Queen of Sheba 06-11-2010

Location: 650 10th Ave.
Time: 1pm
People: Showtime Ops!

Feelings: After my first Ethiopian experience at Meskerem, SaSha recommended another Ethiopian restaurant located few blocks away called Queen of Sheba. This dimly lit restaurant seemed to be more crowded, and the atmosphere is more whimsical compared to Meskerem.

The service here was incredibly slow. It took quite a while for the waitstaff to bring us the lunch menu, and we waited for our food for much longer than we had anticipated. For office workers such as we who have limited lunch time to spend, this was a frustrating experience.

I was not sure what to think of the porous, mushy injera bread at Meskerem. At Queen of Sheba, the bread was thinner and tangier, and I enjoyed the crepe-like bread. It was much easier to scoop all the food, and as a result I didn't make as much mess as I previously did. My Doro Wat ($9 from the lunch special) could be tweaked for a better flavor level, but the sour injera complimented the nuttiness of the dish.

SaSha also liked the injera better at Queen of Sheba and thought it was thinner and had a better sourdough taste. Her "Cabbage Wot" (not on the lunch special) needed a little more flavor, but she said the string beans and carrot dish was good. The collard greens were supposed to be bitter, but she felt they needed another flavor in addition to the bitterness. MKang's Tibs Wot was good, but she thought the injera on the plate was too dry. The extra injera on the side had good moisture and consistency, however.

PeeWee and his friend decided to share a Vegetarian Platter ($11.95), which was the biggest platter I have ever seen--until we saw the bill and realized that they brought two vegetarian platters for them to share. Are two people not allowed to share one plate at this restaurant? Overcharging without clarifying to the customers does not sound like a good business practice. Overall, however, I enjoyed the flavor of Queen of Sheba better than Meskerem. Meskerem has better lunch specials, but as a carb enthusiast, I have to nestle with the place that serves better injera.