Makeda Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in Alexandria

Makeda was a favorite restaurant until its business practices became too untenable to tolerate. Last night I ordered over $90 worth of food using the carry out app tied to Google Maps, getting mostly our family favorites. For each entree, I was asked if I want free rice, free pita bread, or “for $2.25 more, gluten-free injera.” I went with the rice and my husband made the 25 minute trip to pick up the food. The order wouldn’t be ready for another 10 minutes, which isn’t really a big deal. An hour after ordering we sat down at home to eat and couldn’t find any injera in the takeout bag. (Usually Ethiopian food is swiped up and eaten with injera instead of using utensils. It’s a staple. Look at the Makeda website for images.) I called Makeda and the answering machine was too full to take a message. I called several times hoping someone would pick up and looked for other numbers to try. There were none. Believing that they overlooked the injera, husband and I drove back with the bag of food. As soon as my husband walked in with the bag the owner/manager jumped up and brushed aside the attendant to address him. My husband explained that there was no injera in our meal and the owner said that the rice was free and the injera would cost more. This must be a new practice because we have never had Ethiopian food not served with injera (at Makeda or any other Ethiopian restaurant) and had already paid full price for each entree with the assumption that it would be served with rolled injera. My husband asked for a refund and returned the food. The owner proclaimed that he doesn’t give out free food loudly enough for all the restaurant patrons to hear. He took the food and gave my husband a full refund in cash. In due fairness, the attendant was visibly annoyed by the owner/manager’s behavior. Lessons for other curious patrons: 1. Injera is generally gluten-free; and 2. Make sure your injera isn’t swiped...

The customer service was absolutely horrible. No greeting, no water, no acknowledgement that we were alive for 30+ minutes. This is not an exaggeration.

No one greeted me, offered me a drink of water or took my order, nothing. we just sat there and watched everyone who worked there avoid and ignore not only us, but the other 3 people at the bar, who also had no food or drinks in front of them.

After 30 minutes, we got water. Then manager is very rude and taking the order give us wrong food. . After sitting 1 hour we got our food . Server she did not say hello .She just left on table the food we try to complain to her this not what we order . she just walk away no one show up we are so hungry finally I talk to other server she reply I am sorry you have to pay another food this already come out from kitchen. I went the owner complain he give me the same answer he was busy drinking his wine with his buddys. The manger again said if you complain don’t come here we got enough business. We get there hungry they still charge us $45 for wrong food we left that place hungry we ended up at ZaMeda Restaurant a few doors down and was greeted immediately. kik alicha: undercooked and hard gomen wot: Sweet?! No matter how you prepare them, collard greens SHOULD NEVER BE SWEET misir wot: Whatever the spice blend, it's not berbere but something heavily imbalanced towards cinnamon. This is wrong. shiro: ice cold but the spices are passable; so much oil it soaked through a doubled-over peice of injera. atakilt: flat, tasteless, like eating a wet paper towel. Injera: tastes and smells heavily of lemon?! What on earth? This is a sourdough bread, it should not have a strong citrus taste or smell. timatim fitfit: Like eating a mushy bowl of salt, with extra salt. Spices are passable but the amount of salt is...

Today my husband and I went to Makeda Ethiopian on Van Dorn.

We were sat at a very awkward table. No problem. Maybe it’s another servers section. We sat for about 10 minutes before even being approached. A women filled our glasses and I wanted to ask her a question. She literally said ‘wait. WAIT.’ And left. Ok guess she wasn’t our server and didn’t wanna deal with another servers table. Still, that was quite rude. We waited another 15 minutes for our order to be taken. Since they took so long to serve us my husband and I ordered our drinks, apps and entrees all at once. We waited for 30-35 minutes for our appetizers. We had gotten them after I went to the bar to ask them what was up with our order and asked what the hold up was. We had gotten sambusa which is like a samosa, lentils wrapped in phyllo dough and deep fried. Not too bad. We also got injara that was DRENCHED in a red sauce with tomatoes, peppers and onions. It was terrible. We waited another 30 minutes for our entrees. They brought us the wrong food. Then they brought my husbands food first and another 10 minutes later brought me my food. My husbands beef marbled sirloin was awesome and cooked perfectly. My food on the other hand was terrible. The blend of spices with the lamb wasn’t working at all. The lamb smelled terrible with no fat trimmed off. I love lamb. It’s my go to meat when available.

We had also witnessed 3 parties leave due to extremely slow service. Mind you, this is the second time I’ve been here and the last experience was pretty much the same.

I am never going there again. I’ll also recommend anyone not to go there. I have no idea how they have a 4.2 on google. This place...