Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant & Market

Based on great reviews I really wanted to try this but they recently shut down.

This was our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in all of Vegas. Unfortunately, we just drove by the other week and they were closed — looks like they have gone out of business. I really hope this is just temporary.
For now, Merkato is a decent alternative.

This place is amazing! I’ve tried several places and this one is by far the best. It’s so good. I go there on a weekly basis. I order the Kaywot which is beef and comes with salad and injera. Also, they are always so courteous.

We found ourselves in Vegas on a Sunday evening craving Ethiopian food, so decided to Unilocal for Ethiopian restaurants around our hotel. I was very surprised by the number of Ethiopian restaurants in Vegas, i was expecting Unilocal to ask me if i was out of my f*ing mind searching for Ethiopian food in Vegas OR tell me the nearest Ethiopian restaurant is in LA or something! After looking at the pictures and menu of various restaurants, we decided to go to Meskerem.
We were the only ones there that night. Meskerem is a little off the strip in quite a shady strip mall, we debated if we should go in, but went in anyway. Plus turned out, our Über driver was from Ethiopia and said it was pretty good.
Our Server (who i think was also the owner) was nice. We got the veggie platter, yedoro wot and shuru wot (i think i have the spellings wrong, but essentially we got the chicken curry and the chickpea curry thing in addition to the vegetarian platter). I must say we were not disappointed at all! The veggie platter was great, the green beans and the eggplant thing was our favorite. We had a craving for the shuru wot we get back home in a restaurant in San Jose and Meskerem’s was very nice and satisfied our crazy craving. The chicken curry was good as well. Overall lets just say, if you find yourself tired of the food on the strip and need some low key place with comfort food, you should visit Meskerem’s.
Lastly, we tried to Über it back from this place to our hotel and turns out Über doesn’t pick up from the strip and surrounding areas, so our server was nice enough to call a cab for us.

I was here on a Thursday, early afternoon. Like many others have noted, I was the only one in there. This is the third Ethiopian restaurant I have tried in Vegas, and I will say I liked it best. Good size portions, and I believe this is the first time I was offered hot sauce. Hot sauce, collard greens, injera bread = amazing. I am a vegetarian, so I did not try meat dishes. I opted for vegetarian platter. Waiter was attentive without being overbearing. I watched the news on a huge tv and felt like I was at home. Very comfortable. I will be going back.

A cab driver mentioned this place. He said that all the Ethiopian cabbies go there after their shift, because it’s open till 2 AM.
I had never had Ethiopian food, but when my wife told me that Ethiopian restaurants offer raw meat, my interest was definitely piqued.
The place is small and we were the only ones there.
The woman that served us was also an owner, and she was one of the nicest, most patient, and knowledgeable server that I’ve ever had.
She explained all the dishes to us, but I was only interested in trying the raw beef.
The bread was not my favorite thing, but I can honestly say that it was nothing like I’ve ever tasted before. Spongy, sour, and I learned that it is not cooked, just poured onto a flat surface and left to set.
The raw meat was reminiscent of steak tar-​tar, except that it was a huge portion.
I would have preferred it a little less seasoned, but the server told me that the next time I go there, I should order a different raw dish that would better suit my taste.
My wife ordered some vegetarian plate, so I didn’t taste any of her dish, but for what it’s worth, it looked good.
They also owned a little shop next door, and our server walked us there and introduced us to one of her relatives who was behind the counter. This server was so nice.
There was a little room in the back with a billiards table, but the rules of the game were too complicated for me. It wasn’t like regular pocket billiards.
The service was excellent, and I can’t fault them for the food not being particularly suited for my taste.
The food was fresh, healthy, and I will be going back to try some of their other dishes.

I have never tried Ethiopian food before but I had been wanting too after seeing someone eat it on YouTube. I planned a trip to Vegas and then thought later I wonder if I can get Ethiopian food there? You can and this place was very close to the strip about 2 miles from the MGM a Grand. I ordered the food to go and it did take a little while but the staff was very friendly. I liked the food it was very interesting, but for me it was a one time experience. Who knows maybe I’ll try it again. I paid $ 9 for my food and it was very filling. I ordered the veggie platter without fish.

I’m not in the habit of givng bad reviews to a restaurant but unfortunately this place gets one from me. Me and my friend came to Vegas for the weekend– came to this place because I got a coupon and an e-​gift card from Restaurant. Com. I thought that they would be able to get the discount code from my smartphone — waitress said they only accept hard copy coupons (at most other restaurants they just take the code from the phone!) Service was slow — beef tibs not very flavorful –wait staff not very friendly. I’m used to the great tasting food and excellent service of Rosalind’s in L.A. In a way it’s good we came here-​know not to come here next time!

This was my third visit here which I initially found by accident. Each time, whether I did mild or spicy the food has been great. Tonight I had a great lamb stew that you ate with their special bread. The owner and his wife are very pleasant and are happy to engage a visiting tourist. Great food and an unbeatable price, just off the strip.

I stopped by Meskerem during CES 2013 as I stayed at nearby Riviera. I’m vegetarian and loved the food here. Too bad this is located a bit off the strip. The décor needs some update but the food was really good so who cares about the décor. If you like spicy food ask for some extre berbere sauce.

Great food, attentive service, fun music. The only negative is the slightly shabby décor, but it’s easily forgotten once the delicious food arrives. Personally, I like the vegetarian combination platter. Scrumptious… try it!

Place is very authentic, food was great, waitress did not speak 1 word of English but owner was there to help, downside not in the greatest location and at one point the waitress stopped coming over or acknowledging me when I wanted to order more food and pretty much felt like I was being pushed out the door

We had a great experience coming here-​quite inexpensive too. lots of food!
Friendly service, wonderfully authentic food and even an authentic brew. It’s just a hole in the wall, but it was great!

Ive been a big fan of Ethiopian food for awhile now, I love the way they combine there traditional spices to create unique dishes that is so flavorful. My favorite dish to order is call kitfo special and gore gore.
Kitfo special is an amazing dish that is serve raw, medium or cook. Its mince up meat flavored with ethiopian butter (niter kibe) red pepper powder (mimita) I love the raw one whenever I go to meskerem. Make sure you call in advace if your planning on taking out, cause they take foreverrrrrr to cook lolz. Trust me on this! One day I had to wait 45 mins for my food to be brought out, I almost fell asleep waiting. Now I know better. Overall great food! But horrible wait time haha

NOT the place in town I would recommend first for Ethiopian fare.
At first glance, this place appears to be closed. The windows are dark and it’s in a rundown shopping center that has certainly seen better days. However, the door does open when you pull it and the interior looks a little better than the desolate outside.
Apparently, there’s live entertainment at night because there’s a small stage in the corner of the restaurant, and when I’ve driven by the place at night, it’s bustling with business from cab drivers.
Although I couldn’t imagine why they’d want to eat here.
I went with some folks from work in the afternoon a couple of weeks ago, and we all opted to do the lunch buffet, which costs roughly $ 10. I would have felt better if I had paid half that for the quality of food provided.
The buffet set up, at first glance, appeared to be empty of food. However, on closer inspection, there was tons of food shoved into two little buffet carts. About half of the items were labeled, and less than a quarter of the items actually tasted good. Unfortunately, most of the items that tasted good were un-​labeled, so I couldn’t even begin to share what was enjoyable.
The waitress told us the only item on the menu not included in the buffet was the kitfo, so we ordered some, which was also $ 10. It was surprisingly bland compared to the kitfo I’ve had at other Ethiopian joints.
I doubt I’ll be coming back to Meskerem.

If I’m in Las Vegas, I always make it a point to eat at Meskerem Restaurant and the food never fails to impress.
Usually, I’ll order the Veggie combo, which comes with a bunch of stuff that I can neither name nor figure out, but it’s all wonderful. This is served on injera, the crazy fun spongy flat bread. You peel off chunks of bread and use it to scoop up the food. The staff will give you a look of disdain if you ask for a fork, so just eat it with your hands. (Apologies to my mother, who raised me to pick a chicken clean with a fork and knife.)
But this time when I ambled in at lunch there was a buffet set up. There was much of the same stuff from the veggie combo plus soup, a chicken dish, beef stew and a beef/​cabbage thing. The buffet and a soda set me back only $ 10. Of course, it was amazing again.
Looks like they have live music at night, which might be worth checking out. But remember that Vegas venues charge you an extra 10% Live Entertainment Tax if there’s even a guy playing a kazoo loudly in the corner.
I Haile recommend this place. It’s the Addis Aba-​bomb! Sorry about the puns. One more? Okay. It’s jahlicious. You’re welcome.

This was my first experience with Ethiopian food. We planned an early dinner — and when we arrived at 6:00 — we pulled into a deserted strip mall, save for 2 taxis and two other cars. Meskerem and a, ehem, «spa» — were the only businesses still open. Upon entering the restaurant, there was one other group sat at a round table in the showroom area — the rest of the place was deserted save for the taxi drivers that popped in and out for coffee and to play a round of pool in the adjoining room. The décor is somewhat sterile and aged with all the charm of a 1980s cafeteria and the walls and ceiling could definitely use a new coat of paint. That said — the music that they play here is great — upbeat and authentic! Our waitress was very reserved, very quiet.
Four of us got two vegetarian combo platters to split. The injera bread was an odd experience at first, on the cold side and spongey — but great for scooping up the wonderful bits and bites of curried and spiced lentils, cauliflower, collard greens, potatoes and salad. The food is really great! I washed it down with an Ethiopian beer called Bedele — which is a Czechoslovakian-​style pilsner made just outside Addis Ababa. Mild carbonation with a cloudy pour which tasted a bit fruity or honeyed which made me wonder if the flavorings were intentional (like a German Hefe) or a bit off. I hoped for the former. It matched well with the food at any rate.
All in all the experience was fine — but I’m interested in trying out some of the other Ethiopian establishments in town as well.

This is my go to ethiopian food place, you may ask how could that be? But if you go and try it you will have that craving for the bread maybe 2 or 3 times a year and once it is in your head you have to have it.
I cannot easily describe it is a soft airy bread that has a bit of a sour flavor but not sour in a bad way. You hold the bread in one hand and tear pieces off and use the pieces to scoop up the goodness on the platter in front of you. The goodness in from of you will have to be up to you. Read the menu well and enjoy it with an open mind.
You may hear a lot of ruckus next door but no worries it is just a bunch of cabbies playing bad pool! LOL
This place gets a bad wrap for it’s bathrooms and floors and décor but I have traveled over seas many times and eaten soup from rivers that no one should eat from and had pieces of meat in my food that I could not identify but here in the US we are a bit of a food snobs so much food is wasted because it looks funny or feels funny or is different.
The food here is great the service good for what they know and the cleanliness is fine for a dive food place. I will be back to get my fix of bread in the not so distant future!

This restaurant has the absolute best service that I’ve had yet at any Ethiopian restaurant. The waitress here had limited English but went out of her way to answer all my questions… like I really liked the Ethiopian tea, and she went over to the market side to grab me the spices. They were whole, and I had a difficult time understanding if I should grind them or steep them whole. She took the spices into the kitchen and ground them for me. Such a sweetheart.
Ok, so about the food. Only one particular item that I ordered had enough grease to soak through the plate injera. So overall, I felt it was healthy. We were a group of 4 and ordered the veggie platter and the lamb platter. Both were incredibly good, and there was definitely enough for all of us. My favorite, had to be the lamb plate. The only thing I was surprised was that the veggie platter didn’t have any mesir wat. And I was sad that the menu didn’t contain mushroom shiro. Tej was good, but I’ve had more fragrant varieties.
Overall great service and great food. I hope that more ppl will come to appreciate this gem.

Fourth Ethiopian restaurant in a month — I think I can safely say I’ve had a good share of what Vegas Ethiopian food tastes like.
Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant is the most lighted of the four we have visited thus far. They actually have natural light shining in, which makes the restaurant feel less like a club or disco.
On a Friday night, there was only one diner before our party of three showed up. By the time we left, one couple (non-​Ethiopian) and one other diner (Ethiopian) arrived.
Starting off with what we know best and love is:
* #3. Kitfo «Chopped lean beef seasoned with butter and mitmita. Served with injera and ayb (cottage cheese), prepared to desire: raw, labilb — medium or well done.» ($ 9) — We ordered this raw, of course. (And I’m really learning that it’s a surprise for the waitress when we say we want raw because I guess they aren’t used to hearing us non-​Ethiopians wanting it raw.) It was a generous portion that she poured out on three sections of the injera bread. It was my favorite out of everything else we ate.
* #5. Yebeg Alicha «Mild lamb stew, delicately seasoned and cooked with spiced garlic, ginger and other house spices.» ($ 9) — We went for a meat stew this time, and chose this one because it was ‘wetter’ per the waitress. It came with two chunks of lamb, more like goat, and a few other pieces. It was a bit gamey-​tasting and wasn’t my particular favorite. The Husband said he probably wouldn’t order it again because it wasn’t that special.
* #11. Yetsom Migb «Vegetarian combination with fish and split lentil.» ($ 9) On the menu, it’s a misprint, so there’s really no fish in this veggie combo. What is included is the salad, red lentils, green lentils, yellow beans, steamed potatoes, cabbage and carrots, and collared greens. I was a bit disappointed because usually we love the lentils and the spices they use in it. This time it lacked a little something. It was okay, but we actually had leftovers for once. It didn’t have the same explosion of flavors like the other Ethiopian restaurants we’ve been to.
Service was okay, as there was only one waitress when we first arrived. She was very sweet, although a bit over-​efficient with wiping down our table and taking our water glasses before we left the table. We did try to inquire about any Ethiopian coffee since we saw the cups laid out near the TV, but the waitress pointed to the coffee maker they had behind the bar. We didn’t see any kind of Ethiopian coffee ceremony listed on the menu either, so we figured they didn’t offer it.
Overall, it’s a decent restaurant for Ethiopian food for what we had. But if we were craving kitfo and the veggie combo, we would probably go elsewhere.