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The Lunch Box (Ethiopian cuisine)  $

 8.5
JaT Rating

1876 W. San Carlos St., San Jose, 95128  (Directions)


(408) 287-3511


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Small, intimate, restaurant that makes you feel like home.


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 730
Reviewed: 5/12/2008
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery 		We arrive and the place is nearly empty. There is one lady working the kitchen and the front counter. She shows us to a table and we scan the menu. We feel a little awkward as there are two other guys here and they are just kicking back against the wall drinking beer. It made it weird for Jason to take interior pics as he couldn't get the pictures without the guys appearing in the shots.

We look over the menu, its laid out nicely so it was easy to find something that we could enjoy - even vegetarian offerings. I decided to go with the vegetarian combo to try a bit of everything.

Service was surprisingly fast considering the lady was the only one working today. The presentation was nice and I was eager to dig in. Even though we have had Ethiopian food before, she described the procedure for eating. Basically it involves using the thin sourdough-bread tasting bread and scooping up your food (soaking it in) and shoveling it in your mouth.

I didn't expect the food to be bad, and was pleasantly surprised at how good everything tasted. There were a couple of moderately spicy items, and everything had really good flavors, almost reminiscent of Indian cuisine with none of the grease - just solid honest food with excellent flavoring.

The pictures look a bit deceiving, but I got completely and totally full off the vegetarian offerings here. It was a serious lot of food, and I was never about to run out of the bread. In fact I only finished about half of the tasty bread. Everything was so good and I am salivating right now as I type this review thinking about it.

Prices were a bit on the high side, and it was a funny moment signing the credit card bill as she stood over me (probably didn't want to make 2 trips back to the kitchen and register). In nearly 1000 restaurants have never had the waiter or waitress standing over us watching us fill out the check. But she was very nice and helpful, and I had a great time experiencing Ethiopian cuisine today. The exterior (and lets face it, the interior) might look offputting, but don't let it get to you. This place is solid in both friendliness and quality of food.
 
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