Of the many restaurants that cater to Columbia City’s large Ethiopian population, Tagla is our favorite. This is an injera emporium—they make the injera that you’ll see in local markets and in other restaurants.

This place purveys huge platters of flavorful spicy food, with either falling-off-the-bone meat (or simply uncooked—an downright delicious—meat, as in the case of kitfo) or fantastic vegetables and beans, like shero-wot with chickpea flour or miser-wot with lentils. A limited breakfast menu has Western-style egg sandwiches and Ethiopian standards like foul medammas (a dish of fava beans, tomato, onion, cheese, and pepper) and buttered injera. A take-out menu includes injera sandwiches and sambusas.

Tagla is staffed by some of the friendliest people in town. They treat this place like it’s their home. It’s not the classiest place, and the loud TV is kind of distracting, but the vibe is still just so darn welcoming. And the large windows let in a lot of light, helping the place feel even roomier and happier. The prices will make you happy, too.