Ghenet Brooklyn

I remember eating better Ethiopian in Harlem, but no drastic difference.
We got the 2 person combo with the doro wett, sega wett, atkelt wett, engodouae wett (mushrooms), gomen and fasolia. The vegetarian dishes are better than the meaty ones, in my experience. Manhattan was mixed perfectly and the amber Ethiopian St. George beer was pretty good.

Came here for a late dinner post-​trivia at Pacific Standard. We hadn’t had some good Ethiopian in a while, so Ghenet was the perfect choice, given the options nearby. The 5 of us were ravenously hungry after all that hard work at trivia, so we got one of the combination plates (all 4 meats and all the vegetarian choices), which came out on a huge platter.
My favorite were the doro watt (chicken), and the siga watt (beef morsels), as well as the gomen (stewed collard greens). The chunks of meat were very tender, had the right amount of spice, and wasn’t too salty, and the injera (sour flatbread) had the right amount of density and lightness. The combination was the right choice, because we were able to taste a little bit of everything, even if we weren’t sure what everything was. We ordered a bottle of the honey wine, and they brought out a sample of their housemade honey wine, as well as their commercial version. We stuck with the commercial version, heh. The housemade honey wine tasted fine, but just looked a little cloudy.
Service was pretty attentive, and they came out with more injera pretty much instantly when they saw we ran out, which was pretty great. The price for a combination for 4 was about $ 68, and was definitely enough food for the 5 of us, so the value was pretty great. Each plate on the menu was about $ 15, and this was the best way to try everything.
Not sure if I’m inclined to come out of my way for this, since it’s a bit of a trek for me personally, but it’s definitely a good option for Ethiopian in the area for sure.

Dining in is the best way to experience this food, but delivery suffices in a pinch.
This place beats Bati for BK Ethiopian. The Gomen and Shiro are excellent. It’s fifty/​fifty on the bread being 100% tef: sometimes it is, sometimes not. Lamb tibs are tender and succulent. Sometimes I order enough for thirds because Ghenet usually leaves me wanting more.

Experience ⁵⁄₅
Great first time experiencing Ethiopian food. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the wonderful smell of SPICES, super strong and pleasant.
Décor ⁵⁄₅
Lovely, loved the details like the pillows and the room separators. Very clean place.
Food ⁵⁄₅
The bread was new to me and may have to be an acquired taste for some people. It’s a bit sour and this is the carb you use to eat with your meats and veggies. It paired nicely to the dishes I ordered.
Service ⁵⁄₅
Super friendly, attentive, quick and professional. He also gave great recommendations as to what to order.

My wife, son and I ate at Ghenet this evening, as we have for nearly six years. My son was practically raised on Ghenet’s food and we’ve been loyal customers in the neighborhood even before he was born. Today, we got the usual, and as usual, the food was amazingly fresh and the overall service was superb.
Ghenet is like family to us, so please disregard my previous post.
We look forward to many more years of food, fun and memories at Ghenet: the best Ethiopian food we’ve had thus far, ever.

I’m a sucker for Ethiopian… and this place didn’t disappoint. Nice crowd on a Saturday evening and the food was quickly served, tasty and spiced perfectly. I’ll definitely return!

Small but cozy restaurant. I would never expect Ethiopian food to be so… «different» — in a very good way!
Love it!

I have always wanted to try Ethiopian cuisine so imagine my excitement when my husband surprised me one day with a date night to this gem. The place is very cozy (on the smaller side, so be prepared to wait during peak hours) and the food is so flavorful it’s like fireworks in your mouth. We have since been back a few times, we have tried just about everything on the menu and there is not 1 item that isn’t delicious.

Been here twice with two years in between and the quality have been the same and delicious. We had the platter for four so we had all the meat and all the vegetables. Everything had so much taste and each dish tasted so different. Love this place.

Talk about awesome food & amazing service ~ highly recommend this place to folks! I had called initially to make reservations for a Saturday evening for two at 7:15pm (yes, I was a bad Unilocal member and neglected to view RSVP options online), and while they said they don’t take reservations, they also said it wouldn’t be a problem if we arrived at that time.
When my best friend and I arrived, we were seated immediately, and the staff was extremely friendly throughout our dinner. We ordered the Vegetarian combo for two, and got the following dishes: Atkelt Wett, Gomen, Engoudaye Wett Engoudaye Kitfo, Shiro Wett, and a squash dish (replacement for Fasolia that night). I enjoyed all of our dishes, and I’ve had a not-​so-​good experience at other Ethiopian restaurants so I was quite hesitant on this one, but thank goodness my best friend ordered it, and I loved it!
I would certainly go back here with friends and while I did see customers most likely in their late 20s to early 40s, I did see a family and I think it’s really great for any age range. It did get a bit loud towards the end of our dinner, and I think that’s when more people were coming into the restaurant. Otherwise, all else was wonderful!

I gotta start my review with complimenting the service. The waitresses were sweet, friendly, helpful with choosing our food, and kept checking in to make sure all was good. The décor is rustic and intimate. The food was delicious. Make sure to order the tuna tartar that was my fave. What a great experience!

Delicious find in Park Slope. The menus for 2 – 4 people are a great way to sample several dishes for a deal. The seating is uncomfortable and the place does get crowded quickly on the weekends. But I would encourage everyone to give the food a try, especially good for vegetarians with many tasty options.

Came here for Date Night one weekend because my BF wanted to try something new.
As with most first timers, I was apprehensive in having to use my hands. Don’t worry, it’s something you get over and it’s not as savage as you might think. It’s more scooping than actually touching the food. We tried the combination meal for two that came with two meats and four veggies.
Starters:
Kategna:
This was insanely spicy for me but I loved it. It comes with sprinkled cheese on top and thats something I would ask for more of next time. Overall, The flavor worked well with the spice which made me want more. I still have dream about this dish and a return trip is in order!
Sambusa:
This reminded me of an empanada/​dumpling. Nice flavorful but I was not overly excited to have more.
Meal:
Doro Wet (seasoned chicken):
This was by far the best thing on our plate (after the Katenga). Nice spicy flavor, similar if not exactly the same as the Katenga.
Siga Aletcha (beef stew):
Not our favorite, the flavor was blah and the meat was a little dry. I guess I was expecting more. Next time we will BOTH get the chicken.
Mesir Wett (lentil):
Our favorite veggie of the whole dish. Everything looks like mush but despite its baby food appearance, the Lentils had an outstanding taste. I don’t really like Lentils but I loved this dish.
Gomen (collard greens):
I think its really hard to mess up Collard Greens so this dish was just okay. It was also cold which i’m not used to.
Engoudaye Wett (mushrooms):
We started eating this at first and thought it was the chicken lol It was very hearty (as mushrooms are apparently) and had a great taste. Maybe its the Berbere spice but this dish made us forget about the meat on our plate.
Nice ambiance, a little loud but great for date night. The servers were very helpful in helping us order and we had a great time. I’ll be back for the Kategna and anything with Berbere in it!

Full disclosure: this was my first time trying Ethiopian food so I didn’t know what to expect. That being that there are no utensils
The authentic beers we tried were really good and I enjoyed the low key ambiance
The appetizer we ordered tasted amazing but was oily and difficult to eat with your hands. It was a bread with homemade cheese.
The meals were a little easier to eat. Came with a spongey flatbread that you dip into the veggies/​meat of your choice. I got the fish which was cubed and in a mildly spicy sauce. My date got the lentils which we both liked better.
I would recommend trying to vegetarian dishes rather than the meat.

The décor is very warm and cozy. I had a great time here with my friends. It was also our first time trying Ethiopian food. We got the steak tartar and sambusa. The steak tartar was oily and spicy. I definitely like it. The chicken and steak sambusa was decent. We also got the combination for four. It was a good portion. They have a variety of meat and vegan dishes for you to choose from. I also got the peach martini which was very flavorful. This was definitely a good experience.

I finally made the long trek to Brooklyn to try Ghenet. I have heard that this is the best Ethiopian restaurant in nyc. While Ghenet’s food is definitely better than other Ethiopian restaurants in the city, I wasn’t wowed by it. The veggie combo was decent, but not good enough for me to travel back to Brooklyn. The fassolia– one of my favorite veggies — was very bland. Maybe I tried this place on a random off night.
Oh, and as a heads-​up, you may reek of Ethiopian spices if you dine in, so keep in mind if you have somewhere to go afterwards. I could smell the food on my clothes and in my hair the entire train ride back.
Now to the positives. The overall décor is really cute, and it has a very cozy feel. The portion sizes are larger than other nyc Ethiopian restaurants. Great presentation of the food– it looked very appetizing! Servers were really nice and accommodating. I noticed a large group across from me brought in their own wine, so the BYOB is a plus! Nice surprise, given that they serve alcohol.

I’ve had Ethiopian food before, and Ghenet is right on par for what you’d expect. Very casual place with a small backyard (or in this case indoor) area. Service was just alright, waitress kind of left us alone and did know a ton about the menu. The tej (African honey beer) I got was a good change of pace and went well with the spicy food. Overall the place was decent for what it was but no more.
My friend and I split the Ghenet combination with Siga Wet (beef), Doro Aletcha (chicken), Gomen (collard greens), Engoudaye Kitfo (mushrooms), Mesir Wet (lentils), and Atkelt Wett (cabbage/​potato/​carrot). The beef dish was the standout with a rich, slightly spicy flavor. The mushrooms were also very good. The rest were just alright. Not bad by any means, just either on the bland side (lentils). The injera was good but I’m really not a big fan of the novelty; spongy flatbread just doesn’t do it for me. Regardless the dishes were a mixed bag and nothing blew me away (to be fair Ethiopian food never has).
I’d come back here again if someone wanted Ethiopian food, especially if the backyard was open. But that’s probably about it. Perhaps you’re better off sticking to the regular menu rather than the mixed special?

Felt adventurous on the culinary side so I came to Ghenet for dinner. It was the first time I ate a restaurant that offered no utensils and the first Ethiopian joint I stepped foot in. I really like the setting and ambiance of the place it was almost hidden off the street by the iron door entrance. It’s very cozy and welcoming. The seats were quite comfy.
It might just be me but I wasn’t too fond of injera bread, I found it too tart for my taste. Thank goodness for the Doro Wett, Engoudaye Wett and Mesir Wet. It helped a little to hide the taste.
I preferred the texture of the injera bread over the taste, it was like a soft thin crêpe. ‘
The sambusa tasted like a spring roll almost but with samosa filling.
The curries were too heavy for my taste. It was fun eating with my hands though.
If I had to compare this cuisine to anything else it would be Indian. I can say I’m glad I tried it but I don’t think I will have Ethiopian food again, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

My husband and I were hoping to go to Dinosaur BBQ down the street, but lucky for us, we couldn’t get in, so we ended up here. Ghenet was crowded, but had one table open and seated us quickly.
We ordered the Vegetarian Combination for two. It came out on a large platter served over injera (Ethiopian bread) to share. The mushrooms, Engoudaye Wett, were amazing! They were super flavorful. We couldn’t get enough of them. I wish we’d ordered two portions of this. Oh well, we will know for next time. Everything else was good and pretty standard Ethiopian fare. The lentils were my second favorite dish.
We ate everything and were very satisfied. The portion size was about perfect for two people to walk away full but not uncomfortably stuffed.
The service was friendly and the food quite tasty. My only complaint is that I wish it were much more spicy. I will definitely return next time I’m craving Ethiopian food.

As someone in our group commented during our finga-lickin’-good lunch chow session, Ethiopian cuisine has one major hurdle regarding breaking into the mainstream of ethnic American fare: that whole lack-​of-​silverware thing. While I personally cannot get enough of the communal aspect of a dining experience like this, I can dig the sentiment. You’ll need to be comfortable sharing some germs when you eat this stuff, so here’s a suggestion: come here on a (second or third) date, at the least.
The other hurdle regards the American palate, which initially balks just a bit at the sourdough flavor of the injera, the thin African tortilla that you use to scoop all of the goods. For most people this spongy stuff can take a while to adjust to, but give it time; the flavor is a marvelous counterpoint to the spicy meats, Indian-​inspired beans and grains, and soft greens. My wife and I love a great Ethiopian joint, and this place serves up some of the best we’ve ever had.
We went with both combination plates and everyone, including the vegetarians, were very happy with the plates. Five adults and three kids couldn’t quite finish off a meal made for six. The dining room is intimate and casual, with soft contours around the perimeter, perfect for groups. All four African beers were out of stock when we visited, they had several other craft beers and wines. Service was fine; the spicy chicken, beef and lentil made me reach for my water glass pretty often and that could’ve been refilled more often, but we were well attended to.
Every time I head to NY, I’m on the hunt for great eateries. Bagged this one.