Well, we have thought of this place as hands down the best Ethiopian in the Portland area, and while we have been many times we've not brought any friends or family. Well, tonight we did and we were excited for it!
What an absolutely terrible experience. Firstly, we made a reservation a week ago so we could quickly get a table and our friends could get back home to the family timely. We arrived at 7, and no one was in the restaurant, so we obviously were seated immediately. At just after 7:30 the waiter came by to take our order - for the whole time no one was anywhere to be found. We finally got some waters about 15 minutes later, and around 8:20 our food arrived. We had a few items missing from what we ordered. Also, all the dishes were crammed into one single piece of injera and the item that wouldn't fit (kitfo) was in a bowl.
Anyone who doesn't like foods touching will understand an issue with this - every item was touching something else.
We had asked for two injera plates so when I mentioned it to the waiter and asked if he could bring another he said no we couldn't have that and that we were fine.
Still no beverages, and we asked again for them. We also had ordered a few other things that didn't arrive and followed up on them, including a few sides of Ayib which we especially wanted for our friends who haven't had Ethiopian food and might need it to cool the spiciness. Another 15-20 minutes later I checked on all the things, and was told we could only have one side of Ayib because that was "enough for us" and that the drinks were coming because the waiter had been busy.
This whole time, there is only one other table being occupied - a party of 2 - so a grand total of 6 people dining in the restaurant for the past nearly hour and 45 minutes.
So, the food overall was about as good as usual - not sure our friends enjoyed it given the spice and the fact that we couldn't get them the side of the cheese to cut the spice.
And the kicker - we were just about done eating - now over a full 2 hours later and I went to let the waiter know he could cancel our drinks... and he says no, I'm almost done making them. Can't make this stuff up!
So, here we are done eating and the drinks come. The beer and the coffee were beer and coffee - and yep it did take the entire time to crack open a beer - and the two cocktails - toxically strong and impossible to drink.
And that is how a five star review turns to what probably should be a one, if the food just wasn't so good.
Pieces of advice, though I'm pretty sure the restaurant won't see this:
- when a customer orders something, don't tell them they don't need it or they can't have it. If you're out, that's different (and you shouldn't be out of things on a weekend), if you're not, why are you turning away in this case probably another $30 bucks at least.
- if you have an empty restaurant, and someone shows up, pay attention and get them in and out
- if you have a restaurant that sells very spicy food, and you have an item that makes it less spicy for newbies, have it available to buy and don't gatekeep it
The best news - we have wanted to bring some friends here but this place's hours have been challenging with schedules. We no longer have to worry about that and can try one of the other places we've gone to and probably do dinner with them sooner. read more