Gojo Ethiopian Rest - Portland

Limited menu (no sambusa or salad) but the veggie combo cannot be beat in this city. it’s excellent.

Limited menu (no sambusa or salad) but the veggie combo cannot be beat in this city. it's excellent.

Veggie sampler is great you get a portion of all the veggie dishes, and they’re all pretty good. (Typically I’m not a fan of at least one or two of the veg options, but I liked all of them well enough here). The red lentils are excellent, spicy without overdoing it. And I really liked the texture of the cabbage/carrot dish (shredded smaller so you get a bit of everything in each bite). The place is fairly small, and I think only one person was working when we came in, but it’s good for groups of two or four if you’re up for a leisurely meal.

The best Ethiopian food I’ve found in Portland a veggie combo with a mild and spicy beef dish.

My partner and I visited this restaurant yesterday, Saturday evening, at 5:15 PM. There were only two other tables occupied when we arrived. As we waited to be seated, the owner quietly informed us, almost in a whisper, that they were out of injera. This struck us as strange, considering it was still early in the evening and they had only a couple of tables filled. The owner's hushed tone made us wonder if there was any underlying reason for this, possibly even related to our being a queer couple. As a result, we decided to head to Abyssinian instead. It may have been a coincidence, but it's hard to understand how a restaurant can run out of a key menu item so early in the evening, especially one that's been established and wasn’t busy at the time. There are plenty of other Ethiopian restaurants to explore, so we’re fine with not returning to this one.