Abol Cafe — Restaurant in Chamblee

I’ve patronized Abol since for about 4 years now. Lately I mostly order from home, sometimes pick up and rarely dine in. My delivery orders have been okay, hence the two stars but last night I dined in with my sister to catch up and I was horrified at the entire experience.

I remember abol as cozy and busy, yet a delightful cafe. We called ahead and ordered a veggie combo, well done kitfo and fish tibs with awaze. The person taking my order didn’t get the last part so I repeated it about 4 times both in English and the native language so we have no miscommunication.

Upon arrival, it’s empty but that means a quiet dinner which was good. Some of the tables were sticky and had used napkins so we sat at the cleanest one. Our food shortly comes out and in place of the fish tibs I reiterated was meat firfir, and the kitfo was rare. We send a portion of the kitfo back to be fully cooked and keep the firfir as we’re starving and don’t want to wait for the fish tibs to be made from scratch. 5 minutes into dining a few fruit flies appear, and 15 minutes later, there were so many swarming we were swatting fruit flies off of our faces with one hand while eating the other. Soon it became unappetizing and we had to take our food to go. Our waitress who is the only one appears to be manning the register and who was literally directly staring at us the entire time never once checked on us/the food or asked about our obvious discomfort of the flies.. nor to accommodate us better. The food wasn’t disappointing but it wasn’t great either, or so we thought. This morning we are both experiencing stomach related issues to say the least. We don’t live together nor share the same meals so that was the common factor in both our illness. Overall, the only redeeming quality was the mediocre veggie combo and kitfo which were all obviously contaminated. I hope management would put efforts into returning abol to the great, clean quality cafe it used to be. While the exterior renovations are nice, service and hygiene received an F last night. The photos I’ve attached is showing the first fruit fly that appeared while my sister went to wash her hands. If google would allow Live Photos you’d see them...

servers couldn't care less, got nasty food last time, watery shekla shiro, that was somehow not even hot when it got to the table.

called ahead, to have food ready, they didnt have the order ready when i got there.

The server with the headwrap was rude and ruined a part of our night for a friend of mine visiting from out of town.

Called ahead to make sure they had sinig, she took my order then when we sat down she said they dont have it.

They've been closed before for renovation without updating their hours online, their waitresses often are on their airpods and just not really interested in providing any semblance of a decent or thougtful service.

Im used to the service but i was shocked when the food was terrible this time.

save your money, these...

My wife and I stopped at Abol Cafe and Restaurant for dinner last Friday, 09/04/2020. I cannot say enough about the people and the food at Abol. First BEST COLLARD GREENS I HAVE EVER EATEN PERIOD!!! These folks are not messing around with their greens. When I tell you I would eat these collards for breakfast regularly, I am not joking. Secondly, the Kitfo was excellent and spiced perfectly. Thirdly, the staff at Abol was very attentive and made sure we had the best experience possible while dinning with them. If you want to experience a taste of Ethiopia, head out to Abol, your mouth will thank you. Don't forget to try...