Jay Shen
Google
I have chosen to give this establishment a 5 star because the food is tasty and it attracts a lot of locals as a small business, serving Ethiopian folks within the Twin Cities, especially in South Minneapolis, at a relatively "hole in the wall" location. I do not want to use superficial criteria to rate this establishment lower, knowing that factors such as cleanliness, service, etc. can easily perpetuate elitist perspectives, especially when it comes to small POC-owned businesses. Its service to the community is what I value the most as it serves tasty food with very modest decorations and nothing flashy. Frequent Ethiopian visitors do not typically engage in reviews for this place but they visit very often. If you are not Ethiopian, you will find yourself the only non-Ethiopian (or just non-East African) in the restaurant more often than not.
However, even if I have chosen to give a 5, I do have a few points to make that can serve as genuine expectations for others: 1) They seem to be very understaffed, so please expect slower to at times nonexistent service and be proactive about asking for an update on food or ordering. The times I was there, they only had one server who had to handle all of the to-go orders and serve the diners. Please do not make matters worse by exhibiting behaviors that suggest your privilege or how spoiled you can be. 2) Their cleanliness is not always the best. I have had one case where someone threw up in the woman's bathroom and because they were understaffed, they could not attend to cleaning it, subsequently deterring other female customers away from the bathroom. As a Chinese person, I don't mind it, since I have seen enough. But you may care about it because of your background, so just beware. 3) Their food amount given has decreased over the years. The lamb / beg tibs used to contain a full container of lamb with no visible liquid while in June 2023 it looks like there are more areas that one can't see lamb meat. If I want to give Mesob a 4, then that would be the primary reason.
With all that said, the food is solid! It is all exactly as described on their menus, with abundant injera and free refill if one doesn't have enough. The doro special chicken is heavily seasoned with spices so having the cheese and injera will be helpful, but it is extremely tasty! The lamb tibs are slightly underseasoned and the lamb can be more tender, but I think it might be just because the lamb is not marinated. The awaze beef tibs are extremely well-seasoned and tasty as well! Both the chicken and the beef can be a bit spicy. As for the veggies, having yellow lentil, red lentil, and root veggies is perfect because they are more plain in flavor and therefore strike a great balance with the meat's potentially overpowering flavor. It's hard to go wrong with Ethiopian food because the spices are so specific, so there's going to be flavor.
If there is anything that needs improvement with their food, then I thinn it will just be more consistent with the food portion given. I have been there 3 times and have been given various portions each time. Once again, taste-wise, totally all good!
