As a long time customer of Mesob, it pains me to leave this review but I'm hoping the owner sees it and makes changes Let's start with the good stuff: food here is amazing! Get the mitmita spice to add more spice if you like Now the issue is that ever since they had the flooding and we're closed for a few months, it seems like they are looking to recoup some losses. They are nickel and diming everything. First: Prices have gone up which is expected given inflation but the issue is that portion size has gone down to the point that a 'main dish' of Shiro is the same portion as a side. They used to bring this in a bowl but now claim that they can't do it because of Covid (makes no sense) Second: They require a minimum dish per person. For a cuisine that's designed to be shared, I don't get this rule Third: You are no longer allowed to bring food for kids. We love Ethiopian but our 3 year old doesn't. The restaurant will make pasta for the kids but you can imagine how Italian food will taste in an Ethiopian restaurant At the end of it, you'll end up spending $30-$40 per person which is lot for what you get. My advice to the owner: Please get the portion sizes back to what they were. Main dishes belong in the same bowl they used to read more

I met a friend here for dinner a few weeks back after we decided to try something different. A cute, warm place on the Bloomfield Ave strip and my friend and I were quickly seated. Menu is HUGE and we opted to go for the meat combo for 2 which comes with 5 meats (pre-selected) and 4 vegetable options you choose and share. This gave a good variety of foods. All for $46. It was great to try the different flavors and of course eat with your hands. My big compliant was that the service was very hit/miss. We had eaten most of our dish and were out of injera (the brad) ...and didn't get a refill on the injera until we were about to pay. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Combo plate - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

The food tastes good. We ordered the taste of Ethiopia for 3 that included many meats and 4 vegetables. The food is overpriced for what you get. This is not a place I'd be eager to return to read more

Excellent vegan options. Consistently delicious, friendly service. This is some of the best food we have in Essex County. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Veggie platter for 2 - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

The service was great. The food is very good. You share food in a lathe plate like most Ethiopian restaurants. We were impressed by the food. Bring a bottle of wine to have with your food. read more

Ethiopian food was quite a unique experience for a first timer! My party of six including myself got Starter Sampler with injera, the flat bread with a bit of sour taste and chewy texture and a meat sampler. Our Starter Sampler came with Teemateem Fitfit - a tomato dish, Ingudai Tais - portabello mushrooms, Azeefa - brown lentils, and farmer's cheese with chili powder. The tomato dish was our favorite! It was served cold with jalapenos, onions, garlic, and olive oil. Meat Sampler comes with five meats which includes Doro Tibs, Tibs Wet (Beef), Minchet Abish Kay Wet (Beef), Minchet Abish Alicha (Beef), and Ye'Beg Alicha (Lamb). My favorite was the Doro Tibs which is a stewed chicken dish with tomato, garlic, onion, and spices! I loved the rosemary aroma. I enjoyed the spices and herbs that were used in each dish! Mango and Guava juice were fresh and delicious! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Meat & Vegetable Samplers - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

This place serves the best veggie sampler(platter). I have eaten at a lot of Ethiopian restaurants across the country but most certainly this was the best Ethiopian place I've ever eaten in. Highly recommend this place! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Veggie platter - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

I have been meaning to come here for years and it was well worth it! The restaurant is clean and provide a cozy, authentic atmosphere. Everything is made fresh to order, and each is also perfectly flavored and pairs well with each other (probably the best chili powder I ever had). Lastly, service is excellent, with your server making sure you are taken care of, and being very observant. I'd gladly come here again, and it's well worth the price. read more

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The food is amazing. I have come here over and over again. Even if you haven't had Ethiopian food before, you will love it. Highly seasoned but not hot unless you ask for it that way! Absolutely yummy. Good for vegans and vegetarians and meat eaters alike. read more

Unique experience - had never tried Ethiopian cuisine. It was good. The bread comes out in little rolls that remind me of rolled up ace bandages. The texture and taste was truly unique and these little rolls serve as your utensils for the evening - you tear, pinch your food in the bread and eat! The mushrooms appetizer (forgive me - I'm not going to remember the actual names of the dishes), with the spice dialed up, was excellent. The meat sampler for four was great in that you experience many different flavors (also recommend dialing up the heat to "spicy"). Only bummer was the temperature inside - the restaurant was very warm and we were basically sweating by the time we left around 9:45pm. Place was packed! Service fast and friendly for our party of 8. BYOB is great too so go experience Mesob for something a little different than Indian or Thai. read more

Excellent ambiance, service and food! I would highly recommend the place for an Ethiopian experience.

My wife and I have dined at Mesob fairly regularly since moving to this area about five years ago. It is a wonderful restaurant. The servers are warm and attentive. The food is delicious. Montclair is very lucky to have this dining establishment. read more

The ambiance of the place is friendly romantic. Not a bad spot for a first date. I had never been to an Ethiopian restaurant before and did make a point to look up any do's or don't. Glad I did, as my date (whom suggested the place) didn't realize the no utensils or how to eat your food with the side bread. The place is very vegetarian friendly which was nice for my date. The sizes of all the dishes are very big, so I really do suggest ordering down. We didn't need 2 entrees and an appetizer. We barely made a dent in all of it. He really loved all the choices we made. I thought the food was good, but not great. Personally I found a lot of the flavoring to be a little bland. We tried this cottage cheese type of appetizer. I don't actually remember any of the names of the dishes. In our entrée, we had collared greens, mushroom, couscous, and 2 types of potatoes. The mushrooms were the fav. The place is byob and it's Montclair so parking can be difficult. They had 6 birthdays singing moments, so yea...there was that. Overall a very nice time, but I just wasn't impressed with the flavors. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

The menu has something to please every palate. I've tried many of their offerings and enjoyed each one, though the indugai tibs and buticha are by far my favorites. While you can certainly ask for cutlery, it's best to enjoy your Mesob meal the Ethiopian way, by using warm and tangy injera to scoop up whatever it is you've ordered. The service is friendly to all, little ones included. Even though the restaurant is on the fancier side, I always feel comfortable bringing my kids along (and they love the food!!). Enjoy!! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

I'm regularly craving Ethiopian food. Ok, well always. I'm not Habisha but often mistaken for it and would eat Ethiopian food daily if I could, like I did in Atlanta. Alas, I cannot. So last night's hankering had me drive a good ways distance to Mesob for takeout. They were flooded during the bad storm or Hurricane Ida and haven't been open for dine-in since then... just take out. Ordered many plates, two samplers, kitfo and some other entrees. We ordered 4 orders of gomen and the food came with two. Some other aspects of the to-go order were also wrong, but by the time we got home, I surely was not going to drive back that far far distance again to get it fixed. Food was OKAY. The miser and shiro were very greasy with a huge layer of grease atop the food. The kitfo just tasted like ground beef or mince meat not the normal seasoned cut or taste of kitfo. The gomen was watery and soupy/wet. It was OK but would not go out of my way to drive the great distance that I did again. If in the neighborhood and when they reopen for in house dining would definitely be back to try the food fresh out the kitchen. Sending best wishes and thoughts for a speedy reopening and all the best to the Mesob family and other restaurants in the N Jersey area impacted by the storms. read more

One of my favorite restaurants. Wish it were closer to my house, I would go more often. My typical order is the Tibs Wat which is cube beef in a unique spice sauce. All main dishes come with two sides. The Kik Aletcha and Miser Wat are my favorites. If there with a group, the food is placed on a large plate with Injera, a porous flat doughie bread. Additional injera is provided so you can eat the traditional way, by using the injera to pinch or scoop up your meal and eat with your fingers. Utensils are provided only upon request. A great dining experience! read more

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I ordered (I believe) the Gomen Be'Siga (cubed lamb mixed with fresh collard greens & simmered in a mild sauce seasoned with spices and herbs). It was one of the best dishes I've eaten, having had several before this. Cannot recommend them enough. Though a little expensive, they are one of the only Ethiopian restaurants in the area (or, the closest one to me), and consistently delicious. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Gomen Be'siga - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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They are ridiculously delicious sorry that's all I got! Yada YADA YADA YADA yadda YASSSSS read more

Food was so flavorful and fresh. And i only got vegetarian dishes so imagine what the meat tastes like!! Plus it's BYOB! A must go!

Very very cool experience with my good friend! She recommended this place and I had to try. Located in beautiful Montclair, very earthy spot. ~ if you are not open to eating with your hands, this restaurant may not be the place for you. It was a little difficult for our waitress to explain how it works, but you pretty much order an entree and two vegetable sides that will be poured onto this huge crepe! You then scoop up your lunch/ dinner with pieces of this crepe that you can either tear off or use the additional ones given to you. The chicken had so much flavor and it was juicy. The only little downfall is that your fingers kinda smell throughout the rest of the day. :) Ambiance was warm and Ethiopian decorated. Felt really nice trying something different. read more

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Absolutely wonderful experience. The ambiance was fantastic. And it was the best Ethiopian food I have had. Delicious and good portions. Plenty of vegetarian options. read more

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Let's call this review "The Dinner That Never Happened!" I had this placed book marked as a place I wanted to try, so when a friend called me for an extremely Belated Birthday Dinner I thought here's a great opportunity for me to check it out. Well we set out, didn't know reservations were required but we were seated anyway with coldness from the hostess with the personality of a wet noodle. The place had very few customers on this beautiful Saturday afternoon at approximately 5:30. Once we were seated we watched waitresses pass us by. The young man who brought us water was cold as well, I spoke nicely but did not receive an acknowledgment or any type of greeting. I agreed to give it 3 more minutes to be acknowledged but when another worker passed us by my friend said that's it! Let go; with 1 minute left of that 3 addition wait time we were out the door, infuriated, starving and now in search of a place to eat I gave this place 1 star based on a poor customer experience. Oh how I looked so forward to this dinner that will never happen. If I visit your establishment and you can't at least be cordial, then you don't deserve my money or patronage. So this was dinner that never and probably never will happen. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

I love ethiopian food in general, so I'm biased, but my now boyfriend of 18 months took me here on our second date pre COVID, and we're still together now. We got veggie and meat plates and everything was delicious. The injera tasted fresh, not sure if made in house or not, but certainly tasted like it, and all the various stews were great. I can't say the atmosphere was fully romantic, but it was for us, and the service was fantastic. read more

Great ambiance and good food. The staff was very friendly and allowed us to take our time trying out the food. They even helped set up a bday surprise for us! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Doro tibs - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

This place is fantastic. The staff is super friendly and authentic, the ambiance is super cozy and chill, and the food is so tasty. I could not keep myself from overeating, which is a bad habit, I know. Even my uncle, who is a devout meat eater, tried the mushrooms and absolutely loved them. By the time we were done with our meal, and bottle of wine, I ordered some mint tea and it was the perfect ending to the meal. Though I ate a lot I did not feel overly full. It seemed like this is a family operated so come support! I guarantee you will be satisfied. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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Good option to introduce yourself to a new cuisine. The meal options are traditional and somewhat lack a little flavors but are overall pretty decent. The service was super slow and abrupt. We knew the place was busy but we kept getting rushed through the courses. Didn't get to enjoy the food and company to catch up with friends. Perhaps Bette during slow traffic hours. read more

I've never had Ethiopian food so I wasn't sure what to expect coming in, but I was definitely excited. The location is great--situated in beautiful Montclair where there are numerous shops to explore in the area. I would recommend making a reservation then arriving an hour or so early to walk around and build up an appetite. When you walk in the restaurant you're greeted with a very welcoming atmosphere. Decorations depicting Ethiopian culture, large wooden tables, and very friendly staff. It was spacious but intimate, lively but not too loud. The menu was expansive, most of it completely new to me. I was with my family, five people total, so we decided to share everything. We started off with some appetizers (unfortunately I can't recall what we ordered without the full menu in front of me). One was a type of cheese with some spices, and the other was similar to a samosa. The cheese came with injera, a thin bread-like food that you use to scoop up the other food. It was a great combination! The other appetizer was delicious as well. For the main meal, we ordered an option that allowed us to choose one or two options from categories such as vegetable, beef, lamb, chicken, seafood, and sides. These all came on a giant plate with a ton of injera. It was all so good! The dining experience was so intimate as you ate from the same plate as your family members. We all got to try a bit of everything and mix the food up however we liked. And the food was also surprisingly filling--the dish was meant for four people but it was more than enough to satisfy us as we even had some leftover to take home! This meal was definitely one of the most unique I've had in a while. I'm so glad I finally got to try Ethiopian cuisine and I know I'll be back for more! My only complaint was that sometimes we had to ask the servers for things more than once, but nevertheless they were very friendly and patient despite our lack of experience with this type of food. Definitely would recommend this place, especially for a large group! read more

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If you are looking for a true Ethiopian experience this is far from it! As an American Ethiopian I was highly disappointed. No flavor in site, not fresh tasting and for this price a trip to my kitchen would have saved so much money. From the first bite you could tell this food had been made days prior and simply warmed up. The Doro Tibs even tasted as if the chicken came from a can. With such a staff I would have expected so much more in receiving some sort of Ethiopian flavor and spice. Even seeing the Grandma come from the kitchen gave me a bit of hope that it would taste amazing. Sadly I was highly disappointed. I hope with such a critique coming from one of the cultural,changes are made to accommodate and not completely loose the cultural taste that holds true to our roots. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Pricing& proof - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

Mesob was on our list for a long time. Drove here from over an hour away once we learned they'd reopened with outdoor dining. I want to support small local businesses in these difficult times, but I am sorry to say the food was very disappointing. We usually love ayib be mitmita (fresh cottage cheese mixed with hot red pepper). Mesob's version has a hefty price tag of $10 and comes sprinkled with a few specks of red chili powder on top. We were left mostly eating a bowl of plain, unseasoned ayib. What a rip-off. Also, the portions we got for one meat sampler and one vegetable sampler were extremely meager for the price (around $25 each). They didn't even include a customary basic house salad. The rest of the food wasn't great either. The pieces of beef in the tibs wot were somewhat hard and the chicken in the doro tibs was rather dry. Worst was the shimbra asa: the chickpea dumplings had a very off-putting, distinctly stale taste. Did they have them lying around from before the pandemic or something? This is absolutely not how shimbra asa is supposed to taste. Try Dashen in New Brunswick to compare. So sad since very few Ethiopian restaurants even serve shimbra asa; I was really looking forward to having it, but ironically couldn't even finish it. They charged us extra to include it in the sampler too. Came here with high expectations because we love Ethiopian food and Mesob has been around for so many years. But the food here was quite mediocre and way overpriced for what it is. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Vegetarian Sampler - Dinich Wat, Shiro, Misir Wat, Ye'shimbra Assa Wat, Tikil Gomen, Atkilt Aletcha - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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My favorite restaurant in Montclair, I'm fairly new to town and have only eaten here twice but MAN so delicious. Highly recommend!!

Absolutely delicious! This was our first experience with Ethiopian food and we loved it. Meson is byob with a liquor store right next door. The staff here was very friendly and very helpful in picking out our meal. We did the vegetarian platter which is about $24 and allows you to get 6 different vegetables. We chose: ingudaitibs, dinich wet, shiro, ye'shimbra asa, difen misir alicha and buticha. The entire selection came recommended to us by our waiter and each of the entrees were delicious. My favorite was shiro, and ye'shimbra and my must have is the buticha. The meal was served with plenty of injera to eat with. Definitely a great experience trying a new cuisine. We'll be back for sure! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

Fun place to have something out of the ordinary. A bit bland though. Ordered the variety plate to try a bunch of stuff and nothing was bad, but the variety wasnt very various. It was alot of the same flavor over and over read more

Came here on a whim with a friend. I never really tired Ethiopian food so I was interested in trying it but also a bit skeptical. We went the day after thanksgiving and it was practically empty so we got a table but since we knew it was BYOB we stopped at the liquor store 2 doors down to get some Ethiopian wine. My friend had tried it before and said it was really good especially with the food so I was down for it. We ordered the Gomen be'siga which is lamb mixed with collard greens. We asked the waitress for side recommendations and she told us to get the lentils and the potato and cabbage. We shared this plate but it's meant for 1 person. The lamb was so tender and yummy. The lentils had the right amount of kick and the potatoes and cabbage were very tasty. The vibe in there is very serene and chill. People talking low and enjoying their proper space with semi dim lighting. Unlike most restaurants I've been to, they still have dividers up between most tables. Will definitely go again and recommend! read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Gomen Be'siga - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

Great food . I really liked injera bread . It has similar spices as Indian food . I will be coming back again . Hostess is nice and explained everything read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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This will be the second time I've eaten at an Ethiopian resturant and the last did not impress. Sadly neither did this. I don't care much for the injera which is a big problem because you eat a lot of it. Nothing about the food really grabs me and nothing about it is spicy like indian cuisine, which has similar fare. In fact the food taste to me kinda bland. Also this silly rule of being required to have an entree per person I didn't really like. I get that they're trying ensure they get their money but you don't have to be rude about it, and tell us no sharing is allowed or we'll be charged twice. Which brings me to the service. I think perhaps there may have been a language barrier because for like 5 minutes the waitress is trying explain that in order to redeem our free appetizer we must order something and we cannot order a single entree. The problem is she was telling us in the most backward way beginning with you can't get the free app, we ask why, she says you must order entree...and so on. Also after she actually took our orders another server comes over to begin and we tell him our order has been taken. What did I have? The Miser wat and dinch wat (since you must have 2). Neither were particularly great to me. The other reviews may be high but I'd say this is just a great place as an cheap alternative to a buffet where you can byob since most of the tables had 4 or more people here, but I fail to see the big deal here. read more

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My first time trying Ethiopian food. I am gluten free and enjoyed everything. You have to call in advance to make sure they can prepare the injera/have enough. Everything was seasoned to perfection and the service was excellent. It was a pleasure meeting the owner briefly too, who was very warm and genuine. Also want to say the atmosphere was very clean and beautifully decorated. Can't wait to go back! read more

It's not often I get a chance to eat Ethiopian food so I'm not sure how much merit my review has but overall I enjoyed it. The bread even alone was delicious, but warning that in a couple hours it will billow out from time and other liquids you might ingest. The free appetizer on yelp was an awesome bonus. We got the Ingudai Tips-portobello mushrooms-spicy and boy were they spicy..and a bit oily. The Doro Aletcha-mild chicken drumstick-entree was delicious and I absolutely recommend!!! The flavor had amazing flavor! As for the sides, the Gomen-collard greens-and the kik aletcha were my favorite because of the texture. I felt like the shiro and the others were a little too mushy for me. You can absolutely ask for more injeb and of course it's BYOB. Service was laid back giving me and my friend lots of time to catch up with little pressure. read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Free portabello app through yelp - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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his was equivalant to an Olive Garden of Ethiopian food.. and that's being gracious. I have had authentic Ethiopian food many times in my life from all over.. I have had Ethiopian roommates that would cook at home for us and we would go to the all the community festivals and great restaurants. it's one of my favorite go to foods. And I have to say this was by far the worst I have ever had. Parts of it didn't even taste anywhere close to some of the dishes. The flavors were so watered down that the impactful seasoning and spices that are suppose to come thru in these dishes failed miserably here. I ordered a basic doro tibs (which you can't mess up that dish) and it barely had any of the Ethiopian flavors. tasted like a western lemon chicken dish with tomatoes and onions with a dash of adobo seasoning and maybe a hint of berbere. even the color of the dish didn't look like doro tibs. I had no idea what that was. My favorite dish Kitfo (steak tar tar) which is mixed with seasoning and the seasoned oil is so flavorful.. well this looked like some red paste that barely had any flavor to it. the most bland kitfo i have ever eaten that we coudn't even finish eating it. I have no idea how this place gets 4.6 star. People who think this was is outstanding have never had the pleasure of really knowing what real Ethiopian food tastes like. My friend and i were starving, waited all day for this meal.. and we ended up not finishing it all. I would compare this to the Olive Garden of Ethiopian food if that and that is being nice read more

The meat sampler was awesome, when the 4 veggie sides. This place continues to be one of my faves. The owners are warm & the experience is authentic. Give it a try, grab a bottle of wine next door & I doubt it'll disappoint read more

Mesobrestaurant.Com - Ethiopian Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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I love the food, but hate the service. Since my first time here, the service gets worse and worse. It could be 2 PM or 6 PM and its just not stellar. Altho, this weekend i did come here for a party of 12 around 7 pm for a birthday---i was slightly immpressed with how quickly the food came out. Thats something ive noticed about this place, the food doesnt always take long to come out BUT the waitors and watiresses take forever giving water, taking orders and being organized. They also DO NOT take parties over 10 on a weekend ( even with reservations)_, my friend had to beg and beg to let them do a party of 12 and let me tell you..this place was packed. Their lunch specials are totally worth it but honestly, the service when i came here durin a lunch hour was absolutely terrible---and the place wasnt even packed! read more