Best Ethiopian food in Columbus! It's so flavorful and they can reduce spice levels if needed. I love getting their platter that comes with a bunch of veggies and you can choose either beef or lamb. I love their yellow lentils and beef! It's absolutely amazing! The first time I tried this platter I was over the moon. It was a 10/5 tbh and absolutely perfect. I just went there recently and got the lamb which unfortunately was a different experience. It tasted good but was really gummy and I felt like it was not as good as the beef. I would rate this a 3. I'm definitely looking forward to going back! I like that the majority of tables are family style, they offer coffee service and I've always felt the staff to be very friendly and accommodating. When you first enter there's like a bar and dance area but if you keep walking to the right then it turns into a restaurant with tables. I really enjoy this place and can't wait to show other friends and family! read more

The menu keeps changing in a negative way. No longer has Sambusa for an appetizer which is unfortunate. I have been here twice since I moved out of Columbus 4 years ago and I think new ownership has taken over. Service keeps getting slower. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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Tibs, tibs, and more tibs! After decades in DC where Ethiopian food was ubiquitous, it is much harder to get it the rural Midwest. But I make a point of adding Lalibela to my work trips to Columbus or when I have to go to John Glenn Airport just a few miles down Hamilton Road. I don't go crazy - just try different dry tibs, kitfo, and a veggies sampler. Tons of food, good and plentiful injera. read more

this is the exact type of place I expect to get amazing Ethiopian food and Lalibela never disappoints! not your typical "restaurant" as there's a little dance floor bar area when you first enter, but as you progress through the space there is plenty of restaurant sitting - feel free to seat yourself wherever! we ordered to-go so we took our seat at the bar, placed our order with the nice young lady, which let us know our food would be about 10/15 mins. portion sizes are definitely worth the price which isn't too expensive (we got the vegetarian combo). I'll snap some pictures next time ha read more

Small shopping plaza, next to Santiago Supermarket, tattoo parlor too. I hear a pool table by the front and ba Ordered 1 #35 to start, so we could get one round of the veggies with the chicken tebs, spicy. Ordered a second round #35. $42.98. Their only veggies here: cabbage, collard greens, red lentil, ground chick peas and salad. Not a lot of veggie options here. All of the veggies except for the collard greens are spicy, all good. The chicken is a tad dry, but super flavorful. The collard greens are ok, as was the salad. These two weren't my favorite. The cabbage, red lentil, yellow lentil, chick peas are all good. Some parts of the yellow lentil is a bad hard and clumpy. The injera here has a nice bite and tartness to the dough. Food is good, service too. read more

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Another visit to Lalibela and just as good as before! Great and friendly service, excellent food and flavors, nice smell of the coffee being roasted in the back, and very reasonable prices. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Beef tibs and vegetarian combo - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

I'm always a fan of Ethiopian food and Lalibela is a great restaurant on the East side of town. Its a quiet, casual restaurant tucked away in a strip mall. There's a large bar/dance? area that you walk through to get to the seated dining space. Our waitress was nice and patient as we tried to make decisions for food and drink. We got the vegetarian platter along with a lamb and beef tib of sorts. I also got some honey cider to go along with my meal. The food was excellent and so filling. There's just always so many flavors and ways to combine the various dishes along with the wonderfully spongey, soury injera. The honey cider was also great, strong honey flavor, sweet, and went great with my meal. Definitely a must go for Ethiopian food or for anyone wanting to try something outside of common American fare. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Veggie combo, derek tibs, Lamb Dices - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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My first time trying traditional Ethiopian and I'm excited to try other places in our city. The food was flavorful and everyone was very welcoming. They did not assume we weren't sure how to enjoy the food. It were happy to answer questions when we had them. Between the beef and the lamb, I found the lamb to be more soft and tender. I enjoyed the injera when it soaked in the flavor from the tebs. The fish was very crunchy and I enjoyed the spicy dipping sauce it was served with. read more

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This place is absolutely amazing. Our server was so kind and gave us recommendations. Please please please try this place out. so incredible and such kind people. read more

The food was absolutely delicious and large portions for low prices! I'd come again if I'm in the area. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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Whenever I want some delicious rice and lamb with extra sauce and spice this is the place I go to. I've been going here for 3 years and it never fails. I really enjoy the Italian bread and the salad. I really enjoy the music. It makes me feel at home. The customer service is great. As soon as I walk in the dore there is a person waiting to take my order and the food does not take long to get to me. Beautiful people, beautiful culture and amazing flavorful food. read more

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Ethiopian restaurant that uses halal meats, but serves alcohol - take it for what it's worth. Veggie combination plate - this plate literally has a little bit of everything. Unfortunately, there are no substitutions. I wanted to try the Shiro so we ordered the Shiro plate. These plates are massive. It's challenging to finish an entire plate solo. The presentation is ON POINT! Some people like their injera soggy by mixing everything together. The additional injera (on the side) is GLORIOUS! my injera was nice and firm with every single bite. Would 100% revisit. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Veggie combination plate. Shiro plate. - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

It has been a few hard days and after two doctors appointments this morning, I needed a hearty meal and do we got a combo platter with beef, and a lamb platter substituteing their cauliflower and potatoes veggie for their great greens. Everything was amazing. read more

Love this place! Can't wait to come back with students! This is such a nice laid back place to chill! read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Delicious!!!! - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

We ended up moving further away from this restaurant but still end up making the drive to come eat here. It is truly the best Ethiopian restaurant here in Columbus and worth checking out. The food is delicious & the service is great. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

I've eaten at Lalibela Restaurant & eaten some catered events where Lalibela food was served and it was so delicious. The service is always wonderful & food served within a short period of time. I would highly recommend Lalibela Restaurant & catering needs. read more

I had to update my review, because I realized my last one was pretty old and this has become one of my family's most frequented restaurants. My husband and I came here pretty regularly before but now our daughter is obsessed with it and if asked what she wants for dinner, she'll always say the sour bread place. The food is always somewhere between really good or great. I feel like the variance is indicative of how homemade it all seems. We all love their injera. We typically get the Mahberoch with the chicken tebs as the protein and an order of the ye siga wot added on as well. The servers are lovely, and it's been the same gals for about as long as I can remember. The owner usually will stop to chat if he's around, he's very kind. It's charming inside, with some traditional looking decor and there's a small space in the dining room dedicated to the coffee roasting ceremony they'll do periodically. I believe they have live music sometimes too. The quality of the food plus the experience is always worth the cost as far as I'm concerned, and it's definitely a very reasonable cost at that. Try them out! read more

It reminded me of top Ethiopian restaurants I've been to in DC and New York. Beef, lamb, vegetarian dishes were of high quality and very flavorful. Especially the Kitfo read more

Everything was great! The customer service was amazing. The food was fresh and very flavorful.

I love Ethiopian food and wasn't disappointed here. My husband and I came as part of a Meetup group and I'm glad that this was the place they choose. It was clean, service was good for our size of group, and the food was good and presented well. The prices were reasonable too. I especially loved the coffee. Because the coffee charges must be done separately and she won't accept a credit card, remember to have cash with you. Each tiny cup is$3 and worth every drop. My husband had the Netanyahu, which is the combo. It was flavorful, but my shuro was fabulous. Just the right amount of spiciness. The only negative was parking. We had to go in another restaurant's lot and walk over. What that means was others have discovered a good place to eat and reasonably priced. We will go again. read more

Delicious authentic Ethiopian food, great service and very pleasant people. Everything was seasoned perfectly with nice presentation by beautiful and friendly African ladies! read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Don't remember the name/ delicious - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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Dinner at Lalibela last evening was a real treat. Service was reasonable, and included a visit from the owner. We enjoyed our meals - Ye Beg Wot, and Beef Tibs. Ordered mild, both were plenty of spice - not for the faint of heart :). The Ethiopian beer helped with the spice!Ethiopian food is a rare indulgence for our family, as most aren't adventurous enough. I'm a fan, though; I think it offers delicious and interesting flavors, and the base of injera is a tasty alternative to, say, rice or noodles. Spicy, never boring! Eating with our hands (no utensils) can be really fun - and as a side benefit, it's really hard to eat with one's hands and also manage a cell phone ... a nice respite. Thanks Lalibela - I'll be back soon! read more

The food is definitely ethnic. Definitely delicious and definitely worth getting. And it put service back on the map when you go in there they attend you and make sure that everything is OK and I highly recommend it read more

Let me start by saying that I love Ethiopian food, and the food here is pretty good. The injera here is quite good and the couple of dishes we had nice flavors, although I've eaten better berbere sauce at other locations. The staff is also quite friendly although a bit more reserved than typical Ethiopian places. I'd probably give it 4 stars on the food itself. But the 3 star overall rating is really related to the cleanliness. The table we sat on had stains on the tablecloth, and the floors was very dirty. The latter became especially apparent when my wife broke the heel of the shoe and had to walk bare feet for a bit. My breakdown would be as follows: Food: 4 stars Service: 4 stars Cleanliness: 1 star read more

First time I ate Ethiopian food. Not my favorite style. However the food was authentic.

Wonderful prices, great portion sizes and the food tasted great. The space is also very large as well. We both ordered a lamb dish. We live in the north of Columbus so it's a bit of a hike, but we will be back. Highly recommended for Ethiopian food. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - a plate of food - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

Because things are made from scratch, if you order ahead, things go a little quicker but the food is phenomenal! The coffee service is an experience and wonderful, unlike any other coffee! read more

This place was amazing! My friend from Ethiopia took me here and it was a true experience. Lalibela has food true to the culture and atmosphere true to the culture. My friend walked me through every decoration they had and where different pictures were from. The food was so good. We got shiro and maberoch with beef. It was delicious and such a good portion of food to share! This is a really nice place to sit and enjoy dinner with a friend. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Mahberock with beef! - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

Wonderful service and great food selection. The restaurant space itself is welcoming especially on a rainy night when I craved some comfort food. The vegetarian combo is generous for 2 and if you add one meat dish, it's the perfect dinner for two. I wish the dishes were a tad more flavorful but other than that, we will be back. read more

Love Love Love! This restaurant has never failed to bring me pure joy! Ithe staff is great! Get the special coffee if you can its amazing! I wish i could eat here every week! Bringing my grandkids soon! read more

This is where I started going after blue nail downtown closed. Our whole family loves it! We come in from out of town once a month. My daughter really likes the lights they put up a few weeks ago. The Kitfo is my go to. So glad they have been making the cheese with it again. read more

Great robust flavors for meat and veggies. The only problem is parking. Enjoyed all the food . I just asked them to give me a veggie dish and a meat dish. So they gave me a combination of the two. It was all great. As always is this a place I would bring a friend from out of town. Hell Yeah! Chicken was moist and all veggies were soft and delish. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

Outstanding food. We got a combo and also a lamb ye beg wot. Everything was terrific. At least on par with if not better than the best Ethiopian food I've had (in D.C. and in Frankfurt, Germany). read more

I'd give it six stars ****** if I could! I love this place. Years ago, I went there with my two kids, little at the time. I really enjoyed it then but my girls thought it was too spicy so it fell off my radar. About a year ago, my wife and I decided to give it a try and we both loved it. We've been back over and over again. The derek tibs are my favorite, hands down, but I've never had anything that I found disappointing. The place is not fancy, but it's clean and comfortable. The owner is there often and he politely makes sure everything is working as it should. The food is always fantastic and the prices are totally reasonable -- actually, they're really good considering everything you get. read more

I love the people here. I love the food. I wish it were something like this closer to where I lived in Dublin. I have never had the opportunity to sit down and eat there, but I always get the food to go. I'm always getting excellent suggestions from the staff read more

Lalibella was overall an amazing experience! We had such a good time there. This restaurant is great for either a big group or a date. There's plenty of seating and the server was very kind and stopped by our table frequently to check up on us. The portions are big! The dish we ordered was big enough (and some left over) for two people. The lentils, lamb, and sides were filling, rich with flavor, and still felt healthy to eat and not to heavy. Eati g with your hands and the injera is definitely a new experience, in which my friends and I loved! It's a new skill to learn and enjoy. My friend also ordered the vegetarian version and loved it. It's super affordable for all of the different parts of the dish that come with it. Parking is available but it's tight. The restaurant is tucked into a small plaza to the left and on the corner of the plaza. I loved Lalibella and will definitely be going back! read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Mahberoch - lamb - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

One word - wonderful! Coming from a city where there is a huge Ethiopian diaspora and some amazing food, this was a gamble to try and we were not disappointed. All of us being carnivores opted for an all meat selection with the exception of the shiro. The service was excellent and the food was absolutely delicious and we ate to our hearts' content. We definitely will be back on our next visit to Columbus! read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - a plate of mexican food - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

Love this place. Delicious food and very authentic. The atmosphere is not super fancy but it's authentic and the service is great (just don't expect fluent English). Highly recommend! read more

Our meal was incredibly tasty. Went with the marinated beef (tebs) and the chicken drumsticks with sides of collard greens and cabbage. Everything was really good. Next time, I'll definitely go with the beef again and maybe try a lamb dish. Don't get me wrong, the chicken tasted amazing, but it's hard to eat chicken on the bone without utensils (i.e. injera). Can't wait to come here again. read more

Food was very flavorful, and came out in a timely manner ! Staff was very hospitable had a nice family vibe to it. They burn incense through out the restaurant, it didn't bother me at all but May bother some. Very very authentic food, coffee ceremony was amazing. read more

Lalibela Restaurant and Bar - Beef Cubes beef tips - Ethiopian Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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