Meals by Genet

Do not eat here if you are in a hurry. Dined here this weekend. I didn’t mind the 30 minute wait to be seated, that was ok. What I minded was that once we got to our table we waited one hour and 15 minutes for the first scrap of food. During this this, no mention at all from the staff to say something like oh the Kitchen is backed up, or would you like something while you wait? Not a word. I should have known it was going to be a problem when we sat down not a single table in the house had any food on the table. And every table was full. We waited much to long. When the food finally arrived it was just ok. We asked for a few sides and sauces and had to ask again five minutes later. Not cool. No matter how much people may like the food here it is never acceptable to make guests wait so long. I would have left but it was 10:15 and we still had no food so where else would. Have found dinner at that hour. I will never return.

Long story not so short here: our order was not placed and even after we asked, were told it would be up shortly — customers who were seated literally hour plus after us were served right next to us as we sat there trying to remain polite but enough was enough.
Once we got up to leave, then to her great credit, Genet (owner and chef) was immensely gracious and responsive. She prepared our dinner next, but yes, we were seated prior to 7 and had food at table well past 9.
It is tasty Ethiopian food — comparable to my first love — Massawa near Columbia University — both are delicious and five star flavors.
Genet did the right thing, she did not charge us, gave us a bottle of wine, she did everything possible to undo the immense incompetence of the waitstaff.
Also, the man who stepped in to take care of us (the other two, who messed up, never came back but served people all around us), he too was as gracious as one could be. He is five star material.
Waiting over two hours, having to fight with my brother to convince him to stay as he was furious, um, well that was awful.
Average wait looks to be 30 minutes from order, as Genet prepares each meal her self. Lovely concept. However, if you are waiting past hour, then the waitstaff misplaced your order, but I assume this was an anomaly.
With all of the above in mind, I still would recommend Meals by Genet. Great food. She is gracious. Some wait staff is great, but some um, need retraining.

Based on the great Unilocal reviews, we tried this place and left completely disappointed.
When we arrived, we were told there would be a 10 – 15 minute wait; we waited 30 minutes. As we were being seated, we noticed the restaurant was at maximum capacity and there was no food on any of the tables!
As we waited, we overheard multiple tables complain on the status of their order. An hour later, our food finally arrived! They were stingy on the injera and it took an additional 5 – 10 minutes to fulfill my request for awaze, after asking twice!
I understand the kitchen was backed up, but, the waiter should have been more realistic on the wait time and held the door. The food was good, but, due to the lack of communication throughout the dining experience, I definitely will not return.

The yummiest Ethiopian in LA. In my 2 pregnancies i craved meals by genet like crazy. Now I’m not pregnant and on a protein diet but had my cheat meal there love it and never regretted having a cheat meal there love u Genet. Basma your pregnant craving customer from Saudi Arabia

I want to like this place the most but I just don’t. This is one of the fancier ethiopian restuarants I’ve been to. The vege combo has lots of little samplers to try –and i mean little. Ofcourse, the meal is super filling but some of those samples are too tiny to share with another. I also find that a few of these dishes are a little dry. Nevertheless they are tasty, and the tofu with ethiopian butter will convert non-​tofu eaters.

Meals By Genet is a bit of a fancier dining experience than what you would expect outside looking in. I’m talking wine glasses, napkins, and candle lit dinner. Not totally a dress-​up-​fancy place but you do pay $ 3 for Coke if you drink that stuff and – even more absurd to me– $ 9 for a small glass of Cupcake Chardonnay. Truth be told, I wasn’t feeling the restaurant’s vibe as I was looking for something more laid back, warm, and welcoming. On the plus side, definitely a place to bring new dates to cos it’s a classy night out without the $ 50 per meal price tag and you have plenty of room to chit chat over drinks because the food does take a while to be prepared and served.
Seems like I’m not in love with the place so why the four stars? WELL, THE FOOD OF COURSE! The food outshines any doubts I have about Genet’s so four stars it is! Right from the first bite, I was blown away. We got the dorowot for protein and the veggie combo which was rightfully recommended by one of the staff for first timers. In total, it came out to be $ 47 with tip. It’s served on one huge plate with the protein in the middle. I can set that what we ordered can easily shared by 3 – 4 people but my boyfriend and I demolished ours haha. He was a bit hesitant coming to this place at first but he ended up finishing his injera, asking for whatever I didn’t finish, and eating most of the dorowot. I’d say he fell in love that night lol. As for myself, loved loved loved the salad with jalapeño, the potato, and both the chickpea sides with the dorowot. Lots of injera left since they give you your own in addition to the one where the food is laid out on and our server had us take home the left overs, letting us know that it would be good as a wrap the next day! Service is very friendly and very helpful. They explain everything to you and check up on you later on.
I have nothing to compare this place it being my first try, but it made me very excited to try out other restaurants and eat more Ethiopian food so I’d recommend to others. I’d like to be a regular at other places that is less expensive and more casual but definitely would come here again when the craving hits for Genet’s out of this world dorowot.

My first time trying Ethiopian food, and it was great! We ordered the vegetarian combo and added chicken tips, beef tips, lamb, and dorowot. The chicken and beef tips were divine, and the Ethiopian salad added a great crunch. I love the family-​style aspect and we had great service, very friendly waiters. It was kind of loud and very dark in the restaurant, so it was a little hard to understand what our waitress was saying when she was describing our food. Since it was dark I also couldn’t see it very well, but I’m a person who likes to know what I’m eating before I eat it. Luckily I was able to avoid all the super spicy bits and just got to enjoy the rest of the plate! Definitely recommend!

Uhh… the bomb!
Best first experience ever.
Great customer service
Plenty of parking behind the restaurant
Food was amazing! The lamb and steak was tender with a lot of flavor! Definitely order the vegetarian combination
I love that the owner is the Chef! Saw her cooking as I walked by the kitchen. Amazing!
Coming back for sure!

My first time trying Ethiopian food and it was good. We had ordered the veggie combination and meat plate, and was definitely worth the wait. I believe there is one chef, Genet.
Be sure to make a reservation here!

Okay– I’m not a fan of stinky food.
This place is just so good!!!
I walked in, looking at my husband with disbelief. I couldn’t believe he took me here! He knows I hate this kind of food.
But then he ordered for us. And everything was Sooooooo good!!!
I cannot describe everything in detail because I’m just sitting here and loving everything. This place is a MUST!!! Even if you’re scared of this type of food (which I was!!!) it will definitely set you straight!!!
Quality of the meat is amazing.
Food is amazing.
Service amazing
5 fing stars!!!

I have dined here twice this year and had great experiences on both accounts.
The food is prepared by the owner, Genet, and let me tell you, she kills it in the kitchen! Since I’m vegetarian, I can only speak to the veggie and tofu tib dishes I’ve tried; Both are mouth watering good! There’s so much flavor and love in the way the food’s prepared.
As far as drinks, the Ethiopian sweet stout was pretty tasty, but I prefer the sweet honey wine.
About the location itself, parking gets a little tight, especially closer to evening. There’s metered parking on the street and free parking right behind the restaurant.

FYI: I love meat!
My friends and I came here for dinner and it was good. They ordered some vegetable platters for us to share which was fine. I didn’t eat too much of it.
What I loved were their chicken tibs and lamb stew. Especially the lamb stew, but my opinion is biased because I love lamb. :)
If you love fish, you will love their trout! My friend who’s loves fish was all over the trout dish. He was hogging the whole thing for himself! LOL. It was that good!
Be careful with the chicken tibs. Another of the guys at our table choked on a chicken bone. His fault of course. It was just too delicious and he was eating fast.
I would love to come back to Meals by Genet for Ethiopian food.

I absolutely love this place. Amazing food. Lovely staff, and Genet is a sweetheart.
I am quite obsessed with Ethiopian food so have tried most of the Ethiopian restaurants in LA, NYC and London. Meals by Genet is currently my top pick.

My boyfriend has been dying to take me to try Ethiopian food because he loves it. So, we decided to try here and had a reservation at 830. It was Friday night so everywhere was pretty busy. Parking was a nightmare, but I’m assuming this wasnt a common instance because there was an art gallery viewing that night. Anywho, eventually we found parking and checked in. There was no host so everything was disorganized with different servers asking us if we’ve been helped and we checked in with each of them. Finally, a server who seemed to be in charge came and took care of everyone and finally sat people.
If you are going to come here, I suggest you don’t come starving because the food takes awhile to come out. It was a full house and I believe the chef is the only person who prepares the food. Our food took close to an hour to come out.
So we ordered the veggie combination and for the meats we chose the dorowat and the steak tibs. Everything was delicious! The steak tibs were my favorite. The dorowat is very flavorful with all the different spices, very good. But I liked the steak because it was more mild in flavorful and I liked pairing it with all the different sides. It is a quaint little fancy restaurant so it was a bit pricey. I think it was pricey for what it was, but it was a good experience. A lot of people raved about the honey wine, but it was way too sweet for my taste. So I suggest asking for a sample before ordering the glass.
Overall, the food was delicious and worth the wait for it. Our server made the experience outstanding. He was great, sadly I did not catch his name. I would suggest always making a reservation, this place looks like they get pretttyyyy busy.

Meals by Genet is one of the first restaurants I tell people to go for dinner in LA, regardless of whether they’re visiting or not. At face value, Genet is a fine-​dining take on Ethiopian cuisine. Once you experience the food, service, and ambiance, you realize the hype is 110% worth it!
Food: Delicious & exciting! As is Ethiopian tradition, the main (protein) dishes are served on top of injera, a spongey crêpe-​like bread. If you get the veggie combo with the protein, various veggie dishes come circled around the injera — this is a must. Although I recommend the chicken dorowot for meat-​eaters, I am obsessed with their tofu tibs cooked in olive oil (and I don’t usually like tofu). Great selection of wine, and their hot tea blend is delicious too.
Service: Impeccable, a real refresher of what service can (and should) be like at nice restaurants. I have come here for normal and celebratory dinners, and have always been taken aback by the politeness and helpfulness of the waitstaff. I had my graduation dinner here, and it was phenomenal. Genet (who is usually wandering around the restaurant), congratulated me personally, and went out of her way to find me a delicious slice of dairy-​free cake!
Ambiance: Relatively dressy, definitely a great place for a romantic dinner. The space is warmly lit with cozily-​spaced tables. On a busy night, it can get a bit loud, but in my opinion it is part of the experience. Parking is mostly limited to metered street spots.
Meals by Genet is a true gem. The love and care that Genet has for her restaurant and its patrons speaks for itself in the food and service. Go go go!

If you are new at Ethiopian food then come to this restaurant. Located in the heart of Little Ethiopia, this place offers newbies the more upscale experience. First, came in this past Friday around 9:30ish was seated after 15 mins. Both the boyf and I usto always eat at Lalibela Restaurant in DC so we were excited to dive in back into our old ways. We opted for the Vegetarian special with the tofu tibs marinated in Ethiopian butter and spices. The wait for the food was unacceptable, since we were the last couple in, but I wasn’t looking to get annoyed, I was hungry, the waiter did apologize for the delay. It was soo delicious and different. The food is placed on traditional spongy Ethiopian flat bread and the waiter gives you more bread to make a mini sandwich out of it.
Since we were dealing with a lot of spices, I wish the busboys were more attentive with the water and the wait for the check didn’t take forever, which the waitress now apologized too. A lot of apologizing and good food for my Friday night here.

It’s was the second time I’ve ever had Ethiopian food and while I didn’t like my first experience, this made me fall in love! We had the doro wat between two people and it was more than enough! Service was great too… The chef even came out. I will definitely be back again… and again, and again

What a great food experience! This was me and my boyfriend’s first time having Ethiopian food and we loved it! I didn’t even know LA had a Little Ethiopia town until I came here. A street full of Ethiopian restaurants and markets.
They are best known for the Vegetarian Combination platter with Doro Wot (chicken stew) with one hard boiled egg. This combo allows you to try a little bit of everything. It’s served on a large sourdough flatbread (injera). They encourage you to use your hands to eat. The traditional way. But they give you a fork and knife to cut the chicken and egg. So basically you tear off a small piece of the bread and scoop up the food and eat it like a taco. The vegetables are a beautiful array of colors like chickpeas, beets, lentils, and collard greens. They were all delicious. We also had a few glasses of Honey Ethiopian wine (tej) that my boyfriend liked so much that after our dinner we ran across the street to the liquor store and bought 4 bottles. It’s very sweet.
The owner and chef Genet is the only person that prepares and cooks all the food. Very interesting textures and flavors from spicy, sour, and sweet. The ambience is sophisticated and classy with candle-​lit tables and white linen tablecloths. This place is small and there may be a wait for a table. So make reservations beforehand if you want to avoid the wait or come early right before dinner time. I found parking in the back and so I entered through the back door of the restaurant.

I’ve had Ethiopian, but Meals by Genet kicks it up to a whole new level.
Our server was assertive with his recommendations, and he clearly knew his stuff. Anyone carnivorous should try their signature Doro Wot because there is a damn good reason they’re known for it. The darker flavors are brought out even further with a sip of either of their Ethiopian beers so definitely try one if you like beer.
We were worried about the Kitfo — buttery raw beef isn’t without its risks. But if you maintain an open mind, you’ll see that this dish outshines even the doro wot. The butter makes it almost creamy!
They always recommend the Vegetarian Combination with the doro wot and for good reason. Why just have one when you can try them all? There was no small number of things to sample, but every single item stood out. I loved the lentils and the beets. I liked the split pea and I don’t even like peas!
The flavors and the quality at Meals by Genet have no equal. Believe me, you’re missing out!

Really great food, especially for the price. We got the veggie combo and lamb, for about $ 30 I think. No drinks, just water. Genet herself (we think) came out in a chef white coat to ask how the food was. I’ve had better Ethiopian collard greens, but everything else was great.
The waiter was definitely having fun, and was very professional.
We did find a tiny piece of steel wool in one of the lentil dishes. We brought it up to the waiter and he was a tad defensive.