Places in Lagos| Cilantro -

Before I visited Cilantro, I had heard about the restaurant one too many times from friends and acquaintances. “Have you been to Cilantro? You should go and do a review. I think you will like it.” So here I was finally in Cilantro with my family for Iftar dinner during Ramadan.

Cilantro is located on Musa Yaradua Street in Victoria Island. It’s at the same spot where 7Square Restaurant used to be. However, it looks nothing like it. There are so many restaurants on that road; I wonder how the owners manage to keep their businesses going.

AMBIENCE
The restaurant occupies a huge space and has both indoor and outdoor seating. On a busy night, they’ll definitely sit over a hundred people. We had called earlier to make reservations and because there was a private party going on, we could only sit outside.

MENU
Cilantro’s menu is extensive and organized into twelve categories. Though it’s an Indian restaurant, there are options for people that aren’t into Indian cuisine which they refer to as “globally inspired” on the menu.

WHAT WE ORDERED
Whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, I always order the same thing. I’m a sucker for naan, and what goes best with naan? Curry! So it was natural that I chose those as my main. For starters, we ordered Italian Meatballs, Seafood Basket, Mutton Sukka and Chicken Pepper Fry. For mains, Dee ordered Grilled Lamb Chops, and Luki ordered the Surf n Turf. You all already know what I ordered, but I’ll tell you anyway; plain naan, butter naan, garlic naan and Butter Chicken Curry.

Italian Meatballs, Mutton Sukka and Chicken Pepper Fry

When the starters were served, we realized it was a lot of food. We all liked the meatballs, but it was weird not eating it with pasta. The Seafood Basket was also a hit. The Mutton Sukka and the Chicken Pepper Fry were basically stewed meats. We tackled our waiter that she should have told us because Dee and Luki wouldn’t have ordered their mains if they knew. For drinks, Dee and I had Mocktails while Luki tried the Sugarcane Juice. We also ordered soda water and regular water.

The naans and curry came first, and everyone dug in. We all ate my meal together before the other mains were served. Dee and Luki’s meals were served in a different fancy plate and were even covered until they got to them. So much paparazzi. I tried the steak and thought it was decent. Dee and Luki packed most of their food to go.

Butter Chicken curry, plain naan, garlic naan and butter naan

In the end, we all agreed that the highlight of the night was the seafood basket (not photographed), followed closely by the naans and curry.

SERVICE & CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
It had rained on the day we went, and the waiters were disorganized. We were moved twice, got irritated and wanted to leave at some point. Our assigned waitress was also slow. If her colleague didn’t jump in to support her in serving us, it’d have been a total disaster. I’m glad we stayed because we had a good time. The restaurant observed all Covid-19 safety protocols.

DAMAGE
Take away ~ 400
Soda Water ~ 600
Water (2) ~ 1,200
Naan (plain, butter, garlic) ~ 1,800
Sugarcane Juice ~ 2,500
Cilantro Memory ~ 3,000
Melon Cooler ~ 3,000
Chicken Pepper Fry ~ 4,000
Mutton Sukka ~ 4,000
Butter Chicken ~ 4,000
Italian Meatballs ~ 4,000
Seafood Basket ~ 8,000
Shisha ~ 8,000
Grilled Lamb Chops ~ 12,000
Surf and Turf ~ 18,000
The restaurant adds a VAT charges (7.5%), consumption tax of (5%) and service charge to all bills. So our total damage was N93,727.