Haile Bistro
“I called ahead of time for the gluten-free injera and it was just as delicious and flavorful as regular injera.”
“For appetizer, we had the Sambusa (lentil) pastries filled with green pepper, jalapeno, onion.”
“The standouts dishes are lega tibs, kitfo, yemisir wat, and last but not least – shiro wat – my favorite Ethiopian dish which Haile does really well.”
Haile Bistro
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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First impression: excellent attentive service! What a gentle mannered staff. Second impression: we're in Ethiopia! With the dim soft lights, bamboo baskets on the walls & accompanying brick walls, you feel the easy comforting desert night aire is near. The menu is 1 page & very straightforward, a great reprieve from decision stress. We had 1 meat & vegetarian combo & 1 meat combo. The lamb sauces are obviously hours of careful slow cooking for deep rich taste, the chicken is so soft it comes off the bone like melted butter, the bread is so perfectly soft & moist, the beets are fully marinated to a thrilling degree, the spices used throughout are so wonderfully complimentary, the service attentive & kind. Bathroom is classy while narrow. As Arnold would say, I'll be back.
The food was good but I wasn't blown out of my mind. We service can take awhile and they aren't necessarily the most attentive but it didn't bother me.
Our order:
– Lamb tibs: Tasty but nothing I couldn't have gotten at any other restaurant in any other cuisine. I would complain about how oily it was… an unnecessary amount of butter and not enough kick from the jalapenos.
– Yemisir Wot (Lentils in berbere): Again, it was good but nothing special. I liked this side in other Ethiopian restaurants more.
– Shiro Wo (Chickpea): Same comment as above
I've gotten to really really like and crave Ethiopian food but I would probably try other restaurants before going back to Haile.
Let me start off by saying Ethiopian food is one of my favorite cuisines. I've eaten it in several places in Houston, Austin, NY, and most importantly have had it in DC, Ethiopian capital of the non-Ethiopian world. So you can just disregard reviews from the n00bs who have only had it a few times. Go ahead and delete those from your memory now.
Additionally I had dinner at another Ethiopian restaurant less than 2 weeks before I had dinner here so I have the ability to easily compare it to other places in the city and let me tell you, YOU CAN DO BETTER IN NY.
As an appetizer I got one of my favorite dishes, the simple, but very flavorful tomato salad. Let me tell you I've never seen a $6 salad look so small and pathetic.
The meat and vegetarian combo I and my friend got was just not great. We asked the chef to make us a combo with different vegetarian options so we could try them all and that just didn't really happen. The injera on the platter beneath the food was dried out by the time I reached it.
However, the most disappointing part of the dining experience would have to be the service. First off, when I called to make a reservation (which was very unnecessary), they took down the date and time and neglected to ask me for my name. Then when the food came and I asked for an explanation of each dish, the waitress has some difficulties telling me which was which and had to consult the menu the entire time. How does a waitress not recognize what dishes her restaurant serves?!? Additionally, they are very stingy with the injera. Whenever you ask for more, they bring out just one roll, which is great if you don't want food waste, but just leaves a bad feeling about the restaurant.
So in conclusion, keep Yelping and go elsewhere for your Ethiopian fix. Maybe check out my other reviews of Ethiopian restaurants 😉
Dimly lit, soft music, and cozy seats makes for a romantic dinner. But we weren't here to wine and dine that night. I came here with the boo along with friends to try some veggie Ethiopian food. So it was anything but quiet.
Our gracious host made sure we were comfortable, and kept our glasses filled throughout the night. She gave us some recommendations on the veggie platter and that we did. The fitfit appetizer was well balanced and very spicy. The veggie combo platter was on the smaller side, definitely more suited for one person. The enjira was not as sour as I'd like. If I had to choose from the food that night it would have been the creamy lentils and fresh beets that stole the show. The food here is pretty decent, but it's really the ambiance and service that made a difference. I'll be sure to stop by if I'm ever in the area. This is a solid 4 in my book and a hungry vegan can certainly appreciate that!
Coming from Miami where the concept of Ethiopian food boggles the minds of the uneducated locals, it's a real pleasure to be able to eat ANY Ethiopian; good or bad.
Thankfully it seems I made the right choice because this place is GOOD.
It seems the way to go here is to order the combination so you can try a little bit of everything since everything is so flavorful and well spiced you can't go wrong!
You also can't go wrong with the Tej, which is nice and sweet but not overbearing like I've had with some Meads and the like.
Service here is very good an attentive. The space is small so things may be a little busy, but it's totally worth the wait.
My name is Lindsay and I'm addicted to Ethiopian food. It's true. The second I finish eating it and feel so full I'm about to explode I crave it all over again. I've been to most of the Ethiopian joints around the city: Awash, Meskel, Injera, Zoma, so when we found out about Haile we decided to see how it stood up. The restaurant itself is a lot nicer, more comfortable, and warm (yes, in terms of heat) than most of the others. Their honey wine was very good and the food was good, though for the price I've gotten better portion size at all the other Ethiopian places I've mentioned. Definitely worth a try.
I would really give this 3.5 stars. It is very hard to find good Ethiopian so I thought the food was good. However, the service was mediocre. I half blame the fact that there was only 1 host/waiter and half the fact that Americans are use to faster service. I recommend the meat combo. I also had a glass of Ethiopian Red Wine and it was terrible it tasted like grape juice but it could have been my flavor palette not the wine.
Delicious but not spectacular. Nothing too memorable or flavorful but it was still good nonetheless. I find Ethiopian food to have a lot of spices and herb flavors but nothing was too strong (so it might be good for the not-daring…)