355 Steakhouse & Lounge in Abuja offers a combination of Mexican and continental fine dining, in a unique and creative environment. In August 2015, the 355 Group launched its second location in the heart of Abuja. 355 Steakhouse & Lounge represents 355’s luxury brand while maintaining some key aspects of the original restaurant.
Similar to the layout at the Lagos location, the space consists of a restaurant on the first level, an outdoor cabana area, and two lounges on the second level. The restaurant offers a signature selection of quality steaks and also features a selection of continental dishes.
Another day, another new restaurant; this one comes to us from Lagos. A couple of weeks ago, a friend was describing to me this restaurant in Lagos that has really good and STRONG margaritas. He also mentioned that the restaurant would be coming to Abuja soon. To my surprise one day last week, I was playing around on Instagram and found out that that restaurant, 355 Restaurant & Lounge, was in Abuja already! Of course, I called up my friend and said we should have drinks there after work.
We got there and were ushered to the outside seating area, which is very relaxing and nice. The inside seating is fine dining. It looks very nice as well. After talking to our waiter wee discovered that it was their first day of doing business. The margarita I had heard a lot of noise about online was called “Wahalarita”(N2200), so we both ordered that and my friend got an order of chicken quesadilla (N2850). They have a pretty good list of other margarita flavors as well. Although I’m not a big fan of Mexican food, 355 prides themselves in their Mexican cuisine. I know a lot of friends that are happy about this place coming to Abuja, because there hasn’t been any sole Mexican place here (unless I haven’t found it yet).
There was nothing wahala-ish about my margarita, infact we had to ask for it to be a bit stronger. It was sweet and frozen, and a proper margarita though. The authentic margarita glass it came in, made me happy. I have a huge pet peeve about being served a drink in the wrong glass (is that weird?). I tried one of my friend’s quesadilla; it was ok but kind of dry. It came with guacamole and sour cream for dipping (or what looked like sour cream). Even with those, it was still bland. My friend said that the one in Lagos is a lot better, but perhaps with time, they will get to the yumminess of their Lagos branch. It’s a bit pricey, but considering the area and who their target audience may be, it makes sense. It would be great if they had happy hour specials though.
Customer service was good. The waiter and the bartender were pretty friendly and nice. I hope it stays like that even on busy days. The owner (I’m assuming), came by as we were leaving to check on how we liked our meal/drinks and he also mentioned they would be having their soft launch that Friday (last week). I love love love it when upper management/owners are welcoming and interact with customers outside of their friends. I know I will be back, if not to try out other margarita flavors, I saw they had a wine room so I will try out different wines. It’s a good place to hang with friends or le boo.