Queen of Sheba

The injera was deliciously sour (in a very good way!) and the ‘taster’ dish that it came with was massive and not too expensive either.
The taster dish that we had came with a great array of different vegetarian dishes and salad in the middle.
The injera lined the platter and soaked up the flavours of the different dishes which made for a delicious end to the meal :)
I would certainly visit this place often if I lived in Portland!!!

Four of us are having a wonderful meal. We ordered three vegetarian dishes and three meat dishes. All are very good. We asked for the lamb berbere dish to come medium and they accommodated. Plenty of food. Excellent. Glad we stopped in.

Yummy Ethiopian food with variations in spice; the mild Alicia flavor is super aromatic and hot Berbere is very flavorful
Good stuff; injerra is wonderful but you must eat with your hands so family style

I absolutely love this place! Found them in ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₁₀ and have continued to eat here faithfully. Order the alicha off the veggie menu and doro tibs (spicy) and thank me later. The waitress is a sweet woman who will make you feel welcome and comfortable. The food is flavor able and reasonably priced. You’ll definitely leave here satisfied.

Finally I have found an Ethiopian restaurant that I truly like. The injera tasted yummy (sometimes bad chefs make it literally taste like puke), and the lamb Ye Beg Tibs were fantastic, as were the other side dishes we ordered.
Definitely recommended.

I’ve been trying all of the Ethiopian restaurants in Portland. This place is my fourth. I didn’t love it, and the reason is mostly because of the service. Didn’t really acknowledge us after seating for about 15 minutes, no napkins at the table and had to get up and go find a waiter in another room to ask for napkins, had to ask several times for the bill. The food was ok. Lacked depth of flavor. Not my favorite.

Love Ethiopian food & in looking for a ‘go-​to’ place in PDX, tried The Queen of Sheba first, since it’s evidently the longest established. Sadly, this will not be my place. Based on food alone, I’d rate maybe 3.5 stars — it was fine, though not the best ever. The vegetarian dishes on the sampler platter lacked the depth of flavor that I’ve had elsewhere.
The atmosphere was so gloomy and depressing (also so cold that I wore my winter jacket while eating) that it made me want to leave as quickly as possible. Service was equally glum.

Decent and healthy food. Ambiance could use a facelift.
Four of us went there on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. We got the ‘house vegetarian sample’ and some Herbal iced tea/​ginger juice to go with it. The service was quick, helpings were generous, and the food tasted fresh. The injera tasted similar to set dosa (a flat bread that we Indians make back home using fermented rice batter). All the sides that were provided to us to go with the injera were subtle and mild on flavor and spice quotient. The tea/​juice were rejuvenating. The only thing that made me give four stars was the unpleasant smell that filled the restaurant on the day we visited and also dull ambiance. But, this place is definitely light on stomach and as well as on wallet.

Why do I almost feel ashamed giving this place 4 stars? It’s as though I feel I have to apologize for liking the food here so much.
Came for lunch once a few months back… and, came back AGAIN last week! Shared a sampler platter the first time and dove into a chicken and a beef dish on the second visit. I gotta say the flavors worked. The heat and spice were spot on. I’ve enjoyed a few Ethiopian restaurants over the years this felt right up there with the best I’ve tasted. Got turned on to the thyme-​ginger ice tea as well!!! Talk about tasty satisfaction.
The atmosphere feels how I imagine a «western style» restaurant might feel in Addis Ababa. They are trying for cozy chic but it loses something in the translation. Pretty dark and quiet. Everything is muted — and, it’s on MLK. These people aren’t here for the Michelin stars, they are here making a food they know how to make and they do it VERY well!
Ethiopian food isn’t for everyone but once you’re in — it’s a fantastic addition to the culinary repertoire!

My first time here was last night. I went with a friend. The green walls were a bit weird, and when we were outside I really couldn’t tell if we were at the right location. Nothing about that restaurant looks bright and inviting from the outside.
The food was pretty dang good, though. And the tea as well.
The Price is what took it from 3 stars to 4. My friend and I split a $ 20 check.
I’m from SF, so I was expecting a to pay $ 45 for Ethiopian food at least!

We loved the Queen of Sheba’s Ethiopian food. What a feast. We had the Vegan Combo for 2 for $ 23. My daughter and I enjoyed about 10 dishes of stews, lentils, salads, and vegetables that were full of spices and flavor. It all rested on big inera. The Iced Ginger tea was more herbacious, but still lovely. The non dairy Chai iced tea was a real winner. We ate until we were stuffed and still had leftovers for both of us. Unfortunately, Queen of Sheba is not in our neighborhood. We will still try to make our way back for one of our favorate Vegan feasts in recent history.

I’ve been coming here for years. The service is amazing and the food is even better. Best Ethiopian in town.

I totally understand the fun value of eating Ethiopian cuisine (I am a big fan) but this place is patently awful. I mean a really, really bad restaurant. Neither my wife nor I understand why on earth it’s getting such good reviews.
The place itself looks like a college kid’s living room. Old, faded, no attention to detail, ambience, cleanliness. I’ve been to dozens of Ethiopian restaurants in my life and I can promise you this is not the norm.
The service was laughable (I mean we were actually laughing at how bad it was). I was trying to be a good sport but when the food arrived the plate was literally dropped from about half a foot off the table as the waitress left without a word.
My wife stopped by the kitchen and noticed there was a bank of microwaves along the wall. This explains a lot about the taste of the food which at best can be described as «old tasting».
Oh, and the food made me so sick I was in the emergency room for the entire night. Oh, did I not mention that yet? Yes, this restaurant hospitalized me.
Multiple (four) people have since told me this place was awful and asked why on Earth I dined here. Well, thanks Unilocal.:)
I hope review saves a fellow Unilocaler some heartburn and maybe a trip to the ICU.

The food and drinks were delicious, the service was quick, and my meal was very reasonably priced. A friend and I split the massive house veggie platter and ate every bite. We also tried the ginger juice, which was awesome! But, the atmosphere wasn’t great. I went on a Tuesday (which I’m sure had something to do with it), and the restraunt just seemed kind of sad. I’d probably try other Ethiopian restraunts in Portland before returning here.

The interior kind of feels like the 70 year old church my parents made me go to when I was little, in a bad way.
But the food is great, I’m not vegan but the vegan sampler is delicious. The service is friendly every time. I probably wouldn’t go if I didn’t live a few blocks away.

The servers may as well not had us here, it was like we were burdening them. Not a fan of the food, but that just might be Ethiopian in general. Either way, if you’re in portland theres so many cooler places to go, I’d keep walking.

Saddest birthday dinner ever.
For 5 years I lived in Portland and this was my favorite restaurant. I brought visitors and friends. I was an ambassador. After 7 years away I decided to spend our last night in Portland/​my birthday at my old fave. Wow. Disappointed.
We ordered the exact same things we used to get: atakilt veggies and chicken with Alicha spices.
The chicken was just ok. Not very flavorful. Which is usually not the case.
The atakilt was the real kicker. It used to be fresh veggies or at least fake it. Now they are just taking the $ 1 frozen veggie bag and tossing it on the injera. It’s just plain gross. We paid $ 26.50 for this. I could have just spent $ 1 at Safeway and used my friends microwave.
Just so sad. The same lady still works there as the lone waitress so I thought it was the same old place. Not so. If there is a good Ethiopian place in PDX now I’d love to know about it as this place used to be my gold standard. Portland has way too many amazing restaurants to go here. And, it pains me to say that.

I had a super fun birthday party here. Every year, I try to think of a fun, minority owned restaurant that is great for a diverse group of people with different dietary needs to share food. My group is usually around 20 people and we can really test the service capabilities of a restaurant.
I made the reservation here and Queen of Sheba was delighted to host us and thanked us for thinking of them. This was a great choice for us because of the vegan options and that one of us has celiac. We put in a request for gluten free injera that was granted.
We were given the entire back of one of the rooms and we let Queen of Sheba choose our food, giving us a good mix of vegetarian, vegan and meat and varied spice levels. There was truly something for everyone. Everyone was served at the same time, so no one had to sit hungry, wistfully staring at the one end of the table with food.
Queen of Sheba also let me bring my own cake and they brought out little plates for everyone. My party kind of took over the whole room, like a blobby ameba. Again, Queen of Sheba was super accommodating, letting us goof around and, of course, letting my silly mother take group photos. It was a great choice for us! Few restaurants could pull off a group feast with such aplomb!
We had left over cake and the staff partook with us and we had a fantastic time. Truly, there was no fault to be had. An amazingly accommodating restaurant with super people and great food. Thank you, Queen of Sheba! You helped make my birthday awesome!

The food is soooo gross,. i thought it was just me, but I spoke to a friend who has also been there, and the first thing we both said in unison was «its so disgusting»…
I had the chicken, my friend had the vegetarian.
Don’t go there, I have no idea why it has so many good reviews.

Cheap yummy eats! I love this place. My only complaint is very often it’s just you, your guest and the person who works there. How do they stay open? How fresh is the food? I can’t answer either of those. All I know is it’s SO good.
Get a platter and share! It’s fun to eat with your hands.