Lilypad On The Run Food Truck

I have no idea what they r serving. I didn’t like their food. Not impressed. The meat seemed uncooked. Won’t recommend this truck

Wow this was fantastic. Deeply flavorful and great value. I particularly liked the fresh rosemary in the collard greens.
Even better, when some jerk bumped into me and I spilled all my lentils, the owner very kindly replaced them all at no charge. Great service!

I didn’t expect Ethiopian food truck food to be great. This was pretty fantastic. I’ve had the tibs and the wot from here, as well as many veggie sides. The wot is better — the tibs was a bit dry. The veggies are great, and they are willing to mix and match if you ask. The yellow peas are a standout. Plenty of injera. Solid choice for Farragut.

This place is great. The owner is a doll (she reached through the window to wipe something off my face!) and the food is fantastic: extremely flavorful and plentiful. I got the chicken with veggies. The veggies were delightful; the chicken was fantastic – ridiculously tender and flavorful. Tons of food too.

I rarely eat at food trucks because the quality of food is usually mediocre, but this one is great. I got the 4-​item veggie combo — everything was delicious, albeit a bit spicy (but then everything is spicy for me). The cabbage that is not included in the 3-​item combo is probably the best thing I had in a while. My coworker got lamb wot and was also very pleased. The woman who served us was nice and polite.

The food is delicious, but the owner treats you poorly if you pay with a credit card. As a regular customer, I would expect better service regardless of payment method.

I really like this food truck. The owner is very friendly. I ordered the veggie combo – 3 items and they were delicious. My favorite is the gomen. I had more than enough food for the next day. I shall return the next time they’re in or around the Golden Triangle!

Great flavor! Lamb wot was excellent. Food was across the board good, and the proprietor was very friendly. I plan to eat here again.

Very good Ethiopian food truck. I got the wot with lentils and collard greens. The wot is very well seasoned but not overly spicy. The lentils were also well seasoned and the collard greens provided a nice compliment to the other components. Injera was soft and fresh. Overall the best Ethiopian truck food I’ve had in DC so far.

Love this food truck! The only thing is the woman sometimes tries to intimidate me into bringing cash instead of using my card which makes me think twice before going to that truck.

Ate there again today, and I stand by the review. They are consistent. Rarely do I give a food truck 5 stars, but this place is close.

Of the many ethiopian foodtrucks I’ve tried at Franklin square this is definitely my favorite. Veggie combo is a treat! Definitely on the larger side as far as portions go too!

I have been on an Ethiopian kick and was very excited that Lilypad was going to be near my office. After looking them up I was happy to see that they had a few vegetarian choices and the prices were reasonable. When I arrived I decided on the Veggie 4 combo (lentils, yellow peas, collard greens, cabbage salad and injera) for $ 8.50. Immediately after receiving my box I knew I made a great investment. The spices instantly made my mouth water and the weight of the box ensured my stomach that it would be full. Upon opening my box I saw the MOUNTAIN of injera I was given and then all the delicious food underneath. Unfortunately I had to give my injera to a coworker due to a wheat restriction (yes, they make theirs with wheat, I asked) but I did take a small sample and it was definitely on point. Nice fermented flavor, not too spongy textured and did I mention… there was a MOUNTAIN of it! I was not sad for long though because everything else was great! I I definitely favored the yellow peas and lentils — good flavor, filling and delicious. The collard greens and cabbage had a lot of oil which made it a bit hard/​messy to eat. I will definitely be going back to Lilypad though and highly recommend it, especially for people looking for a wholesome and filling vegetarian option.

Very good food truck! I had the beef tips and they were so tender, the meaty sauce was perfect, flavorful! …And the injera was very good, plentiful and consistent. I really enjoyed my lunch. Also– that staff is VERY kind and will give you samples if you are unsure on what to order!

Wot! Wot! Wot! Wot! Wot! Wot… Everybody!
I got to visit Lillypad on the Run again, and it was still awesome! I asked for a sample of the lamb wot and adored it! It was spicy, flavorful, and served with a smile. I found myself torn between tibs and wot, so I got both! The tomato salad was still on point and I was so glad they came to before I started my weekend.
These ladies are awesome and their cooking is too. Check them out… Now!
See you next week!

Lilypad went to a 100% Ethopian menu in 2013, so please note that what I ordered and reviewed is no longer available.

I’d give it 4.5. But since Pam Z said the same thing and scored Lilypad with four stars, I’ll balance out her score with a rating of five stars.
What I liked:
The beef is good; the lamb wot is great. Tender, spicy, flavorful. .. it’s just about perfect. I’d have liked more meat, because it was just that good, but it was still a generous portion nevertheless.
The collard greens are excellent, although not much different from any of the other Ethiopian trucks/​restaurants.
Potential downsides:
There’s quite a bit of grease in the meat, which I like but some people apparently don’t. I think it’s much less oil in the greens, which don’t show much of an oil slick, and I can’t tell about the yellow peas or lentils one way or the other.
The yellow peas were very mild. I added a healthy dose of hot sauce to fix that.
The lentils were very good, but a little crunchier than I prefer. That may well be the way they’re supposed to be, though, so I wouldn’t dock any points for that.
Personally, I don’t care for carrots/​green beans as an option. Others might like them, though.
Summary:
This is my new favorite Ethiopian truck, especially since the Fojol Brothers seem to have stopped operating Benethiopia. The lamb wot is going to be my go-​to dish from now on, and the standard by which other Ethiopian trucks will be judged.

4.5 stars
Lilypad is a solid contender in the Ethiopian food truck trend. The green beans and carrots are the best veggie here, and the tibs are awesome. I usually get the four veggie combo for a normal sized lunch and splurge for the lamb or beef tibs when I’m ravenous. Their lamb is especially good here. They have huge portions, so watch out for food coma post lunch. If you haven’t tried something before, the staff is super friendly and will usually give you a sample. Combo meals (they’re ALL combo meals, btw) run $ 8−11+tax.
Why not five stars? For some reason, their veggies are harder to pick up with the injera than at other places and the meat can be on the greasier side. I’m also can’t satisfy my Ethiopian cabbage fix, since they don’t carry it anymore. I also am not a fan of the cinnamon-​esque flavor in the red lentils, but that’s just my personal taste.

With so many great food trucks in D.C., I can’t see how anyone would choose to visit this one. I made the mistake when I was home in D.C. and I was so disappointed.
The beef was in a vat of nasty oil and tasted like the worst Indian food ever, with no flavor at all. Plus, as other reviewers have said, the menu is all over the place and the woman who owns the truck is not very friendly. I won’t be back, too many better options in D.C.

This place is still struggling with execution. I would have hoped that in the past few months of operation that LilyPad would have improved their service but, alas, they have not.
I will echo others — the menu is an odd mishmash of items and «Stewed» chicken sandwiches just DON’T sound appealing (nor does the truck picture LOOK appealing). Today our group sampled the: Steak and Gorgonzola Sandwich, Grilled Chicken Sandwich, and the Stewed Lamb on Rice.
Ordering was confusing at best — though we were the only ones ordering, the vendor had to ask 2 – 3 times to verify our orders — even 5 minutes after the orders were placed. Not a good start. Additionally, they didn’t have enough singles to make change for the food orders. Really? I tried to be a good Samaritan and gave them $ 5 in singles to help out… Another big minus… no NAPKINS?
On to the food…
Steak and Gorgonzola was not bad, per se but it lacked flavor. Additionally, the «Gorgonzola» was (what appeared in taste and texture) to be provolone which is too bad because the Gorgonzola might have given it the flavor punch it needed. There was no indication of the described «spicy» sauce and the meat could use seasoning and for $ 8 dollars I would have expected a much more substantial sandwich — especially given some of the other similarly priced offerings (which are packed with flavor) such as the substantial Tripleta from Borinquen Lunch Box (
) or the monstrous, food coma inducing sandwiches from Carnivore BBQ (
)
Chicken sandwich was reported as fairly moist but had little flavor. Both in the group that had it needed more sauce, «or something». One «average» and one thumbs down for overall assessment of the two chicken sandwiches. Both noted that the bread was «pretty good».
Stewed Lamb had a decent flavor but the chickpeas served on the side were stone cold and did not taste good. Dressing on side salad tasted of uninspired WishBone Italian. The biggest detractor for this dish was the huge amount of bone shards in the meat. Chunks of bones are one thing — but small, perforate your insides, bones that hide in the dish make for an unpleasant hunting expedition while you eat. 11 bone shards were leftover at the end of the meal (see picture).
A Final note — the website…
Wow, this needs some serious work (
) The pictures, while nice and very well shot, are not representative of the food, nor did I see any indication of most of the dishes shown, and the online menu is downright laughable because of the rampant typos such as: «SERVED SEASONEBLE VEGETABLE S», «lattes tomato may», and «mild spicy parmesan cheese». Take the time to get someone to proof-​read your site since this may be a customer’s first exposure to your business.
I probably wont be going back to this truck (unless I see some drastic changes in reviews or menu) — and probably should have trusted my fellow Unilocalers in the first place, but I wanted to at least give LilyPad the benefit of the doubt.