So first of all, it seems like a neat place - a bit of a different atmosphere. Â I was digging it until I saw the manager walking around with her crying baby (which we had to listen to for most of our visit). Â Well, whatever, we already got the groupon so lets see how the food is. Â We both asked for two honey wines, two of the meat combination plates.
10 minutes to get seated in an almost-empty restaurant, 15 minutes to get our glasses of wine, and another 20-30 minutes to bring out the food. Â Meanwhile, we watched the table behind us (started out as one man who came in just before us, who then had three other friends join up later) all get their meals. Â This was all before we even got the wine. Â While waiting, we also saw them put together eight total takeout boxes for other people who came in after us. Â
Eventually, after about an hour of being there, we got our food. Â The portions were RIDICULOUSLY small. Â The combination plate shared between the two of us had one hard-boiled egg, one small chicken leg each, and two other kinds of meat servings. Â To give you an idea of how small these other two meat portions were, I ate one of them in two bites and another in three. Â I resorted to eating all of the bread they served to try and fill my stomach, but we still ended up getting something else after we left the restaurant. Â By the way, the "coffee" that was included with the group- on was equivalent to measuring out a shot-glass worth of coffee, then splitting that between the two of us. Â Don't get the group- on, the price of everything you get added up doesn't come close to the value.
By the way, remember that baby I mentioned at the beginning? Â The "manager" was handing her baby off to the waitress whenever she had to go talk to a customer or take a phone call. Â I didn't see the waitress wash her hands again afterwards. Â
Never going back.
Edit: Today (the day after), my girlfriend has profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting; I had nausea/malaise the whole day. Â Again, if you DO happen to go there, make sure whoever's touching your food/plate hasn't been holding the baby in the restaurant.
I'm not reviewing the food, since it's pretty much the same as you would get at any of the other 800 Ethiopian restaurants in the neighborhood.
The bar/club, however, deserves some mention. Africana Café's hours are about as reliable as an African government. Some Saturdays you go there and it's a raging party, others it's shuttered and you feel there must be a different kind of party going on in the back room - someone found out one of the waitresses is an Oromo, and she just became the guest of honor at the panga party. Better not to attend that party, not unless you want your perception of "the good old days" severely damaged.
Honestly, it's just kind of surreal. Outside of Dudley Moore, I've never encountered a people so fond of wearing suits, yet so inept at finding suits that fit them correctly. Nor are there more beautiful women in the world - in fact, the opportunities for leering kind of make up for the general weirdness. Seriously, these Habesha girls look like someone reached into the collective unconscious, pulled out an ancestral goddess figure that was hard-wired into our DNA, and fashioned a woman out of it. Throw in a dress shorter than the rule of the average African dictator and a cheek packed with khat and voila, the world's perfect woman. Best part? If you get too drunk to drive home, the place is already full of cab drivers.
Our worst Ethiopian experience yet. We have our tried and true place on Colfax but decide to give this place a chance. BAD idea! I gave it a max of TWO stars because the actually provided food (at an expense...read on.)
I totally get language barriers, cultural differences of what is defined as "good service" and all of the above. I consider all of the barriers, trust me. The only expectation I have is good food, just like I have had at all of the other Ethiopian restaurants I have gone to.
Service was exceptionally slow (we were the only ones in the place) but I didn't notice at first, it was ok. I asked for a wine list and was brought menu of "wine" which consisted of honey wine, another white and a red. I didn't really want the options so asked if there were other wines available {since I could see several familiar open bottles behind the bar) and was told "no." The "red" that I chose (only one apparently available) was disgustingly  sweet....yuck.
I wanted to order a beer instead but the waitress disappeared with the other waitress on her cell phone the whole time. The food arrived totally cold. The only part that was somewhat room temperature was a chicken leg. We were STARVING and had no choice but to eat, as there was no waitress around tell. Â Finally after about 15 minutes the waitress came by (place is still empty) and we told her it was cold. I told her the only thing that was remotely warm was the chicken leg. She stared at me, Â so I explained again that it as cold, the only thing warm was the chicken. She walked away. We were not sure what to do, we really wanted to leave.
She came back with bowl of sauce that the chicken was cooked in and said, "she said the reason why chicken was cold was because it accidentally sat  out longer."  Really? I tried to tell her that again, the chicken was the ONLY thing that was warm. She walked away and never came back.
The waitress also had a cold and was coughing on the dishes she was carrying to talbles and blowing her nose and handling our food. This was last night and as of today I have a horrible cold brewing.
We will NEVER visit this horrible restaurant again!
The food is amazing. Â I come here regularly with my family and we're always happy ordering a veggie combo and meat combo- I love the balanced meal of vegetables, meats, grains and spices. Â My kids' faves are the shiro and doro tibs, which are rich in buttery spicy flavor but not "hot." Â They always flavor it just right for my young kids. Â My favorites are the seg tibs, doro wat, and various veggie sides (the greens, the potato/carrot, lentil/peas, etc.) Â The presentation of the food is so beautiful-- it all comes segmented on a large platter and there is a nice green salad in the middle and plenty of sliced jalapenos to eat with everything. Â Everything tastes like expert home-cooking. Â The owners and waitresses are very friendly and accomodating and generous about bringing more injera and water to the table. Â They also have a full bar and nice coffee drinks. Â The place at Colfax and Fairfax has a nice laid back vibe to it, with Ethiopian art on the walls and lots of friendly conversation. Â It's a cabbie hangout....The place is a quiet retreat from the busy street out front, which feels busier recently now that there are fun businesses like the Elm, Geez Louise Coffee, Marczyk's the Yoga place, Sol Vida Dance, the Cork House, Solera, Mod Livin, etc. Â
I see that there are some bad reviews of this place, but I think the reviewers must have had an unusual experience. Â I have been a regular for about 6-7 years and am always proud to take out of town guests here. Â It's particularly great for vegetarian guests, as there's lots of options, even though Ethiopian is also big on meats. Â
Sometimes the owner roasts coffee beans out front and brings everyone an espresso sized cup of strong, delicious Ethiopian coffee! Â They roast the beans in a small metal roaster and walk around the restaurant while waiving the aroma around.
I have never had Ethiopian food before... and let me tell you, my first experience was great!!!! Â I was a little confused by the exterior of this place, it seemed to have a lot goin' on... but decided to give it a chance. Â Inside, it was really nice. Â Elegant-looking tables, African art... cool stuff. Â It was kind of dead when we were there, but not in a weird way. Â The lighting was just right, etc. Â The service was a little slow, but she left us with a pitcher of water and we didn't have to wait too long for the food. Â She was pretty patient with us, as we were all new to the cuisine and asked her a lot of questions. Â My group ended up ordering the Vegetarian platter and the Meat platter, and 'special tibs' which I think was lamb [i only ate the veggie one]. Â cool experience, awesome food!!!!
Review Source:Let me start out by saying that I'm a huge Ethiopian food fan. So when I tried to go to Queen of Sheba on a Monday only to find that it was closed we decided to try Africana Cafe.
First off let me say that if you get your Ethiopian food within less than 40 minutes of when you ordered it chances are it won't be good... We got ours in 20 minutes... At least they were playing loud techno music to get us in the mood... (sarcasm in case you didn't notice)
We shared the tibs and veggie combo. The vegetables were alright (the yateklit wat was actually pretty tasty), but the tibs were dry and tough and vastly flavorless.
I'm happy to say I will not return as this is the worst Ethiopian restaurant I've been to in Colorado.
I love Ethiopian food, and I came here one day (africana cafe #2) with two friends for lunch. The place was empty and they were playing really loud techno music.
It took them a while to get us our water and menus, and when were ready to order, the waitress wasn't around. We got our order in, the veggie combination, and a few meat options. we also asked for extra enjera bread.
The service was very slow, and look us maybe another 30minutes for the food to come out, without our extra order for enjera. We asked for more, a roll for each of us (3) and she came out with one. The food was good, very spicy, but I've had better Ethiopian with better service for the price we paid.
this was my first taste of Ethiopian, or any African, food. Ate here with Eritreans and not only did I like the food, but they did which tells me something. This is the spot they go for traditional food. Prices are reasonable and service is friendly. Look forwarded to going back.
NOTE: this review is based on Africana Cafe #2 which is on Colfax and Fairfax which seems to be this location, but there is another Africana Cafe further west on Colfax
Stopped in here last weekend and had a taste--I really like the decor with their art on the walls, semi 'fancy' decor, yet inviting (although the TV's were a weird touch). For the food, I don't think it was anything special, not that it was bad. The doro wat was spicy, spicy, spicy (full of spice, not hot) and could have been toned down. I'd come back here again, but only after I've tried all the other Ethiopian places in town, to compare them.
Review Source:Love Ethiopian food. Â Had a great meal here last night, though it was kind of strange being the only customers - the place was deserted. Â Can't say much positive about the atmosphere, but the food was fantastic. Â Excellent suggestions from the friendly staff. Â We had the meat combo, veggie combo, beef tibs, and shiro wot. Â Everything was really good, but the shiro wot was my absolute favorite. Â Total bill was $43 for 4 people. Â Yummy injera. Â The place deserves its reputation as some of the best Ethiopian in the city.
Review Source:I love their meserwot. I always get the veggie combination and it's alllwaayysss good. In fact, I'm up waiting for them to open right now so I can eat.
Africana Cafe are open until 2 a.m. Awesome.
All the Fat City Music graffiti is awesome.
The atmosphere including the African art, music, and setup is awesome.
Food is awesome.
There is always a smiling waitress but the service is slow. It does take about 20 minutes for the food to arrive, but it's well worth it. We're too much of an impatient people anyway. Sometimes the slow burn is good.
Ask for a fork at your own expense because they'll look at you crazy. My sister tried it.
This will be short since I have never ever had Ethiopian before and I have nothing to compare it to. I got the veggie platter (I think). My friend picked up the food for us so I'm not sure what she ordered for me, I just told her vegetarian. The food was delicious, the lentils were to die for and super spicy which I like a lot. The bread though was not my favorite. I didn't like it, but I heard that it takes some getting used to so maybe next time.
Review Source:Ok, let me start off by saying that the service was very polite, but slow as molasses. Â It took 30 minutes to get the food. Â However:
When my $8.50 spicy lamb meal came out - Â Oh... Â Absolutely delicious. Â Way more food that than I could finish, and for the price, unbeatable!
The atmosphere in there was wonderful too. Â My mommy always told me to look for the restaurants where the cars are at, but in this case, look for the restaurant where the Ethiopians are at. Â In the hour or so that I was in there, the only English spoken was to me. Â
They had African music playing, and not a fork in the place. Â I ate a salad with my fingers... Â Authentic. Â Awesome. Â
Minus a star for speed related issues...
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