Bahel

5 Reviews on “Bahel”

• A

  Inauthentic and Bland. I should start this review by noting that I have eaten at several Ethiopian restaurants around the US and I make my own Ethiopian food at home from scratch (including my own ayib and injera made from Teff flour) about once a month or so. It is one of my favorite types of cuisine.We were in Atlanta for the weekend and wanted to try one of Atlanta’s many Ethiopian restaurants. I looked around the internet, read the reviews, and visited the websites to see which to select. I read the glowing reviews and looked at the lovely pictures of their food on their website and selected Bahel.The restaurant is located in a strip mall. We went on Friday night and had no problem parking. There was one other couple and a small party of women dining but otherwise the restaurant was empty when we got there. The place is small although I wouldn’t describe it as intimate. It did look clean and well maintained. We were seated quickly and our drink order was taken within 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately, one of the things that had drawn us to Bahel, the homemade honey wine reviewers had raved about, was not available that night which was a disappointment.Undeterred we placed an order for the sambusa appetizer. The website shows this as consisting of a small basket of sambusas but what arrived at the table was two small nibbles with a skimpy puddle of sauce on the side. We had ordered the hot version of the lentil variety and it was only mildly spicy.While we were waiting for the appetizer we ordered the vegetarian combo entree. This came in a timely fashion but, again, looked nothing like the richly colored beautiful meal shown on the website. It also didn’t look like many of the diner’s photos I had seen on other sites like Yelp. Instead it consisted of 5 fairly small amounts of somewhat washed-out looking food. The lentil dish was mildly spicy and the other dishes were not spicy or even very flavorful. The collard greens dish, normally one of my favorites, had a very odd taste that I do not associate with the flavor profile of Ethiopian food at all. Neither of us could eat much of it because it was not very good. The injera, another of my favorite components of Ethiopian food, was very bland. It did not have the wonderful tang that injera should have and that makes up such an important part of the unique flavor-mix of an Ethiopian meal. The green salad was a spring mix salad with what seemed to be a mild Italian dressing on it instead of an authentic Ethiopian tomato salad. There was no option to order a side of ayib which was another disappointment.Overall, although the service is prompt and polite this cannot make up for the lack of authentic Ethiopian flavor in the food. While a single vegetarian combo was sufficient for the two of us the platter in no way contained the quantity of food shown on the website and it was not as visually appealing by far. Given that Atlanta has many Ethiopian restaurants my bet is that you would do better dining at one of the others. I wish I had.

  November 3, 2014, 11:50 pm

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• Ashley Roth Blackmon

  This place is amazing! Great service and VERY delicious food! Definitely going to come back.

  September 13, 2012, 11:25 pm

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• Jane Doe

  It was terrible I couldn’T believe I was in the same restaurant that had such glowing reviews it was terrible tasteless food.

  April 7, 2012, 6:26 am

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• De Lois Heard

  Love the atmosphere, quite intimate with traditional music playing in the back ground. I can only imagine how romantic it would be at night. Very good choice.

  May 19, 2011, 9:26 pm

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• Turtleprince

  Best of the Ethiopians. Friendly staff, delightful atmosphere, fish dulet is unique to the tribe that thisnowner’s family hails from. Great coffee two doors down at Sky City Cafe.

  February 15, 2010, 10:40 pm

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