Kategna Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in San Jose

It was freezing cold and rainy in the Bay Area but I had decided to drag my mentee with me to support my favorite local mom-and-pop restaurant. It was my second trip this month, amidst the storm and the surge of Omicron! What can I say, a girl has to eat some good food, and this appetite is always willing to go the distance to dig my hands in the Injera. 🤗

You can't go wrong with their juicy Yebeg Tibs (my absolute favorite!!!), Yedoro Wot and the vegetarian combo. Their stew, meat and vegetables (especially the collard greens) are so tender and flavorful that it feels as though all the herbs and spices collide and explode in your mouth. 😋😚 Delish foods like this can be dangerous--please come with your "buffet shirt" ready and you might need to be wheeled out of there if you don't pace yourself.

In all honesty, you can tell when certain food is prepared with so much heart and soul--you can always taste and feel that love from the hands that make the food. Just be patient with the process and soak in the homey and cozy ambience of this place while high-quality food is being prepared. What comes with love is not quickly and readily available in an instance like the ones at those fastfood joints.

This is the fourth Ethiopian restaurant in the area that I've dined at, and it's safe to say, I'm going to keep coming back to this place for the foreseeable future, as long as the quality of their food doesn't change. I really hope their business will survive the pandemic.

Having had the luxury to enjoy the abundance of cultural foods around me over the years, it has taught me a few lessons about respecting and cherishing the beauty of differences in our world. It is important that we learn, not only to appreciate the good foods around us and the products that we consume, but we must also learn to love the hands of those who labor with heart and soul to create those foods and produce the things for our daily consumption.

Words of advice from me:

• Be willing to go out of your comfort zone to try new things, adventures in food and experiences in life, and you may be pleasantly surprised and in for an exquisite journey.

• Never prejudge the quality of the food by the exterior of the restaurant or its surrounding landscape. Some of the best authentic foods are located in the heart of those good ol' neighborhoods, while many superficially fancy-looking restaurants can be costly but have no soul food to offer.

• Gems like Kategna just take a little more efforts to dig and little longer to find, but it's so...

This is our first Ethiopian restaurant, and it did not disappoint. The restaurant location looks shady from the street side. It sits inside a strip mall. You have to walk into the atrium to get to the restaurant. Inside the atrium, you will see other stores (upstairs and downstairs). This restaurant has seating outside. The interior is very classy. The ladies who work here are very hospitable. We told them that it was our first time eating Ethiopian food, and they were so happy to hear that. We ordered Kategna (bread) as an appetizer. They are cut into triangles. I do not recommend eating it folded in half- it becomes too salty. When you order, it is family style, so do not expect that everyone will be served their own individual plates. We ordered chicken, lamb, and beef. Although chicken is their most popular dish, it was our least favorite of the 3 meats even though it was good. Your meal comes with injera (Ethiopian style tortillas with a spongy texture). You do not use utensils to eat Ethiopian food because you use the injera to pick up the food and it soaks up all the juice and flavor of the meats. The lamb and beef were so delicious! We also ordered coffee. It was made fresh at our table- like watching a chemistry lab experiment...very cool. When the coffee is done brewing, it is poured into very small espresso cups. You may add steamed milk (you have to ask for it) and/or sugar. This is REALLY good coffee, and I am a coffee snob. I can't stand Starbucks. If you have tried Chromatic and Philz coffee, then you know what I'm talking about. We will definitely be back...with...

So I was in an uber this morning and the driver and I were discussing cool restaurants to try here in San Jose. I was trying to figure out what have I yet to experience in food culturally and the first thing that popped into my mind was Ethiopian! He dropped me off at my destination and I did not think much of it and continued about my day. Later in the afternoon, my boyfriend calls (he is currently in Georgia) and says he is about go to dinner with some family and he asks me where I am going to go for dinner tonight and I say, what for it... Ethiopian! I do not know why, but I just could not get it off my mind! By this time, I'm walking down Shasta and I look on the Google Map app to see that less than five minutes from where I was, was what my soul has been calling out for all day! 😂 This was my first time eating at Kategna and I absolutely enjoyed it! The service was fantastic. The food was amazing. I had a lamb dish which was so juicy and full of flavor as well as an Ethiopian macchiato. Both of which I highly recommend! That macchiato was like nothing I have ever tasted before. It was so rich, creamy and smooth. Absolutely yummy. 😋

There is such a welcoming and peaceful atmosphere here. If you are up to try something new and add some exciting tastes to your palate, come eat at this wonderful establishment. You will leave with a very satisfied soul and full belly! It's been said that spicy foods are known to benefit the human digestive system and metabolism, which to me seems like an awesome deal for such a...