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| - 3.5 stars.
Came here with some of my co-interns for dinner. I've had Ethiopian food a good number of times in various cities across the U.S., and it appears that Merkato is only one of several Ethiopian restaurants in Las Vegas. We picked this one due to its Yelp reviews and location (relatively close to work), as well as the fact that one of my co-interns thought Merkato sounded like meerkat and meerkats are cool (true story).
As soon as I walked inside, I noticed the intense smokiness (from burning incense). It was tolerable for me, and definitely transports you to another world, though I can see how it might be off-putting for some. There is also a small sitting area set up for the "coffee ceremony" (costs $20 per group according to the menu). I've never seen coffee ceremonies offered at any other Ethiopian restaurant, but it seems to be a thing in the Ethiopian places in Vegas, so maybe one of these days I'll shell out the money and participate in one. We got to peripherally experience a coffee ceremony during our meal since another party ordered it.
The interior is simple and the location of the restaurant overall is in a somewhat run-down plaza. The decorations were appropriate but not as comprehensive as some other Ethiopian places I've been to.
Service was okay. It took a while to flag servers down to place our orders and ask for our bill, but we were checked on occasionally and the servers were pretty friendly and smiley whenever they interacted with us (one server was noticeably friendlier than others).
As for the food, I thought it was quite good, though I've had better. The value is pretty great since most menu items were cheaper than I've seen at Ethiopian restaurants elsewhere, and the portions are fairly substantial. I ordered a veggie combo and dulet, and the veggie combo came with quite a few different items. Dulet (one of my favorite Ethiopian dishes) is not always on the menu at Ethiopian places, so I was ecstatic to see it on the menu here.
The number one reason for me docking half a star off my rating is that they tried to sell us all water bottles when we asked for water. They do have tap water but you have to ask specifically for tap water. In addition, when we paid for our check with credit card, they entered zero in for our tip and said we had to tip with cash since "they can't enter tip with chip cards." I eat out frequently and am fairly certain that is a false statement; I feel like they just wanted cash for tip for bookkeeping reasons and/or to minimize credit card merchant transaction fees. Nevertheless, they were willing to split our bill six ways, so I'll give them credit for that.
Overall, a solid Ethiopian restaurant, but I'll probably check out some of the ones closer to home the next time I'm in the mood for Ethiopian.
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