Skyline Cafe

This is one of the best Ethiopian Cuisine in the area. From the veggie combo to the whole fried fish to the special house tibs! Great staff, friendly atmosphere and live music entertainment on weekends. They do also provide delivery service that distinguish them out. I highly recommend this place!

We had Groupons to this restaurant, and the first time we tried to use it, there was a mistake and we were charged the full amount. I emailed the owner, Sammy, and he was very apologetic and responsive. He made everything right, so we decided to bring family here on black Friday and I could not have been more pleased.
Even the people who had never had Ethiopian before were impressed and thought the food is delicious. Highly recommended for both the food and the level of service and communication!

I went here with an Ethiopian friend and we both left disappointed. First of all, the food took a long time to come out. Then, much of it was room temperature. Finally, we’d ordered lamb and were pretty sure the mystery meat was not lamb at all. We asked the waitress and she assured us that it was, but it didn’t taste like lamb. What it did taste like was among the cheapest, toughest meat we’d seen served in a restaurant. It was a disappointment given how high the ratings were here — either Skyline has gone down downhill or they were having a bad day, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter to me — I’m not going back.

Eating with your hands is not a big thing for me so I asked for a fork. It was good and very different. The food is very authentic and so is the food. This is my first journey in to an ethiopian restaurant and I didn’t know what to expect. But I wasn’t disappointed.
They ask you if you want everything on one plate or not. One plate will involve a huge platter full of injera (which is their rice kind of. It’s made of barley and was very soft). So in essence, everything is consumed including your plate. You eat on injera and you wrap it in injera. I got the fish dish and it was good. Their spice is good. Has a little kick to it.
Finished off with some coffee which was on point. It’s dark so if you’re one of those fake starbucks mocha sweet folks then this isn’t for you.

Friendly service, a laid-​back inviting atmosphere, great music, and delicious food. Skyline Café is my favorite Ethiopian spot in the area. They serve authentic food to a mostly Ethiopian/​Eritrean crowd. And when I say laid back I mean it. You can relax here and they won’t rush you to pay your check, lol. But be warned, dealing with the parking can be a bit of a nightmare. In my mind, it’s worth it.

I liked the food. The waiter was very nice and taught us how to eat the food w/​o utensils. It was a good experience overall. My husband did not like the food but it was just because it was not his style and nothing that was bad from the restaurant. The only tough think was parking. That was definitely a negative.

Was referred here by an Eritrean friend who said this place is «most authentic». LOVED my veggie combo platter and Yawaze tibs.
The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because the place is small, crowded, and loud. I got my meal to go which is what I would recommend unless you don’t mind the noise and space issue.

Definitely the best Ethiopian food in this little Ethiopian paradise shopping center on S. George Mason. I’ve been to all the restaurants here and Skyline has the best food by far. The mesir alecha tastes like my mom’s cooking and the Sega wat almost tastes as good as my grandmother’s. This is seriously authentic Ethiopian food and unless if you want to drive to Ma’aza on Columbia Pike you won’t find it better

We are huge fans of Ethiopian food and typically go to places like Meaza and Merkamo, which are both wonderful. We discovered Skyline Café thanks to a Groupon and are very glad we did. We loved the food and the friendliness of the owner, staff, and diners. It is a tiny place and caters to the local Ethiopian community of Bailey’s. Check out our blog for a more detailed description of our dining experience and photos of the space and the food.

I’ve been coming here for YEARS, and I really love their vegetarian sampler platter. It’s like total comfort food to me! I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ve found that I prefer the vegetable dishes in Ethiopian cuisine, and I’ve yet to have met a veggie Ethiopian dish that I didn’t enjoy. And that’s definitely the case at Skyline Café. I love all of the veggie dishes in their sampler, and I stuff myself silly on the tasty goodness. Sometimes I think my favorite part of the meal is eating the sauce and spice-​soaked injera on the tray underneath the dishes. Soooooo good! Seriously, meat eaters, the veggie dishes here are so flavorful, delicious and hearty you’ll not miss the meat!!!

This place is excellent! I grew up with an Ethiopian family across the street. The mother of the house used to bring over huge bowls of dorowat and injeera… this place takes me right back to those days. the bread is always fresh and has a nice slightly sour taste to it. Its perfect with the thick spicy berbere. Every time I o searching for ethiopian food I tell myself I’m going to branch out an try a new place, but somehow I always end up Back at Skyline. My only complaint is that the waitress never seems to understand what I mean when I ask for «extra meat». Typically the dorowat is a boiled egg, and a chicken leg… well that’s just not enough, I always want more!!!

I just finished my very first Ethiopian meal, and I am newly obsessed! I really don’t know what I was eating. It was a vegetarian sampler, and it had collards, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, lentils and the enjara bread. There was something else in the mix too, but I’m not entirely sure. I just dove in and chowed down.
My boyfriend ordered the food to go, so I can’t speak for the restaurant or staff. I just know that what I just consumed is easily one of the best meals I’ve had. It’s also pretty healthy. I never liked greens until I had this meal.
If you’ve never had Ethiopian food, definitely try this place. I can’t begin to express just how excited I am!

I came here based on the really good reviews. There are several food options in the little Skyline area Ethiopian strip mall. I have never tried any of the others. We went on a Saturday night, and the parking lot was really full. So many people were coming and going, we only had to circle once to find a space.
I’ll admit that when I walked into the Skyline Café I was a little skeptical. It looked a little run down on the inside, and we had a little table with a crooked leg. There was a crowd at the bar, but several free tables in the dining area. We were seated immediately.
The beer is priced really well for the Northern Virginia area. We both got domestic bottles and were happy.
I have never met Ethiopian food I didn’t like, but I don’t really know what everything’s called. My date and I just shared the meat and veggie combo– all served together. It came out quickly served with plenty of enjara.
Everything was delicious. The lentils, yellow split peas… the cheese mixed well with the collard greens. Both types of beef were awesome. The egg chicken leg thing was pretty baller too. Everything was so good, and I wanted to try it all several times. We ate a ton and still had enough to last another meal for both of us.
I had never gotten Ethiopian leftovers before, but they dumped it into a box for us. It looked kind of gross the next day, but it was still delicious and awesome.
In sum, I might not take someone here for a first date because the ambiance isn’t super fancy or anything. I would take someone here to get off the beaten path and have some amazing Ethiopian food at a great price.

Not for the faint of heart — or stomach. Location is very scary! Creepy place.

I met Carol and some of her co-​workers at Skyline Café for lunch. My expectations were fairly high since we both love Ethiopian food and she had good things to say about the place. Skyline Café resides in an interesting strip mall along George Mason Dr. Interesting in that the strip mall is home to multiple restaurants, markets, and other businesses that are predominantly owned/​operated by Ethiopian immigrants with a smattering of businesses owned/​operated from immigrants from around the Levant and Southwest Asia. If Annandale is the area’s Koreatown and Eden Center is the area’s Little Saigon, then perhaps this cluster of Ethiopian businesses is Little Addis Ababa?
Getting back on track. Skyline Café is nothing special to look at from its modest exterior to its smallish, somewhat plain interior. The magic, however, is in the food. Our party of eight split four combination platters (2 meat, 2 vegetarian). Our server was friendly and helped us to navigate the menu as well as keep our table well stocked with injera. Some of the selections on the platters were Doro Wat (a spicy chicken stew), Lamb Tibs, Kitfo (raw beef marinated in mitmita, a spicy chili powder), Gomen (collard greens), and Tekil Gomen (cabbage and carrot). There were a couple of meat items that I had not had previously, so I don’t know what it was other than they were tasty. Injera, obviously, accompanied our platters of food. It was on par with the injera found at other area Ethiopian restaurants. For me, however, the true taste revelation was the kitfo. It was the best tasting steak tartare that I’ve ever had! The mitmita added wonderful flavor and spice to the very fresh raw beef.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, the total bill for our group came out to around $ 80, tax included! We ate our fill of very flavorful, well-​executed food, and it came out to around $ 10 per person. Now that’s what I call a steal!

Fairly priced and delicious Ethiopian food. That’s not the reason for the low rating; if this was only for food, sure, I’d give them four or five stars. This gets a two because the parking here in the evening is so far beyond awful it borders on demonic.
Skyline is in the same shopping center as a number of grocery stores, hookah bars, clubs and sports bars, so the whole place is jam-​packed with cars from the early evening on. I cannot stress this enough: parking here is a complete and utter nightmare. If you come here after 7pm, (6pm on some nights) you will absolutely not find a single parking space anywhere in the lot– be it in front, the back or on the street. I was circling the lot for ten minutes one time and was forced to call into the restaurant, beg them to bring my bag outside as I double parked my car.
Go for lunch when the lot isn’t as crowded, because the food is absolutely wonderful.

GREAT INJERA! It was quick and delish!

I think I have found a new lunch spot. Was originally going to go for phở since it’s the perfect day for it, but at the last minute thought Ethiopian would be nice too. So my coworker and I decided to give Skyline Café a try. I’m so glad we did!
We ordered the spicy lamb (Yebeg tib?) and the spicy beef and to break it all up — an order of cabbage (chock full of buttery goodness!). The lamb was perfectly cooked and spiced just right. The beef was equally good with good spice and very flavorful. Salam (?) was our waitress and did a great job of explaining things to us.
A word of caution — the menu is not translated, but there are definitions in the back; thank goodness for our waitress!
Though not an Ethiopian food connoisseur, I can say that I liked what I had here equally as good, if not better as Etete in DC. Would love to take the BF here and get his opinion.

I think I’ve been to this place at least a half a dozen times, and I rarely eat lunch anywhere but my desk. I don’t know what anything in Ethiopian cuisine is called, so I usually just order the vegetarian sampler or the meat one. This time, we ordered the veggie sampler for two. YUM. The enjara (fluffy bread used to scoop up your food – that’s right, no utensils) here is just perfect. Not soggy, not too sour, and it flows freely from the kitchen… I think my personal record is 3 whole rounds. My favorites from the platter were the lentils, both yellow (sweet and mild) and brown (spicy and kicky!). Although I’m not a huge fan of collards, they go down easily here. Be forewarned… the platter for two can feed at least double that. I took home leftovers (which, incidentally weighed approximately ten pounds), had enough for two more meals, and had to throw out the rest because the binging was getting ridiculous.
I’m no expert on Ethiopian food, but I think this is one of the best places around. Consistently delish food, and none of the pretension that comes with some of the more well know places, like Zed’s in Gtown. A plus — we were in a huge hurry at lunch (less than 45 minutes to get there, eat, and get back), and told our server so: our food arrived, no joke, within 3 minutes of us ordering it, and we were fed and paid and on our way in 20! Not that I recommend speed eating, but sometimes you have no choice. (portions x-​posted to blog)

Thank you Unilocalers for directing me to this place! I used to live very close to this little shopping center, and thought I’d never have a reason to go in. WRONG. Skyline Café is now my go-​to Ethiopian place. I no longer have to go to DC to get some good Ethiopian food.
I went last Friday for lunch. The bartender/​waitress was very friendly and tended to me right away. I sat in the higher bar tables near the front of the neat, small, but not cramped, place.
I got the lentil sambusa which was flavorful with a nice wrapper. The wrapper was thicker than I’ve had at other places, but it was good — and the sambusa was unusually large.
I got the veggie platter and loved all of it. The collards actually had flavor here, and the lentils had some kick. The potato «salad» and the other green salad was delicious.
Throughout the meal, my waitress was attentive, filling my glass when I needed it, replacing my napkins, etc. It was a perfectly pleasant lunch. I already told others, so we could go back together :)