Red Sea Ethiopian Mediterranean and Cajun Restaurant — Restaurant in Homewood

We are from Nashville TN and spoiled with an amazing Ethiopian Food restaurant called Gojo it is so delicious. First off let me say the Ethiopian Food and the Gumbo is delicious. I totally googled the wall paper that is in the restaurant because it was beautiful. Be aware the lunch service today 1/14/25 was NOT GOOD. The waitress was more concerned about what was on television than us as guest and consistently had her back towards us when she was watching TV. Worst of all we were also overcharged for the meal we asked for. We were the only table in the restaurant right at opening 11AM and other than that there were two take out orders while we were there. We ordered Beef Sambusa $4.50 for two, excellent highly recommend, I just wish there was more than two per order cause they are so delicious and the best thing we tried. We also ordered ONE side of Ultimate Gumbo $4.50, this was excellent as well and came with very deliciously grilled bread, however the waitress brought out two very small bowls that were served on one single plate and at the time we were impressed by the awesome side order display and thought it was very yummy. Sadly, during our meal we continued to have to wave at the waitress for water no ice that was given to us by the waitress, we did not request no ice by the way it is just how it was served. My husband has Leukemia and needs water when he eats due to dry mouth from chemotherapy treatments and he had to ask four times for a refill. We also ordered the Ultimate Red Sea Combination plate that cost $38.99 so we could have a proper sampling of all the best dishes offered. Traditionally most Ethiopian restaurants serve this on top of Injera and a side of this same Injera on a plate or basket---Injera is a unique thin, fermented Ethiopian spongy type bread you use to eat the food with instead of silverware. The menu said the meal came with a side of rice or a side of Injera--When ordering we asked for rice and we wanted to add a side of injera ($2.99). When the food was delivered we received two sides of rice and no side of injera. Before the waitress left I asked her by touching the sauce soaked injera that was on the platter under the food to visually and clearly show her I was asking her for a side of this bread. I like dry injera to eat my Ethiopian food with not the soggy one on the platter. We waited another 10 minutes for our side of injera while the food got cold, only to be delivered TWO plates of Indian pita bread!!!!! I told her I didn't want pita bread I wanted the injera that is suppose to go with the food, she took it back to the kitchen and we waited another 10 minutes to get the side of injera I asked for originally when we placed the order, by the time it was there we had to leave for an appointment at UAB and didn't have time to argue about anything. When we got our bill we were charged for two sides of rice $2.99 x 2 when the meal was suppose to come with one and not only that we only asked for ONE side of rice, two sides of pita bread $2.99 x 2 I didn't order PITA bread at all, and then the side of injera $2.99 that I couldn't even eat with my meal cause I waited so long for it and we were also charged for two sides of gumbo from The beginning 4.50 x2, WHEN WE ONLY ASKED FOR ONE! And we literally were all out of time to make it to our appointment at 12:30 it was 12:20 by then since we waited so long for our order when we arrived at 11Am, so we didn't even argue and just paid and left. Such a bummer the delicious food isn't backed up by a proper server and it's a bummer I was over charged for things I didn't even ask for and the server didn't pay attention or listen to what we asked for at all. We left an entire plate and a half of rice and on the table and took the none spicy left overs to the dog. I wasn't going to waste such a high price lunch ticket. I really didn't have time to argue the extra charges this was suppose to be a quick lunch before a long afternoon at the hospital, it was not a quick lunch, and I was...

My son chose this location for a birthday dinner for just the two of us. We both love Indian and Mediterranean foods and they offered both in addition to Ethiopian.

There’s a big shopping center parking lot with plenty of parking so that’s not a concern. It’s in more of an older shopping center in an area that’s not very well kept. Either way, we felt safe and wanted to try a new place for dinner.

The Restaurant interior is very colorful and I love that about it. In the photos that I saw online, I didn’t realize that the chairs were just covers that had all the beautiful colors but either way it’s a lot for the eyes to take in.

We arrived on a Friday evening close to 5 o’clock and we were the only ones there until we were just about to leave. I do believe that they have more orders that are picked up by DoorDash and delivery services.

I was excited to try the stuffed grape leaves and my plan was to get the hummus with pita bread and add lamb to it for my entrée. Unfortunately, they were out of the stuffed grape leaves, and when I tried to order the hummus, they were also out of the hummus. That was unfortunate, but I went ahead and ordered the chicken Shawarma roll which came with french fries.

We both liked our food, which was fresh and flavorful. The fries on my platter don’t look appetizing, but they came out hot in seasoned just right! We also ordered the fried green tomatoes and place of the stuffed grape leaves that we wanted as an appetizer. They came out hot and fresh and was very delicious.

The value for the price was great! After both of our meals to include one soda for my son it was only like $36.

Overall a good experience. I’ll definitely try it again. It’s not one of my top choices with all that Birmingham has to offer but definitely worth...

Sad to see this restaurant go downhill so quickly. Almost a year ago we visited and had an incredible meal. The food was flavorful, the tea was some of the best tea I've had in my life, and the service was extremely good. We visited again purposefully due to our excellent experience prior and were shocked at how quickly it has changed. The waitress didn't seem knowledgeable about the menu and constantly had a man coming out from the back giving direction. My husband's food came out first and he started eating a bit of the fries but hadn't unwrapped the sandwich but then the waitress came back and took it away, saying that it was the wrong order. She took it in the back and then several minutes later came back with another plate.

The sampler platter was cold and flavorless. The previous time we had visited the food had so much flavor that I asked the server what kind of spices they used because I wanted to buy some for myself. This time I questioned whether there was even spices added. The kabob sandwich was very lacking as well and they said they didn't have tea. Overall the food was just very lacking. I know restaurants must be having a hard time with food costs rising but I would've happily paid more for the same level of food we had previously.

My rating would be the same regardless of other clientele but I must mention that a man came in open-carrying a firearm. It just gave a bad vibe for us but fit in with everything else we were experiencing there that day. We aren't planning to return due to the food and service but even if those were as good as they were before we would hesitate to return based on the overall...