Demera was an excellent introduction to Ethiopian food! Since it was our first time, the staff was incredibly friendly and attentive, taking the time to answer our questions and make recommendations. The food was absolutely delicious and tasted incredibly fresh. It struck the perfect balance of being healthy while still being satisfying. We ordered a platter that didn't look like it would be very filling at first, but it was more than enough food. I would definitely recommend Demera to anyone looking to try Ethiopian cuisine, whether it's your first time or you're already a fan. If you're planning a date night in Uptown, this is a great place to start the evening, then head across the street to the Green Mill for live jazz and cocktails. It makes for a fun night out! read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The food is excellent. We love Ethiopian, but this was our first visit to Demera. We had a 7:30 reservation and came hungry. There was water immediately, but then there simply wasn't a server. When he finally arrived (from outside the restaurant?) it was close to 8. Nice guy, but we were hungry. Placed our order and waited. And waited. He finally came by to say the food would be out soon, as others around us were served and lots of carryout orders flew out the door. Our too tiny appetizers came, but nothing more. We waited and remained hungry. We asked him to check, and we waited. When the food finally arrived it was past 8:30. We had ordered the four person platter, for four people, but it simply wasn't enough. We wanted to order more, but again there was no waiter available and a sad realization that it might take another hour. We paid and left. Bottom line is that we arrived hungry, we sat hungry for over an hour, and we left unsatisfied. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - 4 person dish. - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I wish I was closer. Every visit is wonderful and the food is forever amazing - I got the 6 piece veggie platter for 2. I am not vegetarian however many of my friends are and they never disappoint. I sat at the bar with my daughter before heading over to see a show at Aragon and the entire staff was friendly, conversational, and pleasant. Great cocktails, great food, great food, great vibe. If you are the north side go, if you're not on the north side, go. read more

The best Ethiopian food I've had. The atmosphere dining and was great, the restaurant is super cute and classy. Service was very good as well, but most of all the food is just so so good. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Messob for 2 - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This was only my second time trying Ethiopian food. Very very pleased with both the quality of food and service! Went with a group of friend tonight to celebrate making it through another work week. I was pleasantly surprised at the decor. Nice spot...sheik, casually elegant, and classy. Located right across the Green Mill in uptown Demera is in a pretty awesome location. Being a big appetizer guy I went with the Sambussa Sampler to get a taste of all of their varieties. Absolutely delicious! I actually could've just been satisfied with a couple more samplers. Accompanied by a tamarind-like sauce and presented very elegantly. If you love samosas you definitely have to try sambussas! I'm making it a point to get those again. For my main I went with a Tilapia filet dish. So typically I am not a big I fan of Injara but the Injara here was convinced me otherwise. O and btw they also have a GF Injara as well as other GF options. I didn't even expect to but I just couldn't stop eating. I put a killin on everything I ordered. So much I didn't even have room for dessert. And the very attentive and friendly service just made the meal that much better. Glad I discovered a new gem. read more

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First time in years eating Ethiopian food, and Demera reminded me what I had been missing. The food was amazing, full of flavor, and truly enjoyable from start to finish. Everything tasted fresh, rich, and well prepared. A great experience and definitely worth returning to! read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Beet salad - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I had been before, but brought 5 friends for Restaurant Week. Most had not tried Ethiopian food and none had visited Demera. We had a wonderful server and tasty food and I so appreciate how easy they make it. Is it the very best I've had? No, but it's really solid and prices are very fair. Special shoutout for the crème brûlée! Ambiance is casual and noise levels were good enough to hear each other. We found easy meter street parking and will definitely come back again soon. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Chicken Sambussa - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Second time here. The first time was many years ago. Both times are a great experience and I can tell you that even coming here 10 - 15 years apart, nothing has changed. Great food, great service, great drinks, great atmosphere. Highly recommended Chicago classic. read more

I have been here a handful of times and love getting the sampler platter. I recommend brining out of town friends/families here! read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Good Ethiopian restaurant in the Uptown Area (and right across from the famous Green Mill Lounge). It fills up quickly for dinner, so reservations are recommended - although I did manage to get a seat at the bar. My Doro Wat was quite good, although of course not as spicy as I have enjoyed in Addis Ababa. For my single-person meal, it came with more than enough injera on the side as well as the injera under my meal. read more

Excellent first visit to Demera. My daughter had heard lots of good things about this restaurant and us being in town wells a great excuse to give it a try. The interior consists of two cozy rooms - tables full of people! The decor invites diners to settle in for an intimate, delicious meal. Everyone we encountered was welcoming and friendly - from the host who greeted us to our servers, etc. I've only had Ethiopian cuisine twice now - I'm no expert. That said, our group of four had a fabulous time sharing a wide selection of the menu. All the dishes had terrific flavor. We started with the appetizer messod- which was quickly devoured! We enjoyed sampling each of the five sambussas. Really hard to pick a favorite. From there, each couple chose a Demera Massob in order to get to taste several items throughout the menu. Some favorites included the door tins, siga alicha, and Kaiser tibs. Demera is a wonderful restaurant & a lovely dining experience. So glad we stopped in! read more

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Been back several times. Love this place. Food is great. Restaurant is super cute. Great variety of food.

My sister being in town, she wanted to try this place. When we walked in, the restaurant was empty. However, they asked if we had reservations, which was confusing at first. Not long after we were seated, it made sense why that was asked. They clearly had a busy night planned, but we're still very kind and accommodating. The place is very clean, smells great, and is well appointed. The food, however, is why this place filled up so quickly! We ordered a family style meal and it was absolutely amazing! We expected to like some things more than others, but we're pleasantly surprised to enjoy the entire platter. I highly recommend this place and am very excited that it's just down the street from me! I can't wait to return! read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I've wanted to try Demera for years. They had lots of seating: good for large groups. The space has warm lighting and would be a good spot for a cozy date night. I've never tried any of the menu items before. We decided to order the Sambussa Sampler. This came out very fast. I enjoyed the fried flaky texture. My favorite of the five flavors was the beef. I felt it had the most flavor. They bring it out sliced in half so it was easy to share. I ordered the lamb entree Ye-Beg Wot. I thought it tasted similar to another lamb dish, and I wasn't sure if the slight burnt flavor was on purpose or not. The lamb was pretty tender. I wish it came with a few more cubed meat pieces. I felt like there was a lot of little lamb bits floating in the sauce. The other dish was Awaze Tibs, a beef dish. I enjoyed the flavors. The flavor combination was something I was not familiar with. It was fun to try to figure out what was in it. However, beef was tough and difficult to chew. FYI, the meal was actually $23 not $22.50 listed on the website. Sadly, both entrees were not very spicy to me. I would come back to try the Messob platter. The pictures look great and I saw multiple tables that ordered it too. read more

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Had an excellent time here! First time trying Ethiopian food so admittedly my friends and I were a little confused about the menu, I wish there were pictures! But other than that, we ended up all getting delicious things and having a great time. The injera complimented the food really well, I love the taste of the fermentation. Highlight for me though was definitely the crème brûlée. Love the orange flavor in it. read more

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First time trying Ethiopian food and this was a great first impression. This place was PACKED on a Saturday night, I'd suggest making a reservation unless you're willing to wait like an hour for a table. The sambussa were SO GOOD, loved the sweet and spicy sauce and the farmer's cheese. The baby goat was also very tasty, super tender and well seasoned. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Awaze Tibs (Full) - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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It's my first experience going to an Ethiopian restaurant, so I was excited entering the restaurant - amazing lighting, amazing ambience inside. I went all in and ordered their Sambussas, the honey glaze was so delicious, made the appetizers taste great! A great start!! My entree was their Messob, and the blend of meat and veggies were blended with spices that had me impressed. Big fan of the bread!! To end the night - I chose the tiramisu - short and sweet. I decided to eat here for Chicago restaurant week and I'm so glad to have done so. The servers were very friendly helping me try the many dishes that highlight Ethiopian cuisine at its best! I'll be going there again, and you should too read more

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Fun spot! This was my first time eating at an Ethiopian restaurant, and they were very accommodating. Amazzzzing honey wine, I was loving that. Great place to go with a larger group. read more

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We always enjoy our meals at Demera, we've been eating here for 20 years, although we haven't been as regular since they moved further north. Now it feels like a treat. The staff is always pleasant, the manager is especially friendly and welcoming, the surroundings are comfortable and of course the food is solid. We always share a big plate of vegetarian food and enjoy a couple of beers. Good value for money. Recommended. read more

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When my mom called and asked if I were in the mood for Ethiopian, I immediately said yes! I love the flavors of this incredible food and love Demera's environment. It's inviting and with it being 70 degrees, there was a nice breeze from the balcony. We ordered the sambusa sampler which has five different fillings. The lentils and spinach might be my favorite! And they come with this sauce that has a slight sweetness and spiciness. I just keep that sauce around for the rest of the meal. We then got the sampler for 2 which includes 3 meat and 3 veggie dishes. For the mean dishes, we ordered the Doro Wot (with an extra egg), the awaze tibs (amazing flavor and so tender, and the Ye-big Wot was also good! For veggies, we ordered gomen (collards) , misir wot (red lentils), and tikle gomen (cabbage). We also ordered another order of gomen and and a side order of kayseer tibs (beets). Again, everything is incredibly flavorful and I just love the spice! To drink, I had the hot toddy with tea. It was so warm and soothing; I've been a bit stuffy. Finally, ended with the tiramisu and inhaled that. Not a crumb left...so. I've been here several times and it never disappoints. The staff are always kind and make us feel welcomed too! See you again Demera! read more

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First time visiting this place. I had heard so much about it so was excited to get in! We did make reservations in advance. I would highly recommend that if you are planning to go on weekend! The place was super crowded!! We got the vegan messob platter and the meat messob platter. Both the dishes were delicious!!! The lamb and chicken was soft and tender. The coffee of course was extremely good! I would definitely visit again read more

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Had a nice dinner with some fellow coffee lovers here on a brisk Friday evening recently. Our party of six was seated in a cozy corner and the service began. I chose the Merkato cocktail, a delicious blend of fresh basil, Maker's Mark, and Ethiopian tea, infused with cardamom, cinnamon, and clove. Later in the service, I had the Ethiopian hot toddy, which was a great twist on the classic, again with the tea and infusions. It was like a hot, comforting version of the Merkato, but with that honey and lemon splash. For the meal, we went family style with the sambussas platter, featuring crispy fried dumplings and a sweet and spicy honey sauce. They were crispy and delicious, with the sauce bringing a great contrast in flavors. Ambasha bread brought a platter with a spreadable Ethiopian cheese flavored with collard greens, with the greens giving it a fresh zing of vegetable flavor. Moving to the main course, we went for it and elected the chef's selection messob, which brought a huge platter with a large injera bread, topped with generous servings of lamb, beef, chicken, and vegetable stews, including lentils and some salad. Each diner also received more injera to either top with the spoons we asked for, or just "pinch" into the portions on the communal platter. All of the stews were delicious, but special nod to the lamb, which had a delicious flavor which reminded you that it was, in fact, lamb, but was not overpowering in the least. Finally, we requested the buna (coffee) service for the table, which was presented in a traditional clay pot (jebena). A lively debate ensued among the table of coffee fanatics as to what roast level the coffee was, but regardless, it was a nice, warm way to end our meal. If there was any knock at all on our experience, the service got a bit slow as the meal drew on, probably owing to the surge of customers. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Dinner with coffee geek friends - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I came here with a friend and honestly it was a nice atmosphere, clean, with delicious food. I ordered the beef in sauce and sautéed lamb and liked the lamb better. Just a better flavor profile and balanced. I had a side of mushrooms and cabbage and enjoyed both a lot. My friend and I both had stomach issues. Gas and upset stomach after eating here. read more

Demera is really that girl! The food is incredibly good and it's always a lovely time. There are plenty of vegan options and it's a great spot for solo dining or with loved ones. I wouldn't order to-go as it's always less food than in person for the same price. If you're doing delivery, I'd try Ethiopian diamond. read more

Ive been wanting to try Ethiopian food for some time now, and I knew Demera would be a great place to start. I placed an online order for takeout and the food was done before the promised time. The staff was very friendly and welcoming and the dining area looks upscale and very elegant. I ordered their Demera Messob for two. I tried to order a little bit of everything. One of each meat with a combination of a different sauce. We ordered their Doro Wot, Lega Tibs, an Siga Alicha for our meats. For our veggies we ordered their Misir Wot, Yatkilt Wat, and Dinich Wot. Everything was delicious and very flavorful. They also packaged everything perfectly. It was definitely something different, but a very unique experience. I can definitely see myself retuning but not for takeout again. Would prefer to have everything plated for me the traditional way. read more

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We had previously sampled select items from the Demera menu when there was a location at Time Out Market . This time we ordered from the actual Demera Ethiopian Restaurant on Broadway. The extensive menu offers many tempting options. We settled on the Sambussa Sampler to start. We added orders for two of the Misir Wot, the Inguidi Tibs, the Kim Alicha, the Shiro, the Gomen, and the Quosta. Does anyone think that is enough for three of us? NO! We also added an additional individual orders of Inguidi Tibs, Kayseer Tibs, Ye-Asa Leb Leb, and Shrimp Tibs. Yeah. That seems to be about right! The sambussas were great with crisply fried luscious coatings containing our choices of the lentil, the spinach, and the cheese fillings. These delightful dumplings were served with a spicy sweet sauce that was fantastic! The Misir Wot was a stew of red lentils in a savory berbere sauce. Just the right amount of zing to the spice in this dish. The Inguidi Tibs was a delightful combination of sautéed mushrooms, garlic, onions, and ginger. The tastes here were excellent. The Kim Alicha included split yellow peas cooked with onions, garlic, and turmeric. Delicious! The Shiro was a mix of vegetables cooked with ginger, rue, garlic and spiced to perfection! The Gomen was tasty with collard greens cooked with onions, garlic, and ginger. The final part of the orders for two was the delectable Quosta with its spinach cooked with tomatoes, onions, and ginger. Yum! As we move into the remaining dishes the word that comes to mind is scrumptious leftovers. Well... That was two words but you get the idea. Moving on to the rest of our order we have the Kayseer Tibs which was made up of sautéed beats and carrots with a spice mix featuring cinnamon. Loved the taste here! The Ye-Asa Leb Leb included tilapia cooked with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and seeded jalapeño peppers. The blending of flavors here was fantastic! Finally, we have the Shrimp Tibs with shrimp prepared with onions, tomato, garlic, jalapeño, awaze, and rosemary. This dish was, like the rest of our meal, superb. The generous amount of injera that came with our order, with its signature sponginess and slightly sour flavor, was the perfect pairing with all of the dishes we sampled as we used it to scoop up all of the delectable goodness. Demera Ethiopian was truly special with perfectly prepared dishes that were exquisite in their flavor profile. We will definitely be returning in the future to try more of the choices available on the menu. Yum! read more

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Demera Ethiopian Restaurant is in the perfect location if you are catching a show at the Riviera Theater or Aragon Ball Room. The staff is friendly and attentive. We were running late for our reservation because we had a difficult time finding our spot hero parking space, and we got caught in a down pour. The staff was super understanding and seated us immediately. Our waitress helped us understand all the menu offerings and made some helpful suggestions. We chose the veggie messob where you get to pick six of the vegetable dishes available off the menu to share. The veggie dishes we chose included: Dinich Wot (Spicy), Shiro (Spicy), Gomen, Yatkilt Wat, and Kayseer Tibs. My husband drank a Hebesha Ethiopian beer and I selected the Tej (honey wine), which is very sweet - I would not choose it again. They do have a lovely selection of cocktails. If we visit Demera again I would like to try some of the meat dishes. I really enjoy lamb. I think that the meal for two was the perfect portion size for two people, but in retrospect I think the prices are a bit high for what you receive. There were no leftovers. We were dining on a Saturday evening and two concerts were going on, so it was crowded and the noise level was above normal. There were many large parties around us, and it's always fun seeing what everyone orders. The food and drinks are very artistic looking. I was surprised by how quickly the food arrived at our table. Once again, the quick service makes the venue perfect if you are going to a show. You are able to pay at your table with toast. read more

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First time trying Ethiopian food and it was super comforting! The injera was reminded me of dosa and the sambusas reminded me of samosas:) I would specifically recommend the doro tibs and misir wot. The portion sizes for the platter are huge and very shareable! It's a bit pricey but worth the experience read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Chicken Sambussa, Cheese Sambussa - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Had been coming here for the last four years. Loved the food and the service but things have changed over these last few years. I feel like prices have gone up and portion sizes have gotten smaller. We had a reservation for the lunch food week option and thought it would be a great thing to try. 30$ for three courses, when we sat down it was 45$ per person. No big deal right? I like the food, oh well. So we do it. Mind you we're sat at a section that has two big parties in it so the waitress was definitely busy. She came up to us within a few minutes of being sat and took our appetizer order and drink choices. 45 mins later she remembers us and says the appetizers will be right out. 10 mins later, the Sambusas and glazed carrots come out but no drinks. No water. Whatever we eat our appetizers, they were cold but we loved them. The drinks came out another 20 minutes later when she came to check on us again. Then the food came out. Super tasty, you don't get to pick which meats or veggies you want for the messob for two. It's just a preselected whatever they're feeling like giving you. 10/10. Except one of the meats literally only had 6 small pieces. This is supposed to be for two people! For 45 each???? We didn't eat that meat to show the waitress and ask if that's just how they were going to portion from now on because the other two meats had a pretty good amount. She said they just give one tablespoon of each meat for the messob for two and that in order to try to make me happy they would give us a little bit more. Appreciated that but kind of insane to think that 45 each would just be one spoonful. We had to ask another server for water because our waitress was too busy with the big parties. I've added a picture of the messob for two. The desert was nice but the tiramisu was frozen and we got no spoons to eat them until we asked for it. I think our days of coming here have come to an end. read more

Great vibe. Great food. Kind people. This place is 7 miles from city center but so worth the Iber drive if you are visiting. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Lamb dish - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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As someone who hasn't had much Ethiopian food, Demera is a wonderful restaurant! During restaurant week, we got their lunch menu. The portions are a bit small but it leaves you feeling well off and not super full/bloated! The service can be a bit slow but that's because of how busy they get. The food is delicious and I love that they have vegetarian and meat options- at the top of my list is the quosta (spinach), kik alicha (yellow peas), and ye-asa leb leb (fish). The creme brûlée is definitely a must get! read more

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Demera is probably my favorite restaurant in the city. Their honey wine is my favorite! And I love the veggie sampler. We had six people and ordered 3 sampler platters (one with meat and then two veggie). It was more than enough food and such a fun way to get to try a variety of things on the menu. My favorite veggies options are the beet one and the spicy lentils. But honestly, they are all good so you can't go wrong. It was my birthday dinner and they gave me a free slice of tiramisu cake which was to die for. It was so light and fluffy! read more

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We chose Demera to celebrate a birthday out of town. Ethiopian cuisine is one of our favorites and this uptown establishment was delightful. We made a 630pm reservation with ease and our driver had no issues navigating to the restaurant through the busy city streets. We opted to sit outside on the patio, which was spacious and clean. The atmosphere was welcoming, service top tier, and fellow diners had good energy. The menu is quite thorough offering many options. It truly was great, most importantly, their berbere sauce was probably perfectly spiced for me, offering a well welcomed heat! read more

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Authentic Ethiopian restaurant, the three of us got the dinner sampler platter with six different mini meals. Pros- great way to try different types of Ethiopian meals if you don't know what you like. Cons- I'm not crazy about most types of Ethiopian meals. Nice place just not for me read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Dinner sampler platter - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I have only tried Ethiopian food a couple times, and I'd been wanting to go to Demera for some time now. I finally made it there on what happened to be Restaurant Week. Everything we ordered was fine, but I was kind of underwhelmed with the flavor. The restaurant was getting loud as they got busier, and service was a bit slow. read more

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First time trying Ethiopian food and my friends and I had a wonderful experience! The staff was very kind and helpful with suggestions on what to order. The 6 of us decided to all share the Sambussa Sampler and the Chef's Selection family style which had several meat and veggie options. We ordered the gluten free bread. The non-alcoholic drink I ordered was delicious, I definitely recommend checking out what their current NA drink options are. The food was perfectly proportioned for the 6 of us. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Got the demera platter to try as many things as possible. Really enjoyed the spicy chicken collard greens and cabbage. They were super good. The lentils were also good! The injeera was served cold so would have preferred it served warm. The servers were very slow to bring out the food but once we got the food asked us to clear our plate at least 5x when we were clearly not done eating. So I would say they need to work on their service a bit. The cocktail I got (Ethiopian margarita) was also very sweet. read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Demera platter - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Filling meal for 2. Delicious food and quick service. We went in for lunch and was seated immediately. Our food arrived less than 15min from ordering. We moved away from the area and haven't been in awhile but was happy to see the food quality is still the same read more

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - Bayaynetu For 2 - Ethiopian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Demera has been on my list of places to try for SOOO long now and it was everything I hoped it would be! We ended up going for an early lunch right when they opened so we had the whole place to ourselves for a bit but it started to fill up pretty quickly! The staff is super welcoming and provides incredible service and is super attentive! The inside of the restaurant feels very homey and authentic! We ended up ordering a few different types of sambussas to start off - we tried the chicken, beef, spinach, and lentil ones. Each and every one of them was perfectly crispy on the outside and super flavorful on the inside! The spinach was definitely my favorite! It was unbelievably delicious and went PERFECTLY with the sauce! Next, we got the vegetarian messob platter + the demera messob platter (includes meats + veggies). The vegetarian platter had 4 different dishes - some made with lentils and others made with vegetables. All of them were mouthwatering and were accompanied by their famous injera - which is used to dip into all the delicious dishes. The demera messob platter came with 2 types of meats and 2 veggie dishes. The beef and chicken dishes were delicious and literally fell off the bone. They were so tender and juicy! This was my first time trying Ethiopian food and it was an amazing experience. The dishes are filling and can definitely be shared by 2 people. If not, they make for amazing leftovers for the next day! The food is so authentic and tastes like it's made at home. Absolutely loved this experience and cannot wait to go back for more! read more

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We attended their fundraising event which was an Injera making and wine tasting dinner. The entire experience was so worth it! There were two wines and a cocktail that were featured. Both wines are from small wine farms in Africa and they were fantastic. The entire food tasting experience was absolutely delicious. The beef and lamb were my favorite meat dishes. The red vegetarian dish next to the yellow curry was my favorite of the vegetarian options! There is such a great mix of both vegetarian and eat dishes on their regular menu. The dessert standout was their tiramisu that is made with their house coffee - so yum! The service during the event was great. It was a large crowd and only a few servers but they did such a great job making sure everyone felt taken care of. The event itself was appropriately noisy and we got a little treat at the end where an opera singer did a one song performance for us. I would love to come back here for another fundraising event! read more

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