Cafe Colucci - 6427 Telegraph Ave

Cafe Colucci seems to be the go-to Ethiopian place in this part of Berkeley/Oakland, and it's easy to see why. What they got right: atmo. So many Ethiopian/Eritrean places are either really dimly lit or just kind of run-down, and this place has a California-meets-Africa vibe that makes it really inviting overall.

I've been here a few times years ago, and this was my first time back since we discovered Cafe Eritrea d'Afrique. Partner in Chow ate here during her mourning period for The Blue Nile, so the first time she ate here she wasn't impressed. This time, we shelved all thoughts of competing or defunct restaurants and just ordered what sounded good.

What we ordered: vegetarian sampler, side of Mitten-Shouro (which the menu claims is "so tasty you will be hooked for life" - good marketing, Colucci)
Service: good - we went in late and it wasn't that busy
Atmo: cool California cafe with African accents
Crowd: hipsters, hill folks, the neighborood
Spent: around $30.00
Overall rating: 4 sporks

One interesting sidenote: some Ethiopian restaurants we've visited have tables of Ethiopian-looking diners. Eritrea d'Afrique and Asmara both seem to have a constant bar crowd, and usually some tables of folks who look like they know their Ethiopian food eating there. Cafe Colucci seems to lack that authentic African diner; perhaps it's the wait. Hmm.

Good rule of thumb: if you walk into an Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurant and it's filled with Eritrean/Ethiopian diners, it's probably a good sign.

While we're going to tie Colucci with Eritrea d'Afrique, Partner in Chow definitely prefers the food at Eritrea d'Afrique. Colucci ties because the atmosphere is so much better, and atmo is an important part of any dining experience. I do love Eritrea d'Afrique, but I am notoriously sensitive to bad lighting - and their lighting and color scheme is just the worst. Fluorescent gray meets white linoleum floors and gray walls and gray tables... ugh. Colucci has good lighting, warm yellow/orange walls and way better furniture.

The real test will be what happens when we're done with this project and just want to go get some Ethiopian food. Hmm.

Cafe Colucci seems to be the go-to Ethiopian place in this part of Berkeley/Oakland, and it's easy to see why. What they got right: atmo. So many Ethiopian/Eritrean places are either really dimly lit or just kind of run-down, and this place has a California-meets-Africa vibe that makes it really inviting overall.

I've been here a few times years ago, and this was my first time back since we discovered Cafe Eritrea d'Afrique. Partner in Chow ate here during her mourning period for The Blue Nile, so the first time she ate here she wasn't impressed. This time, we shelved all thoughts of competing or defunct restaurants and just ordered what sounded good.

What we ordered: vegetarian sampler, side of Mitten-Shouro (which the menu claims is "so tasty you will be hooked for life" - good marketing, Colucci)
Service: good - we went in late and it wasn't that busy
Atmo: cool California cafe with African accents
Crowd: hipsters, hill folks, the neighborood
Spent: around $30.00
Overall rating: 4 sporks

The food here is very good; no complaints. It was hard to avoid the comparisons with Eritrea d'Afrique - the spicing is slightly different, the Mitten-Shouro was a new one for us (dunno if we're hooked for life, but we liked it a lot), but we missed our usual side of fava beans that we have at Eritrea.

One interesting sidenote: some Ethiopian restaurants we've visited have tables of Ethiopian-looking diners. Eritrea d'Afrique and Asmara both seem to have a constant bar crowd, and usually some tables of folks who look like they know their Ethiopian food eating there. Cafe Colucci seems to lack that authentic African diner; perhaps it's the wait. Hmm.

Good rule of thumb: if you walk into an Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurant and it's filled with Eritrean/Ethiopian diners, it's probably a good sign.

While we're going to tie Colucci with Eritrea d'Afrique, Partner in Chow definitely prefers the food at Eritrea d'Afrique. Colucci ties because the atmosphere is so much better and atmo is an important part of any dining experience. I do love Eritrea d'Afrique, but I am notoriously sensitive to bad lighting - and their lighting and color scheme is just the worst. Fluorescent gray meets white linoleum floors and gray walls and gray tables... ugh. Colucci has good lighting, warm yellow/orange walls and way better furniture.

If we could just take the atmo at Colucci and the food at Eritrea, we'd never bother with another Ethiopian place. The real test will be what happens when we're done with this project and just want to go get some Ethiopian food. Hmm.