Abyssinia was another surprise find in the area. D discovered this place when heading to Walgreens and made a mention to me. It's been well over a year since I've had Ethiopian food so it was exciting to hear about this option less than ten minutes from our hotel. We stopped by to get a menu to review.
I checked out the menu and immediately zeroed in on their meat and veggie combo as well as a sambusa appetizer. We returned to the restaurant Thursday evening around 8pm to dine.
I will say it does seem to be an authentic restaurant since the majority of the patrons appeared to be of Ethiopian descent. We stood around for about a minute before a random patron sitting at a table (perhaps a family member) called out to a server to seat us.
She wound up being pleasant though providing average service. There was a separate server that gave us water. The water was warm which was disappointing.
We ordered tea and was disappointed to see a Lipton bag. D thought he tasted a hint of spice (similar to the tasty tea we had at Ethiopian Diamond in Chicago) but I didn't taste anything.
The sambusa appetizer was served dry, cold and pricey. We received two in total at $2.50 a pop. We also didn't get any extra plates to put our own individual sambusa on though since it was dry, there was no leakage to worry about. Some kind of dipping sauce would've made the dish slightly better. Meh so far.
The main event came in the form of a meat and veggie combo platter that we ordered. There looked to be three different varieties of lentils, spinach, cabbage/carrot dish, two varieties of beef, two varieties of lamb, cottage cheese, and a main chicken dish with an egg. We were given a basket of injerra bread that was served cold. The lentils were all cold. One of the beef dishes was raw (which I believe is their speciality). I did try beef tartare at a French bistro a long time back and wasn't a fan. I wasn't a fan of Abyssinia's rendition either. I also didn't care for the cottage cheese. The meat dishes were lukewarm overall though they had a nice spice. D found the spicing strong but his tolerance for spicy food isn't the greatest. I found it average. Eh (a step below meh...LOL).
With our hands being dirty from the food, it was disappointing to not get even a basic wipe packet. I wound up washing my hands at the Orleans.
I definitely need to make my way back to Ethiopian Diamond soon.