Zagol Ethiopian Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

This was an over-all disappointing experience for me and my friends. Let me list off the issues we had with our visit:

1- The costumer service was terrible. My friend asked for a straw and we waited 30 minutes before one of us got up and asked for one again. Our waitress was unfriendly and cold.

2- Around 30 minutes into our wait we asked for our sambusa and the waitress rudely said that it takes “a long time to make”. Let me inform those of you reading that my friends are of eastern African descent and we are well aware of how long it takes to defrost premade sambusa and throw it in the fryer. As a matter of fact we witnessed them do just that nearly 40 minutes after we ordered our food.

3- The food finally came after nearly 45 minutes, our sambusa included. We were expecting the food to be out of this world for how long they took to prepare it, instead it was lukewarm (more on the cold side) and underwhelming.

4- We asked for 2 separate plates, one vegetarian and one meat. My friend is a vegetarian and they brought out the food on one plate, the meat and veges side by side and she had to eat around the meat. My other friend asked for no kifto and they put kifto on the plate.

The only reason we didn’t ask to return the food was because we were STARVING and had already waited nearly an hour. I suggest Zagol improve their costumer service skills and learn how to be prepared when costumers have special requests regarding their meals. Some people have allergies and dietary restrictions that most other places will accommodate.

For all of the reasons above we will not be returning and will not recommend this place to...

We spent about 2.5 hours in this restaurant from walking in to leaving. Not because we wanted to but rather everything took so long. We sat and ordered 2 beers which were given to us but not opened until we asked later on. We put a simple food order in for 2 and it took over an hour to get it. We asked for an eta on the food about 45 min after ordering. The waitress told us they are very busy. Taking a look around the restaurant, it did not seem so at the moment. They had some people in there but not an amount that would make you wait this long. After receiving the food and being about half way done with our food we asked for more injera and sat there waiting for the injera about 30 min. It never came. We then just asked for a receipt so we could leave. The waitress takes another 20 min then comes back out to take an order of the table next to us while we simply are waiting for a receipt. We then ask again and she hands us the receipt but never comes back to take my credit card. Luckily, the receipt has a barcode you can scan to pay online which came in handy because we probably would’ve been there another hour trying to pay. After looking at the receipt she charged us for the extra injera that we NEVER got. I have NEVER EVER not tipped someone in my life but this service was the first time I ever have. The food was great but I will never be...

This place used to be Assimba, but the former owners sold it in June 2017 to the new owners.

Assimba was a long time favorite of ours and we feared that nothing would match it. So with some trepidation, we went in a couple of weeks ago. Our favorite thing to order was the yellow split pea lentils and spicy beef tibs. The previous owners made it in a way that we just love - the beef well done, yet not so much that it could not soak in the flavor of the gravy it sat in.

The food at Zagol was pretty good, but the main purpose of the review here is to share the service. The owner of Zagol (new) called the owner of Assimba (former) to ask her how she would make the spicy beef tibs for us. And then she tried to replicate it.

Talk about going above and beyond... What incredible service and a delightful person to boot. We have been there 4 times in the last two weeks. Today, Assimba's owner was there - a reunion indeed, followed by an advance lesson in making tibs a certain way I am sure. It was absolutely outstanding.

I am looking forward at our next meal there.

UPDATE: Have been back there and the food does not disappoint. Fantastic food and great service! What more could...