I've been to Zeni a few times now, and it's definitely one of my favorite places for Ethiopian…read morefood. The food is delicious, with really good quality and flavor, and eating Ethiopian food is such a fun experience--especially sharing the dishes and eating together with your hands. The restaurant is also nicely decorated and has a warm, inviting atmosphere. I've tried Ethiopian restaurants in different parts of the Bay Area as well as in other parts of the country, and Zeni really stands out. The quality here is consistently excellent. I always look forward to coming back for Ethiopian food. Highly recommended!

The food and injera at Zeni Ethiopian are absolutely DELICIOUS! Highly recommend this place, the…read morefood is so tasty, the atmosphere is cute and cozy and the staff are some of the nicest people. I especially loved the ground beef and the lentils from our veggie and meat order. Everything was flavorful and the injera was heavenly. My friend and I were so caught up eating and chatting that we didn't realize they had actually been closed for almost half an hour! The staff were incredibly kind and courteous, they just continued cleaning around us without making us feel rushed or asking us to leave. That level of hospitality really stood out to me. I'll definitely be coming back.

Amazing good and service! I had the veggie combo and it was simply delicious! Will be coming back…read moreagain

we had the doro wot and meat combo the water tasted great…read moreand was in a aesthetic jug prefrozen and thawed a bit best Ethiopian restaurant in the city

Vegetarian platter and spiced tea were excellent, restaurant clean with attractive decor and booths…read moreas well as smaller tables.

Absolutely delicious and my new go to for Ethiopian food! I ordered the vegetarian medley / platter…read more(not sure what it was called exactly) & the meat combo, which was pork, beef, and chicken! Bursting with flavor and an incredible amount of food. I LOVED the vegetable combo, although I wish there was more lentils in there! The collard greens were delicious as well!!!! The meat combo was packed with flavor and truly soooo good with the injera! I am so coming back here and highly highly recommend Kategna to anyone who frequents or wants to try Ethiopian food! Delicious!! I ordered pick up, but I had the best customer service at Kategna picking up my order :) Thank you

Saturday around 7pm and there were 3 other parties but overall not too busy which was great because…read morethe food came out so quickly. We ordered the Ethiopian Feast that comes with six vegan dishes of our choosing. We chose the: - Shiro (chickpeas) - Atkilt (cabbage, carrots, potatoes) - Sigo (berbere and tomato sauce) - Misir Wot (red lentil) - Key Sir (beets) - Difin Misir (brown lentils) Everything was delicious but the stand outs for me were the Sigo and Key sir. The Sigo was so spicy but so rich and the beets were sweet, earthy and savory. I also really enjoyed the injera, it wasn't as sour as other places.

Good food and a casual ambiance, but the service was quite slow. Our dishes didn't arrive together,…read moreand by the time the last person got their food, the first person had already finished and packed up their leftovers. We weren't even a large party, so I'd keep this in mind if you're dining with a bigger group. Family-style dining might work better here, but individual orders can be challenging when dishes arrive so far apart. The salad could also have been fresher and better cleaned. On the positive side, all the cooked dishes we ordered were flavorful.

Great food and ambiance! Totally recommend. Will be returning! I loved the espresso and the…read moredeserts. I especially loved the banana bread sundae and the baklava!

Modern vibes with traditional touches characterize this cozy restaurant. First time experiencing…read moreEthiopian cuisine, so our party of 2 put ourselves in the capable hands of our friendly server Liya! She did *not* steer us wrong in suggesting the Ethiopian Spiced Tea (unsweetened black tea leaves brewed with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, served hot or iced) and the following combination platters-- Two Meat Stew Items: Doro (chicken drumstick) Key Wot Stew (mildly spiced, slow-cooked in red sauce with caramelized onions, garlic, ginger, cardamom, and berbere--spiced chili powder) Asa (white fish) Alicha Stew (non-spicy, slow-cooked mild sauce base with caramelized onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, jalapeño peppers, basil, and cumin) Four Vegetarian Sampler: Atakilt (cabbage, carrots, and potatoes sautéed with onions, turmeric, tomatoes, garlic, & ginger) Miser (red lentils) Key Wot Shiro (roasted chickpea flower simmered with basil and jalapeños) Key Wot Kik (split peas) Alicha

I was keen to try Mudai because they open a little earlier than other Ethiopian restaurants, and…read moreserve North African breakfast items like ful and scrambled eggs. I mean, what sounds better than Ethiopian breakfast? It's a little out of the way, in an industrial corner of downtown San Jose, but it's a sweet spot, worth seeking out. The place is charming. I like the open layout and the excellent service. There's a hangout kinda vibe. Soft, jazzy music makes it a relaxing space. I paired tomatoey scrambled eggs with a velvety, rich shiro hotpot, and brown injera, for a divine breakfast. On another occasion, I tried the veggie combo. The food is hot, wholesome, homey, fresh, tasty. Misir wot and shiro were my favorite dishes. Portions are ample. Food was served fast, which I appreciate.

3.5 stars. Delicious Ethiopian platter. This was shared between our party of 4. It also came with…read moreadditional injera (we also dug into the sauce soaked injera under the food, yum!). I think it would have been plenty even if we had one more adult. The restaurant space is clean, plenty of seating, and street parking was not too hard to find. Service could be a little more attentive, but I would say still worth the visit.

This is a little hole in the roll restaurant in a strip mall. It is clearly frequented by members…read moreof the Ethiopian community as a hangout. We were seated at a table in the corner. Our server identified that at least one of us was vegetarian. My wife had the vegetarian combo and I had a meat combo. In my case of meat combo consists of lamb, a chicken leg, and the dryish beef. As others had noted, it can take a little while to place your order. We enjoyed our food and look forward to coming back.

Teff Luck A…read morefamily-owned and run restaurant that's been serving up fresh, housemade Ethiopian cuisine for nearly twenty years in SJ's Westside. It's also been featured in the SF Chronicle's list of "Best Ethiopian Restaurants," which is a miracle unto itself since the Chronicle barely acknowledges anything outside of The City™. The Good: * Large shared parking lot * Outdoor dog-friendly seating * If you're sharing, make sure they plate it up family-style so everything is all on one plate. * Service was, well, serviceable. Not fantastic but not awful. * Injera was delicious and copious * Vegan, Vegetarian, and gluten-free friendly dishes * Great prices and large portions; we were able to get three meals out of two dishes and that's for less than $50! That's practically unheard of in this day and age. * If this is your first time eating Ethiopian--and if so, what took you so long??--then I recommend getting the veggie and meat samplers to get a true taste of Ethiopian cuisine. The Meh: * Their spicy isn't really that spicy. * They were out of Sambusas on our visit. I think they hadn't made them yet for the day as we were there pretty soon after opening. The Ugly: * The location is a little grungy and not an ideal date night location, but good enough for a casual lunch or suppah. Conclusion: We're blessed here in SJ with some fantastic Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurants and Selam is certainly one of the better ones. https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/best-ethiopian-restaurants-sf-bay-area/

Made a stop at this place after a long hiatus, and I would say the place looks a lot different than…read morethe deli-style place that I recall. I was not totally surprised by the change, and I have driven by multiple times, so I have seen the change from the outside. The interior looks like beautifully decorated bar that serves food. Service was pretty good and fast, and prices are still very reasonable. I had a quinoa plate with Jamaican Jerk and Red Curry. The quinoa was well-cooked without being too soggy or undercooked. For the Jamaican Jerk, the potato was not too soft, and the veggie cutlets were flavorful. For the Red Curry, the sweet potato, fried tofu, and bell pepper were well also.

This was my first time ever here at this bar and honestly, it was great!!…read more As my friend and I were leaving dinner, we walk home and I heard jazz music and I stopped to listen!! Somebody outside said we could come in and I realized it was a bar, but my friend and I were meeting up with some other people down the street first. The spot we went to meet them it was dead, so we actually walked back three blocks to good karma!! We were lucky that jazz band was still playing and apparently they play every Sunday from 7 PM through 9:30 PM!! They had a number of different beers on top as well as some bottled beers. I really want to come back and eat lunch here!! Sadly, they only had two red wines and no white wines. The red cab I had was tasty and worked fine for the evening, but mainly the live jazz band was my favorite part!! Great environment, good sound system, and amazing live jazz!! Not to mention the one bartender, a young lady who was running the whole joint by herself!! She kept everything clean and organized, and she was very patient with each customer that came up when they wanted to sample different beers! I will definitely be back!!

Loved the food, and the prices were from 10 years ago... $5.50 for a glass of red wine! wow. I had…read morea mild lamb dish and gomen wat - both were delicious! The spice was mild, as I had requested, but still very flavorful. generous portions, and lots of injera to accompany. The family was very friendly and the owner checked on us a few times. We are definitely going back to this lovely, family owned restaurant!

Very friendly service, tasty food, and generous portions. I've been to many of the other East…read moreAfrican restaurants in San Jose, and many have declined in quality, become much more expensive, or just closed. I'm happy to have found the Lunch Box!

The food here is absolutely delicious! The veggie combo…read moreplatter is very filling and so soft as well. I brought my dad here since he has a hard time biting so I wanted to find something that is soft and nutritious at the same time. He absolutely loves it and said this is exactly what he needs. Service is great! They came to checkin on us and were super friendly. Ambiance is nice. There are a few seats inside if you choose to dine in. But not as many. Defini a to go spot.

Homey local spot with great food ^_^ My bf is a huge fan of Ethiopian food. Exciting to find a spot…read morewhile we were out running errands in Fremont! Located in a small strip mall. Quiet and tidy. We were welcomed warmly and seated immediately on a Wednesday evening. The staff almost seemed surprised that we wanted to dine in, perhaps we were different than the average regulars ^^; VEGGIE COMBO PLATTER: My bf and I split this-- it's huge! My favorite was the red lentil stew. Their injera is less tart than other places I've been to-- I actually liked it more this way. ETHIOPIAN STYLE EGG: Delicious!! I've rarely met an egg dish I didn't like. This was my first time trying one Ethiopian-style. Savory and flavorful. Went great with the injera and salad. As we dined, the staff were very attentive, continually checking on us and our water. Great hospitality.