Enat Fine Ethiopian Cuisine — Restaurant in Virginia

This was my second visit to an Ethiopian restaurant, but first visit here. My reason for revealing that is that I've never tried the shareable dishes before, so it was quite an experience. I wasn't too thrilled about sharing from the same plate. However, now I know, I can easily ask for a separate plate.

The staff was super friendly. They fully explained everything when we were ordering. We ordered the vegetarian combination (it pretty much includes everything from the Vegetarian Entree section of the menu) with a side of Lamb Tibs (I believe it was the Yebeg Wot). Unfortunately, we couldn't remember the names of the vegetarian sides. Initially they ask which one we want an extra serving of...so we chose the collard greens. Later we found out we can have unlimited refills of all the vegetarian sides. They were constantly coming by to refill our sides and injera. I didn't eat the lamb, so can't comment on that. However, regarding the vegetarian options...we really liked the Misser Watt (it wasn't that spicy for me). I thought the Gomen (collard greens) were a bit bland.

The restaurant itself wasn't in the best condition. The ceiling was pretty worn and the bathroom/backroom was about the same.

One thing to note about parking: it is very limited. This restaurant is located in a busy intersection and a small strip mall. There is parking available in the back; the spots in the front are definitely...

We were looking for a culinary adventure. Enat Fine Ethiopian Cuisine did not disappoint. It had been decades since our last Ethiopian meal! This place is a dive but does have very helpful and friendly staff, a full bar and the glassware was clean.

Our server, Brook, was attentive and explained the menu. He provided a number of suggestions for our meal: honey wine, yebeg wot, assa dulet, shiro, gomen, tikil gomen, fasolia, misser watt, shiro, timatim fitfit, kik aletcha. We ordered all of his suggestions. There were a few I forgot. My favorite was the assa dulet. We also ordered their sambussa which was delightful.

The owner stopped by to provide us with a remedial demonstration on how to use the Injera for the meal. (There is no cutlery. You use the Injera bread to collect bits of food.) I was using WAY TOO MUCH Injera for each bite and was the first of my group to deplete my Injera.

True story: at the end of our meal one of the other diners, also named Brook, came over and insisted on paying for our meal. We learned that Brook is a common Ethiopian male name which means blessed...

I enjoyed the meal I had at Enat while visiting DC. The place was pretty full but had enough space for four. The restaurant was homey in its décor and seemed to be a local gathering place – a good sign. I have been to a few Ethiopian places in Seattle, and this was just as good as ones I’ve had elsewhere. The waitstaff was patient and polite as I asked a bunch of questions as well. When the food came out, the waitresses brought out the flat injera on the large metal dishes and brought out many smaller clay bowls with the and poured each one on the injera. I appreciated their presentation because the meals I have had previously were brought out with the wat already dished out. As for the wat, I especially enjoyed the collard greens and cabbage/carrot/potato wat. One thing I noticed was that it seemed like there was not enough injera provided at the beginning of the meal. Extra injera was needed because it got soggy in some places due to some of the more liquidy wat. If I was in the area again, I would...