Abu Naji Restaurant

"My wife and I found this place on Instagram and decided to try it out for the first time. We walked in and were told that a lot of the food was sold out due to them being a mostly reservation-only style restaurant during the weekends. Yet, the server Abdul kindly sat us down at a table since we told him we were from out of town. We ordered the whole chicken mandi and the rib eye steak. We asked the steak to be cooked to medium but unfortunately it came out a little too well done. Nonetheless, the chicken mandi was amazing, I personally have never had it before and fell in love with the dish. The rice (not sure what exact style it’s called) was delicious with the chicken and I can not wait to go back soon. The only reason this restaurant is receiving a five star review is because of Abdul’s outstanding hospitality and service. Could not ask for a better experience. Thank you Abdul and everyone else part of the Abu Naji team!"

"My new favorite restaurant in Tampa! The food is absolutely delicious, we got the “fancy romancy” which is a special that you have to ask for because it isn’t on the menu. The bread is incredible with the honey drizzled over it - the chicken is soo flavorful and clean, and the lamb is so fresh and delicious melting off the bone. The spicy salsa is perfect to top it off with some salad. And the mint lemonade juice is delicious also. The service was so nice and friendly. The atmosphere is warm and smells so good. My family was so happy to have found this place - we will be regulars for sure!"

"Found this new Yemeni restaurant on my way back from Tampa. I saw they had an Instagram and the pics were great. I had to stop in myself. My friend and I sat in the traditional Yemeni style seating (majlis) which is on the floor. The whole restaurant is decorated so nicely, but the majlis was absolutely beautiful. It’s very uncommon to find this seating except overseas so this was so nice. Now the food: My friend doesn’t drink tea, but I got her hooked on the chai Adeni. It’s my fav and they make it good but you need to try their mint lemonade. I mean you need to try it! One of the best I’ve ever had. We ordered one of each chicken dish: mendi and madbi. I love mendi but WOW the madbi was really good. My friend is allergic to nuts so he gave it to us on the side and it’s mixed in with honey and it was so delicious on top of the rice. The sahawaq (spicy sauce) was so fresh and good. The salad was chopped nice and small and it was a perfect mix. We had a great time here and go to meet the chef who was so friendly and inviting. Staff was great and definitely did everything for us true Yemeni style. This will be my go to for every Tampa visit. I hope next time I get to come with a group group so that we could order that big plate of mixed meat and chicken. It looked amazing and it came with homemade bread. Definitely a restaurant business to support! Thank you my Yemeni friends."

"We had an amazing time at Abu Naji restaurant last night! The servers were so friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. They made sure we were happy and had everything we needed. We tried the steak, fried chicken, and lamb haneeth. The lamb was juicy and full of flavor, and the rice smelled delicious. The fried chicken was crispy on the outside and tender inside, and the steak was cooked just right, even though I wanted it a bit less done. The salsa that came with the combo was a hit too! We’ll definitely go back."