Bole Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in Portland

Bad/no service & food poisoning

I'm sad I can't share the enthusiasm of other reviewers. We experienced bad to non-existent service and 2 day long food poisoning after.

THE SERVICE We came here because its a highly rated place on Google Maps. For the most part we were ignored by staff. It took a while but the waitress came and took our order. She didn't really welcome us or try to make any kind of personal connection, which is fine but it's always nice to at least try to connect with customers. After a long wait the food arrived and that was the last we saw of the waitress. Our hot drinks ended and no one showed up to offer a refill, no one came to check on the food, etc. We were left to ourselves. Trying to flag the waitress down with hand gestures didn't work even when she was 2 tables away. We finished the meal and waited for 12-15 minutes trying to flag her down, just sitting there staring at the bar, thinking someone will finally bring us the check. Eventually I stood up fed up with the wait and went to the bar and handed her our card saying we don't have any more time and need to leave.

THE FOOD The food was nice while we ate it though. I've eaten plenty of Ethiopian in the West and in Ethiopia. This was okay home cooked flavor food. However, I have never gotten sick after Ethiopian food before. After eating here I felt sick with a stomach bug for 2 next days.

Generally disappointed as I love Ethiopian food. I'm new to Portland and I was excited to find a place in here that's...

We ate at Bole this evening. The place wasn't busy, and I can't imagine why as the food is spectacular. The young lady who served us was very pleasant and was willing to answer questions I asked about the Ethiopian alphabet that was on a hanging on the wall. It was fascinating to learn that the characters contain both vowel and consonant sounds.

But we were there to eat, and so we did. We had the veggie combination plate. It was delightful. Each of the seven dishes was delightful. The flavors are not terribly complex, but each dish is seasoned in a way that shows off the taste of the different vegetables. We truly appreciate that the items are not oily at all. The serving was plenty for the two of us; we came away full but not feeling stuffed. The injera was lovely,with a nice bright and tart taste and perfect with each...

My partner and I went here yesterday on a Saturday evening at 5:15. There were 2 other tables there were seated. We were waiting to be seated and the owner tells us in a low voice, almost as if they didn't want the other tables to hear, that they were out of injera. It seemed off as it was only 5:15 on a Friday and to be already out of injera and two other tables were seated, and to tell us in a whisper? It was off-putting and we thought maybe it was because we were a queer couple. We ended up going to Abbysinian instead. Maybe it was a coincidence, but either way, how do you run out of a main menu item at 5:15 and you aren't a new restaurant and were hardly crowded? There are plenty of other Ethiopian restaurants to try that we are okay not returning...