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    Demera Ethiopian Restaurant

    4.2 (1.4k reviews)
    ModerateEthiopian
    Closed • 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

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    DEMERA ETHIOPIAN RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Demera Ethiopian Restaurant

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    Entrance
    Hector M.

    Mara was very elegant inside. The staff was very attentive. And the flavors were pretty good. Only thing is, we ordered only one dish to get a few. It was $70. That's quite expensive for one dish and one appetizer one dessert. This is Chicago. There are many options. Next week we will try another African Cuisine.

    Sung L.

    My first Ethiopian cuisine experience and it was amazing. Highly recommend! Service is friendly and fast. Ambiance is warm and welcoming as well. Free parking on nearby streets.

    Natalie R.

    I've been wanting to try Demera forever and it lived up to the hype! Very delicious and great portions, you could never leave hungry. The service was very quick and the food came out fresh. I will be back!

    Messob for 2
    Kristin J.

    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.

    Sambussa Sampler
    Michael R.

    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.

    Beet salad
    Wayne S.

    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!

    4 person dish.
    R. M.

    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.

    Chicken Sambussa
    Susan W.

    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.

    Demera Massob
    Jill H.

    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!

    Demera Messob for 3
    clarissa c.

    This was my first time trying Ethiopian and it was fantastic. So fun to try so many different things. I have a shellfish allergy and they were very accommodating in subbing the shellfish dish for more beef and they gave us a different type of beef rather than more of the same kind so I really appreciated that. We also had the 3 types of Sambusas for an appetizer and it was so nice to try. They cut them in half which made for easy sharing with my two friends. Lively atmosphere on Friday night. It was perfect for catching up with friends.

    Avery J.

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

    Micah K.

    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!

    Ye-Beg Wot (Full)
    Helen H.

    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.

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

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    Demera Ethiopian Restaurant Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Demera Ethiopian Restaurant

    Is this place dog friendly?

    Probably not. I don't think there is outside seating

    Is this a byob restaurant?

    No, but they have some awesome drinks!

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    Demera at Time Out Market - Doro Wot

    Demera at Time Out Market

    3.8(17 reviews)
    5.7 mi•Fulton Market, West Loop, Near West Side

    Do you like fire in your mouth? If you can handle the heat, Demera serves up Ethiopian food in Time…read moreOut Market which sets it apart. My Demera Messob combo had injera bread roll which is essentially a sourdough crepe. It was great for scooping up the sauce in the ye-beg wot (lamb) and doro wot (spicy chicken). If you've never had Ethiopian food, this is a nice introduction but it's a bit pricey for what you get.

    I think when dining at Timeout Market, a certain set of expectations needs to be in place. Namely,…read morethe food you're getting is probably not going to be the best version of what the restaurant is and the price will definitely be on the higher end. Demera is no exception to that. I've dined at their regular brick and mortar restaurant and also have eaten plenty of Ethiopian restaurants when I used to live in the DC area. For me, the food here is a a little below what you'd get at the regular location, and for $18 for the combo, it definitely feels a bit lacking on quantity. But that's the thing with dining out at Timeout Market. You don't go here expecting to have an amazing meal. Especially when you're in the west loop with so many great spots. You dine here because you're with picky and/or indecisive eaters and you're just trying to hangout and eat some food. There's so many vendors here there's a little something for everyone even if it's not the best version of it. And so for that, I can't really fault Demera since it was still a solid meal. The meat combo was well seasoned (I prefer the chicken over the beef if you were to pick one), the mushroom tibs was fine, I enjoyed what I got.

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    Demera at Time Out Market
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    Gorée Cuisine - Yassa Lamb

    Gorée Cuisine

    4.6(409 reviews)
    11.5 mi•Kenwood
    •$$

    Upon entering the restaurant we were seated at a table that hadn't been wiped down as evident by a…read morecup of water and basket for silverware on the table. Clearly there are cultural differences present right away. No biggie. We were seated right away. We ordered red snapper... Cooked to perfection and fresh and yummy. Lamb dibi the lamb was a bit charred and not super tender but still good. Portions were good for us. I believe that a hungry person or a grown man could easily clean a plate. The juice drinks were good kinda sweet but I don't do sugar at all so I had to water it down. I observed a little kid come in with bread being carried in his bare hands that I hope wasn't for a patron. There is an African shop next door that has nice items...I really liked the mudcloth coats and hoodies. Free street parking. Customer service 4.5 Food 4.25 Bathroom Cleanliness 3.75 Restaurant cleanliness 4.0 Price $$

    There was plenty of seating for our big group. Unfortunately they seemed to be understaffed while…read morewe were there so the waiter didn't take our order for about 30 mins. It was a nice atmosphere and the staff were really kind. The Yassa chicken and shrimp had great flavor, a bit spicy, juicy, and had flavorful rice. The vegetarian maffe was a peanut flavored sauce with potatoes and carrots with a bit of spice as well. If you're looking for more spice, they'll bring a small cup of Senegalese pepper sauce.

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    Gorée Cuisine
    Gorée Cuisine - Dibi Lamb

    Dibi Lamb

    Gorée Cuisine - Hibiscus tea (non-caffeinated), very sweet

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    Hibiscus tea (non-caffeinated), very sweet

    Demera Ethiopian Restaurant - ethiopian - Updated September 2026

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