I used to think the only Ethiopian restaurants in the US were in Adams-Morgan in Washington DC. Then I realized I was living down the street from the ones on Fairfax in LA. I’ve tried most of the Ethiopian places in San Diego — Red Sea, Harar, Asmara, Awash — generally I just drive around in that area until I find one I recognize.
This time I decided to try the Yelp favorite instead.
The restaurant is in a cute old house in North Park — not a lot of seating but a pleasant atmosphere, even some nice seating outside. The staff was very friendly and professional. Ethiopian menus are generally a mystery to me; I only know tibs, collard greens, and injera (and in DC they often don’t speak English anyway, so you have to order with sign language). This menu was equally indecipherable but at the same time very chi-chi.
We had half lamb, half veggies with a side of collard greens on injera. I had a Hakim Stout. Everything was tasty. The place felt a lot cleaner and newer than the others down on El Cajon/University, but it was also somewhat more expensive — dinner for two with one beer was $40, which seems very reasonable to me.
My dining buddy imagined it was double what we paid at the other place. He’s always broke and I always pay, so I’m not sure why he cares — but pretty much everywhere we go he thinks is “spendy.” He also hits on the waitresses, which I think is tacky, so there you go.
★★★★☆ (4.0) — North Park, San Diego