Addis Ethiopian Restaurant

Dining here was my first experience eating Ethiopian food and it was wonderful. The food was delicious. The staff is accommodating, kind, and helpful. This restaurant is very reasonably priced considering the quality of the food and service and its location in DC.

The food was delicious and the staff was very courteous and accommodating. The atmosphere is very welcoming and home like. I ordered the vegetarian combo 2 which came with split peas, spicy and mild lentils, tomatoes with jalapeños, cabbage, and potatoes with carrots. I took the picture of the vegetarian combo 1 because I had them change my meal so that I could get more food lol. I topped the meal off with a glass of honey wine. I highly
Recommend this place.

My 2^nd time back here and it was great! Addis is one of the few ethio spots in DC that sell honey wine. You sleepin if you have not had it. We entered in and immediately I smiled seeing a beautiful older habesha woman preparing buna in their Ethiopian traditional attire. The aroma of fresh East African coffee beans is priceless.
Our waiter came and we ordered a bottle of wine and our entrees. I had the combo no. 2 which is a mixture of meat and vegetarian options. Shiro is my favorite (smashed lentil beans with spices). Our honey wine was great but unfortunately the sweetness attracts gnats. We had this issue today and I had that issue last time. Unsure, if this is controllable. The only reason for my knocking off a star. Can be irritating eating and waving them off.
Their food is great and seasoned well. The ambiance is great for most events whether it be a date, bday celebration or just a meal with family or friends.

Really excellent stuff. Substantially cheaper than the other Ethiopian place nearby. The Addis Combo 1 (meat) and the Vegetarian Combo 2 was enough food for three adults. Very friendly staff. I will definitely go back.

Great service, reasonable price… the food is good nothing extraordinary. We had the 8 combo vegetarian and combo 1

I was in Washington DC on business, and one of my friends from my military days who lives in Alexandria agreed to meet me for dinner. We both enjoy unique, non chain, ethnic food and we agreed on Ethiopian.
I’ve had Ethiopian food in the past and definitely enjoy it, choosing this restaurant to partake in an Ethiopian dinner was an excellent choice. I’m not from Washington DC so I’m not exactly sure about the area where this restaurant is, but when we went inside the restaurant is set up nicely, has ample seating, and also have the bar for those who may be dining alone.
Each of us ordered a meal that has a variety of items included and both of us equally enjoyed our respective meals. I am NOT an expert on Ethiopian food, however I can tell you that my taste buds work and that everything I had was exceptionally tasty, and was equal to or better than Ethiopian food I’ve experienced in the past.
The prices were reasonable, actually I think they were better than reasonable considering I was in Washington DC, and we both left full and happy. If you like Ethiopian food and are in Washington DC, I recommend this as a good option.

Dropped by here with a friend recently and was pleasantly surprised. Delicious food and great service. We shared a platter — yum, yum yum. It was Saturday night and they had someone playing on the piano. Really nice touch.

Went during the H Street festival and even with everything that was going on outside the service inside was amazing. Portions are very generous and the beer is served in a frozen glass. Great place over all!

The last of 3 different Ethiopian places we tried when we were in DC last week. All three did some things the best, some things not as good. Having learned our lesson the previous time, this time we only ordered a single order of the combo plus a couple sambusas to share, and that was indeed quite enough food for two hungry people. The sambusas were excellent. Some of the items in the combo were excellent, some I thought could’ve been a bit more flavorful. None were *bad*, though.
I also asked if I could try their fresh cottage cheese, as we’d had fresh Ethiopian cheese in an entrée at one of the other places, and at this point, it came with one of the combos but not the one we wanted. They did provide it, at a cost of 2 dollars, which is reasonable; that said, their cheese was a lot blander than the other place’s.
We also tried their tej: plus points for being freshly made, which I could absolutely tell, but while it wasn’t bad, I personally thought it could also have been a little more strongly flavorful. Still worth it, though, just not as good as the homemade tej of our favorite place back home.
This is also the first Ethiopian place I’ve ever seen that only gives you a limited amount of injera, then charges you for more (the amount they give you for free would not remotely be enough to eat all the food they provided). Was fine in our case as we had a LivingSocial voucher to use, and wouldn’t have hit the 30 bucks otherwise anyway, with the monstrous amount of food a single combo order is and how filling Ethiopian food is in general, but it was kind of weird, especially because they only told us the *second* time we asked for more injera.
Service was… adequate. We had a little trouble communicating sometimes due to language barrier issues, and they clearly don’t get that many LS vouchers, as it took them a while to figure out how to redeem it, but the food came out correctly and in a reasonable amount of time, so no major complaints.
We did also get asked for money from a homeless person that walked in, once — not saying that’s the fault of the restaurant, just pointing out that it is clearly kind of on the border between the nice part of H street and the not so nice part.

I really enjoyed my experience at Addis. The service was top notch & the food was delicious. Our waitress was kind & nice and attentive. The owner came over to our table after our meal to ask us about our experience. He took the time to talk to us about our food how we liked it, and was kind enough to answer questions we had about Ethiopian cuisine. He gave us a very informative and descriptive background about the food and culture over there, even giving us insight on his upbringing and the food he had growing up. We are from Virginia Beach but definitely will be back when we are in the area.

A friend and I came here while in town and well I had some expectations of good Ethiopian, but I was a bit letdown here…
Around 1:30pm on Wednesday afternoon, this place was basically empty. As a New Yorker, I constantly anticipate people everywhere, but this place had no one by New York standards.
We are both vegetarians and we ordered the veggie sampler for 2, but the waitress got it all mixed up and basically just brought out a veggie sampler for 1. But despite the snafu, we did manage to both get full.
Decent veggie dishes except for the cabbage, which my friend said tasted like it was about to go bad (or had been sitting out awhile). And after he pointed it out, I would have to agree. Good thing I have a blood hound with me.
Not a terrible dining experience and the bill came to less than $ 20 for two people, but don’t think I’ll be back again.

For the money… This is best value Ethiopian food on H street. It doesn’t have the ambiance of Ethiopic, but the food quality is on par, at a great price.
Great meal, good service, regular customer

My husband and I came here before heading out to a Capital Fringe show, quite hungry after a long day of not enough food. We left contentedly full but, unfortunately, we had some mixed feelings about the restaurant. The atmosphere was cozy and the service was lovely, which made us feel very much at home in the restaurant. The menu had a nice selection, but we felt that much of the food was just a little less interesting than many of the other Ethiopian restaurants we’ve tried in the area.
The most delicious thing we tried here was their honey wine, which was not only spectacular but also apparently homemade. It is extremely sweet but also delightfully complex. My husband also ordered a meat sambusa and found that it was fine but not great. Weirdly, while we were waiting for food they brought us bread and spicy dip, which I have never seen before in an Ehtiopian restaurant.
For entrees, he ordered the Lega Tibs and I ordered the Vegetarian Combo #1. The combo was huge and I ended up having to share it with my husband in order to finish it; his dish was a pretty normal size for Ethiopian food. The best elements of the veggie combo were the yellow split peas and the cabbage & carrots. Unfortunately, most of the other components were a bit under-​spiced and particularly under-​salted. My husband’s lamb was similarly under and he was a bit unhappy with how the dish came out.
While we loved the staff and the honey wine, we were just a bit disappointed overall in the flavor of the food. In the end, we’re probably unlikely to come back here in favor of one of our other favorite spots. Not a bad spot, just far from our favorite or the best in the area.

Stopped by here after craving Ethiopian food all morning. At just before noon I was the only one inside which was perfect but shocking after tasting the food. I grabbed a seat by the front window that allowed plenty of light for reading and chatted with the owner Teddy as my food was being prepared. He has been working for 1.5 years to get the restaurant ready and he obviously loves what him and his family have done.
Now onto the food. First off this is a feast of portions and flavors. I could have easily shared this $ 11 veggie platter with another person if we had an appetizer as well. Plenty of kick to all of the sides and he even started me with some great bread and spicy sauce. Nothing was phoned in. All that I wish is that I had room to eat more!

Tried the Lega Tibs, which is tender lamb cubes fried with spices, hot pepper and onions, it was pretty mild until you bite into one of those peppers that you may not have recognized as a pepper. The dish was very filling and very tasty.
The customer service was superb and right on point with everything from beverage, to food delivery to clean-​up to check. I really appreciated the kindness of the servers and help with deciding what to order. I knew that I wanted lamb, but also wanted seafood. However, there was none to be found on the menu which is why that 5^th star does not appear.

We combined a meat and veggie combo on one platter. Flavors were delicious! Add a Meta Premium Beer and don’t forget desert. The owner was gracious in cooking up a special pasta for our kids.

Went on a birthday lunch mid week. We were the only ones in the place. The food was excellent, the service good. The waitress didn’t speak much English, but this was not a problem for us. I’d just recommend they improve their vocab for their own menu! Great value for the quality and quantity of food. We will definitely be returning.
Why four stars? The décor could be a little more complete, and the TV doesn’t need to be on 24-​hour news.

Newest arrival on H Street, so new the long glass-​tiled bar is dry cos no license yet! And yes you’re gonna be scooping up your food with soft teff flatbread (injera), no forks to be seen so a meal at Addis means some serious carb loading. But don’t worry if you like animal protein, the menu has beef, chicken and lamb entrees for about $ 14, and veg about $ 9.
Tried most of the veg by ordering combo #1, supposed to be 5 varieties for $ 13 but arrived with 6. Alas the shiro had run out so instead I got collards. Loved the defin miser (spicy lentils) and the yetimatim salad, also spicy.
Would be more of a fan if the food had arrived hotter (temp). My veg was more like lukewarm, a heated plate would go a LONG way here. The flatbread was flat-​out cold. And the shiro (which did finally arrive) deserves a spoon, it’s yummy but I find it annoyingly difficult to eat soup with injera.
Vegetarian rating: 5 stars for the 9+ choices including split peas, mild or spicy lentils, string beans & carrot, beets & potatoes, cabbage, potato & carrot, shiro (mixed bean sauce) and a tomato, onions, peppers & parsley salad called yetimatim. Collard greens are avail but not yet listed, oops. Definitely a destination for veggies!
This is a low-​key casual place, very reasonably priced food, quiet enough for conversation, love the big round table in the center and the ceiling mosaics. Excellent friendly service too. But forgive me, I can’t help thinking of the injera pieces as washcloths lol.

GREAT addition to the neighborhood. Ethiopic is nice and classy and all, but I’m glad there is now a more affordable Ethiopian option in the neighborhood. Addis is just what H Street needs. A low-​key, casual, affordable, delicious Ethiopian restaurant in the neighborhood.
We ordered the Veggie Platter Number 2. It had 8 different veggie dishes. All were delicious, flavorful, and it was all for around $ 14. It was enough for 2 people to share.
The service was very good. Our server was kind and attentive. Also, a person who I assume was the owner came by at the end of our meal to ask if we enjoyed everything, which was very nice.
Only 2 things stood out to me as things that need to be worked on:
1) When I asked for a box to put my leftovers in, I was not given a fork or any good way of putting the injera and veggies into the box. So, I just sort of wrapped it all up like a big burrito with my hands, and placed it in the box. No big deal, but it might be best to have the server wrap the food up in the future.
2) The current payment system is via tablet and Square. So, the server swipes your card in front of you, and you sign the tablet with your finger and all that, which is fine. However, the server kind of has to stand there while you are deciding how much of a tip to leave. Which can be kind of awkward, especially if you want to leave a bad tip. Luckily, the service was very good, so this wasn’t an issue.
Overall, this is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. I imagine this place will be very successful for years to come.
PS: There seems to be a minimum credit card purchase. I believe it is $ 10.10, but I’m not entirely sure. This was written on the bill holder thing, but it was hard to read. It was definitely at least $ 10. Some of the meals on the menu were less than $ 10, so beware.

I would encourage everyone to give this place a shot. The restaurant just opened on Jan 28^th. Prices are reasonable, service great (although the place was quite empty I’ll give it that), and food pretty darn good.
I loved Addis Ethiopia. The restaurant and the feel reminded me of one of my favorite indian places in Tanzania.
The food was delicious. We ordered the vegetarian combo (5 types of dishes on a platter — spicy lentils, greens, curried lentils, etc) and the meat combo (5 dishes — minced meat, lamb, chicken, with 2 sides of veggies). Injera was soft, delightful, fluffy, not too sour! Dishes were not at all greasy which was nice since a lot of Ethiopian places I’ve been in serve greasy veggies.
After a long freezing day outdoors, I was so cold I ordered the spiced Ethiopian tea. I was surprised to find out we could get bottomless refills!
Alex the co-​owner came to bid us good night, which I appreciated given the business is VERY new. I wish you all the best in your new business!
Amesege’nallo (thank you in Amharic) !