Enssaro Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

"Owner is a little man"

So I was with some birthday girls tonight. We decided to settle in on this restaurant because we heard good things and this place actually serves one of the birthday girl's hometown food.

While ordering... One of the girls claimed they're a regular customer and the restaurant doesn't serve fresh vegetables in their dishes. The waitress clarified that they do serve fresh made vegetables that are prepared every morning. Waitress seemed slightly upset. Okay, a strike on our part.

When eating... It took about 30-40 minutes for the food to be served. Our crowd really liked the family style dishes. Food was indeed delicious. This was going to be a five star review. Then we saw a bunch of waitresses and the owner, Telamune singing "Happy Birthday Wishes" to another table. So we were thinking, we should have that too since we have two birthday girls on our table right?

Telamune... I happened to called the owner over (which I didn't realize at the time) and asked if we could have the same thing on our table. I asked if we could have some kind of dessert with the same blessings. He wanted to check the IDs of the birthday girls. I was thinking, "Ok... we have a social owner here playing hard to get". He verified the IDs and said precisely, "Birthdays means BIRTHDAYS. It's TODAY." So I waited a little bit thinking he was going to say something like, "I was just kidding. We'll have the cakes over in a bit." No, he went on with the definition of "Birthdays". Also mentioned we only do this if the birthday was today. We had an awkward pause. Then I snapped on him and said, "Enough, it's too late now. We're not coming back."

Two Star Review... So I was thinking I'm going to leave two star at least because the food was geniunely very good. Up until I saw my check which I used my credit card on. Telamune HAD THE AUDACITY TO WRITE HIS OWN TIPS ON THE RECEIPT. Tip came out to be 20% which was something I was about to give anyways. Nope, that took the 1 star away. Telamune, you need to check the definition of "tips". Hope you're reading this.

Just FYI staff were all very professional. We're sorry about the fresh vegetable comment. Perhaps Telamune heard about that one and wanted to "exercise" his authority as the owner of...

I found Enssaro on Yelp when searching for Ethiopian food in Oakland. As it had a solid 4 start rating with over 1200+ reviews so I decided to give it a try. It is located on Grand Ave where street parking is a perennial pain but I got lucky and found something just outside the restaurant. At around 9:30 pm the place was almost completely full which meat it was definitely popular. I got what I generally get at any new Ethiopian restaurant that I try namely the Meat sampler ($14.95) to-go, which as per their menu is a combination of Doro Wot (bone in chicken and boiled eggs simmered in Ethiopian red sauce), Ye Beg Wot (Lamb slowly simmered with berbere and a combination of spices) and Doro Alicha (Mild chicken stew seasoned with ginger, garlic and turmeric). After ordering it was a short 10-minute wait and I was on my way.

I got a one decent sized container which meant that the injera was placed on top of the meat dishes meaning that by the time I got home it would absorb all the moisture for the stews and become nice baby food. I should have asked for it to be packed separately but the person taking my order was not the type that would appreciate special requests so I just let it pass. Note to self – order online next time and request that they injera be packed separately.

Anyway, lets come to the food. As expected half the injera had to be thrown away but the other half was pretty good. The meat sampler had two chicken dishes and one lamb dish. I would have preferred if they would have given one chicken, beef and lamb dish respectively as is the case in other Ethiopian restaurants but the good news is that the taste of all the dishes was very good. They actually tasted like different stews and not like common base used across all the stews. Overall it was pretty good.

Pricewise it was in exactly line with what you will pay at other Ethiopian restaurants in Oakland for the meat sampler. As already mentioned it does not have any beef dish in the sampler but I’ve found the taste of the dishes at Enssaro to be much better that the other two places that I’ve tried in Oakland (Asmara & Abesha). It’s a little rough around the edges so 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 is how I’d...

This is one of my favorite Ethiopian places ever, and I've been to many (all over the East Bay, DC, Boston, and L.A. areas). I've tried just about everything here, and they are all perfectly cooked, extremely flavorful, and are consistently delicious.

The food comes out family style on top of a large platter on injera, which is a semi sour Ethiopian spongey flatbread. The food is laid out on top and the injera soaks up the juices from the food. They give you extra injera, which you tear into little pieces to pick up your food with your hands. You can also ask for a fork if you're not adventurous, but what fun is that? When the food is gone, you eat the gooey slimy injera on the bottom and it's deliciously flavored in the juices.

My husband and I always order a vegetarian platter to share, with the vegetarian sambusos, but I have ordered the meat platter and other a la carte items to share with family when they visit. There is plenty of food, and you can always ask for extra injera, which is no extra charge.

The honey wine is worth trying once. It is sweet but a true experience if you want something authentic.

The service is attentive, but slow, which I've found is typical of many Ethiopian places. Perhaps due to the time the food cooks, or the culture which values slowpaced and enjoyable dining experiences? In any case, it's not too bad, and I never felt I've had to wait too long.

We often order takeout once a week, since the wait to eat is usually long. But with their larger location, it may not be a big of an issue.

Overall, totally worth eating here. Come check it out, you won't be...