I was meeting with an uncle today from Taiwan, and I wanted to take him to a place he wouldn't find back home. I was only a touch concerned that he might be off-put by the exterior of the restaurant located in a seemingly half abandoned strip mall. Fortunately, Merkato pulled through for me with their incredible food.
In total, the entire group totaled 8 people. We ordered two of the vegetarian platters, 6 lentil sambosas, and chicken, fish, and lamb dishes(I believe the protein dishes were tibs). Though everything was good, the group favorite was the lamb. No protein was dry. Even the fish dish was perfectly cooked with a crust on the outside and moist on the inside. The vegetarians platter came out no more than 15min after ordering (so you know that not everything was ready made and just plopped on the platter. Then the proteins came out. The waitress squeezed the meats between the veggies on the injera platter. Lastly, came the basket of injera.
Now if only they would serve tej and mushroom shiro!
This will now be my go to Ethiopian restaurant in Las Vegas.