Got a Groupon for a 3 course meal + wine for 2 and it was such a great deal! The food itself was pretty solid. We got the veggie platter and a beef plate. I'd give this place a 4, if it wasn't for the really poor service. It was definitely not the servers fault, the they had one person running the entire restaurant at 7pm on a weeknight. She also didn't seem very experienced (took 15 minutes to get our check and had to keep reminding her). It's not the fanciest restaurant, it has homey vibes and is a little run down. I'd probably come here again. Prices were super reasonable even without the Groupon. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

My family and I come here often. The back patio is newly remodeled and awesome with a tiny putting area for my kids and heat lamps, lights, and music for the colder nights. Our kids love the meat samboussa. This is a must have! We also love the green bean and carrot with chicken and shrimp. The seasoning is amazing and the food is consistently good. The service is on the slower side but they're all amazingly friendly and the food is worth it! read more

Two words: satisfying and delicious! We ordered the Nenee'wee (veggie combo of your choice) and Yebeg Alicha (braised lamb, comes with split peas), for delivery via DoorDash. Our favorites from the Nenee'wee were the mushrooms and carrots. The Yebeg Alicha was toothsome, although not as tender as I'd expect from a braised dish. The injera was soft, thick, and tart, forming a flavorful structural foundation to create the perfect bite. Two dishes is about right for two people, with a little leftover for later. Other Yelpers reported that Ethiopia Restaurant is remodeling and has a nice outdoor dining space. I can't wait to dine in-person once this whole pandemic thing calms down! read more

Great ambiance, the outdoor seating is phenomenal. Great pricing. A wonderful place to go when you want to eat out at a healthy restaurant for dinner but don't have an abundance of cash. Our server was very kind and welcoming, she did a great job walking us through all the dishes and bringing us everything we asked for. read more

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I've never met a vegetarian combo plate I didn't like, and this one held up- despite its location being adjacent to an unfortunate car towing circa 2020. (A mediocre tinder date which started with an afternoon viewing of the least sexy movie known to man, The Lighthouse, turned bad when I walked up to where I thought my car would be on Ashby and it was simply gone). The vegetarian combo has all the usual suspects: red and yellow lentils, stewed cabbage and potatoes, some sort of collared green (?) and lots of injera, but they also add a stewed carrot mixture that I've never had before. Scarfing this down in a state of pure hunger, I started to feel the acid reflux reaction I get only from eating well season meals. I would definitely recommend stopping by for a quick lunch, and I would definitely NOT recommend Berkeley Parking Enforcement. read more

This is my go-to after a long day in Berkeley. Injera w/red lentils, mushroom stew and fava beans (my personal favorite). I have been coming here for 10 years and this is one of my favorite small business to support. I have happy tears when I look and have the vegetable platter. The decor is ok - though they are doing renovations and have a decent, clean, covered area to sit at the back of the restaurant. The service is slow - though waiters are really nice and polite. I highly recommend this place. I have eaten at so many Ethiopian restaurants and this is by far the best - pricewise and tastewise. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Injera bread with red lentils, mushroom stew and fava beans - vegetable platter - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

Great food value and service. Love the back patio with heaters. Delish! Love this place!

By far the best Ethiopian food and service in Berkeley. If you're looking for authentic Ethiopian food, look no further! I always order the vegetarian combo and meat combo. Very family oriented. Nice renovated patio for outdoor dining. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Meat combination/Vegetarian Combination - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

Excellent food; probably the best Ethiopian food we've had. Good service. Enjoyed eating on the back patio - pleasant ambiance. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - 10. Samboussa - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

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First experience eating Ethiopian, Excellent kind and helpful service and a good fresh tasty blend of both spicy and mild, a very nice birthday dinner for my son and I, the desserts were very good as well. We will definitely come here again when in the area. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Combination Plate - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

The vegetarian dishes are so good, I like the 5-item combo. The gluten free injera is great too!

I used to love this restaurant - it was actually the first Ethiopian food I had ever tried! However, we came here today (probably the 6-8th time eating here over a few years) and used a Groupon for 2 people. It was absurd how differently we were treated than the other patrons in the restaurant - our food took 50 minutes to arrive, and was lukewarm! They didn't bring injera, and when prompted they brought stale injera that tasted old. I thought maybe it was an off day - but then a table of four that arrived after us ordered and received their food within five minutes (maybe less!). They ordered the same type of food as us, so it was not based on what we ordered. Their injera looked very fresh, and arrived with the meal. So crazy! I do not trust this restaurant and will not be returning. They have lost a repeat customer! read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Stale injera for Groupon customers - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

My FAVORITE RESTAURANT in the WORLD!!! You will not only LOVE the food here, you will be amazed with the staff and ambiance. I have been a customer for many years. I promise you will not be disappointed read more

TL;DR seems to be authentic Ethiopian food maybe I shared the veggie + meat dish with a friend. These two dishes came on a big plate over a large piece of injera, basically "bread". You also get a basket of injera to pick up the food. The portions are huge, I'm sure we could've shared one dish and still be so full. The yellow bean like things and the chicken were my favorite part of the meal. A friend told me that Ethiopian food is an acquired taste, and I really agree. Most of the dishes had a slight sour taste. Everything was great until I found a piece of hair in the sweet potatoes. It's always a damper when you find hair in your food. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Veggie + meat plate - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

I haven't had such an amazing Ethiopian meal in such a long time and Ethiopia Restaurant did not disappoint! Everything was great. The price, service & taste were all perfect! We will be back! A+ read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Veggie & meat combination. - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

The food was delicious. Lovely patio. We will be back!! We did send back a wrong order but they were kind about it. Try them out!

I love this place. My moms been taking me here since I was super young. Now I have my child and have taken her here too. The waitress made us feel right at home!! Which is sometimes hard when you have a little one who wants to check things out! Lol It's kinda set the tone for all Ethiopian food for me. Tons of flavor, great atmosphere, friendly service, good neighborhood. It's getting a modern take too! We ordered, sorry I'm not good with the Ethiopian names, red lentils, yellow lentils, salad, lentil triangle appetizers with red sauce, carrots and string beans, mushroom stew, cabbage and potatoes, greens, and coffee and apple juice for the tot. Great prices, tasty food, good for groups. Only downside is parking sometimes, which can be helped by parking a bit farther. And there's no baby changing table...yet! Hope this helps! I'll post food next time. We ate it all rather quickly. read more

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Very very good. We are here for the Tash Sultana concert and saw a groupon and figured we would check it out. So glad we did! We will definitely be back groupon or not. Very good food, good wine, ambiance is nice read more

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My wife and I had dinner here and the food was amazing! We've been to several other Ethiopian restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland, and the food from Ethiopia Restaurant undoubtedly belongs with the best. Unlike other restaurants this restaurant allows customers to make their own veggie combo by selecting 5 out of 12 vegetarian options. The portions were decently sized and we shared one combo between the two us. It seems that they run a minimalist setup, with one person taking orders and serving food, while the other runs the kitchen. As such, you can enjoy their beautiful outdoor patio while greatness is being cooked. read more

Gorgeous outdoor seating and amazing food. Super cheap too and really kind service. Super underrated spot. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Gorgeous outdoor covered seating and amazing food! - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

Food is 5. Small restaurant run with tender loving care. Go between five and 530 if do you want almost normal service. Anytime after... You got a wait for that good food. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

Flavorful, fresh, and satisfying, this place has it all and is a nice place to come for lunch and dinner. One of the best Ethiopian places we've been to in Berkeley! [The Restaurant] Around 6pm we went for dinner at this quaint restaurant on the street of Telegraph. It's a hidden gem with a beautiful ambiance. Perfect for a date (since the interior is slightly dim). The interior decor is stunning up to the beautiful art pieces on the wall to the design of the placemats for the table. [The Service] We went on a weekday, so it wasn't too busy. There was only one waitress but she was on top of it. Very kind and gave us nice recommendations. [The Food] OMG the food was soooo good! The prices were on the bit higher side for your average college kid getting a meal, but pretty reasonable for your average college kid out on a dinner date. Injera: to start off the meal, she brought us some warm injera (Ethiopian sourdough flatbread) made of teff and it was soooo good. For our meal (which I shared with one other person) Filsseta set-{11.95}: teematem fitfit (fresh tomatoes, onions, and green pepper), kinchi (bulgar), ye'dinch genffo (potato porridge)- this is served cold, yemissir we't (red lentils), atkilt (string beans and carrots)- our favorite! Overall this set was delicious and we definitely recommend getting one of their vegetarian sets to try a variety. Meat combo {13.50}: doro we't (Ethiopian spicy chicken stew), t'ibs we't (beef fricasse stew), yebeg alicha (lamb stew) The meat dishes were cooked to perfection, however the flavors were not as diverse as the vegetarian platter. The beef and the lamb especially tasted similar to us. On the side we also asked for their homemade cottage cheese which perfectly complements the meal (and its free on the side!) read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Injera, Filsseta, and meat combo in the center - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Good place to eat, sit outside under the cover, has heaters for the winter , seats are basic hard metal bistro style . Ok selection of beers, fir fir and tibs (#17,18)are our usual go to. The price great for the amount of food. We got the combo and one extra entrée no drinks got out of there just under $50 before tip fed three of us perfectly. read more

Delicious food, good prices, beautiful restaurant.

If you are looking for delicious food and amazing service, Ethiopia Restaurant is a must. I highly recommend the Yedoro Tibs or veggie combination plate. You can't go wrong! I will be coming back soon. 10/10. read more

Delicious! We stopped here tonight for some healthy Ethiopian food and we were not disappointed. Friendly service, nice environment. It was the best value we have had eating out for quite some time. We got #1 and selected the first five delicious warm vegetarian options to comfort us on this chilly evening. We will be back! read more

There is a back outside area to eat your food. It's pretty spacious, and the server was wonderful. Unfortunately, the next day my 3 friends and I got food poisoning from the food here. We ordered the vegetarian combo, the meat combo and the shrimp dish. This was the only food we ate last night and the entire day today we've been home sick. It's an unfortunate experience and we won't be coming back. read more

Sucks to see them so slow! Hopefully things can pick up soon. This was my first time having Ethiopian food, and I was not disappointed!! Everything was DELICIOUS! Please come try them out. Had the honey wine, samboussa, and I had the Yadoro. Everything was amazing. Just one girl being host and server. She was attentive and nice. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - Yadoro and T'ibs - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

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I haven't been here in at least 10 years and decided to give the place another shot as I was jonesing for some good Ethiopian food. The people were very nice. They don't have a bar so I had water. They need a better filter for their water. I ordered the dorowat, chicken, and the veggie combo. I liked the seasonings and the dorowat sauce was very good. The cabbage and potatoes were also good. However, the chicken tasted very old, like it was leftovers. The lentils, yellow and red, were undercooked and some were hard. The injera bread was fresh, but we wound up throwing away half of the meals. I was very disappointed. I'm not sure about returning. I hope it was just a bad day. read more

This was amazing! I loved the carrots and green beans and the cabbage and potatoes and the chicken dish is so good! I can't wait to come again! read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - 2 vegetarian combo and 19 chicken thing - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Found my favorite Ethiopian spot after trying a whole bunch. The people are consistently friendly there. The food..... amazing. I chose 5 things in my veggie combo. Cabbage and potatoes, collards string beans and carrots (as a kid I couldn't stand string beans, but this dish is nothing like that.) where are and a double helping of the yellow lentils. So flavorful!!! Will be going there from now on.... read more

This is a great restaurant. Wonderful food at affordable prices in a lovely cozy room. The fireplace and upbeat African music immediately set the tone for a festive and delicious meal. The good: big portions for reasonable prices. The affordability was made even greater with a Groupon I got that was $22 for two entrees, two glasses of wine, an appetizer, and a dessert. Crazy value. Unlike some groupons that are restrictive this one just let you pick and of the available options from the menu. With tax and a proper tip it all came out to $40 and my date and I were STUFFED with some leftover. The great: the flavors and textures here are amazing. Some of the most tender lamb I've ever had and beautifully rich deep lentils that tasted like they'd been cooked all day. The beef was a little dry but good and the chicken was moist and flavorful. We ordered the mixed meat platter and the mixed veggie platter and both were stellar. The carrot and green beans dish was a highlight for me. The injera was the best I've had like a moist little sourdough crepe. Surprise of the night was how light and fluffy the Tiramisu was. Awesome cake. The so-so: the service was a bit spotty and the veggie dishes came out room temperature like they had been prepared hours before. It wasn't enough to make me dislike the meal but it kept it from going beyond a 4 star. Although I was prepared with how to order and at Ethiopian food, the man next to me had never had it before and the staff didn't seem to understand how to explain the process to him. They served him spoiled milk with his coffee and he got a generally choppy experience. read more

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I would start by saying that the food is quite good and if this were on food alone I would probably give a better rating but the service is one of the worst. The servers are friendly but they take forever to come to your table. I walked in to the restaurant and no one came to greet me and I basically had to walk up to a server for them to seat me. Once we finally got seated and got our menus we had a few question to ask so we kept waving down the waiters that said they'd be here in a minute. It probably took around 30 mins for them to finally show up and take our order. Once they took our order, the food came up relatively faster. The food was very yummy and I especially enjoyed the lentil that came with the tray. But due to the service I can not recommend/ will not be returning. TLDR; longest wait time and poor service read more

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I bought a Groupon for this restaurant a while back, $20 for $40 worth of food, and needed to use it before it expired. We came on a Sunday which means free unlimited parking, hehehe. The restaurant was surprisingly busy when we went, there were about 4 other tables sitting and waiting to be served. Only one waitress but she did a pretty good job at handling all the tables. The groupon came with an appetizer, entree, 2 drinks, and dessert for two. My friend and I decided on the meat samosas, vegetarian combo entree, and the meat combo entree. We also both decided to get the telba ( honey flaxseed drink ) and the baklava to share for dessert. The vegetarian combo was a great way to try the different types of veggies that they offered including, spinach, a sweet carrot dish, lentil dish, my favorite dish was probably the sweet carrot dish. The meat combo came with a stewed spicy chicken dish, and a spicy beef stew. I didn't enjoy the meat dishes as much as the veggie dishes, it would have been better if they were a bit spicier. The telba was delicious, and I highly recommend this drink to anyone whom has a doubt to get it. It was a bit too sweet for me, but it went so well with the rest of the dishes because none of the dishes were very sweet. Groupon doesnt include tax & tip so we paid about $34 for the meal total! I had alot of leftovers as well, about 8 pieces of injera, and more than half of the entrees left. I want to come again but would probably go with 4 people, even though I was starving I feel like we barely made a dent in the food. read more

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Definitely some good Ethiopian food! I don't have a lot of experience with Ethiopian, but I know what to expect and this place definitely warrants a visit. Word of warning: no utensils here. Eat with your hands and if you can't handle that, don't try Ethiopian food. The waitress is nice, albeit a little slow since she's the only one working a room for about 30 people. It seems like a family run establishment and the food is pretty delicious and the people seem nice enough. We had a groupon so we had number 22 (spicy beef) and number 23 (mild lamb), meat sambussas (samosas/samovas), dessert, and house wine. They cooked the spicy beef with injera bread so we got soaked/marinated injera bread with beef on top of more injera bread. Yum! Injera bread is sour and it took a little getting used to, but it's still delicious. The yellow split peas that came with the food was so good. I love Ethiopian food and I thought the meat was well seasoned, but Ethiopia restaurant served good quality meat! I've been to other Ethiopian restaurants where the meat is also well seasoned but you can also get pieces with bones and/or fat so it cuts down on the meat ratio. The sambussas' meat was well seasoned, but it was a little dry. It needed some sort of sauce inside the actual sambussa to make it stand out more. House wine: The red wines aren't that great. The honey wine which isn't included in the Groupon is too hoppy but still an interesting thing to try. DON'T bother with dessert unless you have a groupon. I don't think it's homemade and the desserts just don't taste that great. The tiramisu was disgusting, a cross between cheesecake and a bad tiramisu. The texture was totally wrong for a tiramisu. The cheesecake was okay, but still not worth it. Overall, just come for delicious Ethiopian entrees! read more

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Truly my favorite Ethiopian!! Lovely family and their veggie combo is my go to!!! I've been going there for 12 years.

Food hella smackin'. Hella healthy too. Real nice folk workin' there too. Me & my wife like to order the veggie plate combos. Food be so good fo' yo' body, gluttony is not even a concept when considering Ethiopian food. In the words of Ice Cube, "I got my grub on but didn't pig out/" read more

My experience here was just alright - nothing really stood out and made a mark in my life, which was just a little disappointing since I was expecting it to be better, seeing as they have a solid 4 star review on yelp. I found this restaurant after obtaining a $50 certificate for discountingdiningdollars.com through kgbdeals. So we came with a 2-for-1 entree voucher that was worth $9. It was a Thursday evening around 5:15pm and it was empty. I imagine it's because of the parking situation - metered until 6pm. The waitress was nice enough - she sat us down, gave us menus and I gave her my coupon. Food took a while to come out even though we were the only ones there and she didn't come back to fill our water glasses after we got our food. We ordered a chicken dish (yedoro t'ibs I think it was) and a beef (banatu). Both pretty good dishes. The chicken came out sizzling and steaming on a cast iron pan and smelled really good. I kind of felt like they skimped a little on the chicken and lettuce, though. And when we got our bill, instead of getting a 2-for-1 deal, they just took off $9 from our total (both dishes were almost $11 each). No big deal, though, and we didn't complain. I think I liked their injera + chicken + lettuce the best. read more

Ethiopia Restaurant - yedoro t'ibs (chicken) and banatu (beef) - Ethiopian Near Me - Berkeley, California

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This place has some flaws but I really love it. My only problem is that the few times I have come in with a moderate group (3-4 people) and we were the only ones there; it takes foreverrrrr to get service and food. Come here with at least an hour to spare/hour and a half. With that, I will still come here all the time. The food is amazing. The veggie combo plate is packed with flavor. My favorite is the carrot/green bean mix. The groupon deal can't be beat. It's $36 for $92 dollars worth of food. You get two appetizers, four entrees, four glasses of wine, and two desserts. I would avoid the meat dishes, they weren't as good as the veg and the meat was dry. The patio outside is beautiful and covered with vines. Great place for a celebration/ special occasion lunch or dinner with plenty of time in between service to catch up with friends read more

If you get the Groupon deal, the service and food is shockingly bad. We waited for 45 minutes before our appetizer came out, without getting any water refills. Then, 10 minutes after that, our lukewarm food came out. We had to ask for the usual basket of injera, which was unlike any injera I've ever had - freezing cold, chewy, and gray. The beef tibs were fine, but didn't come with the usual sauce. Oh, and still no water refill. I'm sure this place is fine if you pay full price, but if you opt for the Groupon, you get what you pay for. read more