How would you like to eat in a restaurant that spells African, continental and Chinese, oozes class, has a great view and is highly affordable all at the same time? Then welcome to Roots Umuahia – a subsidiary of Crunches Fried Chicken Ltd.
My first impression as I walked into the structure was that of astonishment. I didn’t realize something like that existed in Umuahia. Roots Restaurant and Cafe is about 2 years old as at the time of this publication having opened for business in 2016, but everything about their operation seemed to suggest they’ve been doing this for decades. The level of professionalism starting from the doormen to sales was amazing. But what caught my attention primarily was the way they represented African culture in their design. From their lights, fountain, decorations, art… Everything screamed African. A friend while going through the images of Roots said to me, “This is beautiful! Did they build a museum into their restaurant?”
As you enter the compound, there’s a DJ beside the entrance leading to the upper part of the building, playing soft tunes designed to make you feel relaxed. Once you enter the door, there’s a small ‘waiting corner’ with colorful sofas. The doormen neatly dressed in native attires are a very welcoming as well.
FACILITIES
Restaurant and Cafe boasts of a number of facilities to cater for the needs of their customers:
Restaurant 1
This is obviously what Roots is about. The ground floor has a very big hall their serves as the main dining room. It’s very spacious, and well decorated. It has just about every African meal you can think about.
Restaurant 2
There’s another dining hall on the first floor. It can house about a hundred persons and can easily be converted to an event venue.
Meeting Rooms
Roots has about 4 meeting rooms named after the Eastern states. Perfect for events of different sizes. Ranging from a 5 person capacity hall to over a 100-Person capacity hall all decorated with art works and beautiful lights. They are also very affordable.
To give me a feel of their cuisine, I was served a plate of Singaporean noodles. It was not like anything I had tasted before. It was one of their Asian cuisines, and it definitely had me wanting more. But I didn’t want to be hasty in my judgement so I decided to ask some customers I met there. Blossom has been a customer for 6 months and according to her, “I love how quiet and classy this place is. Their food is nice and their waitresses are very polite. You wouldn’t expect this place to be very affordable due to how expensive the structure looks, but the food here is very cheap.” I wanted to know the best dish she’d eaten at Roots Restaurant and without wasting time she said, “Ukwa, with fresh fish”, then she gave me a dreamy look that summarized how delicious the meal must be.
Temple was a first time customer, so I was eager to know his first impression. “When I came in, they greeted me well and opened the door for me which was really nice. The waitresses are neat especially the girl that served me, she’s very pretty.” He said smiling.
Roots has a large parking lot and the environment is spacious. Even though it’s secluded from the busy areas of the town, it’s also very easy to locate. Roots Restaurant and Cafe Umuahia can be found along BCA road, just opposite Vision Africa.
Personally, this is a place I would recommend to anyone if they’re looking for a a place that is more than just the usual restaurant.
My Rating: 8.5/10
Sincerely, thank you for reading.
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