Cafe Asmara

4.5 stars for the food: Tasty, authentic, and warm yeasty ngira. 3 stars for the service: Nothing to write home about, but they got our food to us without any issues or awkwardness, but it did take a while. 1 star for the cleanliness: Our table and the couple in the table next to us were terrorized by an elephant cockroach roaming the premises. This might be a deal breaker for some, but I honestly didn’t care that much.

This tiny hole-​in-​the-​wall is located across the street from the 9:30 Club, on the east end of the U Street Corridor (near 9^th).
Prices are very reasonable. The veggie combo was $ 11 and was enough food for 3 people. The 8 people in our party ate a ton, and we had four bottles of wine. The price tag: $ 22 apiece.
We arrived at 7ish on a Saturday. Service was pretty slow. They didn’t have enough wine glasses and brought some in from somewhere. The food came about 45 minutes after we ordered it, but it was delicious. My favorites were the lamb dish and the veggie combo.
For red wine, they had a selection of a Shiraz and a Cabernet. The Cabernet was pretty light. I think that we should have gotten beers.
The injera bread was wonderful! Perfect texture, and plentiful.
U Street has so many Ethiopian/​Eritrean restaurants. I personally think that these two are better:
— Etete: small, romantic, pricier
— Dukem: boisterous, casual, moderately priced
However, for large groups, this is a great place because you’ll have your run of the place. We were the only ones there for at least 90 minutes.
Overall, I recommend.