On several occasions in the weeks since my visit to Lalibela, readers have asked me to offer opinions on Dallas’ other Ethiopian restaurants. How better to kick off this Monday morning than with a report on my Saturday evening trip to Queen of Sheba.
Having foregone popcorn during the late-afternoon showing of Wall Street, I was understandably eager to tuck in to a platter of the spicy lamb stew Yebeg Wott, Missir Wott lentils, and the potato/cabbage combo Yataklet Alitcha.
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The staff was so deeply lovely — I mean truly hospitable and charming throughout the meal — and the injera was so perfectly elastic and lofty that I’m finding it difficult to say what must be said next, which is that the items in our combos (with two exceptions*) tasted bland and unremarkable. The carrots and potatoes in our Yataklet Alitcha were underdone and, for the first time in my life, I actually left food on the platter. The zing I’ve come to expect from the genre was missing.
Perhaps my senses were overwhelmed by the incense that hung heavily around the room, or perhaps my expectations outstretched QOS’s abilities on that evening, either way, my dining partner and I left full but uninspired.
(*Yebeg Alecha and Missir Wott)
