Axum Ethiopian Restaurant

We have eating her on two separate occasions and the experience and food was amazing. The food was fresh and the service was excellent. I highly recommend If your looking for something different in downtown Indy. The injera was freshly made and the portions are very generous. The restaurant was very clean and they have big screen TVs and play soothing Ethiopian music. I highly recommend Axum Ethiopian restaurant.

I had been meaning to check out Axum for a few months since discovering there is an Ethiopian place just a few blocks from where I live.
I called ahead to place my order for pick up — which was difficult because there is no menu posted online. The gentleman that took my order over the phone was helpful and I ended up letting him know I wanted 1 beef, 1 chicken, collard greens, and I let him pick the rest of my dish choices.
When I arrived 10 minutes later my to-​go container was waiting for me on the counter! Super fast service! They do take credit cards and I did not have to stand around waiting to pay while my food got cold.
The reason I don’t give Axum 5 stars is the food was good, but not great. I would have liked the chicken and beef dishes to be a little spicier, since I was asked if, i wanted spicy when my order was taken. However, the quality of the meat was excellent. Nice, big pieces of chicken and well cooked stew meat in the beef dish. No bone fragments that I have gotten at some similar take out Indian restaurants.
I would definitely go back.

My husband and I stopped by for lunch. The waiter was very friendly and asked if we’ve ever had Ethiopian food before (I had actually made some myself before). He made a very good recommendation and everything was hot, fresh, and very filling. There are so many things we wanted to try, so we’ll have to definitely come back. I did manage to talk my husband into using the injera bread to pick up the food instead of using silverware (but he did bring a fork just in case). The décor was nice, and there were large televisions with a loop of YouTube videos of Ethiopian music. I would highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to try something different.

Came in for a lunch on Saturday.. This was my first time with Ethiopian good but Axum took the time to show me the correct way to eat the food he made. The lamb was exceptional.
Thanks Axum.

A quaint little family owned authentic Ethiopian restaurant across from the central library. Our waiter was very helpful with helping us understand the menu. The food was very flavorful. The beef was a little too spicy for me (I’m a wimp). There were no desserts on the menu, but our waiter said they are working on adding some. Cute place!

This was a nice spot for dinner on my trip through Indianapolis. Staff was very friendly and gave great recommendations for ordering. They even added a side of shiro on request. Thanks!
Dining room is big enough for groups as well.

I love Ethiopian food and having a new place in my neighborhood is great, but my first visit was a letdown. I was the only diner. The service was polite, but impersonal. I ordered the vegetarian combo. The tikel gomen (cabbage and carrots) was delicious, but the other dishes were bland, and the injera was a bit dry. I’ll give them another try one day, but not until I read enough positive reviews here to convince me the chef has improved the recipes. Thank goodness for that tasty tikel gomen!

Friendly Service, excellent tasting, fresh food with generous portions. Lots of healthy options, just don’t be a hero and try to finish everything!

My companion recommend we try axum based on a review in Urban Times. I was intrigued by the COMPLETELY different style of getting the food to your mouth. No silverware (unless you ask for it), instead its a kind of rubbery (I know it sounds weird!) kind of crêpe that you use to scoop the delicious mixtures of healthy spiced concoctions. I was thoroughly satisfied by the amount of food in our vegetarian sampler. The two of us were full on one dish!
Service was very friendly.

I’ve been to over 20 Ethiopian restaurants over the years as it’s one of my favorite cuisines. Unfortunately Axum’s was the most disappointing. The only dish we liked was the Shiro spiced check peas.
The Misir Wot (red lentils) one of our favorites was a bit dry and mild. part of it was dry and discolored the way food gets if it’s not been covered and put in the fridge. We had 3 dishes that had no flavor (green lentils, cabbage and collard greens). Which was a shame as cabbage is one of our favorites and one we always get.
We had a chicken and egg dish which we simply did not like the flavor. It was odd and we couldn’t say way. This is regular dish for us and we’ve had it different ways but never in a way we didn’t like. The chicken was very dry and must have been cooked separately with the sauce added on top. The biggest disappointment was the lamb which was bland and so grizzly we felt like spitting out every bite.
It would have been nice to have another Ethiopian restaurant in town, but this one has a long way to go before we’d go back.

It’s going to be really hard for any Ethiopian restaurant to get less than four stars from me. The food is just so delicious! But relatively new, I’m excited for Axum to work out some of the startup kinks and bump it up to five.
We visited at a slow time where only two other tables were seated, so although there was only one server, he was timely, attentive, and very friendly. Ordering was a bit confusing, as we ordered a vegetarian platter of six options but the meal only came out with four. Our server was accomodating, though, bring out two more choices plus a refill of our favorite from the original set, as well as extra injera. I was surprised to find no extra charge for any of this, some of which went beyond what we had ordered.
The food was great, though not quite as flavorful as other restaurants I’d been to, and some of it came out a bit cold. Most of the dishes were excellent, though, and I’ll definitely be going back for another platter.
All in all, it’s just great to finally have Ethiopian food downtown. If you’ve never had it before, this is a great place to start.

Fantastic meal. Well spiced food. Good combinations of flavor. The place is neat and modern. Effram provided great service. Prices are moderate. We will make this regular on our short list of great ethnic restaurants in the area. They only opened on ¹²⁄₅ and are still working up to announcing a grand opening, but they seem to be off to a very good start.

This is an amazing Ethiopian place downtown. If you’re not familiar with Ethiopian, they serve the dishes on a sourdough tasting thin flatbread called injera. The injera is used to eat instead of silverware.
Everything I’ve tried has been fantastic. The service is always fast, helpful and polite.
I’ve started coming here at least once a week.
The menu can be a little intimidating. I recommend getting the daily special or another combination so you can try more things. It’s also a great value. Any of the combinations could easily be shared by 2 – 3 people.

Awesome place! Great food, great value and great people! What a discovery in downtown. So happy we have an Ethiopian restaurant again.

This place opened December 5^th in the spot that used to belong to the abbey right next to the central library. They have an extensive menu and a huge bar with TVs. They currently only have domestic beers, and wine. The wine was of good quality, not just from a box or barefoot. I hope to see some local, craft or maybe even mead in their future. The food was good. We ordered the vegetarian combo and I enjoyed everything I tried. The bread that is the plate really makes the meal. It has such a unique taste and you eat the dishes with small pieces of it. I saw they have silverware if someone prefers that.
The food was tasty too. I only had the vegetarian combo dish, the people behind us had a plate heaping with meat as their dish. I think the combo is the way to go. They let you choose up to 6 meat or veggie options for your plate. It’s reasonably priced for the amount of food you get. I recommend it as a interesting new experience at the very least. Everyone should try injera (their bread) at least once in their lives.
The service was great, although since they are new there wasn’t many people. I hope they can grow well there. The space is accommodating and can hold large parties. I enjoyed my experience their.

The food was amazing! Had the Axum Combination Platter picked out by the chef, so the options were a surprise. Loved it all! Definitely get the spicy goat dish – you will not regret it! I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for an authentic experience. Love me some injera!

We went there on a Sunday afternoon. There were a several people sitting at the bar including a party of 4 that knew the owner. (or who I assume was the owner)
The dining room was nice but there was incense burning that was a little off putting.
The owner came out to our table and asked if we liked meat or vegetarian. I said vegetarian and my partner said either. The owner said he would make us a combination dinner.
While I’m not exactly sure what we had, it was delicious!!! Our food was brought out to us and we each had individual platters of food. The meal was served with a spongy bread that you used to eat with, very fun!
I wish them luck as I don’t think this is the most ideal location. I was afraid parking would be a problem but there is ample parking in the back that you access off of St. Clair street. There is one disabled parking spot and there are no steps at the back door. The only thing was that the back door was locked so my partner had to go in the front entrance and ask if they could please unlock the door and they were happy to.
We will definitely be going back.

First Ethiopian food experience. Very tasty. We ordered meat & vegetarian combination plates. I’m still not sure exactly what I ordered and received, but it was delicious. Come with an appetite!