The Queen of Sheba

My friends and I had a really pleasant meal here. We ordered a vegetarian selection and a meat selection. The portions were generous. The service was friendly but kind of slow which wasn’t a problem for us because we were mostly there to talk. We were keen to try out some of the Ethiopian beers to complete the experience but unfortunately they were out that day. We walked out stuffed. We really loved the music and ambiance as well. Would eat here again.

A local gem.
Very warm and friendly dining experience in a uniquely decorated setting. It’s a family owned restaurant and this shows itself in every part of the experience — from the service to the cuisine.
Generous servings — great portions — great service. You really can’t go wrong.

This Ethopian place in Kentish Town was good to try. I had never had this type of cuisine. Had Sheba’s special meat selection. Which served two-​three people. Was fun to mop up the meat sauce dishes with the pancake bread it was laid on. I’m not sure I’d go again because texture wise this type of cuisine with this type of bread even for me who likes to experiment was quite strange, but I applaud these type of food becoming more aware to the public.

I’ve always wanted to try Ethiopian food, and finally I came across with this little restaurant. It is not situated in a good area of London, IMO. The neighbourhood didn’t appear all that interesting to visit, although you can get there by subway pretty quickly.
The restaurant looked small although very cozy and clean. It was already packed by 7 p. m and the owner told us to wait for half an hour to come back later. We felt ourselves stranded and with nothing to do for the duration of the waiting. But finally he arranged a place for us and the staff became extra nice with us as a compensation for our long wait, which was a plus for me!
The food was absolutely amazing. First we ordered some samosas and kategna, which was spicy as hell, and the the chef’s special meat combo dish for three people. The food was filled with flavour, spices, condiments and everything which makes us love food!
Although we were three, we’re not able to finish the plate. The size of the plate was just too much for us, even though we loved it.
After we finished eating we had a long conversation with the owner about the place and the food they make.
This was one of the best gastronomical experiences I had in London. Everything looked authentic and new for me — from the decoration, eating with my hands, the size of the plate, the ingredients used in the cooking, etc.
This restaurant is highly recommended for anyone fond of spicy food. Price range is average.

Really good. The waiter was really friendly and helpful. We (2 people) shared the vegetarian platter. I thought it was delicious and my friend who is normally a meat lover really liked it too. The red lentils were especially good. It was £30 which was reasonable (would easily have served 3 people).

One of my favourite parts of going to gigs in London is deciding where to eat beforehand. The geographic diversity of London venues (and the staggering number of gigs I attend) has fortunately resulted in many great restaurant discoveries across London over the past year and a half.
So when the recent MGMT gig at The Forum brought me to Kentish Town, an area of London I had not yet explored, I enthusiastically took to the internet to determine where to dine pre-​show. I settled on The Queen of Sheba due to its proximity to The Forum and because my bf and I are fans of Ethiopian food. (I first encountered Ethiopian food on Los Angeles’ Fairfax Avenue, where Ethiopian restaurants peacefully coexist with Jewish delis, while the bf discovered the cuisine in Berkeley’s ethnic enclaves.)
When we arrived for our 6:30PM reservation, we were greeted by our friendly server and the strong smell of incense. Our reservation proved unnecessary as the restaurant was half-​empty, but it was early on a Wednesday night after all. After deliberating over the menu with refreshing St George Ethiopian beers in hand, we decided on the following dishes:
+ Kategna — crisply toasted injera coated in chili
+ Veggie selection for one — misir we’t, atkelt we’t, and kik alich’a we’t (spicy red lentil stew «simmered in the chef’s special hot sauce,» cabbage with potatoes and carrot, and split yellow peas with turmeric, ginger, and green chili)
+ Yebeg We’t — lamb simmered in red pepper sauce and seasoned with ginger, garlic and black pepper
From the first bite of the addictively crisp and spicy kategna, we were hooked. Though slightly too greasy (your napkin will be covered in dangerously red oil in no time), kategna are my new favourite accompanying snack to beer. Similar to chili-​dusted pita chips but with that sour tang particular to injera, TQoS’ kategna should be packaged and sold for home enjoyment. I wish I had a pack next to me as I type this.
When the main dishes arrive, they are spooned onto a platter of injera the size of a bicycle tire. Additional rolled injera is served on the side at no extra cost. While we enjoyed the lentil vegetable dishes, we fought over the final bits of the lamb stew. The tender lamb and fiery sauce wrapped up with the sour and spongy injera is, to use the amusing English expression, decidedly moreish. I could picture yebeg we’t injera wraps as the next street food hit at KERB or one of London’s other wonderful food markets. You read it here first.
I rate TQoS 4.5 stars, taking away half a star for the slightly excessive oiliness of the kategna and the blandness of the cabbage dish. TQoS is the only Ethiopian restaurant I have been to London so far, so I cannot proclaim it the «best» in London. However, it is the best Ethiopian food I have ever eaten, and I will go back for more of the kategna and yebeg we’t, gig at The Forum or not.
(Visited October 2013.)

This was one of my favorite places to go to in London. The food and drinks are great. I ordered the vegetarian combo every time and am always impressed. The restaurant is small, so I recommend making a reservation. The service is a bit slow, but I think that’s the norm with Ethiopian restaurants. Definitely recommended!

WOW! This was the BEST Ethiopian restaurant I have ever been to and I’ve been to dozens! The place gets busy, so I recommend making reservations. They had plenty of vegan options and the shiro wot was probably the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life! I ate here two nights in a row. I honestly can’t wait to come back to this place. Don’t forget to have some Ethiopian beer!

I was excited to try Ethiopian food here in London as I’d not had it since living in New York. Queen of Sheba didn’t let me down — my friends and I got the £40 meat special between the three of us and it was more than enough. We were all much too full to finish everything and we found ourselves complimenting the food through the entire meal, especially the chicken cooked in Ethiopian butter.
The restaurant is small but the atmosphere is very cosy and relaxing, it feels like the kind of place I’d be happy to return to. Very close to Kentish Town station and chilled out pubs for after-​dinner drinking.

It took 3 tries to get into this restaurant. Benches a bit narrow, and always booked, but the food is delicious. A slightly broader array of vegetarian (and possibly meat) options than many other Ethiopian restaurants. Very conveniently located near Tube.

We wanted to go there already since some time. The first time when we tried to go there the restaurant was packed and unfortunately we didn’t have a booking. This time where smarter and booked ahead.
The food was just amazing. We had the £ 40 sharing platter. It says it’s for 2 to 3 but it would rather say it’s for 3 to 4. We couldn’t finish it despite everything was really delicious. To finish everything we had the coffee ceremony. This means freshly roasted coffee the ethopian way. Great flavours you have to try this.
The restaurant itself is cosy and nice. The staff is very friendly.
We certainly will be back.

I have been visiting TQOS for many years and have not been disappointed with the food or the service. The standard has remained high all these years and my visit on Friday confirmed this.
The service can get slow when it gets busy so if you are the Mount Rushmore type you may find reason to complain. It is not negligently slow; the kitchen is slow with only a couple of staff.
I eat vegetarian or fish when I eat out and the vegetarian platter at £30 to share is great value. Choose wisely from the menu; many of the starters are not good value for money and you’re probably better spending extra on a main. For example, I ordered stuffed chilli and got two teeny weeny chillies for £3.50! I have learnt my lesson and will stick to main dishes.
In comparison to other Ethiopian restaurants in London, TQOS strikes a good balance in terms of value for money and quality of food. Check it!

Good Ethiopian food and terrifically friendly staff!

I was always a little afraid of this place. How wrong I was. Possibly it was because of the connotations of Sheba. Sounds a little close to the cat food of the same name. That aside, I can honestly say this is probably one of the best places to eat should you find yourself in the K-​Town Tufnell Park area.
The décor has a simple Ethiopian vibe and the chairs are a little hard. However, the atmosphere, the food and the staff make this a truly awesome place to experience something new and delicious.
I can thoroughly recommend the creamy mushroom chicken dish and the spicy lamb dish (£8.50 each) Forgive my ignorance, but I can’t remember the names of them, but if in doubt as to what to have the, quite frankly, stunning lady that runs The Queen of Sheba who will be happy to help out with any choices that need to be made.
The food arrives and then the bread arrives. You may ask yourself where is the cutlery? But my sweet sausage friend, there’s none to be seen. That’s right. It’s a very hands on job and it’s important to wash your hands before hand. The bread has a slight vinegar taste to it, which may not be to everyone’s pallet, On the other hand I think it compliments the the strong spicy/​creamy flavours of the food. Best way I have found if people like TQoS is just to throw them in at the deep end. 4 visits down and I’ve never had an unsatisfied friend.
This restaurant whilst punching out some of the best food in North London still feels very unique in its approach. If you have a problem of where to eat, and you can find it. maybe the Queen of Sheba can help you.
Sexy Rob

I went a couple weeks ago now and absolutely loved this place. It had come highly recommended by a lot of different friends and I was glad to get the chance to try it myself. I was really pleased to find it lived up to the hype. The food was great and the staff lovely. They had my favorites on the menu and it has a much nicer atmosphere than other Ethiopian restaurants I have been to in London.

The service was great and the food even better. I went with a group of five people and with drinks and sharing four dishes and three salads, our bill came to about £80 and our stomachs full. The atmosphere was really relaxed… we stayed chatting and finishing our drinks well after our meal was over and never felt rushed to leave, only receiving our check when asked.
Unlike other Ehiopian restaurants where the food comes out already served on the bread, our server came out with our main courses and served us all individually. The raw beef dish we shared was excellent. The salads we had as sides, I could have passed on — though good it would have been better to have tried the other side dishes. All in all, highly recommended.

I had never tried Ethiopian cuisine before i went here, so this would be as much a review of the place as of the cuisine.
I had heard from two independent sources that Ethiopian food is somewhat similar to Indian. So i thought this would be a safe place to take my vegetarian friends.
I felt the food was good (except the Katinga … way too oily). The meat dishes were very much South Asian in appearance. They provide customers with an option of ordering small portions of 3 main course dishes together … enabled me to sample more of the food :)
The concept of multiple people eating from a huge portion of bread (which is a lot like dosa btw) kept on a huge centre plate is pretty unique.
Although i really liked the non-​veg dishes, the others in the group found the veg dishes to be about average.
The service standard left much to be desired. The service was excruciatingly slow. We spent more than 2.5 hours there, and not willingly. The Ethiopian wine was not available, and they ran out of bread. However they did redeem themselves partially by the efforts of the lady who waited on us. She politely accepted their mistakes and said there had been some incident in the kitchen (they burnt the lentils perhaps … who knows: p). I have seen very few restaurants acknowledging their mistakes and not treating customers like blind idiots. We weren’t charged for drinks because of the delay. Plus one star for this.
Overall, not a very good experience … but i will give them another chance some day.

Another great African restaurant near Tufnel Park, though from the outside it might not seem appealing. Don’t let the fade 70’s presentation put you off though as this has some excellent dishes and is great for groups of people or friends/
Price wise the food is good, most main dishes for under ‘£10 and I’d recommend the lamb with chili which is lovely. Lot’s of dishes for the veggies amongst us as well.
Service is friendly but slow; I hate restaurants where everything is rushed and you feel forced out after dining so this suits me fine.
Very good African food then with lots of flavour and at a good price.