Lukmaan - Zanzibar

After a week of exploring Stone Town this is our favourite restaurant. Their upper deck is the place to enjoy a great meal and watch people, tourists and locals alike. My advice: Start on the ground floor. Ask one of the many friendly waiters (with amazing English to explain the dishes on the counter for you (and quote the price; no surprises and no cheating here! . Then make up your mind, you will find it hard to choose. May I suggest: order a number of dishes, and share. The bill will not break your bank. Instead you will leave full, satisfied, happy, and curious to explore more of the local cuisine in authentic places like this one.

Truly delicious! We tried to try a little bit of everything but there were soo many choices so that was hard. We had the best server who walked us around each station explaining what each dish/item was and then took our order right there. We went to sit in the upstairs area and our food ordered started arriving shortly after. We also got some juices which tasted great too.

Great local food offered through a wide range of dishes. A friendly waiter will meet you as you enter and find a table for you either upstairs or downstairs in this busy restaurant which has the appearance of being in institution for visitors and locals alike in Zanzibar. Your waiter will also show you the range of food available in the glass cases and barbecue which ranges from pillau, to ugali with range of soups, including spinach and okra, as well as fish, meat and typical local snacks such as samosas. The food is served in good quantity portions and tastes so very good that you 'll find yourself going back. The downside is the wild cats, that walk around looking for food and will 'meow ' at your table until you chase them away, or ask the waiter to do same. We saw one over excited cat actually scratch one customer and have been buying take away since please don 't let the cats put you off and try the restaurant, with take away if necessary.

Convenient location, great customer service lighting. Albeit, food is extremely mediocre. Plus, because they were running short on king prawns, they hiked the prices. Menu price is 10k but was charged 15k instead. Most of the items on the menu also not avail. I would not return. Useless place. Most of the positive reviews are from the Zanzibarians who have not been exposed to delicious food!

The politeness and quality of the service varies greatly. The drinks are nothing special, half the food is not available when going for dinner and the stuff that is available is almost cold when being served. The chips mayai was nice though, and since it’s being made to order it was warm and worth the price (considering it is not a food stall, but more restaurant-like. Prices are okay for stone town, but the experience overall is rather lacking.