Merkato Market & Carry-Out

I’ve eaten here a number of times and have generally had a good experience. I can’t speak to the meat dishes because I only order vegetarian, but I would recommend this place if you want to try an Ethiopian place in this area. The food is flavorful but not overly spicy. If you like your food extra hot I suggest asking one of the employees if they can accommodate you. Prices are very affordable, more bang for the buck than other restaurants in near downtown Silver Spring IME.

Great delivery veggie paradise.

Solid. They deliver via grub hub and have a lot of different things you cannot find at every Ethio place. Very reasonably priced and fast.
I’ve ordered the kitfo here before and it seemed like about a pound of beef for around $ 13 dollars + the normal injera, gomen, and ayib. Could have used a side of mitmita, but I doctored it up myself with some sea salt and berbere. Veggie platter is a great deal too, everything is tasty — especially the shiro wot. I do wish they had beets though. This is my go to delivery spot now.

I stumbled on this restaurant while going to the bank one day and never looked back! The food is awesome and the service is wonderful. My fav is the veggie combo! The tastiest veggies I’ve had in awhile. This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Silver Spring, and now that I know they deliver to my area, they’ll be hearing from me every week! You have to try it!!!

I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this restaurant/​carry-​out. The young women behind the counter were very sweet, the small carry-​out looked clean and bright, several young men were sitting at tables talking and sharing food (which was a good sign to me…), but the food was just so so.
I love Ethiopian food — I am from the days of the original Mama Desta’s (on upper Georgia Avenue with the homemade Tej). Thus, I have been eating Ethiopian food for over 30 years (not to age myself…). I don’t know if the young woman who took my order thought that I wouldn’t like well spiced food because I am not Ethiopian, but the food was just bland, very bland. I DID purchase a container of berbere spice, which was well priced, but even that was tame. However, I can doctor that up with extra spice (I have a good recipe for berbere) to give it the kick it deserves. Sadly, I won’t be returning.

Just ordered delivery from this place via
. The asa dulet was good. The veggie combo was just so-​so. I have enjoyed other ethiopian places in Silver Spring better. Also, the delivery took 1hr20min to arrive from the time I ordered and I’m only a couple miles down the street. Pretty much everything was cold on arrival, so if you want to give this place a shot I wouldn’t recommend delivery.

This is the best Ethiopian place in Silver Spring. Almost comparable to the Ethiopian food in Denver, which is a very hard thing to accomplish. Delivery shows up fast too.

I’m not huge on reviewing places unless I’m blown away. I have to say after multiple visits, this place consistently did that. Relatively new establishment, I ran into it accidentally as I was waiting for a friend in the area. I went in to get some refreshments and check the place out. The place is very simple, neat and inviting. On one side they sell Ethiopian spices and grocery goods and on the other side they have a nice seating area. It is self-​service, you can eat there or take it to go. They gave me samples of the Ethiopian bread as well as samosa, which were delish. They told me to come by and try their food next time. I travel few times a week to the silver spring area for work, so I decided to stop by and have lunch with a friend. Since we both are Ethiopian food fans, deciding on what we want was a breeze. My friend got the veggie paradise, I got Kitfo. The food came promptly and I have to say it was so delicious we both inhaled it. Kitfo has a great balance of spices and the cottage cheese compliments the kitfo flavor (you get it cooked or raw– very similar to tuna tartar). The vegetarian selections are very fresh and well seasoned. For all the food you get the price is more than reasonable. Since then we are sort of hooked to this place, the food is solid and consistent, to top it all of the customer service is superb!!! I hope they stay the same. I definitely would recommend to try this place if you are in the area.
My favs are 1. Merkato kitfo; 2. Veggie paradise/​combo; 3. Tibs Firifir with red spice; and 4. Asa gulashe

The food is DELICIOUS. Some of the best Ethiopian food in silver spring and there are many in this area. However, none of them offer delivery except this restaurant. I ordered through GrubHub.
The Vegi Paradise was out of this world!!! I even called and asked that they include a boiled egg in the meal and the rep… courteously obliged. The Tibs wonderful came with salad and red lentils and injera. The injera was fresh and OMG. the Asa Dullet. my first time ordering that dish came with cabbage, lentils and injera. I couldn’t get enough.
Customer service was great too… the food was somewhat late because they were working out the kinks from having just been added to GrubHub. However, later that day, the owner called me to apologize for the tardiness. I appreciated the personal apology… shows that they care about their customers.
I will certainly order from them again. for sure
To Merkato: (Please offer boiled egg on the Vegi Paradise option thru your menu on GrubHub) :)

I finally stopped by this new Ethiopian market that opened in Silver Spring. Ethiopian staples such as infers, lentils, and various spices are sold up front, and their is a kitchen in back turning out some very delicious Ethiopian cuisine that you can take away, or eat there at one of the few tables available.
The food was DELICIOUS. Some of the tastiest Ethiopian I ‘ve had in the area. On my first visit, I tried the vegetarian platter. Filled with a perfectly spiced miser watt (red lentils), as well as yellow split peas (the best I’ve had anywhere), cabbage, and gomen collard greens). Everything was very well prepared and seasoned. On my next visit I came for breakfast and was blown away. I had eggs scrambled with green chilies, tomatoes, and onion with a side of kinche (cracked wheat cooked with Ethiopian spiced butter). The very nice lady running the kitchen also threw in a did of quanta fir-​fir. All served with injera. I’ve had ethiopian breakfast at other places in the DC area and this was the best. In fact, it reminded me of my visit to Ethiopia nearly 10 years ago.
I will definitely be back.