made a point of stopping by Badou. I was not disappointed. (Well, I was disappointed that I could not order every single thing on the menu to try them all all). I had the Cebbu Guinnar which was delicious (including jollof rice--yum). The plantains were really wonderful-- some of the best I've had. And bissap was perfect for an unseasonably warm spring day. Badou was very kind and welcoming and I wished I could stay and chat, but I was on the go. I will definitely visit again and recommend highly for folks to try. If ordering online, make sure you call to confirm your order.

My wife and I just ate here at the Taste and WOW, phenomenal!! Incredible flavors, absolutely delicious. Cannot wait to coke check out the restaurant!

Great service. Excellent cuisine, I had the Jambalaya and it’s was very flavorful and well portioned. Went back today!!!!! Pepper soup!!! Great. Pastels, good. Bissap, amazing!!!!!!! Jerk chicken dinner, I’m speechless, I love this place.

I don't usually write reviews, but the dinner we had here was so good that I would've felt guilty if I hadn't written about this place. We ordered the Chicken Mafe, Diby Yaap, fatayas, and drinks. The Mafe was delicious, if you like peanut flavor. Well-spiced and balanced, and the rice was excellent- fluffy and properly cooked. The lamb in the Diby Yaap was tender, flavorful, and fresh. Rice was, again, excellent. Fatayas were delicious, rich and beefy but without being overly heavy or greasy, and the bissap was very good- complex, but a little too sweet for my palate. Portions were also generous. While we were waiting for our order, we watched 3 young men order 2 dishes to split between them. While the food was excellent, the service truly stole the show. The owners are incredibly warm and welcoming. Dining here felt more like eating dinner at a dear friend's house than eating out at a restaurant. Note that the restaurant is quite small, and seems better suited for parties of 1-4 rather than large brunch crowds. Also, do call well in advance for takeout orders, especially around dinnertime- it seems like there are only two people working at any given time and they were a little overwhelmed when we visited. Despite that, still an incredible restaurant. An easy 5 stars and an instant favorite. Delicious food, angelic owners. We will be back, after telling everyone we know about this spot!

There are a lot of mediocre restaurants in Chicago. This is not one of them. My cousin and I got the vegetarian pastels, the lamb, and the jollof rice with jerk chicken. We polished off every single one. Then we got the chocolate cake which was fantastic. The only thing I noticed is that it’s a little tough to see inside the restaurant from the street!

Favorite food in Chicago after 11 years in the City. The owner is the nicest man you'll meet, and cooks the best peanut butter curry you could dream of. Definitely get the Pastels and ginger juice!!

You MUST eat here! So delicious! The owners are really friendly and welcoming, told us all about the menu, and gave us great recommendations for our first time having Senegalese cuisine. Every dish was made with such care and packed with rich flavors. You must try the peanut stew with cassava! Such a special place and can’t wait to come back!

Paula was so kind to us! This was our first time and she recommended the dishes for us to try - everything was so tasty! The mafe was especially delicious

This place is amazing. Super welcoming and friendly owners and staff. We got the veggie balls and meat pastel to start. Wow. The fried dough of the pastel was insane. We also got the chicken and peas, jerk and jollof and the veggie national dish. Everyone loved theirs! I can speak to the chicken and peas - it was 1000% one of those craveable dishes that will follow you around for the rest of your life. Perfect mustard and wine based sauce, tender chicken and super savory jollof rice on the side. Damn. Highly recommend - we wanna try their whole menu! Oh, and the hibiscus drink was amazing! Get some to go and mix with some white wine and La croix - chefs kiss!

Absolutely amazing. Stumbled upon this place with my friend and ate in. We had veggie pastels, the national dish with fish filet (WOW best fish I’ve had in ages) and the mafe jerk chicken. Owners were super nice and hospitality was A+. Wish I lived closer because I’d be eating there all the time.

As two vegans, we were thrilled to see the sizable vegetarian/ vegan menu and were blown away by everything we ordered. It truly was difficult to put our forks and spoons down! We ordered delivery this time and can’t wait to visit in person.

Really delicious food with great fish options. The owner and hosts couldn’t have been more friendly and welcoming. We failed to designate our level of desired spiciness so they even cooked up some special hot sauce for me to accommodate my insane desire for spicy food. Very reasonable prices. It was a delight to eat there!

One of my favorite restaurants in the city! Extremely flavorful with lots of good vegetarian options (I especially like the mafe & yassa dishes). Reminds me a lot of places I used to eat at in the Château Rouge neighborhood of Paris.

Food tastes great!!! Reasonably priced and the hospitality is wonderful. Definitely was impressed and will be back. This was my first time eating African food I will be back and highly recommend this restaurant. My daughter loved the food as well.

Lovely ladies working- the food was incredible! Reasonably priced and just out of this world flavor!!!! Highly recommended!!!

Wow. This place was great! They recommended popular dishes for us and they were all unique and amazing. I encourage you to share and try everything!