I was in the neighborhood when I was feeling hungry, and I began searching for an Ethiopian restaurant as there are more of them closer you get to Seattle. I found this place which was a five minute walk from the coffee shop. I was at and it was advertised as an air tree and restaurant. I knew Eritrea was part of Ethiopia in the past, but I did not think the food would be different. I took a look at the menu, the food was pretty much the same if I'm not mistaken with maybe a few differences, which I could not recall. Service was a little bit slow, bI was there in the late afternoon on a Tuesday and there was not anyone else there. It was hot in the restaurant. Quickly decided what I wanted to eat, but I ended up waiting a while for my order to be taken. If it wasn't for the person who called on the phone, we may have waited another five minutes. Prices are pretty typical , maybe slightly less than I thought. I tried ordering the special kitfo, but they were out. Ordered the awaze tibs ($20) which was not bad. I think the food here is not the best Ethiopian food I have had, but it is not bad either. Definitely give it a try. read more

Delicious food! Came on a Sunday around 11:15am. We easily found parking on the street. This spot is really cute with indoor seating. Service was friendly! We got the vegetarian platter for 2 and it was very filling! All of the dishes were flavorful and very tasty and the injera bread was really tasty! Prices are reasonable! read more

Kezira Cafe - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Another Columbia City gem. All your basic Ethiopian favorites and interesting drinks. I had the Shakina, which is fresh ginger with whiskey. There are a lot of drinks and combinations you'll only find in an African-style restaurant. Do yourself a favor and experiment. I had the vegetarian combo for one. Cabbage/carrots, lentils, and collard greens. All are nicely seasoned and come with a ridiculous amount of injera. It's a spongy sourdough pancake, and you eat it without utensils. While small and they have limited staff the service was prompt and the food delicious. read more

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Delicious Food. Friendly staff. Quaint atmosphere. What more could you ask for?? Wish I could have gotten in-house roasted coffee beans to take back home with me, but I guess I will just have to come back instead. Loved it! read more

Kezira Cafe - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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The portion sizes seem to be a whole person smaller than before. 3 ppl plate now feeds 2. It took at least 20 min to get the plate & the food seemed under seasoned, which is surprising for an Ethiopian restaurant. I ordered ginger tea and it was either made from a tea bag or dried ginger, not fresh ginger like I thought the menu suggested. The bathroom floor was EXTREMELY slippery & I about bit it twice when I walked into the room. It was like slimy soap from poorly rinsed mopping agent, or grease from the kitchen. I told the server to let her know how dangerous it was & she just sort of smiled at me. Hope nobody else actually falls and busts their head open or falls and sues them for not keeping the floor clean. I didn't like it & wont be back. read more

For Juneteenth this year, we chose Kezira Cafe, a black owned family business serving Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine in the Columbia City part of Seattle. It's a medium sized restaurant with modest furnishings, except the bar. It's a bit rundown here and there, but to me, the food matters more. We chose the Kerzira Combo to share. Kezira Combo, $35.95 - 4 Stars, maybe 3.5 Menu: Veggie combo plus beef, lamb, chicken tibs The veggie combo has 6 portions - lentil, split pea, collard greens, green beans, cabbage, and shiro. Note the term veggie combo is used broadly on the menu, as the official Vegetarian Combo is supposed to have 9 to 14 dishes and a house salad ($18.50). This veggie combo is not "THE" veggie combo...I learned; it's obviously smaller. Too bad, the photos of the vegetarian combo that other Yelpers posted look magnificent. Other Kezira Combo showed more veggie options, mostly 8 types. Mine has only 6. Buyer beware. Then there's the meat combo of beef, lamb, and chicken - the three portions on the inside (see photo). The combo also included 4 half rolls of injera (spongy bread) in the basket in addition to the injera on the bottom. They served this combo in the traditional manner, i.e. without utensils. We made a gallant effort eating it with only the injera. Seasoned and stained fingers later, we asked for a fork to eat the very saucy injera. LOL. It doesn't look like a lot of food, but we didn't finish. The injera is very filling. Overall, the food is yummy and worth the money even though my mental image of the veggie combo was not met. The staff is kind though a bit rough around the edges. I won't be specific to avoid causing him any trouble. He was the only person serving so there's that. Times are tough. read more

Kezira Cafe - Kezira Combo, $35.95 - 4 Stars - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We came here for a late night dinner and the food was delicious! It did come out pretty slow considering we were one of two groups here, but it was worth the wait. We got the combo and added an order of the lamb tibs. The doro wat and beef dishes from the combo platter were my fav. The lamb tibs were ok but not great. I got the mango cranberry drink and my partner got the hibiscus (Kerkede) ginger drink. Both were great accompaniments to the food. I would say the injera is on the sour side, but balanced well with the dishes. read more

Kezira Cafe - Combo platter with added lamb tibs - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I will be tempted to fly across the country again (from Florida) just to eat the Kategna with Kibbeh appetizer -- trust me; it's that good!! Veggie sampler dinner was also flavorful and fresh. Excellent choice for a pre- show dinner before you head to the Royal Room for a show; it's only a block away. read more

My favorite Ethiopian restaurant in Seattle. Great food, including vegetarian options. The people are very nice and welcoming. Good location, too. read more

WOW! I went here with a friend the last week of March. This is by far the BEST Ethiopian food i've experienced. The restaurant is in conjunction with a coffee bar. My friend and I were confused at first but realized they were the same lol. This place has such PRETTY art work and such a nice bar!! Before pandemic times, I saw that this place had live music! The owner of the restaurant was so nice and gracious! The veggie combo platter was amazing!! Everything was very good! My friend had the lamb dish and the meat was tender. Very generous with the injera and making sure we were good with our beverages. We had the Ethiopian coffee (wish i could remember the name) but it's with ginger! What a twist and it's actually good for you - though the two ingredients you wouldn't think belong together -- it really wasn't that bad! read more

Love getting the combination platters to share! We ordered the Vegetarian platter and added an order of beef cubes to it. Everything was flavorful, i personally enjoyed the broiled cabbage and lentils. I know everyone in my party (6) enjoyed different things so there's something for everyone! The service is a bit slow, but the wait staff is super nice. read more

Kezira Cafe - Tea set - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Entree was super delicious but can the place can be a little bit more clean. The waitress was super nice loved her attitude

I work there for few months. She takes back left over food form the customer and reserves them to new clients. We had rats and cockroach problem all the time. She never used Ethiopian coffee instead have us serving regulars coffee from the store. She also never paid her serving staff ...she had us work on tips only. And some days she will keep the tips and would not let us take out tips home. She is an imbursement to the whole community. I am ashamed and disappointed to say I even know her or worked there. read more

I haven't had Ethiopian food in over 10 years and this place did not disappoint! Server was super warm and friendly. Recommended dishes as we were unfamiliar with a few. Leftovers were gray the next day too. Definitely would recommend! read more

Went there for dinner on a Thursday night. Quite an interesting ambience!! Great food and really sweet/helpful staff. Definitely going back!! read more

Great service, great Ethiopian food! The owners are amazing. The vegetarian platter is good, and is big enough for 1 person.

Food is so yummy and delicious also the ginger beer drink that is non alcoholic is so refreshing read more

Kezira Cafe - Ethiopian plate so yummy full of flavor - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Great service, great food and cute spot! One of my new favorite restaurants in Seattle.

I am ludicrously confused how this place has this many stars. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, or got their backup chef or something, because I've had a lot of really good Ethiopian food in a lot of cities, and this was... not. We got the 2-person meat-and-vegetarian combo like we always do, which for $33, is a reasonable price for good Ethiopian food, but this was not that. It was certainly filling, but basically everything was super bland, and that is not something I ever thought I'd say about Ethiopian food. In the meat part of the combo, the beef and lamb were pretty good, but there wasn't very much of either - they were both dwarfed by a chicken dish that was basically just cubes of barely-flavored chicken breast in no sauce. The usual lentil dishes you see in vegetarian combos looked like what you'd expect, but just didn't have much flavor. The only good things I can say about this place are that the service was pretty quick, and they had pretty good tej (though I'm guessing they didn't make the tej in-house, it tasted too mass-produced. Was still enjoyable, though.) read more

We ordered through GrubHub based on Yelp reviews. Had the vegetarian combo. We love Ethiopian food and have had some great meals in Seattle area restaurants. Sadly this was not one of them. Honestly the only distinguishing feature of the different selections was the color, otherwise all of them had the same texture (purée) and flavor (bland and tasteless). Going to assume it was an off night for the restaurant but with delivery service fees, that was a hard $40 plus to lose. read more

I'm kinda disappointed... this is the one time I didn't go to my regular spot because this place is way closer to home and had pretty good reviews. But this doesn't beat the other place at all. The flavors are no where to be found, it's not spicy at all, and where's the one egg in my doro wat. I'm really sad. I ordered the special combo, thinking it would have the spicy doro wat, or flavorful curry chicken.... there was barely any curry flavor there. I ordered it with lentils and collard greens and I think the vege sides were the only good thing in the dish. As for the customer service I'd say it's good, I ordered the food take out so this is solely on the time and efficiency, they lacked both. When I ordered the man told me I had 20mins, so I arrived in 30mins. Still no food, so I waited there for another 20 mins... Would I come back? No.. I will never betray my regular spot again. read more

Omg! The food is so good. I ordered it for delivery: special vegetarian combo and veggie rolls with green lentils. The combo, meant for 3 people, was no match for my pregnancy craving. I managed to save some for my husband though. I love that you get harder to find dishes- like the green beans, green lentils, and the beets (my favorite part)- I should have checked to see if they offered salad, but I was rushing to order before they closed. Generous portions and amazing quality! I will definitely be ordering from here again. If you are on the fence, they have meat options too. I can never order anything other than the veggie combo, because I like a little bit of everything. I'm not even finished eating and I am anticipating my next order! read more

For very long we have been looking for a new Ethiopian restaurant. We found this nice place driving along Rainier Ave. From the moment we were greeted to the moment we left we enjoyed our visit. The waiter was very kind and prompt and even though it was a busy night, the staff worked like a well oiled machine. The ambiance is nice, the place is clean. The food was delicious indeed, the injera bread was nothing but scrumptious, the coffee was so good this place would be worth a visit just for it (their latte was a homerun compared to the crap they make at Starbucks). We do recommend the vegetarian platter, good portion and the different food samples were so good we are thinking about getting seconds. All in all, it looks like we found our new favorite Ethiopian restaurant! read more

Kezira Cafe - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Yummy! Lovely little spot off in the hood where you can get a meal that'll make you feel good! I finally made it in and boy oh boy is it lovely. The vibe, food, service and especially their Ethiopian beer are all amazing! I noted that the beer was resiny and flavorful. Very good. As for the food, spectacular and delivered to the table quickly. I ordered their mixed mat and veggie combo, and IT WAS AMAZING!!! The lamb is so dang tangy and tender. I can't wait to go back... **Don't forget to try their bottled Ethiopian beer!!! read more

I ordered online (Grubhub, I think) for takeout and when I got there, five minutes after the order was shown to be ready, there was no food for me to pick up. I was needing to get to Genessee field to pick up my son from soccer practice and so a bit upset at the failure. They didn't want to lose the order so told me ten minutes and I agreed to stay. Ten turned into fifteen. I was reasonably pleased with the order, meaning that the food was decent. They did ask me about spice and I said no thank you so was a bit surprised to encounter more spice than none and I'd say more than a little. Thankfully it was not too much. The injera was plentiful but the chicken less so. I don't mind being given too much injera because I turn it into every kind of meal imaginable. Parking it a bit of a challenge - I suggest parking on the main road running down that business district and walking a block. I'll go back, but next time will call to ensure they have my order. read more

Here's an update, it's still the best. This is me & my sister's favorite Ethiopian spot to this day. I've tried other places before but everywhere sucks except Kezira Cafe, the prices went up a little high but cmon where else can you get served fresh warm injera with food that's seasoned to perfection?! I will forever love this place and I pray it never goes out of business! read more

Kezira Cafe - Special combo :) Amazing and worth it! - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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This is one of my favorite Ethiopian restaurants. The Gormen is very fresh and the doro wot is delicious. Not too oily either. This is the only local Ethiopian restaurant I come across that serves Adess (green lentils) a la carte. I've only had this food via delivery and since it's far it always arrives lukewarm, and I still love it :) read more

This a super cute little spot that's in my top 5 favorite Seattle Ethiopian restaurants. There's no lot to park in but it's located in a residential area with street parking available to those willing to find it. The interior is dressed up with beautiful Ethiopian decor. It has a larger seating area for bigger groups, which is nice. I came here, for the first time, with family. The man who worked there was extremely friendly and seated us right away. We ordered the vegetarian special. Most of my experiences with vegetarian specials at Ethiopian restaurants have taught me to expect a large portion but this one was enormous! It costs a tiny bit more than a standard vegetarian plate. However, considering the fact that just one order of the special (with a couple extra side orders of injera, obviously, because I'm addicted) fed all 3 of us, I'd say it's a really reasonable price! I have had issues ordering from them, during Covid. It says they're open but they don't answer the phone. Hopefully, Corona time hasn't taken out another one of our local restaurants! Go here, if you can; it's delicious! read more

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Ethiopian food wins the prize for the best cuisine in my world. Too bad there isn't an Olympics for most delicious food because Ethiopia might pick up their 23rd gold medal - this one for best cuisine. The decor here was actually unique and stylish (no 13 Months of Sunshine tourism poster), not to mention colorful. The service was fine. The food really was very, extremely delicious. The problem really was that they literally charge double what most Ethiopian restaurants in the area charge, without the food really being twice as good. So instead of returning here, I will head back to my current favorite Ras Dashen for my next helping of culinary gold read more

This is the worst Ethiopian food I've ever head. It is incredibly bland and the service is poor. Fortunately, there are so many other great Ethiopian joints in the neighborhood. read more

Ethiopian food!!! Incredibly friendly staff with such beaming beautiful smiles. I've only had it a few times anywhere prior to this, and I initially thought the sponge bread was what didn't do it for me. However. After coming here, I can say with confidence that the bread is great and the portions are deceiving.. we ended up having more food than we could finish (there). We shared a couple of the veggie platters and it though it took quite a while to come out (nobody else was there and it was off hours), it came out hot and delicious! Definitely think we'll be coming back to this spot soon. It smells awesome in there, too.. and I don't mean the food. There's a incense in the air that is very comforting. If the entirety of Ethiopia smells as such, then it must be swell place to live. read more

I've been eating Ethiopian food since I was a kid but I had gone a few years without eating and just recently I've been craving it like no other. The great thing is there are a ton of options in this city. I know there are heavily favored spots but I really just wanted a place that was close to me and with a search Kezira ended up being that place. The interior decoration is great. The overall ambiance is very calm. The waitresses have always been pleasant. I've been there twice and had it delivered via DoorDash. Each time I have loved my food. I always stick to the vegetarian platter. The platter is enormous and there are lentils, green beans, collard greens, and cabbage, carrots, and potato is so tasty and fresh and the injera is always on point. The consistency of Kezira is impressive and cherished. My only complaint is I wish the food spicy. I would love a little heat, you know what I mean? I've never had to wait an obscene amount of time for my food but the last time I was there my friend and I got there at about 6:00pm on a Sunday night. There were only maybe three other people there. We ordered, received our food, and noticed the place filled up super quick. There is usually only one waiter so just remember it can get busy. Overall, Kezira is a solid 5 star place. read more

Weekday lunch for four. The space was nice and comfortable. The waitress/manager(?) was sweet and helped us with our order. The injera was soft and not too sour as I've had in the past. We ordered two special combos that provided a balance of meat and vegetables. Everything was served in one giant platter. Super delicious! Had I not already had my coffee, I would have liked to try their ginger coffee. read more

Nice, quiet atmosphere and competent, polite servers. That's basic expectation for any restaurant, though. The food is so good at Kezira, that we'd be tempted to give it 5 stars even without a pleasant dining experience. We had the Special platter and the Kezira platter. Since we were a party of 5 adults, that was just the right amount of food. However, since my girlfriend has been craving Kitfo for a couple years and there's nowhere to get it within 200 miles of home, she insisted and we got that too. She has never been happier about giving into a craving. Kitfo is her favorite dish, so she had super high expectations, and Kezira somehow still managed to exceed them. I was torn between the lamb tibs on the Kezira platter, the chicken legs on the Special platter, and the collard greens for my favorite. Take a large group with you if you can to maximize the number of items you can try and still be able to walk the 5 or 6 blocks back to wherever you parked. There's no parking lot, and nearby spots on the street are as rare to come by here as they are in any sizeable city. Kezira is completely worth a several mile walk in the Seattle rain, though. read more

Found this spot randomly while roaming around Columbia City. And what a gem! It's a good size restaurant, cozy but not too small. Decor was nice as well. There were a few other groups eating here when we arrived at 3pm on a Sunday, so that was a good sign. We ordered the special combo and asa dulet. I've never had a seafood dish at an Ethiopian restaurant, so I was thrilled to try it. And they were both delicious! They also gave a lot of injera to go with it. This was a lot of food for two people, but I was happy to take left overs home for later. Only reason I didn't give full 5 stars is that I've had some other Ethiopian restaurants that were stronger with their spices. But dont let that discourage you! This was still very delicious and tasty! I would definitely eat here again. read more

Kezira Cafe - Special combo with Asa Dulet in the top right - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

This is one of my fam's favorite Ethiopian spots near our house! We always go for the Kezira Combo, which is perfect for 3 of us. It comes with red, yellow & green curry, lamb, beef, chicken, and veggies! If all 4 of us are there we also get the tilapia (not pictured) which is also delicious and super flavorful. We always bring family friends here who've never had Ethiopian, and they love it! Amazing flavors all around and there's always something in the combo that (hopefully) anyone can enjoy :) This place has never been super busy when we've been here but we usually see 1-2 people picking up to-go orders! Overall, 10/10 would recommend to a friend! read more

Kezira Cafe - 7 Kezira Combo! So delicious! - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

One of my fave Ethiopian restaurants. The red and green lentil dishes are particularly delicious. Takeout is quick and easy during the coronavirus pandemic. read more

One of the best Ethiopian foods I ever had! We had the Kezira combo and Sega tibs! Delicious! Service was great ! We then had the ginger tea and coffee! read more

Kezira Cafe - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Thank you for helping me select a delicious high protein meal. I enjoyed the Derek Tips with Amber Ethiopian beer. The staff was friendly. The food arrived quickly, and the restrooms was spotless. I'll be back! read more

Kezira Cafe - Delicious Derek Tibs - Ethiopian Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We've been here a few times, the service is great even when we had a squirmy loud 5 year old with us. They were very accommodating to the kid. The food is always fresh and flavorful, they are less spicy than other Ethiopian places in Seattle but still flavorful. We usually get the vegetable platter with a meat dish on the side. read more