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| - Food: Tana offers standard Ethiopian cuisine, which is centered around an injera (spongy flat bread) topped with delicious items of your choosing, and the menu also offers multiple appetizers and soups to get you started. If you're a hungry vegetarian, its tough to get a healthier, better tasting meal in Pittsburgh, but there are plenty of meat options for carnivores as well. For our appetizer, we ordered the potato salad, which was a generous portion of potatoes covered in vinegar and spices, and we were't disappointed. It was delicious and enough to share. We followed with lentil soup, which came out piping hot, was more than we expected, and was also quite tasty. Fuller than we anticipated after the first two courses, we pushed forward toward the entrees. For the main course, there are two choices; an individual order of one of the menu items atop your injera along with two sides, or a sampler including smaller portions of multiple menu items. The sampler permits up to 5 choices and can include only vegetarian options or a combination of meat and vegetarian options. There are 9 total vegetarian options, so with each of us ordering the vegetarian sampler, we were able to taste all of them. Its not often that a restaurant bats 1.000 (even .500 would have been impressive), but all 9 of the items were fantastic. Some are cold, some are hot, but they are all so good it is difficult to recommend only one or even rank them. The sampler is definitely the way to go though, so that you can taste the plethora of flavors Tana has to offer, which span the spectrums of flavor and texture. The combination of vegetables and spices is not likely to be something you would have at home or anywhere else. You'll leave Tana full without feeling even remotely guilty about it.
Price: All appetizers and soups are $4.50 and individual menu items range from $12-15. The vegetarian sampler is $15 per person, and the meat sampler is $20 per person. We ordered one appetizer, two soups, two samplers, and two drinks, and paid under $70 with tip included. Plus, we had enough food left to bring some home. A sampler alone is a lot of food, so you can easily eat your fill for under $20 per person.
Drinks: Tana has a full service bar in addition to a small beer and wine list, which includes Ethiopian beers and honey wines (similar to mead). We tried the St. George, which according to our waiter was the "Yuengling of Ethiopia" (it was better than that).
Atmosphere: Tana is located on Baum Blvd. across from PNC Bank, somewhat isolated from the developing East Liberty area near Penn Circle. The dining room, which is up a flight of steps, is huge and offers tables of all sizes including some next to a window overlooking Baum Blvd. There is also a small bar with a large flat-screen television. You could enjoy a cocktail while waiting for your table, but it seems unlikely that you will have to wait. We went on a Saturday evening, and the dining room was nearly empty. We had no wait and our choice of table.
Service: Due to the lack of patrons, our waiter was able to almost exclusively focus on our table. He answered our questions and explained menu items, checked on us routinely, and filled our water often. He also asked if we liked the specific menu items he answered questions about or recommended. One suggestion for potential improvement would be to explain what the different items on the sampler were when it is delivered to the table. We had to figure out on our own which items were which, which may have made dinner more interesting. The owner/manager personally came to our table to ask if we had enjoyed our meal, and he was very personable and friendly. Tana is also open until 11PM on weekends, and they happily welcomed a couple that just arrived at 10:30.
(+): unique, healthy, great-tasting food, fair prices, good service, bar
(-): odd location
Would I go back again? Absolutely. It appears as if Tana needs some support, and it deserves it. Visit this restaurant before it disappears. Don't let the lack of buzz, location, or little-brother relationship to Pittsburgh's other Ethiopian restaurant fool you, Tana is the real deal.
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