Bete Ethiopian Cuisine & Cafe

This is my favorite Ethiopian restaurant! Dining in the courtyard feels like a secret pleasure in an area that is all buildings. Food is delicious and staff is wonderful.

I came back to the restaurant again and it was a miscommunication. it seemed that they were very busy that day but I spoke to the owners and they said it was very busy and they did apologize. they are truly nice people and this restaurant is actually nice

3.5 Stars. I’ve been here many times before and the story is always the same, great food, minimal service.
My favorite dish is the vegetarian combo, which is enough for 1.5 hungry people, 2 normal people. The combo comes with red lentils, lentils, collards, cabbage w/​carrots, potatoes with carrots, and salad. The salad is very boring but the rest of the items are really good and they can make any item spicy.
I also like the yeshint tibs which is diced pieces of sirloin cooked in Ethiopian spices, its most similar to carne asada but its cooked well done.
The food is good enough to come back and the prices are reasonable. I just wish the service was more attentive, especially when I get a spicy vegetarian combo.

Being a vegetarian, I always get the veg platter when I eat Ethiopian. The veggie platter here was excellent and was not as oily as many other places. I enjoyed that the sides had decent flavors, were well textured and the fresh lettuce-​tomato salad was a nice touch. I do wish the platter came with shiro.
I’ve been here over half a dozen times now for carry out and the staff at the register is always friendly.
Tip: do not park in the adjacent parking lot that’s owned by the liquor store. Apparently they are very proactive in enforcing towing. The space in front of the restarant allows for maybe 3 or more cars to park.
4.0 stars overall.

Food was decent. Service was extremely slow. It took us 20 – 25 min to get water, and that was only after I went and told them. I like that they have gluten-​free injera and I liked the ambience.

We tried the lamb tibs, the veggie sampler, and the raw beef dish. It was all tasty but good have had stronger flavors, especially some of the veggie selections. There was a red lentil side which was far and away my favorite. The restaurant is small and service is very slow. They also are not very kid friendly. While they had a kids menu which featured a good chickpea dish, they have no high chairs or booster seats so I ended up eating with a two year old on my lap. Luckily you eat with your hands anyway. Overall this probably won’t be my first choice for Ethiopian in Silver Spring.

Disclaimer: I’m ethio American
I’ve come here several times. Always mid afternoon. I LOVE they’re food. To be honest I’ve only had they’re kornis special: kitfo, Gomen, firfir and ayb. A volcanic meat and greens with cheeses kombo. True Ethiopian food conglomeration.
Share it with a carnivores group!
Service: it’s fine. Most et spots have terrible service, get over it.
Ambiance: sweet space, 2 story house. Has a traditional room as well as an outside patio. Can hold large parties but still feels cozy.

The best Ethiopian food we’ve had in the area! We went on Ethiopian new year’s day. The doro watt was fantastic and the lamb tibbs was very tender and flavorful. The owners and staff are charming and happy to explain Ethiopian culture and traditions. They were gracious and welcoming. More restaurants should be like Bete. The outdoor seating is very pleasant in mild weather, but it’s the people that make the difference. We have been to a number of Ethiopian restaurants in the area, but this is the one we will go to from now on.

Friendly waiter sat us down outside on the balcony promptly on arrival, but did take some time before returning to ask about drinks. We ordered the beef appetizer to find they were out, opted to try the vegetarian which was still very good; crispy outside, chewy center, mild seasoning. Then our meals came out; A lamb, beef, chicken, and vegi platter. Beautiful presentation, amazing flavors, and the cook on the beef was especially on point. I can’t think of anything about the food that could have been better. We all left full and happy.

3.75 stars
After a recommendation from an Ethiopian colleague, my husband suggested that we try Bete one Friday night out with a mutual friend. Overall, we had a really nice night at this restaurant and completely understand why so many people love it. It feels as if you are in the family kitchen of the owners, and the wait staff are extremely chill and friendly. They even offered a completely unsolicited piece of advice for our friend that was very helpful and kind, and we were extremely grateful for that.
The food was overall very good, but I have a strong feeling that the meat dishes outshined the vegetarian dishes in this particular case. My husband and our friend seemed much more impressed than I was in comparison to other places we have tried, and probably for good reason as their dishes looked amazing (and, according to them, tasted amazing, too). For my part, some of the dishes were solid and delicious, and the other half were much more bland than I’m used to them being. The injera was great and the split peas and cabbage/​potatoes were strong, but many of the other dishes were not quite as well seasoned. The honey wine and other wine options were also perfectly passable.
Overall, we had a nice night, and the ambiance was fun and interesting. I wish that the vegetarian dishes had been paid a bit more attention so that I could rate this higher, because they’re clearly doing a really great job with the meat dishes and overall. I would absolutely be glad to visit Bete again and had a very nice night out there.

I’ve dined at all the Ethiopian restaurants in Silver Spring. This is my favorite. The ambiance is great (get a table in the outdoor court) the service was excellent and the food was wonderful.
We usually order the vegetarian platter — but everything on the menu is good.

Epic fail. No greeter, no water, Dirty spoons, no napkins and worst of all bland food.
I love my authentic Ethiopian food, to my roots and this was a complete waste of time.
We wondered what the kitchen looked like if this was their presentation?!
Last but not least they allowed an old obnoxious, harassing, soliciting creepy guy, he tried to speak to the women even the paintings lol I kid you not!

I’ll just state flat out that this is the best Ethiopian in the area, with the best value. Portions are generous! The atmosphere is very cozy. The quarters are close, so if you require a lot of space be wary.
What pushes this to five stars, for me, is the service. My wife has celiac, and when she was diagnosed we had to switch to gluten-​free injera. We were told that gluten-​free injera is in short supply, as it is imported from Ethiopia and usually they advise people to call ahead. The server, however, was very helpful and was able to find the last piece of gluten-​free interactive for us. He had the food come on plates, without injera beneath it, so that I could use a spoon to scoop my food onto my injera and my wife could eat without fear of cross-​contamination.
If it sounds like a pain, it was! But considering the circumstances we were just happy that we were both able to sit down and eat. Oftentimes restaurants are not forthcoming with solutions to problems like this, so I am always excited when an establishment is helpful and accommodating.

It’s a cold wintry Friday night and a buddy and I are trying to figure out where we gonna go to unwind from a long hard day of working in our nation’s capitol. Technically, we both work in the burbs but whatever.
He had never done Ethopian before so I decided to take him to Bete which I’ve done before. I’d give the customer service a 3 tonight because it took awhile for us to be seated and the food took 25 minutes or so. I’m guessing either the waiter was new and they were shortstaffed tonight.
I would’ve probably downvoted this review to a 3 out of 5 instead of 4 because of the service alone. But luckily, we managed to keep ourselves entertained by going online and learning more about Africa and the country of Ethiopia. For example, did you know that there are 53 countries on this continent? Wow! Or from asking our waiter, we learned that there are over 90 languages spoken in his home country. So yeah, 25 minutes of that before food is finally served.
Heck, the only reason the wait wasn’t longer was partly because we were served by a male rather than female. I don’t say that in a chauvinistic sort of way, so please hold off on those pro-​feminist remarks about equality and civil rights for all. Let the pro-​feminist media take care of that. But my buddy is divorced and single. And for whatever reason, he has this thing for black women at the moment. (He’s very white, btw). This, in addition to his mind always being in the gutter. So I’m glad we were served by a male rather than some lovely vivacious Ethiopian female because I know he would’ve just distracted the waitress with all sorts of cheesy conversation starters and keeping her from doing her job.
The dishes get a ⁴⁄₅ from me. You can’t go wrong with the meat sambusa as an appetizer. And we ordered the beef awaze and lamb tibs. Their injera is slightly different from other injera that I’ve eaten because it’s a bit softer. I don’t know if it was just me and an isolated incident or if it’s always been like this at Bete. I think that’s a good thing because you don’t feel as heavy afterwards. Try to ask for collard greens and cabbage/​carrot as your sides. They go very well
As we were waiting on the check, my friend continued his journey to learn more about Ethiopia by peppering our waiter for 10 minutes with questions about his travels. I had tuned them out by then because I had developed a food coma from all the Ethiopian goodness we just had.
So in summary,
Service tonight: ³⁄₅
Ambiance and décor: ³⁄₅
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Price: ⁴⁄₅
Would dine again.

Have only been here twice, but really enjoyed it both times. The veggie combos and chicken tibs are really good. The Ethiopian tea is also nice. It’s like extra spices with a Lipton tea bag. The only drawback is the amount of injera they give you. When I had just the veggie combo, I got one piece. With the veggie combo and chicken tibs, I got two pieces. Extra pieces are .75. Other places I’ve been to give you more and don’t charge for extra. Anyways, hubby likes the ambiance here so the injera isn’t a big deal. While the view of the silver spring garage leaves something to be desired, the food is enough to overcome any shortfall in the view.

Great taste. Authentic. On warm days, I like to sit in the patio area. I love the vegetarian special, good enough for two. Sometimes the wait for the food is a bit longer than expected, but worth the wait.
Carry out: Call ahead.

There are restaurants that make you feel like you’re eating in someone’s kitchen and then there’s Bete Ethiopian. At this place, you are actually eating in what used to be a dining room in someone’s house. To me, this made for a pretty awkward dining experience but it might not for everyone.
Making it even more eerie, the bathrooms upstairs are the actual bathrooms from the house that was formerly here and they use the bedrooms as store rooms.
Once I got over all of this, the vegetarian food was pretty decent. But there is a problem with the portion sizes. Instead of just one gigantic fulfilling plate of injera at a reasonable price that can fill two people, they have a single plate for about the same price as most doubles price. Their double was around $ 17.00 but it wasn’t really worth the extra price. It’s pretty standard Ethiopian vegetarian fare, slightly spicier than most places. I did like that they doubled the dishes on both sides. That way there was no reaching and less mess.
By the time our food arrived, I was actually hungry enough to eat both sides though. With three sets of diners in the living room, the long wait was a bit upsetting. The employees seemed just as happy to hang out with regular customers as to hurry the food along.
There’s definitely a bit too much of a relaxed atmosphere here where conversation seems to take the forefront over speed of eating. But I’m more into dining even if I’m in someone’s former dining room. That’s just my preference.

My first Ethiopian experience! The service is a little casual to the point of slow, but when you can pull a server they’re helpful with suggestions.
I ordered the meat sambusa appetizer. It’s essentially like a meat empanada but with a nice spicy kick. The outdoor seating is very nice. I ordered a glass of honey wine and thought it was excellent and refreshing. It goes down too smoothly!
Ordered the meat combination to share. It was delicious and huge. Two people wound up full and couldn’t eat it all. The server was nice enough to show us how to eat properly too. Amazing place. Will be back. Would be 5 stars if the service wasn’t so slow and the dessert menu is poor.

I loveeeeee that that have a backyard patio to eat on!!! We randomly came here for lunch on a gorgeoussss day. They seated us in the back and I was so pleasantly surprised. There was a decent amount of tables, shade and a little tiki bar type thing. We ordered the special which included the three meat dishes and veggies for 30 $. I would assume this is because we weren’t ethiopian but the food wasn’t as spicy and flavorful as we would have liked. Maybe I’m wrong. It was still pretty good though. *i went to Abbis with my Eritrean friend and the flavors were a lot stronger and spicier. I loved it!
Alicha was good. Doro wat was the best meat dish. The tibs were actually not that good. They didn’t have much of any flavor or spices. The veggies were good– we got cabbage salad, collard greens and maybe one more but I forget what.
We were stuff after our lunch. I think the injera was filling us up! Our total was around 40 $ with ethiopian beer and a macchiato (just okay).
This place is good but I want to bring my bf to other locations around the dmv.

We went here last week. I like this place better than their competitor across Colesville Rd and as much or more than several places I’ve been in DC.
Generous portions, fair prices (not cheap, but fair); decent service; interesting layout in an old house… leads to somewhat intimate dining rooms. The décor (at least in the room we were seated in) was a little bit sparse.
The food itself was very good; not greasy. Good injira. Excellent flavors and a great variety of dishes. We got one meat combo and one veggie combo to split between three adults and one child — and it was plenty. My 2-​year-​old loved the steak dish, though some of the others were too spicy for him.
Oh, also, they serve the food in the traditional manner here… on a piece of injira and you eat with your hand (it’s what I prefer).