Abol

Granted, I’m no expert when it comes to Ethiopian food — not even a little bit. However, I DO know flavor, and Abol does, too. I was super delighted with our take-​out experience from here. Abundant injera, sour and sponge-​like, was the perfect base for this super flavorful, fresh and hearty meal.
We got a large mix of things, so I tasted everything from stewed lamb to chicken legs to various vegetarian dishes. My favorite was definitely the Yesega we’t (spicy beef stew), but the Kik Alicha We’t (Yellow Split Peas) was a close second.
The ordering and pick-​up process was easy and fast, and our food was so well packaged that it was still piping hot when we got it home. As I mentioned, we were given a very generous amount of injera with our meal, which was delicious and imperative for successful eating!

Will make it simple
The food wasn’t fresh, we got the plate of vegetables and meet for too people, it sound like just trial samples for 32 $ wwooh
Will never go there again for precooked expensive food

I’ve eaten at this place several times. It’s mostly good, sometimes great, food but a little inconsistent from day to day.

Our go-​to for delivery (and particularly Ethiopian delivery). We’ve never actually been to the restaurant, but we frequently order on Unilocal.It always comes with plenty of food and they throw in enough extra injera so that we don’t run out :) Delivery times vary — once we got it within 20 minutes of ordering, and sometimes it has taken as long as an hour. The food has always been extremely good. The Ethiopian restaurants are one of the major perks of living in Silver Spring, but having the ability to get ethiopian food delivered is icing on the cake.

Very good quality food, generous portions, and great service. Must try if you like ethnic food.

The food here was good. I got the combination platter #2 for one and my friend got the vegetable platter for one. Platter #2 had Doro wat, which was great, comes with a chicken leg and a hard boiled egg in a brown flavorful sauce. It also came with a lamb stew dish which was my favorite the sauce had great flavor and the lamb was cooked well. It had a ground beef dish which was good the sauce tasted good, the beef was ground in a way that it almost had the texture of lentils. It came with another chicken portion that was ok did not have much flavor and collard greens which added a good vegetable component. My friend enjoyed the vegetable platter (which all the vegetable dishes are also vegan!)
The service was also good, the waitress made sure we had enough water the whole time and answered all the questions we had. The food came out quickly too, probably in about 5 – 8 minutes. The serving of the platters was not as fun as some Ethiopian places where they lay out a piece of injera and pile the food on, it was just on the plates. On the table there are some facts and tips about the food, my favorite one is something about if you are on a date feed each other the food by hand for a romantic experience, had to laugh at that one! I would come back to this restaurant!

I’ve lived in Silver Spring for 6 years now, and Abol is still my favorite Ethio restaurant (keeping in mind that I’m vegetarian, so I’ve obviously never had any meat entrees).The flavor is hands-​down the best of all the veggie platters I’ve tried in the area. The beets are simply the best of any place I’ve tried and their green & carrots (fosolia) seems to be baked because its flavorful and almost chewy, instead of bland and watery.
However, the food is prepared way too oily. It’s the norm to see their veggie sides sitting in a pool of oil, unfortunately. While some people may not care, I personally would much rather have half the oil, because with the amount of oil being used, cutting it by that much probably would =not impact the flavor much. Also, I noticed that their portions have shrunk a bit since the new management.
All in all though, if health factors were not a priority, I would still choose Abol for my Ethio dining.

***Updated Review
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned a FAST FOOD Ethiopian place. The point of mentioning a fast food Ethiopian place was to say that IF YOU WANT MEDIOCRE FOOD then you might want to patron Abol. There are plenty of other Ethiopian places to try in Silver Spring. I would definitely give them a try.
Food was terrible. Ordered a meat special and a veggie special combo for two. Got two pieces of meat and the veggies were full of oil. Save yourself and go to Ethio Express down the street

This is my first foray into Ethiopian food. We ordered the combination #1 (vegetables) and combination #3 (meat) and sambossa. I have no frame of reference to compare but this place made a great first impression. Flavors and textures were foreign but delightful. I need to try out some Ethiopian places in Los Angeles.

Visiting an area known for its Ethiopian restaurants (and from a place with only one in town), we had expectations of a good meal. Well, I’m sorry to say we were disappointed with our visit to Abol.
I’ll mention the positives first, because they won’t take long: the service was quite good, and the sambossas stuffed with a tasty lentil mix were nice.
But we shared a vegetarian combo, and that’s where it all went downhill. With the exception of the brownish/​reddish lentils, every other item — the beets to the beans & carrots to the yellow lentils to the cabbage — was disappointing. The food simply was not flavorful and, therefore, was not enjoyable.
Several other notes:
— I prefer when the combos are served atop a large piece of injera rather than in a serving dish as they are here.
— The prices were so-​so, especially considering the modest condition of the dining room. The «economies of scale» for when you order a combination for multiple people were quite modest (I think the second person gets added for only a $ 1 less than the first).

This place was great. It was my first Ethiopian experience and it was fantastic. They explained the customs, which really helped me understand why no utensils were used. We ordered a stew sampler, and everything tasted great!

We tried the meat lovers combo #2 and #4 and loved them! Combo #2 had chicken stew, lamb stew, two types of beef stew, and collard greens. Combo #4 had chicken stew, two types of beef stew, split lentils, split peas, and collard greens. Everything was delicious, especially the split lentils! The lamb was a bit chewy, but I didn’t mind. The portions may seem a bit small, but really fill you up when eaten with injera — we had tons of leftovers afterward! Oh, and the service was also great.

Consider me hooked on Ethiopian food.
I was new to Ethiopian food so my only preconceived notion was that it was going to involve meat and spices, therefore I was in with both feet and a piece of injera in my hand. Never have I been so joyful to have grease running down my hand through the little holes in the bread!
I ordered the ‘meat’ 4 sample combo. NOM. NOM. NOM. Everything was very saucy, but not soupy. I loved how the chicken sample came with a hard boiled egg (who cares which came first?!). There was also a lamb dish, a beef dish and what I think was an oxtail dish. Did I say NOM NOM NOM? One of my friends felt the food wasn’t spicy hot enough, but he’s crazy. There were plenty of meat and vegetarian options, which was impressive, samples and whole dishes.
I’m pretty carb conscious so I was a little worried that I would fill up on injera, but was pleased to find that was not at all the case.
This is not ‘glam’ dining, there’s no see or be seen here. The dining room is very basic, the waitress very kind, if not a tad on the soft-​spoken side, but at one point a woman I assume was the owner, came to our table to ask how everything was — it’s a small gesture, but I think it goes a long way.
Just as soon as the orange stains have faded from my fingers, I will be back (and I will be looking up how to cook Ethiopian food for myself!). And I want to experience the coffee ceremony.

We love the food here. We typically order one of their platters, which offer a pretty good sampling of different meats and flavor profiles. My favorite is the lamb that comes with a couple of the combo platters, which comes in a creamy and sweet stew. I’ve always thought that everything is really well seasoned and prepared — having come across anything that was too salty, or where the meat was overcooked. If you run out of injera bread, they also offer to bring you more.
The only reason I’m not giving this place 5 stars is because the service isn’t always good. Sometimes you’re kept waiting quite awhile before the waitress will bring you the check. When they’re not busy though, their service is decent.

Great Ethiopian food. and the honey beer is sweet and delicious :-)
We got the combo platter and #15 beef tibs.
We had no room for dessert.
They put everything on one big platter if u choose.

I’ve been here twice. Not only has the food been solid (if slightly on the bland side as others have mentioned), the service has always been attentive and meticulous. They were very helpful working with my girlfriend’s allergies.
You’ll get great bang-​for-​buck here — portion sizes are excellent for the price and the bread is very filling.
Alas, I would actually give this place 4.5 stars for the value and service if it were possible. For now, I’m rounding down because the taste was just a bit short of stunning (though still good).

I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Ethiopian food to compare this with so I’ll just judge it based on my own tastes. The restaurant looks clean without any frills. The waitress was nice and friendly. The service was quick.
It’s recommended that you eat the food without silverware by scooping it up with some sort of pancake bread they give you. I ordered the lunch portion of the spicy lamb stew. The lamb was well cooked but was rather bland compared to what I was expecting. It wasn’t really spicy at all. The injera (pancake bread) had a sour taste but otherwise flavorless. Like I said, I’m not sure how this compares to traditional Ethiopian food but to me, it lacked flavor.

I am a native of Ethiopia and I have to say the food at abol is very bad. I came with my family for dinner. The atmosphere and the service was good. We ordered the lamb special, kittfo, and vegetarian combo. The lamb was cooked right but it was watery and bland. The kittfo and 2 of the vegetarian options were the only ones with a little bit of flavor.
I would not recommend this place. If you want great Ethiopian food look at other restaurants near by.

I have been fascinated by Ethiopian food for a long time with its vibrant colors, flavors, and unique flatbread. It’s been a long time though, and Abol’s fit the bill tonight.
I tried the number one combo (vegetarian). I’m not a vegetarian but I love veggies and wanted to try a lot of the different veggie dishes. When it came out, it had a beautiful presentation of reds, oranges, greens, etc. with 6 different dishes to try. I think my favorite was the cabbage dish. By the way, you are expected to scoop up the foods without silverware with the spongy flatbread.
Afterwards, the sweet chef came out to make sure every was okay. Everything was okay except I ATE WAY TOO MUCH! And I didn’t even eat everything.

Walked by Abol 4 – 5 times, but never knew what Ethiopian food was. SO glad I tried it. 8 of us for a Sunday lunch. Abol makes a big deal of the fact that you don’t use silverware with an explanation on the table that has something to do with a clock made out of silverware. Instead, they bring out a plate of injera, which is a mix between a pita and a pancake, but looks like old T-​shirt. Don’t be fooled, it doesn’t taste like it looks, and it is a perfect way to eat the stew & sauce-​type dishes that make up the majority of the options on the menu. Rip a hand-​sized piece off of the plate, grab some stew of meat with it, and deliver it to your mouth.
I tried a hot chickpea sauce, very tasty and savory, and the beef tibs (photo), which are the same contents and serving presentation as a fajita platter (onions, peppers, jalepenos, and bits of beef), but seasoned with different spices — a very tasty mixture. I also had a few ribs thrown in there, little bits of meat attached to big bones. Needed a knife for those (sorry silverware policy!)
Our group also tried various stews like doro wot (chicken stew with a boiled egg) and spicy beef stew, and even a beef tartar served with cheese. It is a very social way to eat, especially if you are trying it for the first time, as everyone is out of their element and in a good mood. Will totally return. Honestly, I don’t know how they could improve on what they do that wouldn’t ruin the homey touch.