Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant

The best Ethiopian food in the city. Huge portions and the food is so good. The service is great the wait staff is so helpful. Keeping going back for more!

I thought I found my favourite Ethiopian, but I was wrong. The place I loved was filled, so I went just a few places down and found my new fav!
The portions here are larger, so big that me and my girlfriend rarely finish our meals. The food is out of this world. This is my favourite restaurant! There is always a groupon, so the food is also dirt cheap.
This is a family business, and we have the same waitress every night. She is very kind, nice and helpful.
Me and my girlfriend love this place so much, we go two to three times a week. We got engaged here, so now it’s even more special!
Try this place, you will not regret it.

I came here with a Groupon deal — $ 15 for $ 30 food. The platter we ordered was tasty and the portions HUGE (three of us couldn’t finish the plate for two!), but the service was VERY slow. I wouldn’t come here if you’re hoping for a quick bite.

You really can’t go wrong with Ethiopian, the spices taste great, lots ‘o lentils and you get to eat with your hands!
What I love most about Lalibela is that their injera bread tastes super authentic and I may be wrong, but believe that they use a brown Teff flour to prepare it.
We requested our veggie platter to come with extra heat, but perhaps they didn’t believe us because it wasn’t spicy.
If your going to fill your tummy with good food Lalibela won’t disappoint, but the décor isn’t too easy on the eyes

I’ve been here more than a few times, normally with a Groupon :) back again today! Depending on time you go the wait could be 30 mins or none at all. The smells are always as amazing as the décor of colorful walls textured painted bright colors.
The staff is always nice whether they are busy or not.
The food!!!
The meat platter is my normal order with a range of different raw and cooked meats! Love their lamb and raw beef, all on a large piece of injera soaking up the sauces!
I’ve had their lentil soup, salads, and fish soup as well and all are really flavorful and large portions.
They have cheap wine and beer :)
My go to place for Ethiopian cuisine for the service as much as the food!

The restaurant looked like a local favourite. It was a good mix of Ethiopian people and the rest of us. The service was below par. We had to wait for 2 – 3 minutes before the hostess acknowledged us, even though we were the only ones waiting to be seated. We had to wait another 15 minutes to just get a glass of water and our order took almost 30 minutes to come.
The food itself was okay. Do not order chicken dishes as they do not do a good job on the chicken. Their lamb dishes are better made.

I love this place and have so for a long time now. I think I’ve tried other ethiopian places around town but keep coming back to Lalibela. This place just makes the best food, in my opinion. Now granted I am not at all Ethiopian but there seems to be large representation by the local diaspora so that can’t be a bad omen.
I always get the veggie platter for my wife and I and it never disappoints.
I used to be able to get these amazing stuffed chillies but for some time now they have not been available… HUGE disappointment. Wish they’d come back!
Other than that, I really recommend this place… as a matter of fact, we’re gonna go this week :)

Minutes after my friends and I walked into Lalibela for an impromptu late dinner (9 pm on a Sunday night), we felt like we had traveled somewhere exotic. There was a thin haze of incense and lots of smiling faces sharing big platters of food. It wasn’t my first time at an Ethiopian restaurant but I loved that the staff were wearing beautiful and identical traditional dresses and their consistent friendliness was pleasant.
We were seated within minutes and though the service was slow — it was a full house — we were happy to wait. We wanted to try some of their veggie dishes and a beef dish. Our waitress recommended the veggie platter and also the Ye’Beg Key Tibbs (she told us we could substitute the lamb for beef). That was plenty of food for 3 hungry people.
TOP PICKS: Cabbage Wat and the beef tibs (I’m sure the lamb version is just as delicious!)
BONUS: Coincidentally we found out they had a Groupon offer and we bought it on the spot! Woohoo!
The reason Lalibela doesn’t get 5 stars from me is that we didn’t get napkins and had to ask for them well into our meal. Not a HUGE issue normally but things get messy when you’re using your hands to eat. Also the incense was overwhelming. People with allergies beware.
Overall, I’m happy to have found this gem in my new neighborhood.

BEST Ethiopian I’ve tried.
GLUTEN FREE INJERA BREAD AVAILABLE!!! WHOOOOOO!!!
Great food, nice pleasant people, place is clean, & properly insulated! (yes, this is relevant when looking for these restaurants, went to several over winter that had to sit there in my Winter Jacket! really.)
Seriously.
Love ethiopian cuisine, but face it, most of these places are filthy, reek of detergent.
This place was very clean, people were polite, helpful, food was great, & great experience.
love it, have been several times, & drove pretty far to get there, so definitely thought worth returning to.
Enjoy!

Came here on a thursday night to take advantage or a Groupon the husby purchased. It was a 20 mins wait till we got seated. Needless to say it is a very busy restaurant — the busiest on the street infact.
The servers were friendly and welcoming. I felt they went out of their way to make us comfortable, which is always nice! We ordered the Zil Zil Tibs and the Lalibela Special for one. Huge portions, we could not finish it all. Some of the yummy servings were a bit salty for my tasting, but overall it was good. This is however, not the best ethiopian food I have had, if I had to compare.

Ok so 2 for 1 in reviews here! First part aka this part, is myself, the second part is (probably a shorter more pissed off read) my partner.
This is strictly on delivery service. We ordered the veggie platter for 2 with a diet coke and a single injara on JUST EAT. That cost just under $ 40. That isn’t even the worst part. As pleasant as the delivery people were the meal came in one sloppily filled carton. One mushy injara filled with an assortment of different coloured mush. This presentation nightmare could of been avoided if they just sent the it in a compartmentalized carton with the injara separate. I mean people would rather platter it themselves than make an otherwise nice meal look like something you should be served in a trough. IMO the least I’d give them is a 3 I imagine if we went in not even accounting for service but good god delivery has room for improvement. The coke was also wrong for good measure. The portions seemed off for the price too. African Palace kills this place.
PT.2
Terrible delivery! They charge a $ 4.00 delivery fee and give you a pile of mush mixed together!

I like to come here every 3 – 6 months. I’m not huge on injera, so every quarter to half a year is enough to get my fix.
I have loved this place every single time I went, except the last.
The (beautiful) waitress is really helpful in helping you choose a dish and (again other than my last visit) they are always delicious. Unfortunately the last time I went the dish she recommended tasted like old Chinese food (which is very strange) but I’ve been probably 10 other times and each time it has been delicious, so I’m going to just assume it was a one-​off bad day and give it another try, because honestly the food is generally really good and filling.
Prices are decent, they have Groupons available for this place a lot, so if you are nervous about going, wait for a Groupon to be available and that should cover half the meal for 2 – 3 people.
The place is usually pretty packed but on a week night you can usually get a seat without having to wait.

I heard about Ethiopian food on internet and it looked very healthy and special. So I really wanted to try it and found this restaurant in Toronto luckily. The food served there was truly tasty and authentic because there were lots of African people in the restaurant.
I ordered Vegetarian platter for one ($ 11+ tax) for lunch and was shocked by its large portion! There are various kinds of vegetables including beans, cabbage and beet roots served on a big injera (sourdough flatbread). Very delicious! I love the smell of spices and injera was very suitable to eat by hand. Another injera in same size was also included this dish. I only eat half of them…
Although the service was not good but I would go back for the food. Next time I want to take the lamb or beef dishes~

This was my first time trying Ethiopian food. As the 4 star rating indicates, «Yay! I’m a fan.» My partner and I used a Groupon so the cost of the food was very cheap. We ordered the Lalibela platter for one and the ZilZil tibs. Our inexperienced hands found it a little difficult to manœuvre the injera bread to pick up the different foods, but the staff was kind enough to bring us some forks. I very much loved the platter which was an assortment of lentils, veggies and meat — flavour explosion in your mouth! I found the ZilZil tibs a little dry, almost like beef jerky but I think it is supposed to be that way? It was still good though. Everything was quite delicious and we were left very full.

My 3^rd time eating Ethiopian food down town… it was fabulous and the service was fast.
Vegetarian plate to myself was more than ample
Expect to eat with your hands

This was my first time having Ethiopian food, so I have no standard to compare it to. That being said, the food was pretty good. The various fillings were hot, but the injera was not. The injera was slightly sour/​acidic tasting. I’ve been told that was intentional. It wasn’t a bad thing. It was just surprising.
We used a Groupon, and it was plenty for two. There was a chickpea stew, a lentil stew, shredded beets, a stewed chicken drumstick, marinated potato chunks and cabbage, an almost coconutty lamb stew and another lamb stew which was a separate dish. Total came to $ 33.90 before Groupon discount.
Service was delightful. The only mishap was that the server neglected to give us tissues until we were almost halfway through our meal. I understand though, because it was very busy tonight.
I enjoyed the food, but the ambiance of the restaurant is what might deter me from coming again. The restaurant is very dark. It’s darker than steakhouse mood lighting. I understand that they have a coffee ceremony, but that coffee ceremony includes a lot of smoke, which sometimes makes the air a tad thick. The tables are very close together, so there’s a total lack of privacy. I prefer not being able to hear everything diners at other tables are saying, and I prefer them not being able to hear everything I am saying as well. The tables here are made for something like two to four people, so if you want to come with a big group, you might want to re-​think your restaurant choice.
Eating with my fingers was an interesting experience for which I am not docking stars, but I don’t think it’s really my thing. I’d probably come again, but if someone else really wanted to come, and not because I was really craving this food. That all being said, if someone has not tried Ethiopian food, this is not a bad place to try it.

If you’re a fan of Indian food then you should give Ethiopian cuisine a try. They have their variations in their bread, spices, and texture but they are similar.
I purchased a Groupon for this place and even if there wasn’t a discount, the prices were still good.
The service here is superb! The waitress made excellent recommendations based off what I enjoyed in the past. It got a little busy around the time we ordered, but she still managed to check up on us.
My biggest bone to pick with this place is that their injera comes out cold. My friend made the same complaint when I told her I gave this place a try. The food itself was warm and filling. However, it was an unpleasant surprise that the vegetarian dishes were more flavourful than the meat. I’ve had Ethiopian food before and though this is good, it doesn’t constitute as great.

Food and service mediocre, cake was old and stale. Vegetable options tasted better than meat options on the platter. Place was fairly busy throughout the night but we probably wouldn’t be visiting again.

This is my go to Ethiopian place. I’ve been to plenty of other Ethiopian places but I prefer this place. I always have the veg platter and I love it. I can’t comment on the meat dishes.
You can not go wrong with the vegetarian platter for two (if you have two people). Love it!

We visited Lalibela with a Groupon coupon. We didn’t know anything about Ethiopian food, so we were both curious and cautious. I braced for the worst should the food was bland or weird. We ordered a meat platter and vegetarian platter. We were blown away by how tasty the food was. Some meat/​vegi items were just salty; while some were very spicy. The platters had bits of everything, and all were supposed to be eaten with the flour pancakes that came with them. We were intrigued by the unique flour pancake; we couldn’t make out how it was made. I suspected that the flour pancake was made in-​house; I don’t think it is a supermarket staple.
I will return for more unique experience even without a coupon. This place is inexpensive enough.
Note that if you crave sugar, this is not a place for you. Desserts were just store bought cakes.
Note also that you eat with your hands. I confirmed with a friendly waitress that no one had *ever* requested forks and knifes for dinner here.