Week 2: Merkato Ethiopian Cafe

What Teray Says...


I feel like in the two weeks so far that we have done this blog, I have had some sort of dumb comment about the place we are going. When Brett told me we were going to have Ethiopian food, I said to him, "How could we have that type of food, people there are in starvation." DUH TERAY. You would never know that I am at the top of my class in grad. school sometimes. Anyway, Brett is really into picking foods that neither of us have tried for his choices, so I went with it.

We drove to the east side of town into a little strip mall. From the outside I thought the place was closed. 

Here I am, trying to not let my nervousness take over.
BTW, Dress from Patty's Closet of course!

I was nervous to go in because, when it comes to an area of town that I don't know or something I am not sure of, I become very skeptical. I figured though with this experience if I don't go all in; I am going to miss out. When we went in the place was very colorful and there were pictures and lights everywhere. A big screen as large as one you would see in the theater was hanging on the wall and everyone was watching basketball. We were quickly seated, and handed the menu. I could hardly read anything on it (to me it looked like symbols). Our waitress brought us over some water and we asked for suggestions. We first picked our appetizers from three choices, we both decided to get the veggie pastry which was only $1.25!! Brett ordered lamb and I ordered a vegetarian dish. Due to the fact that I could not understand the menu, I just pointed to the picture on the front of the menu. (Good choice on my part).

This is the veggie pastry.

The veggie pastry was really big. Inside it was filled with lentils. The sauce was very spicy, which I love!!! I feel like with the second taste of the pastry the food came. I have to admit I was scared and asked for silverware when the waitress told us you eat everything with your hands. I tried my best to not use the silverware the whole time, just in case in was bad luck or something and I did well until the last couple of tastes. With Ethiopian food, you take these little pieces of this bread/wrap type thing and break it apart. You then pick up a scoop of food with it. It actually is really awesome!! Except for the fact that it was getting all under my nails. LOL. :) The main meat in the middle is lamb, the sides are various salads, veggies, potatoes, and other things that I did not know, but were very good! 

This is the meal (16 inch round). It was huge!
(Sorry Brett for getting you shoving food in your mouth, but at least it is authentic!)

This is the bread/wrap type thing you use to pick up the food.

The only thing that I was disappointed about was that there wasn't any dessert. Maybe that is why people from Ethiopia are so skinny! I would say that I give it 3 out of 5 stars for the experience, culture and authenticity, as well as the delicious food and amazing price! :)  

What Brett says...

I can't say why I chose Merkato, I really can't say why I chose Ethiopian food.  My thought was that we set out to try places neither of us have been to, I figured why not a food we have never tried.  If you know me you know I can be random, so I picked a country and went with it.  I started my search on Google and Yelp, which led me to Merkato.  Having no clue what to expect we went for it.  We show up to find a strip mall that is run down and has half the stores closed down.  I was kinda starting to regret my decision, as we walk in I got a little more worried.  It was a nothing special kind of place; 15 tables, a small bar, big screen tv, and pretty empty.  The only people were a handful of Ethiopians watching game 6 of the NBA Finals.  We were definitely the only white people and from what I could tell the only people that spoke English as a primary language.  There is nothing wrong with either of these, just painting a picture.  I will say it made me think we were getting into something authentic.  After standing at the door waiting to be sat a patron told us to just sit wherever, so if you go just sit down...don't look like the out of place fools we did.  Service was fast, came with some odd looks but fast.  Not knowing what anything on the menu said we winged it; we started with appetizers that I can only compare to spinach pies but in place of the spinach were lentils.  They were awesome, especially being $1 a piece.  I chose to go with something that had the word lamb in it, Teray had no clue so the waitress recommended what I think was the vegetarian platter...she said they would go well together.  Maybe 5 minutes later comes a bowl with my lamb concoction and a giant 16" plate with maybe 12 random dishes around the edge.  The waitress then poured the lamb dish in the middle, she told us we ate with our hands and to use this bread stuff to pick the food up and eat.  She was nice enough to bring us a couple plates and forks, I think it was the look on our face that did it.  The lamb was amazing, reminded me of Lebanese lamb but in a different sauce.  The vegetarian dish ranged from sweet potatoes to spinach to lentils to who knows what.  I would say I liked 80% of the "sides."  I tried everything and nothing was bad, just not my style.  The biggest surprise to me was the size of the portions, between the two of us we couldn't finish it...and it was only $20 for the lamb/vegetarian dishes.  The experience itself was something to be remembered; trying to figure out what everything was, trying to put things together for a different taste, trying to observe the culture of what was going on.  Looking around I think we were doing things right, everyone else seemed to be doing the same things.  I was disappointed that there were no desserts to be had...I don't know if it is Ethiopian food in general or just the restaurant itself.  To sum it all up: the physical restaurant is lacking yet interesting.  The experience was well worth feeling a little weird.  The food is something I would do again in a second.  The price was awesome, with tip we got out for around $30 for two people; remember that includes two apps and two entrees.


My rating would be a 3 out of 5, more for the physical restaurant...food alone was a 4.5 out of 5.  Save this place for a weekday when you just can't decide, there are better places for a weekend date.