Axum Restaurant

I discovered Ethiopian food in D.C. and now I love Ethiopian food so much, I usually have it at least once a week. Definitely love D.C. for having a lot of Ethiopian restaurants. Fasika's in Adams Morgan was our favorite until it burned down and was rebuilt into something completely different. After that, most Ethiopian restaurants (i.e., Meskerem, Dukem, etc.) were good enough to satisfy my cravings for Ethiopian food but nothing to rave about.

My current favorite is Axum Restaurant on 9th Street which is only about a 15-20-minute walk from the neighborhood. Decor and ambience are just ok, nothing fancy. Every time I've gone, I'm usually the only non-Ethiopian. Service is spotty, water glasses don't get filled regularly and the food takes a while to come out. But they are friendly. Someone always comes by to ask how the food is or apologizes for not coming by with water. Yesterday, someone came by and chatted with me for a bit.

There is an Ethiopian restaurant near my office where I have lunch regularly. They are super fast and usually serve my order in about 5 minutes. But the food is just OK. I go there because it's convenient, close, quick, and since I'm a regular, they usually add something extra to my order. At Axum, I like to think the food takes a while to come out because they need the extra time to make it tastier...

Just a disclaimer, I am pescatarian so can't vouch for the meat or seafood dishes as I always get a veggie combo. Also, my vocab for describing food is pretty limited. I think because I have Ethiopian a lot, I find the flavors of the different dishes in a veggie combo have started to blend into each other and even taste bland. With Axum, each veggie dish tastes distinctly different with much more flavor and seasoning then other combos I've had.

I'm going to try to work my way down all the Ethiopian restaurants in the U Street area as well as other restaurants nearby. I'd like to see other people's recommendations too. But for now, Axum is definitely worth a visit.

Axum Restaurant
1936 9th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
202-387-0765