Skyline Cafe - Ethiopian Cuisine in Falls Church (Bailey's Crossroads), VA

3821 S George Mason Drive

Falls Church, VA 22041
(703) 820-0240

This tiny restaurant is a place for the local Ethiopian community to enjoy their native food in a cozy, friendly and unpretentious atmoophere. The first thing you notice is a lively bar, usually full of discussion and laughter and several TV screens showing a soccer game going on somewhere in the world.  

Skyline Cafe has been operating for over 20 years at the same location in the Skyline Plaza strip that is an African enclave of eating, shopping and grooming establishments, flagged by a 7 Eleven. The speedbump-laden parking lot can hardly accommodate the busy traffic of customers in this strip, but wait for a few minutes and you will be lucky to park.

We have come to Skyline a handful of times and have seen clintele ranging from couples to families. The upbeat cheerfulness and hospitality of the new owner Samuel certainly translates to the staff and the clintele. 

We first discovered Skyline Cafe thanks to Groupon. We are huge fans of Meaza (Bailey's Crossroads) and Merkamo in Springfield.

The food in Skyline Cafe is great. We have ordered various items on the menu, trying something different each visit.  A great appetizer to begin your meal can be the Sambusa, which is a portion of two fried salty pastries filled with dark lentils and a tinge of heat. Another one that we really like is the Vegetarian Fit Fit made with pieces of injera bread soaked in awaze sauce mixed with jalapenos. The awaze sauce itself is spicy, so anything you order with it will translate into being spicy.

One of our favorite go-to combinations is the Vegetarian Sampler and one of the Tibs (grilled beef or lamb cubes) entrees offered on the menu, typically there are several to choose from.  The Vegetarian Sampler is always mild, and different Ethiopian restaurants may offer different veggies, but the staple is a variety of lentils and/or chick peas.  In Skyline Cafe the Veggie Sampler includes several types of lentils, cooked cabbage with carrots, a tomato salad (a la pico de gallo), spinach or collard greens, and other veggies.  As we are not lamb eaters, we typically order beef Tibs. Skyline's Tibs are usually of very good quality, they are lean and well-seasoned, and the kitchen is quite flexible on the level of spiciness you'd like for your Tibs, usually by varying the amount of jalapenos with which Tibs are grilled.

Samuel told us about the all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet that Skyline Cafe offers Monday - Friday for $10.99 during lunch time (call to check, as they offer it only during Ethiopian holidays several times a year).  Even during buffet hours, Samuel assured us that ordering off the menu will always be an option.

Skyline Cafe is a hands-down gem. We will definitely be back and will be bringing our friends. 

(Updated in June 2015) 

 We try to avoid posting photos of diners, so the pictures show empty tables because we photographed in-between customers. Staff do a great job cleaning off tables quickly.

 Artwork by local Ethiopian kids

 Sambusas and Vegetarian Fit Fit

 Vegetarian Sampler FOR ONE and Beef Tibs with Tomato Salad

Vegetarian Sampler FOR TWO with Skyline Beef Tibs

All meals are better with a nice cold Ethopian beer

Karamara Ethiopian Restaurant, Arlington, VA

3205 Columbia Pike

Arlington, VA 22204
703.271.0202

Next to the Panda Express Chinese restaurant, this place looks much smaller than it is. We came to Karamara for a "linner," so besides us there was only one other table occupied. Walking in, it seems like a tiny carry out, but the upstairs opens up to a large dining room. The feel of the place is dark and dingy. Railing along the stairs is broken exposing dried gummy glue. There was only one waitress, who was very nice, but clearly more preoccupied with getting the kitchen ready for dinner than with the diners in the restaurant.


We ordered a vegetable sampler of 5 items, including spicy lentils, a pico-de-gallo type of side mixed in with pieces of injera called "fit fit", a mixture of boiled cabbage, potato and carrots and chick peas. As opposed to most other Ethiopian restaurants, like Meaza or Merkamo or Lalibella, the flavors here were definitely toned down and not great. We ordered 2 types of tibs, which is the typical Ethiopian dish consisting of pieces of steak grilled with jalapenos. We ordered the house specialty tips, the Karamara Tibs, and the regular Beef Tibs. The Karamara tips were dry and flavorful. However the Beef Tibs came in a oily sauce that even as a fan of stews, I found very oily and runny, coupled with the fact that there was a very weird and unsavory flavor to them. It was like a mixture of being "gamey" and... just weird, not in a good way.

We tried this place because we had a Specialicous coupon and love Ethiopian food. Washington DC metro area is very lucky to have so many wonderful Ethiopian restaurants, so we have tried most of them. Unfortunately, Karamara is not a restaurant worthy of a second trip.

Merkamo Ethiopian Restaurant - Springfield, VA

7020 Commerce Street
Springfield, VA 22150
703-639-0144

If it wasn't for a Groupon, I would not have tried this restaurant, and am I glad I did! A little out of the way for me - all the way in Springfield - Merkamo was definitely worth the drive.

Located in a small strip mall in an area overrun with strip malls of all sizes, Merkamo is a cozy low-key restaurant with about 15 tables in all, and a full bar and a large flat screen TV (tuned to CNN), which is particularly convenient to keep company for those dining alone.  At lunchtime on a weekday in December, about 6 of the tables were full.  This seemed to be a restaurant enjoyed not only by Americans, but also by Ethiopians living in this area, which is a great sign of really authentic food. 

The restaurant itself was open and sunny.  Even the bathroom was pleasant!

The two ladies that explained the menu and served the food could not have been more hospitable and attentive.  They are also, apparently, part-owners in this family restaurant, which according to a review in the Washington Post means "beautiful" in Ethiopian.  This makes sense because my experience was nothing short of beautiful.

I over-ordered with the hopes to be able to take some food home with me, which worked out well.  I got the house special Merkamo Vegetarian Combo that included five vegetarian samplings, four of which were pretty standard, but the fifth was a dish with cold beets, which was absolutely amazing - and unique.  I don't think I ever had beets at an Ethiopian restaurant before, what a wonderful combination of flavors and textures and temperatures. 

I am not typically a big meat eater, but when at an Ethiopian restaurant, meat is a must.  The tibs were probably one of the best I ever had.  Importantly, ventilation at this restaurant was pretty good, so the sizzling tibs smell did not absorb into my clothes or hair.  I also had a house specialty Merkamo Kitfo (I ordered mine well done, not in the more traditional tartar) that came with two sides - cheese and spinach.  They were all delicious.

 

Most amazing was the awaze sauce, which the restaurant offers on the side to spoon out to one's individual taste.  This red flavorful spicy sauce was so delicious that I asked them to sell me some to-go, which they did.  Wow, what a treat.

I don't think there is much more to say about this restaurant other than - if you like Ethiopian food, go here.

Meaza Ethiopian Restaurant - Falls Church, VA

5700 Columbia Pike

Falls Church, VA

703-820-2870

Our meal at Meaza began with an appetizer order of Sambusas--deep fried pastry pillow of lentils, green peppers, and onions.  Our main course consisted of two kinds of Tibs, which were the less spicy house specialty Meaza Tibs and the more spicy Awaze Tibs.  The Meaza Tibs were reminiscent of Mexican fajitas;  a sizzling tray with cubes of beef sautéed with jalapeno peppers, onions, and garlic.  The Meaza Tibs were dry and steak like.  The Awaze Tibs were a tasty blend of onions, awaze sauce, and garlic.  The Awaze Tibs were prepared in sauce.  We also got the #7 Vegetarian Combo.  This was a great way to sample lots of flavors and we wound up taking about a third of it home.

The simple décor is limited to portraits of Ethiopian rulers up to Haile Selasse in an otherwise undecorated multiple level hall.  The furniture could use some updating.  The Achilles heel of this otherwise pleasant experience was the server’s limited understanding of English.  Plan on trying to be patient as you convey your orders.  We were left wondering on a few occasions if the server actually got our order correct.  Saturday nights there is a band in the dining room.  We have yet to hear them (they do not start until 10pm) and have yet to partake in their coffee ceremony (they end at 6pm).  Other than the décor and service, and commenting on the food alone, Meaza is one terrific meal.