Nazareth Café

My favorite thing to do here is to get the Misir Wot, which I truly love. Misir wot is an extremely spicy dish that I call «Ethiopian chili.» It’s a vegetarian stew of split lentils simmered in red Chile sauce with ginger and garlic.
I spread a huge serving of the stuff on injera bread and sprinkle it with berbers, the Ethiopian chili powder. Then I roll the whole thing up into an Ethiopian chili taco.

First of all, just finished dinner and it was the worst food experience I have ever had. I have eaten at many questionable places from street stalls in back alleys in Asia to taco trucks and this takes the cake.
I run a bar and grill so I understand how bad reviews ruin business. I hate to give someone in the industry a bad review and matter of fact this is my first review ever, I’ve never even filled out a comment card. So I do this with a heavy heart.
The restaurant has a very limited menu, 15 items at most. On this particular night, they had 3 items. A restaurant that has 3 items, and that wouldn’t be a problem if those 3 items were awesome because we all know there are chicken trucks on Airline that will kick your butt up and down the street with a side of awesome. The food was luke warm and microwaved. Our waitress used the microwave beeps as her service bell! Lamb was twice cooked and microwaved to a point of rubber. Veggie plate was some what bland but not horrible. So over all food points: 0.
Décor was interesting, it was a cross between Jamaican reggae/​strip club/​crack house… I think one patron might have a rock addiction. The restaurant had a perimeter of neon lights but not one single normal light. I’m not sure if this is a bar or a restaurant but it felt like an Opium den. Overall décor/​surroundings points: fear for your life.
Value proposition is unacceptable. We went to the restaurant on a
voucher, oh but they don’t take them. Apparently they stopped working with
and it wasn’t their problem. But the kicker is this meal cost $ 35.00 with out drinks. $ 35.00 for one veggie platter and a 4X6 inch plate of microwave lamb. Value points: contact the Better Business Bureau.
I hope this place has some type of illegal activity in the back room, that would explain the don’t give a crap effort.

The place is a hidden gem. I gave it 4 stars based on the location and appearance of the building. We almost didn’t enter because it was dark and the neighborhood looked a little rough. Luckily we chanced it and were very satisfied. The service is fantastic, they made great recommendations and were very friendly. We got the vegetable plate and some kind of meat plate and everything was delicious. If you like coffee the coffee here is a must try although it’s a little pricey, it’s worth it. Also the honey wine (I’m not sure if that’s the name but if you say that they’ll know what to bring you) is really good. Aside from the food/​drinks/​service I’d recommend this place for the cultural experience alone.

Food — Flavorful, Spicy, Impeccable taste
Didn’t know they charged $ 2.00 for extra injera you ask for verses Sheger down the street who doesn’t charge. I wanted water and they gave me bottled water ($ 2.00) which is fine. Overall the price came out to be more than what we’d pay at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Sheger. There we would come out to be about $ 25.00 total and here it came out to be $ 36.00 total.
Despite that, the food is soooooo delicious.

Awesome awesome awesome food! Best Ethiopian I have had in America! This place deserves a full 5 star and I cannot wait to go there again. Just delicious!

Lovely people. The owner manager was very helpful in recommending dishes for us. He didn’t choose the most expensive ones either, which was nice. The waitress was attentive but also left us alone to simply enjoy the food. The flavors were simply delicious. Will definitely go again. Soon :)

Simlpy Delcious :)

GET the LAMB… i don’t know which one, but its the spicy one. It’s OMG good. and the lintels because they were really good too! The whole experience was great but If i have to say it again… get the lamb! however, the Honey Wine… in no way, shape or form taste like Mead… sad panda!

I’m sorry, but it’s VERY clear that one of the reviews here for Nazareth was written more about a bad relationship than food haha! Also, if you don’t like «ethnic» foods (ie African, Indian, etc) then this place is not for you.
Here’s my breakdown:
Food = 3 stars
Service = 5 stars
So I give 4 overall. The food was good but not amazing, and certainly not my best Ethiopian meal (I don’t think I’ve found a great Ethiopian place in Houston yet). The excellent service really made the experience, though. The young woman running the tables and the bar was very attentive and was very friendly (and even put up with my lame attempt at speaking Amharic! haha).
My date and I ordered the vegetarian combo plate so I can only comment on that. All the dishes were fresh, as was the Injera bread. It wasn’t as flavorful or spicy as I’m used to with Ethiopian, but that could be a regional thing (I’m accustomed to those in Los Angeles).
To wrap up, I recommend y’all try it. Ethiopian is truly one of the best foods at there, and it seems to be getting more and more popular in the USA.

I ate a lot of Ethiopian food when I lived in LA, but couldn’t find places since moving to Houston. This was the first Ethiopian restaurant I found. The Injera was the best that I’ve ever had, and the Tibs and Kifto were both outstanding. If this place were in the Galleria area it would easily be filled up all the time, but it is a little bit off the beaten path, so adventurous eaters might miss it. I would recommend making the effort to find this gem if you like Ethiopian food, or want to try something new.

I was more then skeptical when my ex dragged me to this Ethiopan restaurant. I have never eaten any African food so I decided to give it a try but It was clear to me it was a bad choice, but what did I expect, the demise of our relationship was based on his bad choices. We ordered a vegetarian plate that consisted of… well a lot of crap. It was a different selections of what they call Wat. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I foolishly stuffed it in my mouth, What the… is this? I wanted to spit it out across the table to my ex for making me eat this. I decided to give it another try this time I used the bread that came with the meal, big mistake. The bread actually made it worse! The bread tasted like someone had dipped a thicker version of a crêpe in tangy water. I could’nt even swallow, it made me gag. I had a nauseating feeling and this time I knew it wasn’t because of my ex sitting across from me. I once ate a Bennigan’s burger made with spoiled meat and I even managed to eat half of that before giving up on it. I wanted the other half at this point just to get the taste out of my mouth. I think the waitress noticed our distaste as she often came back asking if we liked it. I sat there watching my ex lie through his teeth but that comes more naturally to him, it was a bit harder for me, so I just smiled. The highlight of the lunch was when we paid I knew then it was over!
This additional comment section is for Unilocaler Juan F who clearly did not get the point of my review. I try to be comical in my reviews just to add something extra to the readers literary experience. That is why most of my reviews are marked as funny! I stand by my review that the food is terrible! So no the review was clearly not written about a bad relationship, rather it was the bad food. Juan how can you seriously rate food based on service? I review food and food only! I dont know about you guys, but I seriously hate spending money on food that I don’t like! I love Blue Nile! I try all kinds of food all the time. In addition, the owner contacted me and demanded I remove my review. I dont think so… I know what I tasted!

This was my first time eating Ethiopian food so I have no basis for determining how authentic the cuisine really is. However, I walked out very underwhelmed and with a queasy feeling in my stomach. The dish was vegetarian, served on top of a spongy pita-​like bread. A few different sauces, pickled beets and pickled lettuce. Every one of the vegetable sauces tasted very bland, it was hard to even tell them apart by taste. Again, not sure if Ethiopian food is generally bland, but a Jack’s Spicy Chicken would give you a lot more flavor. But I digress… Boiled goat was the 2^nd dish I tried and was equally disappointed. Simply put, nothing special. Many don’t like goat meat flavor to begin with, I do however. Whereas in Mexican cuisine it will be seasoned and grilled, here just boiling it makes for an unappetizing combination.
The bread is worth noting, as it is unlike any other you will find anywhere else. It is flat, with sponge-​like holes, wheat-​colored. Somewhat thicker than a crêpe, you eat the food by scooping it with the bread, no utensils needed. Also, the atmosphere seems genuine, as they play Ethiopian tunes and other tables were packed with Ethiopians, all of whom did not eat but just drank tea however.
I like my food to have flavor, something sadly missing at this joint. I needed the diet Coke just to wash down the bites. Will not be returning.