Ordered take-out during COVID regulations, and it was just as good at dining in. They provided 2 baggies full of Injera bread, which was more than enough. Cafe Colucci never fails to satisfy my cravings for Ethiopian food -- as someone who is plant-based, it's so easy! I always get the veggie platter, which is super filling. 10/10 as always! A gem in the Oakland/Berkeley area. read more

Cafe Colucci - Take-out! Veggie platters + injera bread - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

The minute you enter you already feel great choosing to eat here. The dining area is lovely, welcoming and stimulating! The music adds to the mood and theme! Service is A+ and very friendly! Great choice for a first date w a super lovely woman! She ordered the vegan sampler and I did the meat sampler and combined both in one tray. Paired it w Honey Wine! Wow! All the flavors are full on stimulating and satisfying! Prices and value are amazing! There's also an outdoor patio dining area. Can't wait to celebrate an anniversary here if my date and I make it to that! Either way I can't wait to dine here again! read more

Cafe Colucci is my go-to Ethiopian restaurant in the East Bay. I love all the flavors in their veggie platters. Right now, end of October 2020, they are only offering to-go options, and you must order online. Pick-up is at the right of the normal entrance. Unfortunately I didn't see an option for their flax drink which I enjoy. Everything is delicious, nothing too spicy, but super flavorful. I highly recommend. read more

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I love this place! I have a large appetite but I can never finish the plate. I usually get the veggie and the meat platter and share it with another person. Their flax seed juice is unlike any juice I've ever had. First off, I feel like it's great for my hair - lol -- but apart from that it has a very frothy, earthy and refreshing flavor. The decor is pretty vibrant and I love seeing the different music videos they play in the background, it adds to the overall ambiance. read more

Oh boy oh boy! It's very exciting that Cafe Colucci moved into our neighborhood. My housemate and I have eaten there once a week since it opened and each meal has been delicious. The owner is lovely and all the neighbors are excited to have them in the neighborhood. I had been getting take-out only and last night ate in the outdoor garden. Again, the food was super thoughtfully prepared and staff came by numerous times to see how we were doing. The back garden was quiet and warm with a heater. Highly recommended. read more

Oh no! My favorite Ethiopian restaurant has lost everything I loved about it. I ordered the mushroom tibs which was once one of my staples, and it was barely consumable. It was particularly disappointing because a friend went out of her way to bring me the meal. The food was so disappointing that I will not ever return. Whoever took this spot over has done an injustice to the culture and patrons. read more

Loved: nothing Liked: Assa gored gored, Vegan sampler, Teff injera Wouldn't get again: nothing read more

Best Gluten-free injera in the Bay Area!! I order from here multiple times a week through DoorDash. My son is gluten sensitive, they are our go to for injera. read more

Great food, filling. Flavorful. Good amount of spice and definitely tasty. Will come here again! read more

Cafe Colucci - Vegetarian sampler - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

been eating here ever since i was a wee babe!!! and it always tastes so good and delicious!!!

It was very good! The portions are big so plan to share but all the flavors work together

Outstanding food, service and atmosphere. We really enjoyed our meal even with a baby in tow. Great neighborhood spot!

Some of the best Ethiopian I've ever had! Everything we ordered was scrumptious. Those beef sambussas were killer -- We smashed those like they were going out of style! I love the paprika-like seasoning they have on every table with the salt, I put that on errrrr-thang...staff was friendly and attentive, and I liked the music. Minimal decor, but a decent amount of seating. There was a large dinner crowd and a small wait as we were leaving. For the portions you also can't beat the price, given that most items averaged between $10-15. I'm sorry to say but my beloved Enssaro by lake merit has met its match. read more

Cafe Colucci - Meat Sampler & lamb rib sizzler - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

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Over it. I sat waiting unacknowledged for a bit (there were only 2 parties today yet they still seemed under-staffed??) !! Another customer had to let the waitress know I'd been waiting to order. !?! I wanted a veggie combo & she tells me they're completely out of gomen. Can she sub chickpeas. Thought she would at least offer spinach? Chard? No-- I do not want an entire plate comprised of just beans. I'm done. Every time I try to eat here it's something read more

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For lunch, I ordered the meat sampler ($12.95 pre-tax), as the various options had overwhelmed my decision making. The sampler consisted of doro wat (simmered chicken leg and thigh), doro alicha (coarsely diced chicken seasoned w/berbere sauce), sega alicha (beef seasoned w/turmeric and ginger), minchet abish wot (seasoned and simmered ground beef), and gomen be sega (collard greens). I enjoyed the doro wat and the minchet abish wot, as the simmering drew out the sweetness of their constituent proteins. Particularly, the doro wat retained its juices well. Additionally, the gomen be sega tasted particularly rich, but not in a heavy manner. It managed to remain refreshing and contrasted the heavier meats. Having eaten the simmered items before the others, my palate, inundated with umami, could not long pick up the flavor profiles of other items. I will have to return! As an aside, the injera did not seem sour to me, though perhaps the meat sampler masked that. read more

Cafe Colucci - Meat sampler - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

Ate a later lunch here after a morning of hiking in Oakland. It was Labor Day and super busy, and the team was totally understaffed. The beautiful and sweet gal who was serving the entire shop was such a superstar. MAJOR shout out to her for holding the fort down and catering to as many people as she could. Management...y'all need to give her a bonus and thank her for single-handedly managing every table that came through that day! This was my first time having Ethiopian food, and I was psyyyyyched especially as a veggie-eater. My boyfriend and I were able to share the veggie platter (meant for 2 people, but YES I can see it feeding 3 or 4 comfortably) and take our own boxes home for dinner. It's such a great deal and best fit for parties or large group meals. I loved the turmeric portion, and the grey stuff! As in Beauty in the Beast, the silverware say "eat the grey stuff, it's delicious!" It truly is. We also had their Ethiopian lager which was pretty light and almost honey-like, and went well with the flavorful veggie platter. The injera bread was a lot more soft and sour than I expected. Did you know that injera bread is made like a crepe? Heated up on a circular surface like a crepe, and cooled slightly on a large straw plate? Cool stuff. I'm docking a star because although Cafe Colucci is a very authentic and warm place, I did not enjoy having to fight the flies while I enjoyed my meal. The restroom is clean, and they are family-friendly and have options for seating indoors and outdoors. We sat outside, and loved the wooden seating and homey atmosphere. Will be back if I'm in the area, but the lack of full staff on holidays doesn't bode well for visiting during peak dining times. read more

Cafe Colucci - Veggie platter. They say for 2, but can feed 4!! - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

Not a bad place at all. For years now we have been going to red sea in Oakland and this is the fIrst try somewhere else. Serving was excellent and food was so tasty. They give us a lot of of food and we brought some home for leftovers. Definitely we will come back in the area! read more

Cafe Colucci - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

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Best Ethiopian food nearby, I have been a big fan of Ethiopian cuisine and tried a few different places, Cafe Colucci definitely stands out as my favorite so far in terms of the food quality and price. read more

I love love love Ethiopian food. I was introduced to it when I was younger by my Dad and since then I've been hooked. The spices, flavors, and aroma is unlike any other cuisine that I've tried. Also the injera has just the perfect amount of sour-fermented taste to not overpower the spices but actually complement them. Cafe Colucci did not fail us and was another great Ethiopian find in Berkeley. read more

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I got terrible food poisoning from the meat platter. Food was just okay and not worth the suffering that came afterward. BEWARE!!!

Both times I've been here have been a blast. I got the vegan sampler each time and did not miss the meat even though I'm an omnivore. Street parking wasn't that bad either I was able to find parking within the same block. read more

Love this place! I've lived in SF for 7 years and Oakland for 3 - one of my top all time fav restaurants!

possibly the best ethiopian food i've ever had. my favorites were the shiro, kik alicha, and mushroom tibs! the injera is fresh and super flavorful. they also sell a lot of ethiopian spices that they import directly from ethiopia. i took a cooking class here and it was a bit disorganized, but they gave us a lot of tasty food at the end. read more

I've been here 5 or 6 times and I've loved it every visit (before AND after the pandemic). The food is so flavorful and perfectly seasoned, and there's a TON of it. The injera has just the right amount of sour flavor, and I even tried one of their specialty drinks last visit (which charcoal and cacao nibs). Best decision ever! I highly recommend the veggie sampler and mushroom tibs for vegetarians and vegans. read more

Location / It's modestly big but expect to be cramped between chairs. There is only street parking and it can be difficult. The restaurant is nice and cozy, you really feel welcome at the family owned business. Food / We got the veggie and meat platter which was honestly really great for a group of 3 hungry girls (can honestly feed 1 more person too). I was a little bit afraid that I wouldn't like it because past yelpers mentioned about the injera being too sour to their liking but I find it to be really tasty and not sour at all...it's light, spongey, and picks up the sauce really well. It's also unlimited injera refills at no additional cost. I really like that the veggie and meat were all very well seasoned with their spices. There was not one that I did not enjoy, everything was really delicious! It's also a fun eating experience and highly suggest it more as a communal dinner. Service / We waited quite some time for our food to arrive. We notice some parties that came in after us got their food before we did. read more

Cafe Colucci - Meat and veggie platter for dinner - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

First of all, I've gone to a loooot of Ethiopian restaurants and I've gotten a chance to experience a variety of platters at fancy establishments and more casual locations and this one has to be my favorite of all time. The food was outstanding, well seasoned and just spicy enough, with succulent vegetarian tibs options and signature spices that will rock your world. We had the vegan sampler platter with the mushrooms tins that arrived in a sizzling cast iron pan and it was an explosion of flavors. The cozy and inviting decor is charming and they have a few items to sell that you're going to want to take home and the staff was incredibly friendly and enthusiastic and they went out of their way to make our experience memorable. We will be back there again and again and I would highly recommend checking out this restaurant for an absolutely epic meal. read more

Cafe Colucci - Vegan Combination Platter (VG) Mushroom Tibs (VG) - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

Hands down one of the greatest Ethiopian restaurants of all time. Go with a group and get both the meat sampler and the veggie sampler. Their default injera bread is a mixture of flour and teff and has a more mild flavor, but you can request the full teff injera, which is much more flavorful! Great for a casual dinner with friends, or a special date night. Everyone who works here is wonderful, and the ambiance is warm and inviting. read more

I was a long time customer at their old location, but have not been lately bc there are so many new habesha options. But I was craving their lamb (begue) tibs coming out on a cast iron skillet with the jalapeños and rosemary sizzling next to caramelized onions. So I ordered online from their new location. Got home w my pickup order, and they got my side wrong (I had wanted Messer Wot but got Gomen). The reason this was disappointing was that tibs are sautéed and therefore dry and I wanted something saucy to mix it up with. But the main issue I had is that the tibs were not at all the moist rosemary-jalapeño infused Maillard browned lamb chunks that I knew in the past. They were flavorless and dry, grey-brown chunks of meat. I'm betting that the chef is not the same as in their last location on Telegraph or was off the night I ordered. You've lost a long time customer. read more

This is a nice restaurant, I was looking for some Ethiopian coffee but their espresso machine was not working so we ordered lunch. The injera was wonderful I liked the house blend the best . I ordered Alicha with turmeric and chicken and loved it. They are very traditional so you have to ask for eating utensils (I didn't), Very reasonable prices and pleasant staff. I will return. read more

I've been eating at Cafe Colucci for 20 years. This was my first time at their new location. It's spacious with a nice outdoor spot in the back. They have a long list of vegan options. Today I had the Mushroom Tibbs with Mittin Shero (sp?). It was spicy, tasty, filling, and fabulous! read more

Cafe Colucci - Lunch! - Ethiopian Near Me - Oakland, California

Excellent service and food and coffee! The smell of the spices during your meal is awesome as well!

Very good food. Very nice service and wonderful ambience. Parking could be definitely better.

So dang yummy! OMG. So good. Friendly staff, delicious food, relaxing vibe. Thank you! read more

The food is the best Ethiopian food I have every had. They're delivery service was fast and the food was delicious, everyone at my home enjoyed it. We ordered the vegan sampler and another meat sampler. The food is somewhat spicy, the lamb and chicken are very good. The food won't weigh you down like some other food items. Try it, you will not be disappointed. read more

Wow. So glad I randomly was craving Ethiopian food because my palate was blown away by the flavors. We ordered the Meat Combo and Assa Gored Gored. The meat combo was a good portion and came with one injera bread. The flavors were delicious and I loved having a variety of items to try. The assa gored gored was soooo goood. It was a white fish that was well seasoned and cooked perfectly, the side sauce was amazing. I am going to have to find out what it was... I think it was the shouro, which was sooo good... . Dipping the fish injera with that sauce... (how do I explain it? It was like a purée of legumes of some sort) was amazing. I'm so happy I've found this place. Also they have spices, cookbooks and coffee beans, all amazing items to help you learn to cook Ethiopian, which is awesome. I can't wait to come back and order more! read more

Bar none, the best Ethiopian food I've had in the USA. Portions are very generous and I'm a pretty big eater. Service was prompt and the workers were very friendly I can't wait to go back. read more

Fantastic food in a large, pleasant ambiance. Service cordial but a bit slow. Highly recommend.

I used to come here and I really liked it. It was the first Ethiopian food place that I actually liked. I was a bit put off by the location, some years ago, but my mom recommended it to me and it was great! The only reason why I didn't go more often is because of the location. I tend to favor locations that are close to freeway entrances or exits or places that are near locations where I shop regularly. Anyhow, if in the area and having a hankering for Ethiopian food, I'd come here. read more

Quick service, comforting food, fresh and plentiful injera, and enough quantity to satisfy. The vegan platter was so flavorful and expertly spiced. Especially enjoyed the cabbage dish. I never liked Ethiopian until I had this!! read more

Loved the Ethiopian fare at Colluci. We got the Tej, coffee, tea, vegetarian platter and sambussas. Everything was delicious and fullfiling.