Habesha Restaurant — Restaurant in Malden

Summary: There was a mistake on my end, the food was delicious, I'll be going back, I will never get delivery from them again. Because the issue was my own fault, I did not include it in my scoring.

THE FOOD: Delicious. I got the golden tibs and vegetarian dish. The tibs were wayyyy too tough - I won't order them again - but they were spiced heavenly. I will be trying other meat dishes from them in a heartbeat. The vegetarian plate was amazing.

DELIVERY ISSUE AND LACKLUSTER RESOLUTION Yesterday I ordered my food from Habesha through grabull.com. I believed only half my food came. The restaurant had difficulty explaining when they understood the issue, they came up with few solutions, they said "it's delivered through postmates and grabull, you have to talk to them. We sent the food." Nobody had the driver's number and grabull was rough to work with and unable to promise any resolution. While I don't think the restaurant should be blamed for grabull or postmate's performance, it is their choice to work with these services and the result was beyond frustrating. Nobody (grabull nor the restaurant) called me back despite promising to, either. I had to call everyone back myself for over an hour. No resolution was promised, either. At the end, I believed I was simply out $30 (more than half of which was in tip, deliver fees, etc). To be fair to everyone involved - I was in the wrong. The food came. Still, if your food doesn't come, don't expect easy resolution.

For those wondering how I missed half my food: I got two takeout containers of bread and ribs wrapped in tinfoil. I checked one to-go: JUST BREAD (heck yeah). I lifted up some of the break in the other to-go: JUST BREAD. Then I checked the tinfoil: JUST MEAT. My veg wasn't there! ...yeah it was. I didn't dig through the second to-go enough. I figured it out when I went to toss the leftover bread and the container was hefty. Completely my fault, I'm sorry for...

Long story short, this business should not be doing take out orders unless they actually intend on paying attention to their ordering systems. I placed my order on their own website around 7pm. The order confirmation set the pickup time around 7:30. I arrived on time and they looked clueless. The bartender who’s supposed to be managing to go orders took several minutes to help me because they were socializing with regulars at the bar. When she got to helping me she informed me that they ever “accepted” the order and that it would be another 30 minutes for my food to be prepared. She asked if I’d like to cancel, I said no, my girlfriend and I are hungry, I’ll just wait. I sat at the bar, she never offered to get me a drink, paid or comped. The evening was not busy by any means, they had 5 seated tables, and a relatively full bar or regulars who weren’t eating. Only 2 other to go orders came in while I was there. They should have been able to manage this much better. I have to ask, if I never showed up, when would they have ever accepted and prepared my order?

The food was flavorful, but the meat portions were very skimpy, our $18 chicken dish (Doro Wot) consisted of part of a chicken thigh maybe 4-5 ounces of meat total, which clearly had been sitting in a warmer for a long time as the skin was very dried and tough to chew. It was a disappointing dish given the price.

Between the terrible service and skimpy portions, I would not suggest eating here at this time until ownership and management get their act together. The owner or manager was present, but when I arrived they were also socializing with regulars at the bar rather than managing...

They must hire people to lie on their reviews. The food sucks! Overpriced burnt food. They claim that the prices online are from an “old menu”🤔 $9 kids meals( better off at McDonald’s)were overcooked,!! I think that they burned the food to try and get rid of the rotten chicken that they serve.! veggie & meat Sambusas were burnt! Fish was burnt! Do they only eat Burnt food in Ethiopia?? The waitress kept forgetting my spiced tea 🫤had to remind her multiple times. Took forever to get our food. A “Karen” kept gawking at me and my kids. (Instead of paying and leaving she decided to stare) Don’t u know it’s rude to stare? Her boyfriend kept coughing without covering up his Covid cough mouth… no manners. No ventilation in the place.🤬. They weren’t prepared for our party of 6 Even though I called a day earlier and made “reservations “. I felt like they overcharged us for everything because we’re American(and I told them so). $175+ 😲 I didn’t make a scene, I just Won’t be coming back. I tipped out of pity, but the food was horrendous. BOH needs to be...