Ethiopian food truck Merkato cafe’ — Restaurant in Cary

My husband loves Ethiopian food and was super excited to finally try this food truck since it had amazing reviews. It also has been hard for us to catch it. Unfortunately, I am supremely disappointed in this first (and probably only) visit. I was told a 20-30min wait for our food. My family and I waited inside Fortnight for 30ish minutes before coming back outside to grab our food. We were then told, it’s coming we are next. We decided to wait outside thinking we were really next. We waited another 30min outside before I went back up to the window to check on our food. I was told again, we were next. I asked how much longer and mentioned we had been waiting already for an hour. He then told me 10min more. As we waited more, I noticed he told everyone who ordered 20-30min and everyone who came back up to check on their food that they were “next” or that there were only 4-5 orders ahead of them. When we finally got our food, I noted that we had waited 96min for our food.

I had my young toddler with me and regretted ordering when the wait times given were not realistic or true at all. I drove 20min out of my way to try this food truck. Lastly, the food portions were super tiny compared to the price, making this an expensive...

I’m a huge fan of Ethiopian food, so I had to try the Merkato Special—I’m so glad I did! WOW. The tikel gomen (cabbage dish) was my first bite and I was blown away, y’all. This was better prepared than any I’ve tried before—the browning of the cabbage really brought out the sweetness, and it was amazing. Yes, amazing cabbage!! The miser (red lentils) were rich and spiced just right—berbere tastes like sunshine to me, and this warmed me up on a chilly day! Then there was the kik (yellow split peas) which were beautiful in color, not overcooked, and altogether executed flawlessly. Then we get to the gomen (kale)—if you don’t think you like kale, you’ll like this. If you do like kale, you are in for a slap-the-table-good treat! The tibs, y’all.. Both the chicken and the beef were fantastic, the spicing was just right. At first I thought I wanted more heat, but no—it was balanced in such a way that enhanced appreciation for the layered flavors. And the foundation of it all, the wonderfully spongy and tangy injera bread, the perfect complement and partner to make sure you don’t leave anything behind! Whether you’re new to Ethiopian food or a seasoned aficionado, don’t...

TL;DR - Great truck, give them your money. More details below...

If an "average" review is three stars let's go from there!

1. An extra star because my veggie meal was excellent. Big flavors in the lentils and split peas, simple fresh vegetable-forward pleasures in the kale and cabbage.
2. An extra star for grace under fire. I watched a very simple mistake that anyone could have made cascade into a baffling situation, where impatient (and a few other adjectives I'll leave out) people thought it would be productive to continually check their order and express their displeasure over a variety of things. The owner managed the feisty folk, issued refunds liberally, and did the best anyone could have when faced with "the general public."

Nobody is perfect, and on a day where the ordering queue CLEARLY went wrong these fine folks worked it out without losing their patience and still sent me home with some great food. I'll definitely head back next time...