Reviews for Cafe Abyssinia, Cafe Carmo and More

For people who experienced and fell in love with Ethiopian food in other cities, New Orleans can be distressingly short on options. Cafe Abyssinia, in fact, is "the only game in town right now," writes WWL's "secret" restaurant reviewer, referred to (cheekily) as Napoleon. The ambiance leaves much to be desired and "the service is a weak point." And the food?

Consistency is a bit of an issue at Café Abyssinia though. The same dish that seemed well-composed and balanced one visit might be runny and off-putting the next. Avoid the doro wot, or chicken leg in red sauce, which is billed as an entrée but was far too meager to satisfy.

Meanwhile, Tom Fitzmorris writes in CityBusiness of his trip to Baru, the tiny, popular, BYOB tapas restaurant on Magazine. Baru has "offbeat cuisine and tight quarters"?quarters so tight Fitzmorris was rather uncomfortable. For best results, "Try dishes that don’t sound quite right because they’re the best in the house." [CB]

Writing in Go NOLA, Lorin Gaudin reviewed Cafe Carmo in the Warehouse District. Carmo is a "tropical" restaurant, drawing on Caribbean, Central and South American influences. Gaudin had a savory plantain patty covered in deliciousness, describing it as "Creole, contemporary and completely delectable." [Go NOLA]

And in the blogs: Emily at Fleurdelicious reviewed a trip to Cafe Atchafalaya (somebody is always reviewing that place), writing, "Besides the food being all very, very good, I think the most important thing to make note of as far as our dinner at Atchafalaya goes, was that the service was absolutely spot on." And Andrew Marin went to Mr John's: "All in all a great meal and better than competitors at similar price."

Cafe Abyssinia. [Photo: Yelp / Crawford C]