Dahlak Restaurant

My husband and I made reservations with friends at Dahlak this past weekend on recommendation from a friend of ours. The waitstaff was very accommodating and our table was ready even though the rest of the place was full with a huge party. The food was good and the prices surprisingly inexpensive. We shared a veggie and meat combination platter between the four of us for about $ 40 total.
Unfortunately, this meal led to the worst food poisoning of my life. At first I thought it was just that my GI tract is not used to this type of cuisine (I’ve only had Ethiopian 2 – 3 times and never tried Eritrean before), but our friend who eats this type of food often, has traveled to Ethiopia several times without issues, was equally, if not more, ill. He thought about going to the ER after several hours of misery. This is probably a fluke thing but since I’m still recovering three days later I thought a warning might not be a bad idea.

The Ethiopian place across the street where we originally wanted to go to was overcrowded so we dropped in here. I’m glad it was, because we had a great time here.
It helps to have a couple former peace corps volunteers who spent time in Africa and know some of the lingo with you. The waitresses face lit up when she was greeted in her own language. From then on, we were taken care of.
The food was excellent. Veggie and meat were both super good and according to the RPCVs, very authentic. So much good food, very reasonable price. We also had a couple bottles of Ethiopian honey wine, which I definitely recommend.

This is the absolute BEST food! The food, ambience and service is second to none. If you have never tried Eritrean food than go to Dahlak because it is amazing. The food is fresh and made to order!

This place is a leaning towards dive because of the dark atmosphere & smoke occasionally wafting from the hookahs at the bar, but they serve the best Eritrean food I’ve had in DC. Love to bring friends here to split the meat combo. You get a wide selection, lots of food & it’s only $ 22. Service is usually friendly, but can be inattentive at times. They will also turn on your team’s game if you ask.

Hookah, great happy hour specials, and now LIVE JAZZ on WEDNESDAYS!
I’m a fan. First time trying Eritrean food and it was a great experience.

My family and I wanted to try something different and chose this place off Unilocal.It was excellent. If I lived here, I would definitely return. Return on investment was worth it

2.75
Not bad, not great. Ethiopian has never quite been my thing but I have been to several places in several cities to give it an honest try. Liked the taste here but my stomach did not agree the next day. Take that for what it is worth… But instant wow factor does not make up for long term side effects. (I got the veggie platter with a friend and one beer each with one side)

Even though this was sold to me as an Ethiopian restaurant, it is more Eritrean. Definitely not the best in DC but the atmosphere is pretty nice.
As for service, my Eritrean waitress acted as if she was clueless. She was not helpful on anything, at all. I am still confused on what her deal was. I went on a Friday night and the place was not crowded. However, our food took almost 30 minutes to arrive. I almost passed out waiting to be fed. When the food arrived it was just OK. Nothing spectacular that would have warranted the wait.
Fun Fact: Most nights they have live music to entertain guests while dining.
Note: Located in the Adams Morgan Corner of U Street, expect parking to be nonexistent.

I was here about 4 years ago so take this with a grain of salt but we loved this place! I’m sure that it didn’t hurt that my nephews’ band was playing (love their music) and I’d had a few beers. But the doro wat and beef tibsi were delicious! Great flavor and good heat! I wanted to eat the whole thing but had to share. ;) Plus it’s too much food for one person so family style is the way to roll. I think about this place from time to time and just have GOT to make it a point to go back! (hopefully when there is more live music ;)

Dahlak oh where do I begin, this is some of the finest Eritrean cuisine that Ive ever tasted. The beef tibsi and Doro Wat is out of this world!!! The portion sizes are filling and the food is so tasty. Additionally, the service is more than awesome. During our dining experience we had server by the name of Yorda. Her customer service skills were impeccable. She was very attentive, accommodating, and a had an awfully pleasant personality. We never had to ask for drink refill, she was always one step ahead of us. Additionally, on Sundays Dahlak has live Guayla music and hookah if you wish to partake. LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS Place.

I went to Dahlak on 9.9.12 for a birthday dinner for my girlfriend. The fact that there was live jazz that night was very appealing so I thought it would be a good place to take her. I’d tried Ethiopian food before and enjoyed it and by the looks of the menu, I thought Dahlak would meet my girlfriend’s vegetarian preferences.
Upon arriving, it took several minutes for one of the servers to get up from behind the bar to seat us. The bartender had to point us out to get a server to get up and seat us. The place looked rather dingy and the NFL game on the television coupled with the bright, oscillating club light certainly clashed with the nice atmosphere the band was striving to create. Despite the rather drab accommodations, we carried on, suspecting that the supposedly great food would more than make up for the less-​than-​desirable dining conditions. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. The menus were long overdue for their yearly wipe-​down and by the time we finished our mediocre apps, the entrees were delivered cold and looked rather unappetizing. Presentation is not Dahlak’s strong suit.
Adiitionally, we had to ask for drink refills from our server multiple times. Mind you, it is a small place with two servers and a bartender. It was not a full house so service shouldn’t have been an issue.
To top it all off, both my girlfriend and I have spent the past two days sick on the toilet. Something was not right about the food we were served and neither of us finished our meals but by the next morning both of us were violently ill.
Do not go to Dahlak for anything other than the Jazz. Maybe just don’t go there at all.
If «zero stars» was a rating option, I’d certainly have chosen it.

Ethiopian is one of my favorite kinds of foods and I don’t think I’ve ever had «bad» Ethiopian food, but I was really underwhelmed with the food here. Two friends and I ordered the platter for one, as we weren’t very hungry and intended to have it as an appetizer, but we were surprised to find that the platter was HUGE. I can’t imagine one person eating the whole thing. It was $ 15, which is more than most individual vegetarian sampler platters, but it was far bigger so definitely a good deal. However, I felt the quality wasn’t very good. I can’t pinpoint what exactly it was, but it lacked flavor and just tasted like overcooked veggies with minimal Ethiopian spices

Dahlak is fine. Not great, or even particularly good, but fine. The food was similar to Ethiopian in many ways, but not nearly as flavorful. In particular, the yellow and red lentils were both below par, while the spinach and cabbage were both good. The lentil sambusa tasted off in some way, although I was hungry enough to eat it all. (I was starving in part because the service here, while friendly, is very slow and a bit confused. Another reason for the average review).
I should add that I only tried the veggie options here. I would not visit again for that side of the menu, but it’s possible the meats are better.

Delicious! Perhaps the best Eritrean/​Ethiopian restaurant in DC! I came here for the first time a few weeks ago with some friends and returned a week later with my mouth watering for more.
I ordered the exact same thing both times because it was so good! We started with chicken sambusas which are normally small but at Dahlak they are enormous and can definitely be shared. The sambusas are not pre made, they are made to order and it makes all the difference in the world. It had the right amount of spice, meat and veggies — it’s a great starter. For our main course we ordered Tibsi and Fish Dullet. The Fish Dullet was recommended by our waitress and I’ve never had it before but it was very tasty. I’m a meat girl so my favorite of the night was the Tibsi. They use beef or lamb (whichever you prefer) and cook it up in a blend of onions, tomatoes, peppers and different spices and the taste is unparalleled. I have been here two times now, ordering the same thing both times and the dishes are consistent. The portions are a good size and you will leave thinking about your next return.
The service is great, and the food is delicious… needless to say, I will be returning very soon.

Dahlak, primarily an Eritrean restaurant, is a forerunner in the quest for providing alternatives to Ethiopian food in DC’s relatively expansive market for West African cuisine. While most of the tibs and the sambusas are what you would generally find at Ethiopian food competitors, I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of a tilapia tibs dish to the Dahlak menu. The tilapia is rubbed in spice to give it a light pink hue, and it is finished with tomatoes. The signature tibs were enjoyable, and the sambusas here are incredibly large (one of them could serve as a small meal) and tasty. Add in that Dahlak hosts free live music on Sundays, and you have the makings of a neighborhood winner. Recommended for those who live in U Street, Adams Morgan, and Dupont Circle neighborhoods as well as anyone who wants to try tilapia tibs.

I think living in San Francisco has spoiled me in terms of food
The tables and chairs were a little bit sticky and so was menu. I forgot what I ordered but it had chicken and and salad on top of injera. I did not like it, the chicken was bland but the salad was okay. I ate it really slow so the injera ended up getting all soggy. Bleh.
But to be fair, this was the first time I had Ethiopian food. Maybe it’s just Ethiopian food that I don’t like but still I’d doubt that their food would be as bland as the food I got here.

Ok, there are a few angles to look at Dahlak:
Neighborhood Bar — Sitting on the cusp, Dahlak is far away enough from the absurdities of Adams Morgan yet not quite as ethnic as U St, in fact Dahlak seems like more of a place for locals from the neighborhood (Ok I mean the white folks). There are events like the New Order cover band or the Songwriter’s night. The owners seem supportive of the local artists and have build a good rapport with the locals. Dahlak is synonymous with hanging out in the AM neighborhood. It may as well be the less commercially successful version of Busboys and Poets!
Supporting the Arts — On the Songwriter’s night, there were several bands playing I was there to support «The Camel That Rides» made up of a group of awesome friends. Almost all of the bands were the indie/​folk types, one of them sounded like the Dave Matthews type genre. A few African Americans customers came in and left due to the unexpected vibe at the bar. Camels that Ride was stylistically different from the others they were singing a song about Octopus lady, screaming and laughing. It really lifted the chill mood at Dahlak. It was very experimental indeed.
Ethiopian Restaurant — Dahlak served Ethiopian food or Eritrean cuisine. I noticed that the tibs and wats were really basic, there were some items that were not available. For starters we ordered the chicken sambusas. They looked rather different than the ones I’d had at other Ethiopian restaurants. The larger than usual sambusa had a flaky crust, it came out piping hot! The server even gave us some hot sauce to go with. The sambusa was really tasty! We asked what was good for entrees the gentleman recommended the lamb tibs. We decided to try the chicken and lamb tibs. Both tibs tasted like they could use more cooking. The diced white-​meat chicken was clearly a preferred cut of meat by the people who dined at AM. I didnt think it was anything I tasted at other Ethiopian restaurants. The chicken was cooked to just done at high heat, the meat was not given enough time to simmer and absorb the flavors of the sauce. The same was with the lamb but the lamb tasted better. If there was such as thing as Americanized Ethiopian food, this would be it. The entrees were about $ 9 – 10 each and they were a heapful compared to most ethiopain restaurants I had tried. It was more than I could eat. I didnt undestand the complaints in some reviews that the entrees were expensive because they ordered the platter instead for $ 16.95.
I think we should take Dahlak more seriously as an American bar with a twist of Americanized Ethiopian food (forget chips and salsa) than taking it seriously for its Eritrean cuisine. It’s up to you but if you want to put a positive spin on this experience, choose the first like me. It is very cool that the owners of Dahlak are great supporters of the local art/​music scene.

Since my last visit I’ve had a bunch of Ethiopian and consequently I have to downgrade this one star. It is still a good deal price wise (although beer is now $ 1 more), but the food is just on the bland side. I will repeat what I said in my previous review: order the HOT version of your dish, do not ask for spicy or bland. If you do, you won’t be able to taste your food and will be contemplating how they managed to make it so tasteless given the spices and flavors at their disposal.
Also, the injera here is a bit different. It has more of a wheat taste but it lacks that sour flavor that you find everywhere else.

One of Washington’s great undiscovered gems. Dahlak belongs to a very specific breed of Ethio/​Eri establishment — the Asmara café. Reminiscent of Asmara’s many famed art-​deco cafes, Dahlak manages to be an unpretentious testament to Eritrea’s mixed cultural heritage. Offerring the best of Eritrean-​influenced Italian food (an unanticipated benefit of colonolialism), you can find a smooth, rich machiato at the elegant mahagoney bar or order a $ 3 import at one of the best happy hours in the city. Tuesdays are even better at 2 bucks a pop.
AND THE FOOD! Jesus. Try the light, crisp cottoletti (a seasoned chicken cutlet coated in bread crums with a side of pasta and a starter salad for like ten bucks). In case your feeling a little more adventurous, you can always delve into one of their traditional Ethio/​Eritrean dishes with bold, East African flavors (I usually go with the Tibbs — pan cooked lamb, chicken or steak cubes served with «injera» — a traditional sourdough flatbread or rice). Think rack of lamb. Or the Kitfo (similar to steak tartare).
Definitely start with a sambusa — savory fillo pastry stuffed with spicy lentils and veg, chicken or meat.

My, my, my… I know that the Trinidadians flinch if they are mistakenly referred to as Jamaicans… the Pakistanis would never want to be called «Indian»… so why is it that we refer to Eritrean cuisine as Ethiopian?
Yes, this place is more of a bar/​club atmosphere than a restaurant — at times. I will stick with what I said in my previous review… The tibsi & sambusas (not always available) are excellent. There have been a few changes in the kitchen staff over the years — so you might get a ‘hit or miss’ experience. Many of their patrons are not coming solely for the food. You can come here for drinks and on certain nights listen to music from a local DJ… not unlike many other establishments.