This is a five-star review because the actual cuisine was genuinely fire, and I know enough about Ethiopian cuisine to recognize the level of excellence on display here.
I will say a few things about marketing before getting into that, though.
We are in a "ghost restaurant" situation, here. If you show up to "Liyu," you will be confused. All of the external signage is for another restaurant, all of the *internal* signage is for yet another restaurant, there is literally nothing that tells you that you've arrived at "Liyu" aside from a couple of pieces of Ethiopian art.
Our party came close to concluding that "Liyu" was out of business and had been replaced by at least one other restaurant. We came close to walking away. Fortunately, my Dad was there and was resolute about pursuing his Plan (he's one of those guys) and asked the only person in range (who was working for the fried chicken place that also is not on the external signange) whether Liyu was there.
"Liyu" turned out to be one amazing Ethiopian woman who was working out of some portion of the commercial kitchen at this address.
I regret not asking her name. Because what she ultimately delivered was amazing. That's even granting that she clearly went out at some point and sourced the Injera from somewhere nearby. Even given that, and even given that she didn't have the Kitfo that was a key part of the meat platter (I was so excited for that, we'd been planning this for weeks, so I couldn't help banging on about it), even given all of THAT, the cuisine was simply INCREDIBLE.
When I say incredible, I'm telling you that this woman is a sorceress. She pulled together a massive feast for us in an hour, and the food excelled Marathon (Calgary's ancestral Ethiopian cuisine joint). She threw in extra injera and home-baked bread that was perhaps the most delicious bread I've ever tasted.
The "Liyu" experience was a bit weird at first. And I hope she can persuade them to put up some kind of signage that will deter customer confusion. There should at least be a poster with the name on it. But ultimately, it all comes down to the food, and I am tremendously impressed. Right down to rethinking my whole approach to salads from this time forward. Liyu means SKILLS. I'm tremendously appreciative and I will be coming back. read more