I waited over 10 years before eating here!! I waited way too long. Food cooked to order, hot, fresh and FULL of distinct flavors. Better vegetarian dishes than I expected, especially lentils. And smiles everywhere.

Very good food. Was the first place I ever went for Ethiopian food. I have been to others since and it has still the the first and best.

I went to this place with a friend the other night. Pretty good food. Very tasty, and makes eating with your hands fun, thanks to the injera bread (kind of like a spongy pita)!

My college-aged daughter, who's a vegetarian living in Florida, remembered Dukem from when she was visiting D.C. on a high school field trip. So when we were in town for a funeral a while back, she HAD to return to Dukem, because there's just not a lot of choice for fans of Ethiopian food on the Gulf Coast. It's great that Ethiopian food is so veggo-friendly. I like Dukem, but I've liked every Ethiopian restaurant I've been to, starting during MY university days during the early 1980s when the only places you could find that cuisine was on the "Ethiopian row" in Adams-Morgan where Meskerem and Awash are. Holy Haile Selasse are there a lot of Ethopian restaurants in D.C. now! Dukem's not as funky with its decor as most of the Ethiopian places I've been -- more polished and refined inside, if that's what you like. Good bathrooms, too! Hey, you eat food this explosive, that counts for something... And it's air conditioned. Some of the Ethiopian places I've dined in D.C. weren't, and I like a cool room with food this spicy. As far as the food, decently spiced, typical "wots" (as they spell it, not "wat') and other Ethiopian standards. We didn't have any problem with the servers, as other reviewers have, but we're good at deciphering other people's accents. To me, someone whose command of English is not that good adds to the ethnicity of the experience, and hey -- their English is better than my Amharic, so who am I to whinge about how THEY speak, eh? But overall, I'd rate Dukem as average. It's all good, but to me, it's all interchangeable. I'd go back next time my kid and I are in D.C., but the problem is, there are so many other places I haven't tried yet...

A Great Experience. Ate here with a large group of friends recently. The food was tasty, spicy, and filling. It was presented in a traditional style that satisfied everyone involved. A live band played jazz on the stage and they were actually good. I was particularly impressed by the singer's mean bass lines. The decor was tasteful and comfortable. The only problem we ran into was that our waitress could not speak English well, so she had to seek assistance from another waitress whose English was slightly better. This was but a minor annoyance. We all loved the food and ambiance here and will definitely return in the future.