Bahel Ethiopian Cuisine wraps up our drawn-out “Ethiopian Corner” mini-series. The mini-series ends a little abruptly, since Ledet, the fourth ethiopian joint on the corner of Briarcliff and Clairmont Roads has closed and is now Aroma Cafe, a club that has a hand-posted sign about not bringing your guns inside. No worries, though, there are still a number of other ethiopian places to visit, and a return trip to Ghion Cultural Hall for the purposes of sharing it with you has been on my to-do list for quite some time. You certainly aren’t reading the last of ethiopian cuisine on this blog!

Anyway, Bahel. Tucked into a tiny strip along Briarcliff with a tiny but charming patio out front, Bahel has a cozy, warm and inviting interior with a bar and a TV in the corner for those inclined to watch sports. Apparently, there is a sort-of secret back room that we’ve never seen, so that sounds like fun.

Adam and I visited with our lovely friend Shannon on a Wednesday evening. Understandably, there wasn’t an incredible amount of foot traffic while we were there, but neither was the place dead.The service was friendly and helpful but not patronizing.

We ordered a vegetarian appetizer, timatim fitfit, a sort of raw vegetarian hash consisting of torn up injera, onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and spices. It was very oniony, but also very fresh and tasty. Funky, but good.

For our main course, which was served family-style as you will see in the majority of Ethiopian places (but not Desta), we ordered gored gored (~$12) and the vegetable combo (~$10).

Gored gored is a raw beef dish that is one of my favorites when done well (Meskerem). The meat is covered in delicious spices, and usually the meat is melt-in-your mouth and hard to discern from succulently cooked meat. Here at Bahel, though, the meat was a tougher texture and you were constantly reminded by the texture that the meat is raw; it detracted from the experience for me. It didn’t bother Adam as much, especially since the seasoning was still excellent.

The injera was great, not too tacky. The vegetable sides were good, but not the best we’ve ever had. The prices are good here though! Sadly I neglected to write down the exact cost, but Bahel is consistently much cheaper than Desta or Meskerem but with a smaller gap in quality than in prices. Good value.

Since we weren’t as impressed with our long-time favorite, Meskerem, the last time we went (Adam refers to it as the downfall) Bahel is looking better all the time (though we will definitely give Meskerem another chance).

Bahel Ethiopian Cuisine, should really get 4 stars, but service was iffy. Our waitress was overworked. 3.5 stars, with hope that we just had a case of bad luck.

Bahel Ethiopian Cuisine
3125 Briarcliff Road NE, Suite C
Atlanta, GA 30329