Addis Red Sea last night

[Science Chick]

Went for the first time. Arrived around 8:30pm are were welcomed by a short line of about 4 parties and were told they weren't taking names, it was just 2 minutes wait. Many tables were empty, but no one was being seated. After about 10 minutes, the first party in line left. I inquired why no one was being seated, and the hostess quickly rushed around and seated everyone in the next 5 minutes. Okay, so I'm not exactly 25 anymore, but MAN is the seating/table setup uncomfortable! I know they're going for an authentic experience, but I had on a short summer skirt and had nowhere to hide! We started with the semolina bread and spicy dip (forgive my forgetfullness of the dish names), and had the mild lentils and the mixed vegetable (green beans, potatoes) as our main dishes. Main dishes were served with sides of cabbage and yellow split peas. All the food was well prepared, and we enjoyed the bread, although I think I recall seeing on an earlier thread that they will make a whole grain version on request? The service was equally taxing when we needed to get the check and head out, which was particularly annoying as my back was killing me from those chairs! got out for $32 incl tip. Overall it was fine, but I wouldn't race back.

[galangatron]

went to the one on tremont street a week or so ago and wasn't as good as in the past

[simms3434]

i went to the Boston location in April with 4 or 5 friends. We opted for Red Sea because, we decided we wanted to do more of a budget dinner.

We experienced a similar wait to Science Chick's. We were the 2nd or 3rd party in a line of 5 parties when there were plenty of seats empty. After eventually getting seated (in the basement section), it took about 15-20 minutes for our server to come over and take our drink order, a further 10 to get bring them, and by the time she came over to take our food orders, I'm pretty sure it ended up being 45 minutes before our food orders were taken.

The food, was OK. Some pretty good, others just bland. Because we had a large-ish party, we ran out of bread quickly and took a really long time to get replenished. We saw our waiter about 3 times during the course of the evening. We at a a pretty quick pace, and it ended up being a 3 hour 30-45 minute ordeal from the time we walked in to the time we left.

All in all it was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had, if not the worst. The one saving fact was that the meal was, relatively speaking, pretty cheap.

[ScubaSteve]

at 6'6" i find seating here a bit of a challenge. the secret, imo, is to not sit as you would in a regular chair but to put your butt back on the seat and lean forward so that your elbows are on your (spread) knees. granted, i don't (often) wear short skirts, but hey, if Paris can show it off....

[Harp00n]

Having never been to either location, inquiring minds want to know, is this the new Cambridge location or the Boston original? Obtw, thanks for the imagery!

[maillard]

I was wondering that as well. I went to the Cambridge location a few weeks ago and had some of the worst service I've ever experienced. We were seated right away, but didn't get a chance to order for at least half an hour. The table next to us was seated, ordered, and got their food before we even had a chance to order. Aside from the ordering issue the service was pretty poor in general.

The food was fine, but I don't think I like Ethiopian food enough to ever go back to either location. The Yasa Wot was enjoyably spicy, but the fish tasted a bit odd and had the texture of beef jerky, which was kind of surprising. The Gored Gored was better. The vegetarian sambusas were bland and greasy. The lentil dishes (I forget which they were) were fine, but not special or better than lentils I can make at home. Not sure how much was an off night in the kitchen and how much is just me not being all that into Ethiopian food. I don't plan to return to find out, though. :)

[galangatron]

what are the days/hours of the cambridge branch?

[bear]

Where the seats at the Cambridge place the same as Tremeont?

[DavisSquare]

Normal chairs and tables at the Cambridge location.

[jpeso]

They just opened the cambridge location very recently, so i would expect them to have some sizable service issue. I bet the are much busier than expected too.

The kifko is soooooo tasty!

[Science Chick]

This was the one on Tremont in the South End

[wittlejosh]

I'm obsessed with the Ethiopian steak tartare (kitfo), lean raw beef, diced, then tossed with a very spicy clarified butter.

I agree that the seating is pretty uncomfortable.