The food was not too bad. I didn't really like my vegetables though. I got misir and shiro and they were both pretty bland, unlike the usually veggies in Ethiopian cuisine where there's a lot of flavor - maybe I will try others next time. The main thing about Ethiopian food is inerja and there was barely any in mine. I wish they gave more inerja. Every other Ethiopian food place I been to had plentiful. The chicken tibs were AMAZING. I love how soft, tender, and flavorful it was. Quite pricey compared to when it was food truck but not too bad of a price. Would consider coming back again if I'm ever craving Ethiopian food since it's close by. read more

Makina Cafe - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

Got catering from here and it's very delicious Ethiopian food! My favorites are probably the cabbage and the chicken :) Everything pairs well with the injera, a sour, spongy, fermented bread that is rolled up. It's definitely not for everyone, but I love sour things so I really enjoy it! read more

Everyone in our company enjoyed their chosen dishes. The food tastes amazing. The surroundings feel right. Their cooking is consistently good. Staff makes eye contact when speaking with you. This completes my feedback. read more

By far one of the most enjoyable food experiences I have had. Service was amazing and the 1920s 1930s retro ambiance was excellent. Highly recommend Berebere Spiced Prawns & Injera Bruschette as appetizers. The Koseret Tibs (lamb) was a great entree. My drink of choice was The Amiche, spicey and good! A+++ Can't wait to go back! read more

SO good! I had been craving Ethiopian food and I'm glad I was able to get some in Astoria. I ordered the doro wot (chicken). The stew was thick, oniony and full of flavor. I also had misir (spicy red lentils), which was warm and indulgent, and gomen (collard greens), which were fresh and delicious. The injera was perfect. Everything was warm, earthy, spicy, just oily enough, and so flavorful. It tasted great after sitting in a takeout box for 30 min and being reheated too. Even the next day's leftovers were soggy but still soooo yummy! Instructions for the Queens/LIC/Astoria location: order on their website, go to their listed address, arrive at a weird garage-like area, and there'll be a doorbell you can ring. They were very nice! I picked up my food on a weekend evening and it was easy. read more

Makina Cafe - Doro Wot, Side of Gomen, Side of Misir, Injera - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

HOW TO GET YOUR ORDER You order directly on their website and pay that way and it will give you a time estimate for pickup. Then when you walk up the location will be this industrial garage, you literally walk into the garage up to the double doors knock on them and wait. There are little windows on the doors so someone should see you. If the garage isn't open ring the doorbell. I tried going here the first time and got confused - didn't know what to do so I left! Glad we came back because the food was amazing so do yourself a service and try this place DORO WOT SIGA WOT Beef and chicken dishes that are meaty stews with a fragrant, nutty, salty and savory but not spicy flavor profile. Chicken comes as a drumstick on bone with egg. Highly recommend these the chicken was SO tender and the servings of beef were plentiful. Would have liked more chicken maybe though. The injera was nice and tasty but know they put it in the bowl so if you wait it might get soggy. CHICKEN TIBS Tender chicken pieces seasoned in Ethiopian spice mix and mild char. Yummy - kind of reminds me of a grilled nuggets sort of moment. We got almost all the sides and none of them were bad. Nice to get your veggies in - def recommend the red lentils, beet salad and cabbage. Juniper Lime Soda is this mildly floral but night limey sweet and bright soda The Turmeric Honey one is also good and I don't even like turmeric. The honey stops the aftertaste most people have a problem with. Please support this business they gave us great food and i can see how some people might be scared away by the ordering process! The lady inside was so sweet as well. read more

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Delicious! The doro wot and the sega wot were both spicy and flavorful. The portions were small but I am used to huge plates from Seattle. The injera also tasted a little older but the tibs were so good it made up for it. Order it from Door Dash and it came in a well packaged tin. So far this is the best Ethiopian food I have tried in NYC. read more

Tried this via food truck at Brooklyn night market and was so pleased with the food! I've been wanting to try Ethiopian food for a while now & finally decided to take the plunge. I got the injera w/ 3 veggies (I sadly don't remember the names). First, I want to say the service was so friendly! The young lady manning the orders deserves a raise, she was so bubbly and sweet. Now to the food: while everything was delicious, I love love loved the spicy lentil portion. As a vegetarian I'm always looking for unique flavors in my vegetables and this was it! It makes it so much easier to avoid meat when I have delicious options like this. Highly recommend for all my non-meat eaters! read more

Makina Cafe - I - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

Ordered the veggie bowl and it was pretty underwhelming. Each dish was drenched in salt - it was the only flavor I tasted. The sambusas on the other hand were very tasty. However, I wasn't expecting them to be mini-sambusas (tiny, bite-size) That should probably be advertised so people are aware. I most likely won't be ordering from here again. 2/5 stars. read more

Great food and friendly service! Excellent for catering large orders. The food is filling and vegetarian friendly.

Delicious and healthy vegetarian food, prepared quickly and served hot. Also I loved that the spicy lentils really did have a kick to them! Beets and cabbage were also delicious and the Injera had a nice fermented flavor. Went to the food truck at governors island and it's a perfect picnic food. read more

Makina Cafe - Vegetarian Bowl - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

Amira Amira................... Excellent! Quality in, Quality out. Super fresh and tasty. Thank You. read more

Tip: Online ordering only. My girlfriend though went there without knowing that and was able to easily fill out an order, and was ready in the next 15 minutes or so. This was delicious and such great value. For each 'bowl', you pick a protein and 2 veggie sides, along with injera or yellow rice. We got two bowls: the beef with green beans and turmeric/pickled cabbage, and chicken with lentils and split peas. Both the beef and chicken were delicious and tender, but the flavors were pretty different - I would get either again. The veggie sides were also all good, but I would rank them green beans, turmeric/pickled cabbage, lentils, then split peas. Both bases were a bit lacking - the yellow rice was not fully cooked in parts, so it was hard, while the sour taste of injera gets tiring for me quickly. We also got 2 beef sambusas, which was delicious. It has some sort of veggie/herb that brightens the flavor (basil?), and the outside is thicker and more fried than a samosa. We did heat it up in the toaster oven, which may have added to the crunchy texture. You also get a sauce each - we got the lemon/olive oil and a spicy/sweet ketchup-y sauce (kind of like Korean gochujang). read more

I'm really torn here. I picked up food from the kitchen in Queens and was blown away--everything was delicious! Beef tibs, lentils, collard greens... everything was top tier. And with hearty servings, so much, that I could make it two meals. Months later, I went to the food truck and ordered the same exact meal. But I was given the wrong side item, the portions were so tiny (literally 3 bite fulls of lentils), the beef was fatty, and the food was SO salty, almost unbearable. I spent nearly $20 and was still hungry! This company has such an amazing story, but I don't know that I could ever go back due to inconsistency. read more

I was super excited to try this place because everything sounded so good. I tried the chicken tibs bowl with the awaze (red sauce), red lentil stew and split pea soup. The red lentil stew was super yummy. While my food arrived a little cold, I have a feeling it all would have had a full flavor effect getting it in person (I got delivery from their food truck in Manhattan). So, next time for sure I'll be going in person to try their sambusas. read more

Makina Cafe - Chicken Tibs with Awaze, Miser, and split pea soup - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

I brought my fam here. it took them more than 30 minutes to serve us. I kept checking! when the food was ready, there was NO GRILLED CHEESE. I am not sure why they didn't tell me that when I ordered. The owner was sitting down enjoying his food and we were WAITING! I would NOT RECOMMEND THE PLACE! read more

a small ghost kitchen with super authentic food. the portion is huge but each side and meat is flavored really well. definitely left a good impression trying out Ethiopian food for the first time! read more

Makina Cafe - BEEF TIBS BOWL and CHICKEN TIBS BOWL - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

I tried Makina once about a year ago and remember it being amazing, but I never saw the truck again. I know that I ordered the chicken tibs and the makina sauce. I don't remember the sides but I know they were good Today I set out for vegetarian food (meatless Monday!) and was very happy to see Makina parked on 46th btwn 5th & 6th. I ordered the veggie platter and chose the spicy red lentil stew, cabbage and potatoes, and split pea stew. The red lentils were delicious. The highlight for me though is the makina sauce which is perfectly spiced and would probably be good on anything that you put it on. I definitely recommend giving them a try! read more

Makina Cafe - Rice topped with makina sauce and split peas, red lentil stew, cabbage & potatoes - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

Meh, underwhelming Ambiance + Service: I got take-out so I can't comment on these Food: I ordered the siga wot with 2 sides (tikel gomen and mushroom tibs). The latter two were very good but the main dish lacked meat and was mostly sauce which was a downer in spite of the nice flavor. Nice injera. Price: Would've been good value had there been more protein but as it was I felt disappointed. I don't think i'd go back as it left me feeling bummed out. Just wish there were other options nearby. read more

Delicious and flavorful Ethiopian food! I first discovered this food truck after the owner made an appearance on Munchies Youtube Channel, where she taught viewers how to properly make doro wat. I was impressed by the amount of work and dedication she had in making that dish and decided to head to their Queens location to try the real deal. And wow was it delicious. The freshness the beats and collard greens perfectly cuts through the sourness of the injera and of the slight spiciness of the doro wat. The chicken itself absolutely delicious. Since it was cooked bone-in, it retained most of its moisture during the cooking process, resulting in an extremely juicy and tender chicken. The flavorful, fragrant sauce also penetrated through the egg, making it absolutely irresistable. The injera itself also soaks up all of the remaining sauce so that none is wasted! Do be aware that the store itself is a bit difficult to find. The first time I went there was around 8PM in the evening. When I got to where their supposed location is on google maps, I spotted their food truck, but it looked like it had retired for the day. I was extremely confused since they weren't supposed to close for another hour, according to Google. Since I had come all this way and had been craving Ethiopian food, there was absolutely no way I was going to give up so soon, so I decided to walk around the street to see if perhaps there was another location nearby. 'Lo and behold, I spotted a garage that the food truck seemed to be operating out of. At first, there wasn't anyone there, but there was a Makina Cafe sign. I was a little confused, but I figured I was at the right place since the I saw a couple of delivery guys also standing in front of this unassuming garage, and soon, someone came out and walked me through the process of ordering. I was able to easily place my order online, and my food arrived quickly. read more

Makina Cafe - Doro Wot, Injera, Side of Chilled Beets, - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

Delicious, extremely friendly, extremely kind, would 100% recommend. Hit the governor's island location and we are happy happy happy :-) I know people who work at places like this must get asked so many of the same questions all day, but the guy working here answered everyone's questions with so much patience and treated each customer like the first of the day even though they've been open for hours read more

Makina Cafe - Injera with 3 veggies (green beans, lentils, and cabbage), sambusa on the side - all incredible - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

I ordered from Makina food truck on my lunch break on Friday. I'd never had Ethiopian food before but figured I'd be adventurous and give it a try. I ordered the chicken over the flatbread with Makina sauce and gomen and mushroom tibs as my sides. The chicken itself and the flatbread lacked flavor and the bread almost tasted stale to me. The gomen also was forgettable, and the mushrooms tibs, while tasty, were covered in grease. The meal made me sick to my stomach and nauseous for the rest of the day. I want to give Ethiopian cuisine another chance, but I won't be trying it from Makina read more

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I didn't realize how much I missed Ethiopian food, which is more ubiquitous in the DC area than in NYC, until I came across Makina. Ethiopian food is familiar to someone who grew up used to curries and stews, but the spices and injera bread make the cuisine distinct and delicious. Makina has a simple menu that starts with having to choose a base of either injera, yellow rice, or a regular bread, then you choose either a chicken or beef protein base, followed by choice of two veggies from five choices (spicy whole red lentil stew, split pea stew, string beans with carrots, cabbage, or collard greens), and finally a sauce (lemon and olive oil, a medium awaze, or hot makina karia sauce). I went with the beef tibs on injera bread with the two lentil veggies, and makina karia sauce and accompanied my meal with a lentil sabusa and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. The food is very nicely presented and the sabusa was absolutely perfect: flaky and very tasty with the accompanying sauce, which I used on my main meal as well. For $11, the value was excellent, and I am excited to try the chicken tibs and the other veggie items. I'm glad to see Makina in the fray and look forward to becoming a regular. read more

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Ridiculously great flavors all around. In all of the years that I have worked in the FiDi, I do not think I have EVER seen an African food cart/truck around, so when I saw Makina Café parked on Old Slip I didn't want to miss my one chance to finally try something different in the area. Serving food from the nation of Ethiopia, Makina Café really does hit the spot. Lots of colors in their food, tasty looking, but most importantly, DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS. I lined up at around 12pm on a Thursday afternoon, just when the lunch rush hour was picking up. There were a few people on line and it only grew from there after I hopped on. Like any righteously budget-conscious person, I first scanned the menu for the pricing associated with their food. Upon my first glance, I didn't see any pricing, but then in the middle of their menu I noticed that there were basically 3 protein options - chicken, beef or veggies, with the chicken and veggies being $10.50 and the beef being $11. OK, frankly, it was reasonable considering the absurd prices one can encounter when looking at menus in the FiDi. The menu at Makina was a step by step type of menu, which guided customers through what they could select as their ingredients, so no need to fret if you're not familiar with the cuisine. First step, the base, which can either be Injera or Yellow Rice. No disrespect to yellow rice, but if you're eating Ethiopian food, you must go with the customary Injera, a sourdough flatbread that is the cornerstone of Ethiopian food. You can sort of relate Injera to any type of bread, like naan, which can be used to mix with your sauces, meats, etc. Next, customers will pick their protein - chicken tibs, beef tibs or veggies. Third, pick 2 veggies from a group of 3. Lastly, add your sauce. Within each step, there aren't many choices actually, so chances are you won't be pulling your hair out trying to figure out what to order. For my order, I went with the Injera base, Chicken Tibs protein, Miser and Tikel Gomen veggies and Awaze sauce. Did I say everything was absolutely delicious? If so, I want to reiterate then how each and every item in my order was so flavorful. The Injera was nice and soft and easy to use to scoop up the chicken and veggies. The Chicken Tibs were quite tender and tasty. The first bite of the chicken actually caught me by surprise because it was so soft. The 2 veggies were the perfect combination. The Miser was a spicy lentil stew, which had a soft kick to it. Nothing that will burn your mouth, but enough to let you know there are definitely peppers mixed in. The Tikel Gomen was a mix of carrots, cabbage and potatoes, but I felt it was 99% cabbage and I really couldn't find the rest of the ingredients. To be honest, I didn't mind that it was all cabbage because it was light and still really good. However, if it was advertised as a mix of the 3 veggies, then I would have expected the others to show up. Besides that small gripe, I do wish the serving size was a bit bigger for my own selfishness. I thought everything was so good that when I was finished with it all, I was hurt. I was truly in need of and craving a lot more, especially the Injera. It's nice to see new carts, especially serving different cuisines, constantly show up in the FiDi on Old Slip. If Makina stayed for the long haul, there's no doubt in my mind Makina would thrive in the area, but I'm sure it's out conquering other neighborhoods with it's awesome food. Either way, I'm just glad Old Slip is one of its stops during the week. read more

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My favorite Ethopian place- albeit only take out/delivery. It's really good. So full of amazing flavors!

As someone who has only had Ethiopian food exclusively in LA ( Fairfax, IYKYK) this was a great first place to try in NYC. I ordered the Chicken Tibs meal. Everything tasted great. My only complaint is that the portions are a bit small for the sides & more injera needs to be given, whiteout having to buy extra, But I will definitely be back. read more

Makina Cafe - CHICKEN TIBS BOWL - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

I love Makina Cafe! I usually order from them once a month. My favorite is the chicken ribs, beef samosas and their collard greens! I highly recommend going to this spot! read more

A great way to try Ethiopian. I had the Injera with beef tibs, Tikel Gomen, Miser and Makina Sauce. May be because Makina is Jalapeno based, I really liked the sauce. They also had 2 cut peppers in the food and that was delicious. Of the 2 injeras in the plate, one was soaked and that was ... heavenly, for those who like the sauce. The one on top - I guess people try to make a burrito out of it, which is not the proper way of doing it. (Had to watch a Zagat video to learn it - https://youtu.be/_O-bfN1cYBo ) No wonder the soaked one tasted so good. (By pre-soaking it for us). The friendly person at the counter explained things for us as well. Lot of south Indians compare Injera to Dosa. There are similarities, but Injera is an unique product and excellently done here. read more

Really outstanding. I've ordered delivery a few times now and haven't been disappointed. My usual order is the siga wot and the misir along with fosolia. Always order an extra round of injera, you'll be glad you did. Delivery is always very fast, and the flavors are always on par with the best dine in Ethiopian restaurants I've had. Glad to have this so close. read more

Tried their vegetarian bowl from a food truck that was parked by Fort Greene park!! Base: sourdough - it's super airy and more sour 2 veggies: collard green, cabbage carrots potatoes and mushrooms Spicy awaze sauce . Everything was so flavorful and spicy!! Pretty solid deal and amount of food. read more

I ordered Makina catering for a birthday dinner on a Sunday. Eden was very responsive and helpful, and they agreed to help out, even though their kitchen is usually closed on Sundays. I doro wat, chicken tibs, beet salad, misir, shiro, basmati rice, and injera. On the night of the dinner, the food was ready for pick up on time, and Makina provided plenty of serving utensils. The portions were great, and the food was delicious! read more

I haven't had Ethiopian food in such a long time, so when I saw that I could get it delivered in my neighborhood - I was more than excited. Maybe my expectations were a little too elevated, because all that excitement deflated quickly as I took one bite after another of undercooked Ater Kit and Misir. How do I know they were undercooked? Split peas and lentils shouldn't be *that* toothsome of a bite. The cabbage and potatoes in the Tikel Gomen were also undercooked, crunchy cabbage is OK...but not crunchy potatoes. On top of that, everything was over-salted, so none of the beautiful spices that I typically associate with Ethiopian cuisine could be detected, battling the salt as they were. And...the injera was stale, crumbling apart as I tried to scoop up some of the lentils or split peas. I couldn't finish my food. This is not a one-star review because they delivered the food promptly...maybe they should have spent the time cooking it though? read more

Delicious! Not the easiest to find but it's next to Supreme Glass in LIC. Can't go wrong with any of their dishes. Minimum $50 for pickup at their LIC location read more

Makina Cafe - Outside of their LIC location next to Supreme Glass - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

So Happy I was able to try Ethiopian Cuisine at The World's Fare 4/29/18. Never have I had the opportunity to try Ethiopian Food so I was so excited to get my hands on a plate!! Thank you for making amazing food full of so much flavor Makina Cafe! The customer service at your booth was awesome! Everyone was so nice, happy to explain the dishes being offered, and most of all excited to be there! The Beef Tibs were out of this world! And the Injera was like nothing I have ever tasted before...I LOVED it!! Also the Gomen (collard greens) were cooked perfectly. I really enjoyed The Awaze sauce served with my plate! The prices were excellent! My first experience here was flawless! Next time I'm going to try the coffee served here! I will be checking out this truck next time I'm in NYC! read more

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An Ethiopian/Eritrean food truck! Finally! As an American whose parents hail from Eritrea and Ethiopia, we are always looking for the newest, most delicious restaurant. While Makina Cafe has been around for a couple of years, I've never been able to get to the food truck. Cut to the pandemic - it's now possible to get delivery from restaurants that don't traditional offer this service. My sister sent over a huge order, basically everything on the menu, for my birthday. The lentil sambusa are the best I've had. No competition. The sambusa come with a wonderful awaze sauce that has a bit of a kick to it. My favorite disk was the sega wot. My husband enjoyed all the vegetarian options. Order it while you can and when things get back to normal, follow @makinacafe on IG to see where the truck will be! read more

Makina Cafe - Vegetarian dishes - Gomen, shiro, Ater kik, tikel gomen, misir. - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York

My husband raves about this truck in midtown, so when we heard they were doing multi-borough delivery, we placed an order for dinner last night. I have never tried Ethiopian food, so I was really blown away with how good Makina was. Here's what we ordered: - Lentil sambusas: sooo good and I loved the spicy red sauce. - Sega wot (special): slow cooked beef stew, this was my favorite. - Misir: lentil stew, more subtle flavors. - Makina: acidic spicy green sauce, kind of reminded me of salsa verde. - Chicken tibs: good chicken cubes, but nothing special. - Injera: light and airy sponge bread you need to soak up all the complex stews and sauces. Everything had the perfect amount of spice and I hope I can try Makina again soon. read more

Went over to Makina food truck at the DUMBO Food Truck Lot since they had some of the best deals. ~$10 nets you a protein with two sides. I did the beef tibs with collard greens and tikel gomen (cabbage, carrots, potatoes). I chose the indera (sourdough wrap as my base). The bread was actually plenty sour (more so than sourdough bread since it's so airy). The beef portions were pretty generous. The sides weren't that great, however. They were just... kinda there. Would definitely come back just for the deals! read more

Holy Makina! I have been trying to find this truck for months. Low and behold, it was parked on Water and Old Slip, a 15 minute walk from my office, so I decided to make the trek down for lunch. Best decision I could have made. There were a couple of people in front of me who received their orders as I was arriving. I stepped up to the window and asked the woman manning the cash register what she recommended. She suggest beef tibs with inerja, lentils, yellow cabbage and spicy makina sauce. She did not lead me astray! Food cost $10.50 and came out quickly. And at first bite was an explosion of the tastebuds. For some reason, I thought the makina sauce would be red. It was actually green, and it was spicy. I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't an overwhelming amount of injera too. There was just the right amount to dip in the red lentils - the perfect bite. I would seriously be here a few times a week if the truck would park here more often. read more

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I did like this place, but I feel like it's food you kind of have to get when you're really hungry, otherwise you won't enjoy it. But I did like it, the Injera (spongey sourdough flatbread) was actually good, especially dipped in Ater (split pea stew). Definitely save this place for more adventurous eaters but overall it was nice to try something new. read more

SO GOOD! My first time having any sort of African food. They are a gem. I experienced them on Governer's Island. I can't wait to come back for more! read more

Makina Cafe - Yellow Rice Lentil Sambusa Gomen Tikel Gomen - Ethiopian Near Me - Long Island City, New York