March 14th, 2009
This recently remodeled Eritrean restaurant in Crystal City was a frequent haunt of my boyfriend and his brother when he lived in the area. The building itself (and the general area) are sort of bad, but the owner has put a lot of effort into this place, and it shows through. The whole place looks nice and polished, in a worn way. It is entirely decked out in wood, and there are small authentic pieces of Eritrean artwork spread throughout the place. The restaurant plays traditional music and caters to an Eritrean clientele, but is a local favorite (especially at night). The owner is nice and will  stop by your table to chat and maybe offer a few beers or some food on the house. Even though the restaurant is sparsely decorated, there are small pieces of wood on the wall that you can write little messages on.

From their website (which is currently down)
Enjera opened in May, 2007 and is located on restaurant row in Crystal City, Arlington with both indoor and outdoor (terrace) seating and parking in the back.

The name, “Enjera” is taken from the traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian bread that accompanies nearly every meal in these two Horn of Africa countries. In English we say, “let’s grab a bite” in Eritrea it is said, “Enjera do` Nblae” or let’s eat Enjera.

Eritrean cuisine puts more emphasis on vegetarian dishes which is reflected in Enjera’s menu. In addition to the various vegetarian delights such as spiced lentils, spinach, or potatoes and carrots in gravy, Enjera offers beef and mutton dishes such as Kitfo (beef tartar), Gored Gored, and ZilZil.

Enjera also hosts Traditional Eritrean classic or live piano music every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon on the Terrace from 2:00pm featuring classical and Eritrean music.

For customers who can only stop in for a short time, or after a delicious meal, Enjera serves award-winning Shimba Hills premiere African coffee including espresso, cappuccinos, and lattes – and the wireless internet is free.

We had the Vegetarian Special with lamb added to it. It was more than enough food for two people. The flavors were delicious, but once you were finished eating all the little entrees with the enjera bread, the remaining bread was too soggy to eat by itself. Don’t worry, not that much enjera went to waste!

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March 7th, 2009
I’ll just cut to the short and sweet: Don’t waste your time on Silverado. It’s in a very bad location (aesthetically), the decor and your fellow-eaters are subpar, and every other Great American Restaurant is better. Silverado is cramped and the booths are not nice to one’s tush.

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I’ve gone to Yogen Fruz twice. I do not recommend them, as much better yogurt is to be had at other places. There are a few different options (low-fat, no-fat, no-fat/no-sugar), but they all start out as a frozen yogurt bar. For some reason, it really bothers me how they make their yogurt. As you can see by the promotional image below, I was really excited about the Matcha-Lychee flavor because I envisioned green tea yogurt with fresh lychee on top. No, it’s a hard block of frozen yogurt, pre-labeled, mixed with a few dashes of green tea powder, and then all blended together with frozen, peeled lychee. I think that since they blend the ingredients together at the last minute, they don’t really, well, blend. I tasted the yogurt, then the chalky matcha hit as a totally separate flavor. The lychee contributed only texture, not flavor. Have you ever made a smoothie with grapes or strawberries and had to deal with the crunchy seeds or un-blendable grape skins? That is exactly how this tastes (texture wise). If you can’t guess by my description, that means it tastes bad. Not only that, but the yogurt is also slightly watery when it comes out.

I’ve tried the chocolate and tried the a fore mentioned combo with and without mochi slices. I’ve had much better for less. Also, I do not like the service there. While waiting in like the first time, I asked if they took credit cards. When I got up to check out, their machine “magically” went out and instead of letting us get our yogurt free, they made us wait there for about ten minutes! Finally we were able to scrounge enough change and pay the tab, but still! There’s a level of service here that lacks in comparison to places like Starbucks, or other establishments that have no reason to offer complimentary coupons. The second time I went here I decided to try the seemingly-newly-added no fat/no sugar vanilla yogurt as a base. When I asked for this yogurt, the yogurt-eer immediately asked if I was diabetic. I felt as if I had to have one of those necklaces or bracelets identifying me as someone with blood sugar problems, and somehow felt violated by the question. Not to mention they were sold out of the topping I wanted.

There are locations in Tysons Corner Mall and newly, Reston Town Center. The Tysons location is a kiosk on the lower level by Starbucks and H&M. Save your money and go to the Starbucks.

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