My favorite is Enat. Their food is top-quality, the prices seem to be the most competitive, and their service is always very friendly and can even be endearing. I frequented the place many times over the course of a couple years. The owner is frequently there to maintain operations, which I appreciated. He always greeted me with a slight bow and thanked me for my patronage. I took my girlfriend and her parents to dinner here a few months ago. It was her parents' first time trying Ethiopian food. He made his personal suggestions on the menu, including some items which were not on the menu. The staff is always attentive. No one has ever tried to upsell me. I enjoy that their offerings are usually not swimming in clarified butter, which creeps me out. I find this to be a problem at many Ethiopian restaurants, including Ethiopic. I also think, aside from the overwhelmingly positive responses on Yelp, that the consistent patronage of local Ethiopians can be a strong indication of the quality of this establishment. I also enjoy that it is never a hassle to dine here-- it always seems that at least one table is ready, or one will be within a five or ten-minute wait. Their coffee is excellent.
Now that I'm living in DC, the best place for me is Habesha Market. Don, I'd be curious to know how you would compare the gored gored (kuart, as they have it on the menu, - I think this is the same thing) or kitfo at Habesha Market to that at Abay Market. I have yet to check that place out. I enjoy the casual, easygoing environment, the relatively quick preparation of the high-quality, authentic dishes offered here. My Ethiopian coworkers are also convinced that this is their favorite place in DC. I always need lots of awaze and mit mita to go with my food and am always frustrated with how little most restaurants give you when you request extra (however, this hasn't been a problem at Enat). Habesha Market never frustrates me.
Ethiopic seems to get really great reviews as well, both on Yelp and in the papers, but I don't enjoy that this place is about 50% more expensive than Enat or Habesha Market. Portions are definitely much smaller. Their dry tibs were swimming in butter on the three times I visited. It's still definitely a good Ethiopian restaurant, and when I don't want to go further than across the street to satiate my kitfo craving, I go here.
I also used to like Zenebech Injera. They offer a half kitfo/tibs with a bit of veggies (IIRC) for $16 or so after tax and tip. But their kitfo isn't as high-quality as Habesha Market.
Dukem/Meskerem/Etete/Little Ethiopia and some other places I've been to just blend together to me and don't stand out. Watch out for Dukem because it might be difficult to get a table on Friday or Saturday. I get tired of dinner having to be an orchestrated event that requires coordination and reservations.
There's Warka Ethiopian Restaurant in Herndon off Herndon Parkway across from where I sometimes work. That place sucks. Their injera isn't fluffy or elastic because they don't use teff. I just ate that because there weren't many options in the area as far as flavorful ethnic cuisines.
