ras dashen ethiopian restaurant

any opinions on ras dashen ethiopian restaurant?

We used to be fans of Mama Desta's but now frequent Ras Dashen. Although I'm not an expert in Ethiopian cuisine, I find the food at Ras Dashen to be quite good. The zilzil tibs are excellent.

I like Ras Dashen, but I like Ethiopian Diamond more. Ras Dashen is nice in that each meat dish comes with vegetables, whereas ED doesn't do that. I like the injera at ED more. The entrees at both are very tasty. From my experience, the service at ED is a little more attentive. But both places will give you a good meal.

You should receive assorted vegetable sides with your entree at Ethiopian Diamond. In general you'll get two or three vegetarian sides with your order, as well as a green salad. For example, I went to the Diamond recently and ordered 2 vegetarian dishes and one meat dish. The platter that came contained the stuff I'd ordered, the standard green salad in the middle, collared greens, yellow split peas and cabbage.

I agree--Ethiopian Diamond is much better than Ras Dashan. I like Ras Dashan for the atomophere though, because you can actually eat on a traditional Ethiopian table, which was fun. But after trying Ethiopina Diamond, Rash Dashan, and another tiny place on Broadway who's name evades me now, Diamond had the most flavorful selection, especially vegetarian-wise. Try the Misir Wot- a spicy, flavorful lentil dish. I'm not even a vegetarian, but I find myself dreaming about those dishes...so addicting.

I disagree -- Ras Dashen is our favorite spot for Ethiopian in the city. Particular favorites are the doro alicha, zilzil tibs, komodoro fetfet, kik alicha, and diblik altkilt (please forgive any incorrect spelling on those).

In my experience (and admittedly we order carry-out probably 2 or 3 times as often as we dine in there), I would say the service at Ras Dashen is more intentionally hands-off then inattentive. Not that this makes it any less frustrating when attentive service is what you want, but I think their motivations are sincere enough. In particular, be prepared to flag your server down for the bill. If left to their own devices, I suspect they would let you sit there all day, which I think is more about their sense of hospitality than any inattentiveness.

Is the take-out good from there? I love Eithopian food but my boyfriend is 'eh' about it so I never get to eat it really. But he's gone tonight and I was thinking of treating myself. I don't like take out sushi as I like the ambiance of eating it in the restaurant and I was wondering if Eithopian food would be the same. Short question long - does it hold up well?

Swanline wrote:Is the take-out good from there?

OK, I've mentioned my love for Ras Dashen before, so I will not rehash too much. However, I will say that my love is so great that I have often driven there (approximately 54 blocks north of my home) to pick up food, driven back home again and eaten it with glee. They do a nice job of packaging it by lining styrofoam containers with injera and putting the food on top and folding the injera over. Plenty of extra injera is included as well. Maybe the tibs are not as great as when they come straight out of the kitchen, but really nothing else has suffered enough that I do not crave it again immediately.

Kristen

Swanline-
I love Ras Dashen. I keep meaning to try takeout there, but haven't yet. Only lots of eat-in so far. I would surmise though that it would hold up quite well, given everything is pretty stew based. When I make Ethiopian at home things tend to stand up well to reheating. When you pick up, I would ask the staff there how they suggest to best reheat injera, although I think it is fine room temp and seems to be served almost that way in house.

Let us know how it goes.

If you don't have the menu here is a link
http://www.rasdashenchicago.com/menu.html

I also agree that Ethiopian Diamond is a good choice to look into. I have never eaten at Ras so I cannot compare. I just know that every experience that I have had at Ehtiopian has been good. I rather taste than atmosphere so I would probably be biased to Ethiopian over Ras. I like seafood and a taste for spicy food, and therefore always order the Shrimp Watt.

VIPchef wrote:any opinions on ras dashen ethiopian restaurant?

VIP,

It's been too long since I've been to Ras Dashen to offer a solid opinion, but I recently had an excellent meal at Ethiopian Diamond with Zim and family. Link

Enjoy,
Gary

Regarding carry-out from Ras Dashen, our experience has been the same as Kristen's. Nothing has suffered (and for our shorter 10 minute drive, I'd say even the tibs hold up just fine) from the drive home in styrofoam cartons and they do a good job with it.

Actually, I think carry-out is the better deal money-wise. If you eat in, you get 3 sides per table. If you carry-out, I think you get 2 sides per entree. Or at least bigger portions of the sides since each carton has room for one entree and two sides.

Also, on a somewhat different, eating-in, note, I forgot to mention Ras Dashen's over-achieving booze list in my previous post. It's a facet of their menu that has always (pleasantly) surprised me. Many interesting international beers (including several from Africa) and, in my opinion, a pretty interesting though not too deep wine list. Certainly far better than many more upscale places serving the standard restaurant wine and beer choices at much higher mark-ups. Last I knew they even have Ethiopian honey wine (Tej?), which personally isn't my thing but certainly might be others'.

JamPhil wrote: Many interesting international beers (including several from Africa)

Stopped by tonight, had some stellar grilled lamb...and an interesting Ethiopian stout called Hakim, very peppery and creamy and a fine counterpoint to rich lamb.

I read the above comments regarding service, and I must say our server was exceptionally attentive and helpful, offering gentle guidance and extensive explanation (but of course, YMMV).

Brought the wife, kids, & MIL to Ras Dashen last night for my first visit. The service was pleasant, the room very nice, bathrooms spotless. The food was pretty solid, though not as good as the best I've had in DC. No real clunkers and we sampled about 6-7 veggie items. Raw kitfo was good, though I'd ask them to kick up the spice a bit next time. I'd pass on the Doro Wat next time due to the fact I hate chicken breasts (dry). The Ethiopian coffee was great. I mean really great and I'm a coffee geek.

Be sure to get a glass of honey wine with dinner. I think they make this stuff in-house. Kind of ragged, but right!

We are a Ras Dashen family, and never feel the need to go to other Ethiopian restaurants. It's been "our place" for seven years, so now that we have a short person in tow, it's nice to go places where we so known and feel comfortable. Baby likes injera, so we know we can feed him something off our plates (not always a given). And Maritu would be put out if we didn't take "her baby" in for a visit at least once a month

ate here last night for the first time in a year (or more?), and happy to report that it is as good or better than ever.