Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in San Diego

First, I have to announce that, Asmara Ehiopian restaurant is closed. Just contacted the Owner Tamim. Unfortunately, the truth is they are not coming back or opening anywhere else. They went back to their native place. I am heart broken, I still did not find a replace for this place :( Looking for a replacement of Asmara, we found this place, Red Sea. I shall tell you in the end, If Red Sea is the replacement or not. The Atmosphere is typical Ethiopian and lovely friendly people. One food, all in our family love is Ethiopian, we could eat every day and even can sleep and live on Injera. My wife loves the vegetarian plate and my Kid and myself love Beef plate. Ethiopian cooking can be heavy on meat -- but the east African country's cuisine is also full of delicious and super-satisfying dishes that are perfect for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten and lactose-free eaters.

Started with our favorite Sambussa, this time, we ordered the Vege combo and meat combo.

Sambussa: 3/5 It was huge here. We felt the filling was less and shell was huge. Lentils and green peppers spiced with cumin very cooked to perfect. It was freshly made, hot. It came with spicy dip. It was good

Vegetarian Combination: 2.5 /4 A combination of four items: Split-Pea Alicha, Lentils, Collard Greens, Vegetables - Alcha Meet Combination: 3/5 A combination of three items: Tibs, Yebere Siga Wot, Yedero Wot

Big bummer was, they did not Hakim beer,  Hakim Stout is best Ethiopian beer I have tried.

Everything was tasty but was not flavorful, it lacked some flavor. The veggies were cooked to perfection. Food came late, and portions were not impressive. We also had Hot masala tea, it was great/ The Staff are really nice & friendly. Will go again.

The search is going on to find our...

This was my second time eating Ethiopian food and my first time at Red Sea. We had a party of three and ordered a vegetarian combo and a meat combo with a couple of salads. If you are not familiar with Ethiopian food, it all comes out on one large plate in the middle of the table, with the different food varieties colorfully scooped onto it in a circle. It is laid out on a bed of teff, which is a velvety soft flat bread( the national staple food of the country ). More teff is provided on separate plates. You have to eat in a very ancient style, without plates, forks, knives or spoons. Pinching the food carefully into a small bit of the flat bread is the only way to get it to your mouth, so it's easy, after a couple of honey wines or Ethiopian beers to lose a dollop of saucy food on the tablecloth or your lap. It's not much different from eating Mexican food with only tortillas, as I have, on occasion, my whole life. The food was very tasty. Not spicy and not bland. The beef dish tasted like a saucy, gravy like stew. The lamb dish was excellent, and didn't overwhelm with the typical lamb pungency. The lentils were not soupy, so we could easily pick it up with our teff. I found it a little confusing wirh how to eat the delicious vinegar tomato salad. It was too wet and a fork would have done the trick.The place is simple but clean and the service was friendly and attentive. The waiter's food recommendations were great. It is a good place to hang out in an informal setting, have some good, fun food and have beer or wine without...

My family decided to try Ethiopian food, since we had never tried it before. We started with the freshly cooked appetizer of Sambussas, they did not disappoint! Everyone liked them! For our main entrée, we enjoyed the different spices used to flavor the beef, chicken and lamb dishes in addition to the lentils, greens and salad. You can specify how spicy you want the food, we had medium spiciness and it was perfect. The food is served in a big round serving plate from which everyone can use the unleveled bread to scoop small portions into the bread and eat. Some in our group did not like the bread, for they are not accustomed to the texture; instead, they used a fork in lieu of the bread. I tried the Ethiopian beer and it was good. We finished our dinner with dessert of baklavas. They are richly sweet and went well with a hot cup of tea. The service was great! Our waitress was friendly and courteous. She gave us good suggestions on what food to try too. We were able to park behind the restaurant and walk right in. I gave four stars only because we don't know if we could have had a different type of bread, but then again, we did not ask if there was a different type of bread. I recommend you try Red Sea Ethiopian...