Fekerte's Ethiopian Cuisine - Waco

Recommended in the Good Food Guide and I can see why. Bookings essential as they were turning people away all night. Samosa entrée came with a lovely dip with chilli and possibly coriander that I must learn how to make! Ordered the banquet and there was a nice mix of mains, all quite flavoursome, not too oily, very fresh tasting. Only let down was the ‘traditional’ coffee that tasted more like an espresso than the Arab/African style coffee I was expecting. One of the few Canberra restaurants I’ve been to recently and plan on going back to!

I was very pleasantly surprised – the Ethiopian bread (injera) was different – gave me a new concept of bread!

I’ve had the most awful experience in my life in this restaurant last year in June. I will never go back again. “Eccentric” chef shouted at me in front of my friends because i only asked for dessert and not the full banquet. It was a group of about 15 people and I was the only one not eating I had another meeting before which ended up in an unplanned dinner and i explained to him). I said “I am sorry, i will ask for dessert when it is dessert time, for now I can drink some tea if you have”. He shouted at me, he said “that is not good enough”, he took out the cutlery and plates in a very rough unfriendly manner and said “so you are not eating here”. I didn’t react back, i was completely shock. At the end of the group’s dinner, I asked twice for dessert to the waiters they didn’t bring anything. My friend next to me was in shock, she is Australia and she has never seen something like this and it was my first time out in Canberra. I am from Peru. Some other friends told me i should sue him for racist behaviour. Not sure if it was racist, but it really made me feel like **** and I am sure i don’t deserve it and nobody does. He could have offer other options of the menu, lighter ones, smaller portions or bring dessert when i asked for it and bring some tea as i also asked for it, but no, he prefered to treat me awfully. :

This place has potential and the food was certainly nice, but there are many restaurants in Dickson with nicer food at more realistic prices. The servings were particularly niggardly. My wife and I went to order samosas, cauliflower fritters, Coconut curry chicken and rice to share but were told in harsh guttural tones “not enough food”. The service was particularly rude and all ten of us at the table felt unwelcome. The African waiter in particular was downright nasty and had no business working in a service environment. He particularly didn’t like the fact that our daughter was playing on the floor. The restaurant was deserted and she wasn’t in any ones way. This is not the place to take children. They don’t have high chairs or baby change facilities. We ended up ordering another lamb main and the food was nice. But not as nice as the nearby Malaysian Restaurant the Rasa Sayang which is far more welcoming and much cheaper. Rice came in a two smallish communal bowls and there was supposedly enough for everyone that ordered rice, but I found the small servings very disappointing. There is the old joke that when you leave an Ethiopian restaurant you have to stop at McDonalds on the way home for a feed. Well we couldn’t as we had no money left. It was that expensive. We were at the restaurant to celebrate a birthday and we had bought a cake and expected to pay cakeage, but the cost was applied per head to everyone even if you didn’t have cake. In summation, I would suggest going to the other Ethiopian restaurant in Canberra as it is nice cuisine, but expensive prices and rude service would lead me to tell everyone to avoid this place like the plague.