During my stay in Cincinnati, I've ended up visiting this restaurant with my friend at least once a week. Why? - their vegan options are more plentiful than most Ethiopian restaurants I've visited - their lunch deal is great. $10 for a combo of 3 dishes I choose, all piled upon injera bread. I like to eat half and save the other half for later. - the dishes are tasty, especially: mesir wot, fasolia, kik alicha, eggplant and carrot wot Unfortunately, they can be inconsistent from day to day. Sometimes my food comes out hot and fresh, and sometimes it is warm or cool. Sometimes we've gone half our meals without water. The service isn't super fast, so I put aside at least an hour for the whole time. Considering all the caveats, I'd usually give a place like this 3 stars, but I am particularly fond of them regardless; I really love the food and crave it every few days. I have always had a nice time here. Everyone who's heard me talk about Cincinnati knows the one thing I said I would miss... is this Ethiopian food. read more

I really wanted to like this place, mainly because I love Indian food and always like to try a new place. There are several reasons why I would consider this place disgusting. 1. On a Sunday afternoon, I was down at UC for a club soccer game. The restaurant was very slow, possibly about 12 customers total. Even though the place wasn't busy, there were no plates available for the buffet. We waited about 5 minutes for plates to appear. The worker brought 7 plates out, 2 of them still had food on them and weren't washed properly. Throughout the meal, we'd see them bring 3-4 plates at a time out when they ran out. It's as if they were waiting for the 12 customers to finish eating, then they would wash those particular plates. WTF is that about? Get enough plates to serve your customers. IKEA has a lot of really cheap/suitable options. 2. Because of the above issue, there were patrons taking used plates up to the buffet. When dishing out food, they would hold the used plate above the food containers. This is very unsanitary and the reason buffets ask you to use a clean plate each time. Customers doing this isn't an action that the restaurant can control, but it was caused because they weren't keeping up with the apparent shortage of dinnerware on a slow Sunday afternoon (again, 12 customers). 3. The buffet food was... meh. The spices are dumbed down/Americanized, so really not a good example of Indian food. The cabbage dish was overcooked and mushy. The naan was undercooked and doughy. The Basmati rice was overcooked and sticky. The Tandoori chicken was flavorless, as was the chicken in every dish there. 4. The restrooms were gross. Even a little bit of cleaning would take the piss smell out of the air. Bottom Line: The food is edible, but so is dog food. I have no idea how this place rates so high. read more

My friends and I went here for the lunch buffet. As far as quality, it is a very good buffet, with lots of vegetarian options. In general (as with any buffet), the food was a bit less fresh than when it is made to order, but overall we enjoyed all the options that we got to try from the Ethiopian and Indian menu. You can get $1.50 off the buffet with the coupons in the coupon books in the blue kiosks around Clifton. I have also recently visited with my family on a Friday night-the wait was minimal (we called ahead and were seated within five minutes of arriving) and we were able to feed a hungry family of five for a relatively low cost. Had we gotten there 15 minutes earlier during happy hour, we could have gotten our bottle of wine for half off, something we will definitely do when we return. read more

Literally, could not stop eating. First, thank you for the 1/2 priced bottle of wine between 3p-7p. Second, thank you for the splendid menu choices. We went with the lamb jalfrezi curry and the meat lover Ethiopian plate. We're curry lovers through and through and this place definitely did not disappoint! Can't say we've experienced too much Ethiopian food except for the one time in Brooklyn at a food festival. I don't even know what those spongey wrappy things are called but it was NUMMY. I can feel my belly hurting and my brain telling me to stop eating, but my hands wouldn't stop bringing the food into my mouth. Third, thank you for the amazing service. The manager was an absolute delight; very professional and bubbly in the most pleasant way. Attentive to ensure the waters were consistently being refilled, as I was guzzling H2O to alleviate the spicey hot burn! (Oh, I love the burn.) We shall return! read more

1/2 price bottles of wine everyday 3-7 and their food is amazing !!! Strongly recommend the lamb korma :-) read more

Elephant Walk - Ethiopian Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

See all

Probably the best Ethiopian food I've ever eaten!! The prices are totally reasonable, the restaurant is clean, the service is friendly and responsive, and the location is great. I look forward to eating here every time I'm in Cincy. They have an $8.99 lunch buffet from 11-2:30 and subsequent happy hour 7 days a week! I also really loved their veggie combo plate, which was enough food to feed two people for a very reasonable price. Highly recommend!! read more

Elephant Walk - Veggie combo, $11! Perhaps the BEST Ethiopian food I've eaten! - Ethiopian Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

This is some of the best Ethiopian food I have ever had! And bonus for us - the injera is always gluten free. The vegan veggie combo platter for two was more than enough, not to mention delicious. We like it REALLY spicy, so we asked for 6 on the scale of 6 and found it a little less than we had hoped for. When we talked to our waitress about it she brought back diced fresh green chiles to add to it! Amazing! Service was friendly and we even had a chance to talk to one of the owners whose recipes are used for the Ethiopian dishes. She was super sweet and when we told her that the only thing missing was Shiro Wot (since it wasn't on the menu) she explained how unpopular it was that they took it off. She also said that they will make it any time someone requests it fresh to order. Then she went back and made some just for us! It was just as delicious as any restaurant we've been to on the east or west coast. Maybe even a little better because she made us feel so welcomed. We thanked her after the meal for her conversation and delicious food! We'll definitely be back again while we're visiting Cincy. I wish we would have found it sooner! read more

This place is truly amazing. I've never had a bad dish here and the service is impeccable. Would recommend to anyone trying to expand their horizons or just get an amazing meal packed with flavors! read more

Staff was wonderful. Friendly. Prompt. Helpful without hovering. Food was excellent. Generous but not excessive. Full of familiar, comforting flavor. read more

Food was flavorful, portions were right, staff was attentive, but with so many other Indian choices around you need to excel. In today's case, things were just okay. Server told kitchen spicy 4 food for my wife when she ordered #1. Seems like no big deal, but scale is 1 to 6, not 1 to 10, so 4 was too much for her. I had curried goat vindaloo. The flavor and level of spice were good, but the number of bones and amount of inedible gristle was discouraging. I am not an expert in central Asian cuisine, but my previous experiences with goat provided tender fall off the bone meat, not this time. Perhaps next time I will stick with chicken. Mulagwatawny Soup (sorry about the awful spelling) was good, but so close to boiling I couldn't eat it. I guess it will be lunch later in the week. I would have given 4 stars had they offered more than the server's apologies for the mess up with my wife's food and the lack of meat in my vindaloo. I am not looking for a free meal, or even a discount, but a manager visit would have helped. We'll give it another chance, just not sure when. read more

I decided to try this place out after purchasing a Groupon. I've never tried Indian or Ethiopian food before so it was low risk for me this way. I didn't know what to expect but I did read some of the recent reviews citing food quality issues and slow service. When I got in, I was promptly seated and given my drink. I also was able to order my appetizer and entree. But at that point, that is where the service started to quickly fall apart. My entree felt like not everything was cooked, especially my side of sautéed mushrooms. My waitress also didn't check on us and seemed to completely ignore our table. After being done with our entrees, it took forever to place an order for dessert and to get our check/boxes. It was almost 2 hours to get through dinner. Overall I think Elephant Walk would've left a much better impression if the service was quicker. At that snail pace we were served, I'm not sure if I'll be coming back for dinner. I may try the lunch buffet and give an additional review. read more

I'm so surprised with some of the low score reviews on here! I come to Elephant Walk pretty frequently for dine in and I order off the menu. The food is always fresh and flavorful and the service is consistently attentive. I've had both Indian and Ethiopian dishes here and they are all delicious. I do enjoy spicy food and usually get a level 4. This place is the only place nearby for Ethiopian food so if you like to try new ethnic dishes, you definitely have to come here and try it for yourself. read more

Our favorite discovery on the menu thus far is the Ayib Begomen from the Ethiopian appetizer menu. It's cooked colllard greens and cheese curds with accents of red pepper wrapped in injera that's been fried in purified butter. A satisfying mix of sour, spicy, buttery, crunchy veggie gummy yumminess. read more

This is my family's favorite restaurant! The food is excellent and the service is exceptional. I have hosted friends and family from out of town there and never a complaint. So happy Im able to dine inside again! read more

This place was a pleasant surprise. I love Ethiopian food and am so glad there is another option in Cincinnati! Their menu is really big and there are a lot of vegetarian options as well. Only suggestion would be a better beer list. But the food was awesome! read more

This week I have been on the 'restaurants I am going to miss when I am gone from Cincinnati' tour and this is where it started. I went here straight from the airport on Sunday to get a takeout order of their amazing offerings. I always call ahead and that was the case this time too and they were very friendly and helpful on the phone, as always. I first went to Elephant Walk during the days when we had finally learned to disregard the 'Cincinnati has no good food' comments we got when friends and colleagues learned that we were going here. We went to another Ethiopian restaurant in the Cincinnati area and did not have the greatest experience and were looking for another place for redemption served on injera. Someone spotted this place on Yelp (This was before I had joined Yelp) and off we went. We had a great first experience - the food was amazing, the staff was friendly and helpful and there was plenty of seating for our large group even though we hadn't called ahead. It won't be much of an exaggeration to say that we fell in love. Through the countless servings of Yebeg Wot, Key Wot, Doro Wot, Sega Sambussa, Yebeg Wot Fitfit and Tibs we told ourselves that we had come to the right place. And their injera - tasty, soft, fluffy injera - was the bed rock of our relationship. I am writing this while on a flight, going away from Cincinnati and I know that I am going to miss Elephant Walk. read more

Service was very, very slow. Many staff, very few patrons, but still took what felt like an eternity to get food. :( Ordered the veggie [combo #3] for dinner from the Ethiopian side of the menu. Having eaten at Emanu many times (always loved it!), I was excited to try the food here, but have to admit ... I was quite disappointed. Spices and flavors were not nearly as balanced or succulent as I remember enjoying at Emanu. Would be interested to try the lunch buffet, but other than that, I will probably not be back. read more

I had not experienced Ethiopian food previously- it is delicious! I met several friends for a night out and we all shared a taste of our order, with everything tasting fantastic. There was not a single thing that I would not order for myself, with excellent vegetarian options and juices. Pricing was also very reasonable, most dishes between $8-10. We had called ahead and the restaurant had us set up upon arrival. The service was excellent. The manager was very personable and fun, especially for a larger group of ladies. We also had the pleasure of meeting BOTH owners and learning all types of information about the food, preparation, and the way the Elephant Walk was opened. An amazing night out with friends! We MUST go back...I know I plan to take my family there next time we are in the area! read more

I'll give 4 stars, but it's really closer to 3.5. The food is pretty good and I really like that you can order both types they offer (Ethiopian and Indian). The service is pretty slow though, our server was really nice it just took a while to actually get anything. I might've waited like 15-20 mins for one bar drink. Didn't really encourage me to get another... especially since there were like two other tables in the restaurant, it was a slow night overall I suppose. The spice level was pretty low too, I ordered two dishes at level 6 and they tasted more like level 1. You do get a lot of food, so that's a plus. But my food was kind of just warm when it got to me... Not a necessarily "bad" experience, but it wasn't memorable either. read more

Not sure how this place has such a high rating. Ordered the lamb and vegetarian platters and was extremely disappointed. Honestly couldn't even tell what the meat was it was so rubbery and flavorless. Will not eat here again read more

So I've seen this on Yelp before, and recently saw a Groupon for them. I figured, what the heck, what better opportunity to give them a shot. Food: So Elephant Walk has both Indian and Ethiopian food. I've slowly made my way through the Indian restaurants around Cincinnati, and been disappointed overall. Based on the reviews, I was pretty excited to try Elephant Walk out. We tried the lunch buffet, and were really disappointed. It's small, with limited options, and I didn't think the food was very good. About 3/4 of the food is Indian, with samosas, pakoras, white rice, veggie rice, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, and some pseudo chicken wings. Honestly, the only thing I thought was remotely good was the saag paneer and the chicken wings. Everything else, while very fresh, was bland. And I'm not a spicy eater, I typically do 2/5 on the spice scales. Now, the Ethiopian food--I've only had Ethiopian once before a few years ago in Pittsburgh, and really, really enjoyed it. Elephant Walk had 3 vegetable dishes and injera on the Ethiopian side, and honestly, I was super disappointed with all of them. Maybe I just got lucky when I last had Ethiopian, but I was all but licking my plate last time. Perhaps I need to order off the menu, versus the lunch buffet, but I expected some better options on the buffet. I will stick to the buffets at Swad and Chaska. Service: We arrived around noon on a Saturday to a nearly empty restaurant. We were immediately greeted and seated. Our drinks came out quickly, and the server kept our glasses full, and our table cleared. There was an issue with how the Groupon was applied, but the server took care of it after I brought it up and explain it to him. Facility: Located on McMillan, there is both metered street parking available, and a parking garage a few feet away. The restaurant is clean and well kept. There is lots of seating, and its very open; you won't be stacked on top of other diners. There's a full bar near the front. read more

A for creativity and style of the restaurant but there were not very many options for the lunch menu, although I found some good options.

This place has an amazing lunch buffet. They serve both Indian and Ethiopian items and it tastes great! It has some of the best Indian food in town. It is also very nice/clean inside, something which a lot of Indian food places in Cincinnati aren't. The service was very good as well. read more

Ended up here after an abysmal experience at Emanu (see 1-star review) hoping to find another go-to for Ethiopian. Nope, just nope. Here goes: The good: - Both beef and veggie samosas were good. The beef were better. - Waitress left a pitcher of water on the table, at Husband's request - Waitress and manager were very friendly - They have a really nice hand washing station set up outside the restrooms. Nice to see in a restaurant that serves cuisine typically eaten by hand. - Naan was delicious The bad: - Although friendly, waitress was not exactly efficient. And I'm being nice. - Mango lassi's were so sour that the kids could not drink them. Based on the service we were getting we all just decided it wasn't worth it to mention it. - I ordered a mango & avocado juice. When it finally arrived, it was really a mango juice with just enough avocado to make it a yucky color without being able to taste it. - Ordered portobello tibs as an appetizer. Appetizer (and entrees) were a whole lot of onions and peppers and not a lot of the main ingredient. The ugly (aka why we won't be back): - 45 minutes from the time that they took our dinner order, they brought all of the dinners we ordered except 1. Ben and I ordered the same thing with two different spice levels and they put the plate in front of me. I sure hope it was the spice level he ordered, because if not we have a whole different problem, but I just took a couple of bites and handed it to him. After the waitress dropped off everyone else's food and left me wondering with no dinner, the manager came to our table to announce that they were out of the food to make my dinner and did I want them to make me something else. Umm, maybe if you had asked me BEFORE everyone else was sitting there with their food. So I had no dinner. - As bad as that seems, brace yourself because it gets worse...Allison ordered lamb stew but was served goat. When she asked them about it, they denied it and insisted it was lamb!! If you're a person who is a fan of both lamb and goat, I can assure you that you know the difference because they taste nothing alike!! It's a good thing she likes goat, but there was so little goat floating around in the mysterious gelatinous "stew" maybe it didn't matter. After being there for over 2 hours and dropping over $100 for me to not eat and Allison to be served a different protein than she ordered we finally escaped, never to return. read more

I am always satisfied when I go to Elephant Walk. The buffet is fantastic, and the service is generally very good. The owner is so personable and professional. Very respected business and restaurant in my opinion. read more

Pretty standard issues for a near campus restaurant: a steady stream of walk in customers means there's no need to ensure quality of service. Takeout orders are frequently missing items altogether or somehow forgotten about once I arrive to pick them up. The food is pretty good, so it sucks I have to drive to the other Ethiopian restaurant in town now just to make sure I'll end up with the food I want. read more

This is my third time coming and it's still the best stuff I've had in a while right up next to Ambar India! The service is prompt they are always sure to fill my glass and the staff are above all the most kind I have ever had the liberty to deal with. The music and atmosphere of the restaurant is amazing and definitely gets you in the mood, the music is even authentic! The food is beyond what I expected. The Ethiopian menu and the Indian menu both have my favorites and I am just beyond happy with everything. They make it so worthwhile I never leave with food on my plate I get so close to licking any stray rice pieces.... read more

You must absolutely try Elephant Walk! Our food was delicious, spice level was on target, service friendly, and our waiter gave us great recommendations. Our first time here will definitely not be our last! The best naan bread we've ever had - hands down! I can't wait to come back and try another dish on my tasty tour of African cuisine. read more

Elephant Walk - Veggie combo #3. This is supposed to serve 1 person, but it's a LOT of food. Delicious cabbage, collard greens, etc. - Ethiopian Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

It's very easy to find yourself lost in the seemingly endless menu but if you can get past that its a great place to grab a bite. There are options for all palate's, with a very wide range of flavors. Hope you can make this your new go-to just like I did. read more

Horrible phone manners, didnt have injera and waited til 10mins into ordering to inform me. Drove 3 hrs to have to cancel my order.

AMAZING. I ordered the ginger curry and it was absolutely fantastic. The garlic naan was great and so was the mango juice. I ordered through Uber Eats and the restaurant wrapped everything up nice and tight so nothing was spilled and the food stayed warm. Highly recommend if you want want great food! read more

My favorite Northern Indian restaurant in town. The food is always fresh and the flavors are exquisite! My go-to is the bharta + Kashmiri naan. read more

Injera is really good. The staff are welcoming and helpful. Vegan stuff is very good. Definitely needs more visits to write more about it, but for now, completely good and worth going. I tried Ethiopian cuisine for the first time and really loved it. read more

Elephant Walk - The bars looks really good too - Ethiopian Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

I ordered their saag paneer with mild spice and it was delivered to me by grubhub. I can handle a moderate amount of heat in my food but my food was so spicy that it was hard for me to eat and it was supposed to be just mild. Maybe this is just the way their food is but what upset me the most is when I called the restaurant to let them know this was happening and maybe they could have a solution for the future, the man on the phone just became agitated and asked me what do you want from us? I won't be eating this food again. read more

I really enjoyed this place and it's close to my home on campus! I got the naan and chicken curry and can I say this is always a good combo?? read more

First the good stuff: the sambusa - get it! It's made with lentils and it is delicious. The beef and lamb ribs I ordered however, the flavor was just off. I try to eat a lot of Eritrean and Ethiopian food and these dishes weren't East African. I was looking forward to enjoying this delicious meal and ended up not eating the beef or the lamb. I hate wasting food and money but it just wasn't at all what I expected. My advic read more

It was the worst experience i ever had. Ordered chicken biryani and got lamb mixed with shrimp which i do not eat. Later when they replaced it, it was not hot. After the dinner i ordered indian desert which should be warm but it was very cold like they just took out of the refrigerator and gave it to me. Wish i could rate them in minus scores. Worst. read more

My only complaint is I wish there was another location (Fairfield? West Chester? Liberty?) because I love it so much! It's so convenient to do delivery, pick up, or sit in the restaurant. The Ethiopian food is DELISH!!! read more

Finally, after spending months walking this place. I finally went inside to get some takeout. And what a surprise when I got inside. The restaurant was almost full inside. On the television they had various sports game playing. But when I got home. I was even more surprise the food it was excellent! One of the foods I'd recommend would be the Kashmir Nana with the ginger curry. read more

Too many items on a menu is a sign of negativity. It's known by many famous chefs around the globe. This was an overhyped place I was too excited for. The meat in the Naan nachos was very chewy and nachos were big and filling enough to feed four people. The beef Azwara was pretty ok but also meat was too chewy... but more decent. The lamb jalfrezi was way too acidic and lemony so it killed the flavor of the meat and veggies in the curry dish. The naan was alright but we took one bite of the jalfrezi and already wanted to ask for something else but the waiter didn't check close enough if we were okay because when we asked if kitchen closed he said he's and I wanted to be like please can we change this or have it taken away... we spent so much money and it all went to waste honestly... I know these flavors well because my husband and I were of middle eastern Pakistani and Indian descent and we could've prepared better dishes ourselves so I was upset at the ratings being not accurate in my opinion... Awaze Tibs read more