This is the second non-standard-Ethiopian East African restaurant I have been to (the other one is just west of 82nd and Powell). They were both unusual experiences but then again they felt more like gathering places for diaspora Somalis and other East Africans than restaurants for westerners.

We sat ourselves and were served by a mumbly man who was neither friendly nor unfriendly, helpful nor unhelpful. He took our order, came back and asked for our order again, and then later one woman and two different children came at different times to recheck our order.

The other time I ate East African food there was a buffet, but after getting plates of buffet food we were then brought an enormous pile of meat, bread, and a pitcher of watered-down fruit nectar. We got a pitcher of juice again but no surprise food this time. If you have never had this style of food, it's somewhat similar to Ethiopian food but with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern / Indian influences. Think injera, spaghetti, rice, and chapatis living harmoniously in the same dishes.

I can't find the same spellings on Google, but we got beef suqooz with anjeera and kaykay with beef and chapatis. The suqooz was a plate of lean steak and peppers in a brothy sauce, served with hot fresh chili paste and anjeera on the side. It seemed like the difference between their anjeera and your typical injera is the latter is made with sour teff flour and this seemed to be made from regular wheat flour. This dish was pretty bad for $12. The beef was that leanest, cheapest kind of steak you got when you were younger and wanted to eat steak but didn't realize good steak is expensive for a reason. The bread was fine. With the hot sauce, all together, it tasted fine, it was just more like bad home cooking.

The kaykay was chapati sliced up and tossed with green peppers in a spiced tomato sauce. This was really good, similar in flavor and texture to a thick pasta in a spiced red sauce. At $10, it was far superior in taste and value.

The service / milieu was hecka odd and by the time we were ready to leave everyone in the whole place had disappeared into the back room to pray so we just put some cash on the table and left.

Overall, it was okay? I'm surprised by how much I like watered-down fruit nectar. I really enjoyed one of the dishes. I'm more intrigued than offended by weird service, but this is not a place to take the picky or uptight. I would probably come back to try their breakfast menu (before 11AM), but I'm not sure this is a restaurant for me.