New Eritrea Restaurant

"New Eritrea is a deceivingly large Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurant with a ton of bar seating, a front dining room, and a back area with even more tables and skylights. So it’s the natural choice when you’re in the Sunset, with a group that’s half herbivorous, and are getting hangrier by the minute. Their house special runs through all of the menu’s vegetarian hits, and comes with enough injera to go around. For the meat eaters at the table, the puffy beef sambusas are non-negotiable. " - julia chen 1, ricky rodriguez

"Ask anyone who’s been in the city pre-FasTrak about New Eritrea and they’ll likely wax on and on for a good five minutes about their flaky sambusas. Or that one time they met their ex’s entire extended family at the Eritrean spot over gored gored and injera. The longstanding Sunset restaurant is an SF staple that’s consistently packed each night with coworkers, families, and couples on low-key dates. Have one meal in their glowy red space and you’ll see why. photo credit: Melissa Zink For starters, the food never misses, and the menu has something for everyone—vegetarians, vegans, and the one friend who inhales meat like they’re doing their best impression of a ravenous hyena. You’ll spot the colorful house vegetable sampler (which is also all-vegan) on almost every table—the potatoes, okra, and split peas are well-spiced and comforting. Also hone in on the tumtumo, onion-y pureed lentils that pair perfectly with the tangy injera. Non-vegetable dishes, like the kitfo or saucy chicken and mushroom New Eritrea Special, are also worth your time. The space is another reason to come to this spot. A meal here feels like getting buried in a ball pit filled with stuffed animals and spiced beef. Stained glass lamps keep the lighting to a cozy dim. Service is always efficient and warm, whether you’re rolling deep with ten friends or sliding up to the long bar for that vegetarian combo, even if it’s just for one. And if it’s your first visit to this institution, it certainly won’t be your last. Food Rundown photo credit: Melissa Zink House Sampler Going for the house sampler is the way to go since New Eritrea’s vegetarian dishes are fantastic, and all-vegan, too. The sampler comes with tumtumo, hamli, alicha, alich ater, okra, and shiro, and is hearty but won’t require you to knock out on a couch. photo credit: Melissa Zink New Eritrea Special This sautéed chicken, mushroom, and onion dish will be the first thing to disappear from the platter. Get this on your table. photo credit: Melissa Zink Sambusa (Meat) Perfect pockets of ground beef. Get ready to have your sambusa worldview permanently altered." - Julia Chen

"Opened before FasTrak was a thing (in the 1990s, for the uninitiated), New Eritrea is a Sunset staple with a loyal fan base that spans generations. It’s also the coziest spot on this guide. Stained glass lamps cast a dim red glow throughout the long space, and the restaurant, including the atrium-like back room, is packed nightly with diners sitting elbow-to-elbow and passing around baskets of injera. All of the vegetarian dishes are plant-based, so bring a bunch of vegan and meat-loving friends without issue. The tumtumo is hearty and deeply onion-flavored, and the sambusas filled with well-spiced ground beef are the best in town. Roll in with a group of 10 or come solo to eat at the bar." - julia chen 1, lani conway

"Restaurants come and go in the fickle food court known as the Inner Sunset, but New Eritrea continues to be beloved decades after it opened. It’s always a warm and hassle-free experience to bring a group here with mixed eating restrictions. Every vegetarian thing on the menu (which includes both Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes) happens to also be vegan, and there are also plenty of meat options, including the New Eritrea special kitfo—a flank steak tartare mixed with collard greens and cheese. And when the bar has tej, an Ethiopian honey wine, it’s an especially good day." - Julia Chen 1, Lani Conway, Will Kamensky, Tamara Palmer, Ricky Rodriguez

"New Eritrea Restaurant offers African cuisine for delivery" - Eve Batey