Highly recommend this restaurant!!! Every single item we tried was delicious unique with different…read moretextures and flavors. Family friendly and staff is happy to explain dishes to people new to Ethiopian cuisine. I definitely recommend getting a platter so you can try more than one thing. Each person can have an individual plate or you can share a large platter to eat communally (our group of 7 asked to eat together and we were given two large platters). We just said we wanted to try a variety of meat and vegetarian dishes and asked to add on the special stewed lamb that isn't usually included on the Habesha Platter. It was the best lamb I've ever had and my daughter still talks about it months later! I don't know the name but it was super tender small cubes of lamb meat stewed in a very spicy red sauce. Even as a meat lover, many of the vegetarian dishes like the cabbage, green beans, and yellow split peas were among my favorite bites of the meal. We will definitely go back next time we're anywhere near Ottawa.

I tried Ethiopian years ago and didn't like it. I couldn't get over the using your hands aspect of…read moreit. Fast forward 20 years and my friend suggests Habesha for lunch and I go along. We ordered two Habesha platters (mix of meat and veggie dishes) with injera bread. I found out you can use the bread to pick up the meat or veggies. The cabbage was my favourite. Great flavours! The beef cubes/stew was great too. Lentils were well prepared too. The tea and coffee were unique and good. I am converted. This was delicious! Service is a bit slower so plan accordingly. The decor is plain but it doesn't matter when the food is good!

If you're craving a hole in the way dining experience of delicious Ethiopian cuisine, D'Afrique is…read morethe place to be! The highlight of the evening was definitely the lamb--succulent, flavorful, and a definite 10/10. The mixed platter we chose was perfect for sampling a variety of dishes. It included a delightful assortment of vegetarian options alongside two chicken dishes and a savory beef dish. Each item was bursting with unique flavors and perfectly complemented the injera bread. We were able to ask for medium spiciness and some extra spice on the side so we weren't overwhelmed. The service was friendly and attentive - our waitress was able to give us great recommendations - adding to the overall enjoyable dining experience. The easy to miss entrance leads you upstairs to a nice dining area with table cloths but comfortable ambiance. Great for your dairy free and pork free friends plus there are gluten free options.

I'm no Ethiopian food conesour, but the food here was 5 stars - absolutly delish and a very…read moredifferent expirience; I love that we get to eat with our hands! We ordered the sharing platter for two and were absoultly stuffed by the end - honestly we could not even finish the whole thing. For the food, I would go back anytime! So why 4 stars? Well, the restaurant could use a little love (maybe a lot of love) - specifically the bathrooms: not clean (really, really not clean), missing toilet paper, the stalls have no locks...not a pleasant expirience at all. The main area of the restaurant has a lot of potnetial but could also use a little attention as well. That said, the gentleman serving us (I'm guessing the owner) was lovely, attentive, and very happy to see us enjoyig the food so much. If we could just imporve the environment, this would be 5 stars for me!

I love Ethiopian food, but admittedly don't know the names of all the different curries, except for…read moreDoro Watt which is the curry with spicy chicken legs and boiled eggs, and happens to be my favourite, lol. This location of D'Afrique Restaurant & Bar is their second location. Their first location is on Laurier Ave. This location has been many restaurants in the past. It was a Peruvian restaurant called Petit Peru and then it was a Mexican restaurant called Los Tacos de Mauro, both of which were excellent, and I'm happy to report that D'Afrique Restaurant keeps the trend going, as it was also excellent. I saw their big sandwich board by their entrance advertising a Special of the Day for $13.99 which consisted of chicken, beef, lamb and vegetable curries with injera and thought this would be a great way to try out a variety of their products. So I got it for takeout. Admittedly, the takeout presentation is not as aesthetically pleasing as the dine-in version, but the taste was good. It came with my favourite Doro Watt, as well as a beef curry, a lamb curry, and some vegetable curries (lentil, cabbage, split peas, and I think ground chickpeas curries). The injera was soft and tasty. The chicken leg in the Doro Watt was so tender and fall off the bone and had a good spicy kick to it. The beef was also tasty, but not as tender. The lamb portion was small and be warned that it's bone-in, but it was good and not too gamey. The vegetable curries were good too. Everything was really flavourful and fragrant. Service was friendly. I did hear the microwave go off a few times in the kitchen though. So I suspect some of the items are reheated when ordered. Also the takeout container was styrofoam, which I don't like. I really hope they didn't microwave anything in styrofoam! Anyway, use of styrofoam and microwave were the only two negatives. I would return for the Special of the Day again. I also want to try the samosas. The restaurant is up a steep flight of stairs on the second floor of the building. The space was at one time a discotheque. It's quite pretty inside and no longer looks like a night club, lol. Street parking only.

They are awfully nice. All smiles! The food is average. I thought the Injarra was rubbery. I wish…read morethey would pay more attention to cleanliness too. The staff was watching a soccer match when I arrived and were very enthusiastic about one of the teams. The tables and floor were dirty from the night before. A little more effort on their part could make this restaurant a standout in the area.

Food wise, it's cheap and large portion. But there's little variety. Everything is big bread with…read moredifferent variations of toppings. For mine, it was soggy where the toppings were placed because of the olive oil. Service was close to non-existent. They forgot my Coke until I reminded them. It also took time for the food to be ready or to get the bill. I only saw one star, so I assume he's the wait staff, the chef and the cashier.

Pre-pandemic, I had an appointment down the road and I decided to walk the 15 minutes to get some…read moreEthiopian food. I used to live in the area and visited their old location on Gladstone ages ago, so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to try their new(er) location, also on Gladstone. I've only had Ethiopian food a few times in the past, including at Blue Nile, but I was in the mood to try a dish I never had before. The restaurant had just opened for lunch so it was empty. I was grateful to have the full attention of the server, who I realized later was also the cook - the one and only staff member there! He was patient with me as I took a look around and debated over what to get on the menu before asking him for a suggestion. He asked if I ever had tibbs before, a staple in Ethiopian cuisine, and I hadn't, so that's what I ordered. I definitely read the menu, but I didn't pay attention at all to what he was making. I just said yes and got excited lol. It was about $12 at the time, before taxes and tip, though the price didn't matter at all because I was hungry and drooling at the sights and smells of him making the food. He made it with such care, packed it for takeout with such care, and rang it up with such care. He was very kind and courteous. Top-notch service. It was about 20 minutes or so before I was able to sit down to eat it and it was still piping hot. I had no idea what to expect. Whatever it was, it was fully wrapped in a huge piece of injera. When I unfolded the injera, there was a giant portion of sliced beef, onions, and peppers in a tomato-based sauce. I looked at the menu online and saw you could get juicy or dry, so I assumed I got juicy. My coworkers kept asking what I got, saying it looked and smelled amazing. A couple of them even tried some. It was delicious! The beef was tender and the sauce was very flavourful. The injera was light and spongey, not too sour. The meal was super filling, too. The injera soaked up some of the extra juices and it was all great to eat it with your hands. I would, however, separate the beef from the injera if saving leftovers, as the injera at the bottom would be super soggy. I would definitely eat here again. Maybe in person next time! I was tempted to buy some of the snacks, spices, and other pantry items by the cash, but I get carried away with that stuff and I knew I wouldn't be able to carry it back with me. But I totally regretted not getting anything. Definitely next time, too!