I had never tried Ethiopian food before, so this was a completely new experience for me. The reason…read moreI finally decided to give it a try was because I work in the same building and would often catch the aroma drifting through the hallway--warm, rich, and incredibly inviting. Every time I smelled it, I told myself that I have to try it. When I finally stopped in, I was not disappointed. It was flavorful, comforting, and it actually tasted like Thai food a bit. I honestly don't even know the names of the dishes I tried, but I enjoyed every bite. This first visit has definitely made me excited to come back and explore more of the menu. I can't wait to try my next dish!

Go for the food and service, not the ambiance. The food was…read moreamazing. I'm not an expert on Ethiopian cuisine, but I enjoy it and would not hesitate to go back to Romanat. In fact, it would be at the top of my list if I was hungry for Ethiopian. Service was friendly and attentive. Helped guide us to a platter for our small group and it was the perfect choice. It's not a beautiful restaurant, but the food is the star and the reason to go.

Food was amazing!!!! Kitfo being my personal favorite, literally every single dish was soo yummy!…read moregreat customer service too!

Oh MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODNESSSS! This place is new but it has immediately become one of my fav spots…read morein Oakland!!! Order YeTsom Firfir (which is not on the menu) - it's outta this world! And when you order coffee, you get the royal treatment!!! I cannot wait to come back here again! The hospitality is top notch! The vibe is super welcoming!! The food is elite! You're missing out if not dining out at Nardi's! Periodt!!!

There are a lot of Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurants in the SF/Bay area and particularly in the east…read morebay. I've been to most. Asmara is my favorite. I have been going since it first opened in 1985. I met the owner, Kesete then and he is still the owner. Great food, lots of dining space and as of 2026 they have an expanded bar in the adjacent space. Check out the rest and then come to the best.

The guys at Jerusalem Coffee recommended for my friends & I to walk over to Asmara for dinner when…read moreI said I have not had Eritrean food before. They said Eritrean is very similar to Ethiopian food so we finished our beverages & headed down Telegraph to Asmara. We were delighted when we were told to wait at the bar next door until they have a large table for our group. I asked the server to bring us their popular dishes, enough to feed 7 adults and she told me not to worry, that she would take care of it. She brought out the Meat Combo and the Beef/chicken/lamb tibs along with platter of veggies and eggplant. She gave us enough injera to keep us munching away. The food and service were Fabulous so naturally we had a great evening.

Alloko Garden is one of many restaurants cooking out of Jingletown Eats, a ghost kitchen and food…read moredelivery distribution center identifiable by the painted bird on the storefront. I had already planned to visit Jingletown Eats to pick up donuts from Mochill for Yelp Elite Week, so of course I had to take advantage of the opportunity to try a new restaurant, Alloko Garden, as well! I ordered the Shoukuya (whole grilled chicken) and Alloko (plaintain fries) for $30. Both were so delicious! The chicken was juicy and well-marinated, and came with a flavorful tomato and onion topping. The plaintain fries were fun to eat and paired perfectly with a spicy, salty dip, which the website describes as a prebiotic sauce. Having no other point of reference, it reminded me of Chinese fermented bean paste. The only issue was that I didn't receive the salad that the whole chicken set should include. Looking back at the different options, only the whole chicken comes with a salad, so I can see how this mistake could happen. After making my own veggie side, the Shoukuya and Alloko ended up being enough for four servings, which is a great deal. I would absolutely recommend Alloko Garden to anyone craving or wanting to try West African cuisine!

Man! This was some yummy food and a blast from the past. As…read morea returned Peace Corps Volunteer who spent 2 years in Ivory Coast back in the 1990's, I was thrilled to see a local restauranteuer surface who could re relate some of the flavors that tickled my taste buds back in the day. Not to hate on its neighboring countries, but after travelling widely in West Africa I concluded that Ivory Coast has a truly rockin' and superior food culture. I'm vegan aspirational but my partner is not, so to increase his buy-in, we ordered Shokouya Cancanan chicken. The half chicken, accompanied by delicious grilled onions and tomatoes, was a generous portion of robustly seasoned, plump, fresh and perfectly cooked chicken. I love that they only use "happy chicken" as I call it--cage free, hormone free & antibiotic free--which assuaged some of my flesh eating hesitancy. The side dishes were just as I recalled: attieke, a marvelous cous-cous-like starch made of ground, fermented, then steamed cassava, was tangy, springy, and performed as expected in hand. (In hand?, you ask? Why yes, the "real" way to enjoy attieke is to scoop up a small handful with your right hand, scrunch it up in a ball, then dip it in a sauce or accompany it in this case with a bit of tender chicken.) It gives a taste and a mouth feel like no other. Then there was the alloko, which is a generous portion of chunks of fried plantain "doux," or sweet plantain. In Côte d'Ivoire you would likely enjoy these as streetfood, in my opinion best consumed after the heat of the day had spent itself and you were walking with your companion to take some fresh air before turning in. A street vendor would hand you a pile of these wrapped in a piece of newspaper, accompanied by a blob of paste composed improbably of fermented dried fish, ground chili pepper, oil and the omnipresent Cube Maggi. The marriage of sweet banana, spicy, umami, salty...made my toes curl just as I did 20 years ago! well, you can experience some of that magic with Alloko Garden's alloko. Each chef has their own recipe for the alloko side sauce and I suspect the proprietor, Monsieur Tohouri, uses less heat and less fish and more natural ingredients than the MSG-fest that is Cube Maggi, for us Oaklanders than he might have grown up with. But this healthy non-volcanic version more than gets the idea across and my partner, new to alloko and its accompaniments, understood that the idea was delicious. We both loved that instead of omnipresent plastic, this alloko (& attieke) came in a biodegradable paper box. Because he was temporarily out of one other dish that I'd hoped to sample, Mr. Tohouri kindly added a dish for me called fonio arancini, which are kind of hush puppy type doodads made of a grain I didn't remember encountering in my village, fonio. Even 20 minutes after picking up from the storefront in Jingletown, the fonio arancini arrived home still delicious in all the ways grain plus a dunk in a deep fryer can be: hot and crispy on the outside, warm and almost pudding-like on the inside, with a warm umami awesomeness from the cheese mixed with the dough, and a yummy dipping sauce alongside. According to the article I read in Berkeleyside, this fonio is part of an interest Monsieur Tohouri has in increasing the economic base in Côte d'Ivoire. First step is creating market demand. I say, bring it on!! Although we were ravenous after a four hour bike ride that day, both BF and I were satisfied after this feast. I know this is the first of many trips to this place. I feel so fortunate to have an authentic source of Ivoirien cuisine in my back yard, and with an emphasis on the health of the food chain, the planet, and the humans both producing and consuming the cuisine. I ordered and picked up directly from the storefront because I'd read somewhere that restaurants lose something like 40% of the price charged, to the delivery company (uber eats, grub hub etc). As the prices were very fair given the generous portions, this means a really tiny profit margin for the person doing all the work. What I didn't realize would be an added benefit was meeting the actual proprietor, the chef himself! Monsieur Tohouri came out to hand me my food, thus completing the awesomeness of the experience. How often in this disseminated and impersonal world do you get to thank the actual person who feeds you? My overall assessment: five thumbs up!! Merci bien Monsieur Tohouri!

I rather enjoyed my meal here! Shared a mixed meat and veggie platter for 4 amongst 5 ladies + a…read morecouple apps and we still had leftovers. For apps we had the beef sambusas, which is nice because they are packed with protein and everybody is obsessed with protein right now (myself included but I just want a fat butt.) the friend cauliflower was crisp and juicy and came with a tangy sauce. The mixed platter had a variety of all the good stuff, but the standouts were the red lentils, lamb cubes and collard greens fa me. The injera was tender and tasty. I think what sets dis place apart is the atmosphere--it's pretty aesthetic and cute inside with those terracotta walls and they have a patio where I guess you can bring your dog. They also have a full bar and a tasty looking cocktail menu. The servers were very nice but this place seems pretty popular during peak hours so just be mindful they be busy.

The #1 best Ethiopian restaurant food in the entire bay area…read more I can't believe I haven't reviewed Enssaro yet, because I've been coming here for years. I used to live literally around the corner from an Ethiopian restaurant, and that left me very underwhelmed. I've also eaten at a few in Berkeley. Enssaro was a bit of a trek from where I lived, but even with only my feet and electric scooter as transport, the food and service has always been worth it. There is a male presenting wait person with dreds who took my order the first time. I'm not a fan of lamb (ok, to be more direct, I dislike the taste) and asked if I could order a combo with a different meat substitute. I was told yes, absolutely. There was a specific way I liked the chicken to be prepared (as in I prefer chicken tibbs to doro wot) and that's what this wait person remembered , every single time I came in , even after only that first time. I felt appreciated and special whenever that person would seat me, and say "combo with chicken tibbs instead of lamb with water" and I'd say something like "yes", with a smile cause I felt appreciated enough that my preference would be remembered. One time, I did order a mixed alcoholic drink. I got a slight buzz (but buzz nonetheless) and the taste was really good. The interior was always super clean, but sound definitely echoes inside. If sound level can get to you, I'd recommend patio seating. The bathroom is on the huge side! The price is fair: not inexpensive, not expensive. Totally worth it for the generous food portions and fresh quality. I would eat nowhere else but Enssaro for Ethiopian food. A good date night spot, if your date loves or is open to really good Ethiopian food! Highly 5 star recommended.

I had a great lunch at Cafe Colucci!…read more This place came highly recommended, and it didn't disappoint. I ordered the turmeric beef with a side of shiro and it was delicious! The beef was super tender, the shiro was flavorful, and the injera tasted fresh. The portion size was quite generous, especially for lunch. Next time I visit, I'm definitely ordering one of the giant platters to share. The platters were enormous and looked incredible! So many good Ethiopian restaurants in the East Bay, but Cafe Colucci stands out. Can't wait to return!

Upscale Ethiopian spot with delicious spices across the board…read more The vegan sampler covers the highlights and mainstays of the menu. The foundation of the meal is the injera, which has the welcome sourness of wild yeast. Wrapping it around the cabbage of the AtaKilt and the collards of the Gomen lightens the vegetable bitterness and makes eating them into nearly a dumpling. The mild turmeric of the Kik Alicha is well met by the other split pea item, Messer Wot, which has a much bolder flavor. The pro move is to combine the appetizers with the entrees. Azifa is made with lentils but has the smooth texture of stewed eggplant and spreads easily. The Buticha brings garlic to whatever it meets. This time we also got the mushroom tibs. It came spicy but the mushrooms themselves didn't contribute much flavor -- the sautéed onions in the dish were doing most of the work. We will stick with the sampler next time. But regardless of what you order, by the end of the meal the flavors will all get mixed around and soaked into the injera beneath. The best part!

Fresh and delicious…read more Wonderful combination of food between both cultures. I will be back soon and will update this with specifics! Until then, enjoy.

ASÚKAR! What a…read moreunique name for the Palestinian Cuban restaurant in East Bay. I only get to visit its vendor during Tuesday Farmer's Market. Nicole, the one and only owner of the Palestinian Cuban Fusion, was absolutely chill. The last thing I purchased from her was the rose petal cinnamon roll, just as good as the manakeesh. I would love to take home one of her pair of virgin olive oil bottles. Until then, I be more than glad to support her business.

Wow, the kabob was absolutely amazing and delicious! I honestly haven't had a kabob this good…read moresince I left Afghanistan. It really brought back some great memories! When I come back, I'll definitely be having their kabob again and again! Highly recommend you guys give it a try!

I want to start with a positive note! The young lovely woman who welcomed us was really amazing…read morevery polite and for a change I felt the real Afghan hospitality. Despite they had a family event, she welcomed and served us with two of main dishes while wishing for kabobs. They had chess and cram board games which really made it fun to play. I am not gonna lie, the qabeli was out of this world. Very yummy and delish. However, the moment we were served the lamb kebob, the entire place filled up with rotten meat smell. I first thought it was coming from outside. The meat was rotten and spoiled. The young lovely woman was again very nice and apologized. We waited for the liver and chicken kebob. Unfortunately the same rotten meat smell. We got up to leave when an older woman came and was trying to gaslight us and told me I was wrong and the meat didn't smell bad! That was it for me. We were leaving anyway, and wasn't even that mad until she spoke! We left the restaurant. The young woman who severed us came out after us, genuinely apologized and offered refund. I accepted the offer but wasn't expecting her to refund fully. I am not happy about that and if I pass by there, will make sure to pay them back for the qabeli. I appreciate her honesty. I would have let this time slide if it weren't for the older woman denying and gaslighting and telling us this is how meat smells. This place has 5 stars and great reviews. We went there cause I saw them on TikTok! But sadly was very disappointed. It is an hour later and despite having rinsed my mouth, I have the bad taste. I appreciate the younger woman giving my husband some dessert, however, we would not eat it as don't want to risk tasting another spoiled food.