Red Sea Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine — Restaurant in Charlotte

This would be a five star review if the food did not take so long to arrive. First, I would like to say that I understand that everything is cooked to order, but at some point it feels like it’s too long. It’s hard to tell when that time is, but I think diners instinctively know when food is taking too long (we start looking around and checking our watches). We were enjoying a nice bottle of Tej, but we were almost to the bottom of the bottle. So from the time we entered the restaurant to the time we received our food was about an hour. And that is a bit too long.

Now, for all of the positives! The food was delicious! Really fabulous. We are huge fans of Ethiopian cuisine, and, in fact, we used to have an Ethiopian restaurant in our neighborhood in Boston that we walked to at least once a week.

A lot of our old favorites were here, and the food was spiced perfectly. So very good. The Injera was also very good. We’ve been to a couple places where the Injera doesn’t seem traditional, and this was excellent, and definitely traditional. One ordering mistake that I made: I have never seen shrimp on an Ethiopian menu, and I ordered it, and it was a little bit dry, but that’s my fault for ordering shrimp. I don’t think it’s a very traditional dish to have on the menu. I should have stuck with the things that I know and love!

The veggies were amazing. The spicy foods were perfectly spicy without being too spicy. The meats were excellent and tender. Everything was really wonderful. And I love the fact that they have Tej by the bottle. Our server was also nice and, again, the whole experience was excellent and would be five stars if it were not for the unusually long wait between the time we ordered and the time the food arrived. I know that cooking food to order takes time, but this just exceeded the threshold of what we thought was a normal amount of time to be waiting for dinner.

We will definitely go back. It could be that they were just shortstaffed in the...

This is my favorite Ethiopian restaurant! I’ve been coming to this location ever since they moved from Charlottetown Ave. I still consider myself a 20 year regular customer even though I do not live in Charlotte anymore, but still stop there every time on my travel to Charlotte. Just read a ridiculous review so I had to chime in. 1. I’ve personally never seen the kitchen since it’s hidden like most restaurants. Not sure how you were able to sneak behind the counter to see it, but I’ve never been able to. 2. Unless it is new, there has never been a dress code at this place. 3. Prices everywhere has gone up now, but we have to deal with it. Simple economics how inflation works. 4. Service may be slow, but the food is delicious. I’d rather pay to know my food is cooked right instead of microwaved in 10 minutes. Making injera is not a 10 minute process. 5. Place is clean. There’s a sanitation rating to prove they keep up with the cleanliness. I’m curious if the reviewer even ate there considering he was talking about a dress code and he wasn’t following it with what he called a tank top. Keep up the great work supporting all of us with the most delicious Ethiopian food on the east coast! And reviewers… Support a small, family owned business instead of making up lies about the place. It surprises me how people can make up a complete story like a child, just to try to make the...

I'm a little confused on how this restaurant will continue to thrive with such horrible customer service. The older gentleman who took my takeout order didn't even say hi he hit the chair telling me to sit down didn't speak a word to me the entire time not even a goodbye he couldn't even tell me the total cost of my food. Aside from the customer service I was becoming a little hesitant on the food as the place seemed a little run down and there was no sign of health department grade. I ordered kitfo... Which I have had before in other places around the u.s. and most all of them serve it with Ethiopian cheese.. although the flavors were good the meat was not minced well and because of the spice. They didn't ask me what level of spice I wanted as I know that is an option for many many Ethiopian restaurants. I am not sure I'll come again to give it a second chance for the food only because the customer service was just horrendous. They really should have someone else during the week to greet customers and not some...