cafe lalibela

lalibela is stellar. let me tell you, as much as my wife and i love ethiopian cuisine, we waited far too long to finally try lalibela’s. in the words of andrew zimmern – wow! terrific meal! my wife started with hot yekemim shai tea and i had a st. george beer – excellent. being our first time, we decided to go for their deluxe meal for 2 where we could have an extensive try of most things on their menu. we indulged in alicha sega wat (super tender beef stew in kibbeh sauce with onion and turmeric), doro wat (chicken stew in berbere, kibbeh and spiced butter), key sega wat (tender beef cubes in berbere spice), yebeg alicha (incredibly tender and moist lamb in kibbeh, onion and turmeric), fosolia (luscious green beans and carrots with tomatoes and onions), gomen (collard greens with garlic ginger and onion), misir wat (red lentils with onions, berbere and other spices), tikil gomen (nicely and moderately spiced cabbage, potatoes with turmeric) and yekik alicha (tasty yellow split peas with onion turmeric and herbs); and finishing with a desert of tres leches cake. everything served was fabulous. an example i can offer you is that if you’ve never been a fan of collard greens or lentils – you’ll be a fan when trying them here! lalibela’s experience for us was across the board fantastic. a clean, airy and comfortable seating; incredible service and attention and excellently modest prices – and i repeat, thefoodwas excellent! if you’re not an ethiopianfoodconnoisseur, lalibela is the place to get started. if you’re an aficionádo already, this is a must visit. highly recommended and we will be back… bon appétit from gástro ecléctico!

the first time i had ethiopianfoodwas in amsterdam and its fabulous. when i came to know there is this famous ethiopian restaurant, we with our extended family (7 of us) sauntered in. 

the decor is good but could be more ethiopian considering its very rich culture (the civilization is older than egyptian). the menu was easy to pick. it was a platter and when thefoodcame we all dug in. its a large plate and has to be shared by everyone. 

the wats were awesome.. especially the misir wat. the injeras were light and had just the right sourness. i loved the ethiopian coffee.. which i drank traditionally with salt.. my wife almost fainted :). 

would i come again.. well of course... one thing that would stop me.. the cost :) its a tad expensive but its really good food. 

they also have a market place where you can buy traditional ethiopianfoodas well as other curios.

great food! ethiopianfoodis an interesting experience and always fun. you can eat with your hands or with a fork. but the spongy injera bread they serve us amazing! if i could just have that, i would be a happy camper. service was great.

we were looking for another restaurant when my wife saw "ethiopian" and we changed our plans and stopped here for lunch.  we are glad we made the choice, since it was excellent.  the family platters only start for 3 people, so we had to have individual platters.  with ethiopianfoodyou use the injera flatbread to eat with, no utensils, so not everyone is comfortable doing so.  we love ethiopian.  my wife had the chef's favorite combination (#20)- doro wat (spicy chicken stew), gomen (collard greens), ayeb (homemade cheese), salad and injera.   she was very happy with her meal and ate it all.  i had the manager's special (#21) - kye sega wat (spicy beef stew), tikil gomen (cabbage, potatoes and carrots), yekik alicha (yellow split peas), salad and injera.    i tried to eat all of mine, but ended up with some injera left over.  if we would have needed more injera, they would have provided it.  they also have traditional gluten free injera for an upcharge, if needed.  the service was friendly and attentive.  we are happy to know it is here and will try to come back.

every time i come here i am amazed by how good thefoodis! i've tried other ethiopian places and nothing comes close to this place!foodis beyond good, and so is their tea/coffee. very reasonably priced as well. i highly recommend the vegetarian platter as it is absolutely fantastic. great to share with friends!

the only recommendation i can make is that they get a good cook. i am not ethiopian but i have had great ethiopianfoodin new york and chicago many times. this was just bad food, made by a bad cook. sorry, but i couldn't even finish it. maybe it was an off day, i dont know, but the soup tasted like canned tomato soup with a sprinkling of lentils. the doro wat was spicy enough to burn my stomach and make my nose run, but it was not flavorful, it had a coagulated consistency, and it had clearly been sitting for a few hours. as it was about room temp, im actually afraid i will be suffering fromfoodpoisoning. very disappointing, overall. even the injera was tasteless. none of the tang i was craving. i get it, this is tempe, not nyc, but i wouldn't take anyone to this location. maybe the cooks and owners are ethiopian, but just because you are from somewhere doesn't make you good at the cuisine. aaaaaargh. my stomach is in rebellion from just the four bites i took. if you have any concept of goodfoodfrom any part of the world, and if you know and love ethiopian food, don't go to cafe lalibela. i wish they had at least offered to withhold the check. the waitresses didnt have any reaction to the fact that i was clearly dissatisfied with the quality. what a bummer.

i love cafe lalibela and have recommended it to many friends. the staff is friendly, thefoodis amazing, the portions are generous and the prices are fair. the ambiance is not ideal, but i don't go to restaurants for the ambiance - i eat there as often as i can, and love it every single time!

yuck. i'm surprised that so many people voted that they liked cafe lalibela! i mean, it's not bad... but pretty bland and boring. thefoodtastes so lifeless and watery. i figured that since it was advertised on kjzz so often, that it would be delicious, not so! better luck at blue nile, also in tempe.

very disappointed. my husband and i have been going to cafe lalibela for about two years, and we have always had a wonderful experience. however, we met another couple for dinner there last night, and the service was so poor, i will be looking for another ethiopian restaurant to patronize. we had been telling this couple for almost a year how wonderful the service andfoodwere, and we were finally able to arrange a night out together. apparently, the owners were on vacation and left someone else to run the restaurant and they were doing a very poor job. three of the four people in our party ordered the house hot tea and it never arrived until just before our meal; about 20 to 25 minutes. and, we were never even offered a refill. in past visits, our cups were never even able to get completely empty, before we were offered a refill. the person drinking the iced version of the house tea was offered and had at least two refills. hmmm...in fact we never actually saw our server again until our meal was served. at no time during our meal were we ever asked if there was anything we needed. when our server came to take our dirty dinnerware, the only comment was "these are heavy", as all the plates were stacked to carry away. there was never a bill brought to the table. we were told we would be charged at the register. to complete our wonderful dinning experience, we were charged incorrectly, however it was not discovered we were charged for the other couples meals, until after we had paid, and were standing outside waiting for the other couple, and our sever came out an told us we had been charged incorrectly, and we still owed on our meal; we owed another $5.00. in all fairness though, the meal was excellent. however, that will not be enough inducement to have me go back; at least not until the owners have returned from vacation. i will most definitely be calling beforehand, to make sure they will be there, if we ever decide to go again.

i mean come on! ethiopian food!? you know you're like "wha?". "for realsies?" but it's pretty damn good! wash your hands though because there's no silverwear and i hear if you ask for some they will stab you with a knife. but then they remember they don't have one so they just make angry faces at you. really goodfoodthough. different! try it! put some in your mouth with your hands and you will be happy!

something different. i ate here for the first time a few weeks back. i can't say that i've eaten much ethiopian in the past.

lalibela, however, is fantastic. the ethiopian sponge bread and their meat dishes were all great. i got a sampler plate with 3 separate servings and it was far too much for me to eat. great value for the price, and greatfoodall around. highly recommended.