Ethiopian Restaurant

Surprise surprise, this place is now closed but all is not lost Cordova, there’s a great little Ethiopian Restaurant on Dexter in the strip mall right at the corner of Bonney Lane

The staff is really friendly and helpful. This place is great. I like it all. The lamb and chicken is my favorite. The sambusa here is the best around – perfectly fried, crispy light crust and the beef filling is amazing. I’m glad Cordova has a unique quality place to dine.

LIVING OFF THE LAND
Experiencing Ethiopian cuisine is in some ways turning the clock back 2,400 years. Our first experiece was in DMV, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, the largest Ethiopian community in America. Cuisine is very much vegetarian, wat or wot is a thick spicy stew with beef, lamb, chicken or fish. No pork or shellfish. Their culture may fast up to 200 days a year. Their deep rooted religious ties to Ethiopian Orthodox, Judaism and Islam has keep their cuisine free of pork and shellfish. It wasn’t till the 1400’s when the Portuguese traders introduced chilli peppers, India’s curry and China’s ginger.
It is customary to use injera a light coffee brown spongy flat bread made from fermented teff flour. Don’t forget, it’s the right hand only for eating.
We ordered two entrees combined onto one large plate lined with injera:
1 — Yebeg Wot: Diced spicy tender pieces of lamb marinated and cooked in Ethiopian spices
2 — Doro Wot: Spicy sauce with one whole boiled chicken drumstick, onions, garlic, green peppers, spiced butter and other spices. Their serving did not not include a hard boiled egg.
It’s very obvious that the family runned restaurant is operated by the mother and two daughters. Ambiance is nondescript and the room temperature is cold with dim lighting. We wouldn’t order the Doro Wat (chicken) again.
Ideal venue for vegetarians.

I have never met a kinder staff in my entire life. And I’m not just saying that because one of the guys working there told me that I looked like Alicia Keys and kept telling me how pretty I am. OK, that might have had a slight impact on it but the owner/​chef is the cutest thing in the entire world! I wanted to put her in my pocket.
So for lunch you just get the buffet, which normally would annoy me, but the buffet is REALLY good with a variety to choose from. This was only my second time trying Ethiopian food but it was fantastic. I have never been disappointed with this genre so I think we may have a new fave on our hands.
Unfortunately this is located in the dirty ‘dova…sorry y’all, I don’t do suburbs often. But between this and Casbah I may have to start making the trek out more often. Because the food is good out here…

Outstanding! I love ethiopean food to begin with, and I can’t say enough how impressed I was with this place. It’s not much to look at — very small with just a few plastic covered tables on a tile floor — but boy can she cook! There was only one woman working, who I am guessing is the owner, cook, waitstaff, dishwasher… It was kind of like going to someone’s house for dinner. Someone who cooks exceptional food and tons of it.
One of the great things I found was that the meat dishes (I had doro wat, it’s a staple and very good!) come with several sides of vegetable AND homemade cheese she makes in house. Everything on the plate is really delicious and it’s realistically enough for two meals. I took at least 2 pounds of food home with me, the portions are huge. And for a price of about $ 13/​entrée, I just can’t imagine why this place isn’t packed every night.

This is some of the tastiest Ethiopian food around. All the food is made from scratch by the owner and her daughters. The BEST injera — made at the restaurant. Fluffy & soft to soak up the food. The vegetarian platter is my favorite & my 3 year-​old sons love it too. The chicken dishes are very popular with really great spices. They make home made desserts that are pretty good too.

I passed this place to eat at Humdingers a million times bc I was frankly put off by name /​/​and wasn’t sure what type of food to except. SO glad a friend encouraged me to try it. I had the veg plate and I have never — EVER eaten food with more flavor in my life! and that is counting 5 star «high end» restaurants.
A must try for anyone. The food is «normal» veggies and meats but made with spices out of this world!

Tried this place, was very good. Had the Doro Wat platter which is spicy chunks of chicken,-but when you order an entrée, you get a alot of other stuff with it. Will be back again.

The place is worth the quantity and worth the price. Great portions and one dish is enough for 2 people. I love the chicken entrée and also the red lentils.
It is also highly recommended for vegetarians. The staff and owner of the restaurant are very very friendly.
The seating area is not very big and fancy, but it serves the purpose of serving great food. You can definitely go here with your friends and family.
The owner of the restaurant brought some authentic sampler plate for my friends 5 year old daughter. She absolutely liked this sampler plate and preferred eating Ethiopian food instead of what she had ordered (mac-​n-​cheese).
It is perhaps the best Ethiopian restaurant in this city.

Randomly came in with another of my awesome Memphis City Saver Book coupons. This time it was 50% off an item and since the entrees are a little pricey for our broke budget my friend and I split one– and I’m glad we did! The entrée itself could’ve fed a third person comfortably. As it was, we had a little left over, but not enough to take home, and both ate past when we should have. The Beef Sambusa appetizer we got was also fantastic and I usually dislike beef but I loved it even without the sweet sauce that came with it. I liked it better without the sauce actually because then you could taste all the awesome flavors in it. And the salad that came with it was soooooo good!!!
The waitress/​cook lady is wonderful and welcoming. She did scare my friend off of getting it spicy because she warned it could be pretty spicy and my friend was waffling. Ahh she chickened out big time! But we both agreed that next time we go we will get it spicy (maybe I’ll even convince her to try super spicy!)
And, as always, eating with our hands was pretty fun. It was like eating with tortillas but bigger pieces of bread. Pretty awesome.
Summary:
–Awesome place, I will be back.
— If you’re used to spicy then give their spicy a try.
Stuff that was good:
Doro Tibs (mild)
Beef Sambusa

This was my first experience with Ethiopian food and I loved it. It’s very comforting and flavorful food and this restaurant does it right. We had the Doro Wat platter which is spicy chunks of chicken – but when you order an entrée, you get a ton of other stuff with it. The injera was nice and spongy – to pick up all the bits and pieces on the plate and to soak up the delicious curry. I also enjoyed the vegetarian components on the plate like the lentils. Yummy! Kudos to the chef!

Having veggie combo. Omg it’s the best Ethiopian food I have ever had! My wife had the lamb yebeg wot. It was awesome too. We also shared the shiro, a chickpea stew that was yummy.
I have to admit though the beat part was the salad with herbs and garlic.
Best injera in town!!!

I welcomed the chance to initiate two Ethiopian food novices to the wonders of Ethiopian food at the aptly named Ethiopian Restaurant. This place is perfectly functional for providing that kind of dining experience without any of the trappings a more expensive place might try to add.
You can easily have 3 people split 2 of the «entrees» since everything’s served on one big mass of injera anyways. The hot tea is great too.
The Doro Tibs were excellent, the Doro Wat was alright (not the best, but not bad), and the vegetable platter (?) options were quite good. This place adds a very interesting twist with a kind of mild home-​made cheese that is perfect for balancing out some of the spiciness of the other flavors. I haven’t had the buffet yet and I’d really like to try their ZilZil Tibs sometime too.
Very friendly service as the other reviewers have mentioned. I do wish they’d get some of the interesting Ethiopian beers and honey wine, but that’s a small quibble and could easily be done in the future. Definitely will be back.

Food is excellent, service is good, will be coming back again. If you’ve never had Ethiopian food before, try the buffet for lunch.

Sweet serendipity! We were coming through Memphis and wanted something different. Happened upon Ethiopian Restaurant. Having never had Ethiopian food before, we decided to give it a go. We were richly rewarded. Great food, great service. Recommend you go with a group and order family style, where all the food comes on one big platter, then indulge in Ethiopian-​style dining by leaving your personal plate and utensils untouched. Just dig in with the bread. A wonderful meal and a wonderful experience. Never having had Ethiopian food before, we ordered the spice level as a 5 out of 10. Should have gone higher, but that’s my personal preference. One suggestion to the owner, however: if you are going to operate a restaurant below the Mason-​Dixon Line, serve sweet tea, not just unsweet. Other than that, a great place. We will be back.

The food was excellent, well priced and seasoned well! Our first time here and will definitely return with more family and friends! Service was great, waitress very knowledgeable about each food item to the point where we were comfortable with ordering our dishes! Give this restaurant a try when you are looking for something different to eat!!!

Ethiopian Restaurant was a godsend last Friday afternoon. It was a dreadfully rainy day when my boyfriend and I were searching for a place to lunch it during our weekend trip to Memphis for the Beale Street Music Festival. He is vegetarian and I am not, so we (I) try to find places where both of us have favorable options. This eatery, inconspicuously tucked away in a strip mall, was the best place we could have ever stumbled upon that cold and dreary day.
The service is aces. We were greeted warmly and taken care of immediately. We started with hot tea, which really hit the spot. Then, we went for the lunch buffet, which was delicious and satisfying for both veggie and non-​veggie eaters. The lady checked up on us to make sure everything was to our liking, which it was.
We both agreed that, if we lived in the area, this would be one of our highly recommended and regular spots!

Ethiopian Restaurant… the name leaves much to be desired; perhaps they reserved all the creativity and effort for their food rather than for their name. Unfortunately, I have little to no experience in Ethiopian food; while this may be useful to those like myself who have never had Ethiopian before, it may be lackluster for those looking to find the best Ethiopian food Memphis has to offer. So… How do you review a restaurant where you have no experience or context for the food? Well here is my attempt.
I have never had Ethiopian food in my life. This was the first opportunity I’ve had to try it. From what I had heard, it was supposed to be similar to Indian food, and I love Indian food. I do not recall the name of the dish that I ordered, but it consisted of lamb with vegetables in a light sauce. The stew-​like entrée was served on a very interesting soft bread. The stew was good but it was nothing like Indian food. It was very mild in flavor. The bread that is served with the entrees is a soft flat bread. It is very difficult to describe. It has a sour taste and is very airy with an almost pancake like consistency but cold. I felt that the bread might even be made from some sort of tuber based on its similarity in flavor and color to poi and taro. The bread is slightly sticky and moist and, paired with the mild flavor of the stew, has almost no presence. I found that the bread watered down the flavor of the meal and abandoned eating it altogether. The bread was not to my liking, however the restaurant provides ample amounts of bread both with the meal and as a side to the meal. Overall I enjoyed the stew but could do without the bread. How does this stack up to other Ethiopian restaurants? I am unsure, so I will have to leave the food ranking blank; instead I will simply say that while I enjoyed the food I was served I would prefer Indian fare over Ethiopian — unfortunately this says nothing for the quality of the Ethiopian food at the Ethiopian Restaurant.
Food: N/​A
At the time of my visit the restaurant was starkly empty but very clean. There was almost nothing decorating the walls, save for a few posters. The walls appeared to have been painted in different tones such as red and yellow, but aside from this the restaurant appeared extremely sterile. Adding to this feeling of emptiness was the lack of music or background noise of any kind. While this might be appreciated in certain venues, this was not one of them. I discovered that day that my dining partners chew very loudly and breathe a little too much. On a positive note, the silence did allow me to notice the irregular heartbeat of an injured shrew below the tiling and concrete of the restaurant just in time for me to rescue it from an untimely death — I kid of course. In all seriousness, the atmosphere is in serious want of improvement. I felt slightly uncomfortable having a conversation knowing that the diner across the restaurant could not only hear what I was saying but could also hear the sounds of my stomach lining churning and the individual skin cells from my face crash against the hard plastic table. In addition the owner was watching me eat throughout a good portion of my plate. I was slightly put off. I felt like the main act of a voyeur show with slightly soggy, sour bread in lieu of dollar bills. Not particularly my cup of tea.
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Considering the amount of food available to eat, the price was an exceptional value (although it was over $ 10 with tip for my meal, so not cheap). It was more than enough food for myself. However, the taste was not to my liking, and this is likely not a fault of the establishment but rather of my palette. In terms of the satisfaction to price, it was not a high value on my scale; so in this case, I have split the difference. Not much more to say.
Value: ³⁄₅
As I said before, the owner was practically ever-​present. I suppose that means the service was exceptional… however, I think that servers should know when to leave the room just as much as when to return — take note of this statement bathroom attendants. Sometimes I like to be left alone to my own devices.
Service: ³⁄₅
I almost feel like it is unfair of me to rate this restaurant given my inexperience with Ethiopian cuisine; however I also know that there are likely just as many if not more people with little to no experience who want to know what to expect and need help deciding between some more common fare such as Chinese versus Ethiopian and simply want to be satisfied rather than be adventurous. For these people I will state that I did not particularly find my first Ethiopian experience especially satisfying, but that isn’t to say it’s bad. I hated peas with a passion when I was a child, but now I merely hold a mild grudge against them. The point being things change and grow on you. I will try to update this review when I try it again, but as of this writing I am not a fan.

My girlfriend and I love Ethiopian food and to discover there’s now an Ethiopian restaurant near our home in Cordova was an excellent surprise. The food was delicious and the staff was very attentive and a joy to talk to.
We ordered the lamb and a spicy beef dish and were exited by the wonderfully seasoned sides that came along with them. The injera bread was as good as we’ve ever had, and the price was reasonable.
The atmosphere is pleasant, family friendly and modestly decorated with Ethiopian decorations on the wall.
I recommend for anyone in Memphis who likes variety in their diet. For fans of Ethiopian food living east of Midtown … rejoice!

I wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing that this place didn’t have any online reviews and had a name as simple as «Ethiopian Restaurant», but I must say that it was just WONDERFUL! And my husband agrees. It’s located in the same plaza as the Malco Theaters, right next to BoneHeads.
We went for dinner on a Friday night and it wasn’t busy at all. The menu was simple, though it was titled, «Temporary Menu» so who knows what they have in store for the future. We chose two of the vegetarian meals (I can’t remember their names, but they’re towards the top of the menu) and they were both SO DELICIOUS. I can’t stop thinking about them! The injera (spongey bread/​tortilla used to pick up the food) was just as yummy as injera I’ve had at other, more established Ethiopian restaurants, the collard greens and cabbage had so much wonderful flavor, the little salad was a delight, and the lentils I had were to-​die-​for. Each dish was about $ 11 (which included plenty of injera and 4 mini sides — salad, cabbage, collard greens, and yellow stuff — along with the main course listed on the menu) and left us each with enough to have a light leftover meal at home the next day. I think we could have finished the full meal the night we ordered it, but we would have left STUFFFFFED!
While we were dining, the chef came out and asked us what we thought. We felt this was a nice, personal touch. She cares about the food she’s making and the lovely customers who enjoy it.
The interior was nothing special. Actually, it’s rather small. I think there may have been 10 4-​person tables and a take-​out counter. Everything seemed very clean and the walls were painted red, yellow, and green… I believe nodding to the colors of the vibrant Ethiopian flag. It was a cute touch.
If you like Greek food and/​or Indian food and are looking for something new/​fun/​exciting, I’d give this delightful Ethiopian place a try! Just make sure you’re comfortable eating with your hands! You can ask for a fork and knife, and they’d give them to you, but you wouldn’t look like a pro :)
Enjoy!