Balagger Ethiopian Restaurant & Bar

The service was on point when refilling our drinks and checking in. The food was cooked perfectly, the awaze tibs and firfir meat was not over cooked or chewy. It was really delicious and the portions were huge. Although packed, the space itself was relaxing especially with the music. Wish they had green beans and carrots but either than that it was a great experience.

I have eaten here twice and both times the food was drenched in oil. It's like they're trying to kill you with oil. Disgusting ethiopian food. Awful food and even worst service. This is an overall VERY dirty restaurant. The rag they use to wipe down the tables is so gross.I ordered spaghetti with meat sauce and I specifically asked my waitress to ensure this time there will be less oil because last time I had their food which was just tips there were so much oil that made me sick for 2 days. It took them 54 minutes to make a simple spaghetti with meat sauce and bring it to me. When they did, this is what it looked like. It was more like SPAGHETTI WITH OIL SAUCE When I showed my plate full of oil to my waitress she told me that this is how Ethiopian people eat and this actually is not enough oil they usually put even more oil and butter. This made me really question her judgment. This was the most disgusting and sickening ethiopian experience. TWICE in a row which makes me belive this is how they roll a s they don't care about customer's health and the customer's requests.Extremely bad and dirty restaurant!!

Delicious food! We will definitely be back. The atmosphere is casual and I appreciate that you never feel rushed.

This is the real deal! Great service on a Saturday night during Ramadan. The balagger sampler platter comes with injira, two servings of meat (which are basically fajitas), and sides of lentil, stewed greens, shiro, and a tossed salad. All amazing. Well, the salad was just romaine lettuce and some chopped vegetables but it was fine. We split the plate and I had a beer and it was plenty and came to about $30! I'd definitely come back here again and I can't recommend it enough.

This is our second time visiting Balagger and this time we had a party of 7. We arrived around 2 and it was busy.We ordered a few entrees-Kitfo, Quanta Fir Fir, Fish Dullet and Geba Wetta Tibs. All of the dishes were delicious. That said, the star was the Geba Tibs-as the description states "cooked to perfection". Some of the best Tibs I've ever had! I've never tried Fish Dullet and really enjoyed it.We really wanted some Shiro which is supposed to be excellent here but they didn't have any today. Next time. We finished our meal with Macchiatos which were enjoyed by all.

I was recommended to order the lamb meat which comes like a stew with lot of sauce. I did not like the taste of food it was too watery, I ended order something else. The Ethiopian bread is sour so me it was an acquired taste.

Balagger is a reliable choice for quality Ethiopian food. As an Ethiopian-American I have come here several times with family and it is almost always busy with Ethiopian customers. For two people we usually go with the veggie combo plus one meat dish. The owner is very friendly and accommodating. He genuinely cares about the quality of service and comes out to check on customers. One area for improvements is that the bathroom is disorderly, unclean and lacks paper towels.

Absolutely delicious! I ordered their veggie combo from UberEats, which includes cabbage shiro, lentil kik alicha (stewed yellow lentils), spicy red lentils, green lentils, collard greens, and a salad. All of these dishes were served on a bed of injera, and the order came with another piece of injera folded up and left on top. Everything was incredibly tasty and, even after traveling about 30 minutes across Virginia, was still the perfect temperature. Ethiopian food definitely holds up well in take-out containers (even though it loses some of the aesthetic). I personally would've preferred that the spicy lentils be slightly spicier, but they were still incredibly flavorful and had a very slight kick. The salad seemed to just be lettuce, tomato, red onion, and slices of jalapeno with what tasted like a standard Italian dressing. I wasn't a huge fan of the large slices of jalapeno, but the salad was still nice and refreshing, and it helped to counterbalance how heavy the rest of the meal felt. The dressing does soak through the injera really quickly, though. The shiro certainly lived up to all the hype, and everything was all-around solid and really tasty. There's also an incredible amount of food for the price -- the combo costs $16 off of UberEats and it can absolutely feed 2-3 people. I also ordered a scrambled egg to eat the next morning; it's a simple dish with a delicious egg scrambled with tomato, red onion, and jalapeno. It has a slight kick and is a phenomenal way to start the morning. You can either get it with bread or injera; I originally ordered injera, but it seems like they made an accident and gave me bread instead. Either way, I'm glad that I ended up getting to try out their bread; it had a super soft center with a slightly crunchy exterior, and it was absolutely delicious when warmed up. I definitely plan to become a regular here, and I can't wait to visit in person once COVID ends!

I've never seen a restaurant where it seems like the waitress overtly does not want the restaurant to make money... until now.She didn't ask us if she we wanted a drink (we did) and she outright refused to let me order a specific item because "It is too spicy for you." This woman doesn't know me, how the heck would she know what's spicy for me? The food that she told me to order, was really bland and flavorless, whereas the food that my girlfriend ordered over the waitress' objects actually tasted good.I would love to come back one day if the food is served by people who are happy to have customers.

Omg...the food is phenomenal. The service is so good. I love this place! If you haven't had Ethiopian food, you gotta try Balagger...the BEST!