queen of sheba

not so good. as you know i’m an undercover foodie at heart; tampa is very limited on ethiopia options, this is your only choice. the last time i had good ethiopian food was when i was in london, so i decide to give this place a shot for lunch. unfortunately this was not good, i thought doing the lunch buffet was the best choice sense you can try a little of everything. i highly doubt the dinner menu is even better & the service was slow, my waiter forgot about me/ very short staff. you can get away with not having very good ethnic cuisine if you are the onlyrestaurantof that type in town because most people won't know any better. let me sum it up “overspice (i love spicy, but don’t downed the food) or no spice” what happen to tasting the actual food and for the food that needed spice (veggies, greens etc) where was it?? i tell you where it was it was.... it was at wendy’s, that’s right after the flop lunch; i had to stop and get a burger to make things better.

that was really nice and we appreciated it, but the damage was done. i won't ever return to thisrestaurantand now that i've read other reviews online, i'm not convinced the poor quality of the food was only due to the owner's absence. still, i would not recommend this restaurant.

don't prepare to be treated like royalty.. when the infamous birthday comes around, i like to take an opportunity to eat somewhere cultural with my family. a friend's recommendation brought us to queen of sheba last year. the wait staff were very accommodating, the decor was beautiful, the atmosphere decent. however. the food took a good hour-and-a-half to arrive, the waitress kind of left us at the back of therestaurantand we practically had to yell for her when we needed something. when she finally got to refilling our drinks, she replaced my queen's secret recipe honey tea with white wine, more than likely by mistake. obviously she wouldn't own up to it, but it was easy to tell she was lying. needless to say, we won't be going there again.

the vegetarian queens platter is amazing! my favs on the platter is the cabbage and carrots, savory lentils, yellow split peas and the mashed garbanzo beans (chick peas).


-----27 dec, 2011-----

thisrestaurantis our favoriterestaurantin fl! we drive over an hour to go here. the food is unique, healthy and fun because you eat with your hands. they have gluten free injera bread and regular. the atmosphere is nice and they usually have books and pictures of beautiful ethiopia. the food plays on unique flavor combinations that you don't find in american cuisine specifically the savory, sour and spicy flavors. the people that work there are from ethiopia and some of the most genuinely hospitable people we have ever met. the owner gave me and my boyfriend a whole bottle of honey wine for our graduation. so unexpected and generous! their coffee is wonderful as it is cooked with cloves and served in little cups. the honey wine and red african sweet wine is out of this world!!! it is a great place to eat if you are vegan or gluten sensitive but they have organic meats there too. i have tried both the buffet and dinner. they are both great but we usually get up therefor dinner. i highly recommend this to people who get bored with normal american food but people that don't like new flavors may not like it ( although i haven't met anyone who didn't like it after going here).

great food. we have been to thisrestaurantseveral times. while we drive up from sarasota, it's always worth the experience. great ethiopian food, and very reasonable prices. its a great mixture of flavor and spicing. love the tea too! the owner is a very gracious host, and helps with putting together combinations on the platters to share. cant forget the fun of eating with your fingers too...

a dusky jewel. after having the wonderful experience of trying ethiopian food for the first time in paris, i was somewhat skeptical when i heard that arestaurantfeaturing such cuisine was opening in tampa. luckily, my fear quickly abated after setting foot in therestaurantand receiving a warm greeting from the owner. it was completely dispelled after trying their kitfo (spicy beef tartare) and sambusa appetizers.
i highly recommend the "queen's eight" sampler platter for omnivores, and the ethiopian tea as an accompaniment to the meal. otherwise, if they have ethiopian honey wine available (which isn't always the case), get it! admittedly, it may be off-putting for newbies to try to eat without traditional utensils, but the food is definitely worth it!

my first experience tonight with thisrestaurantwas amazing! i will definitely be back!!!!

even better than the food in ethiopia!. we were enamored with the queen of shebarestaurantbefore our trip to ethiopia this year and consistently headed there for misir wot (red lentils), chicken tibs, and the snappy flavor of injera. amazingly, we visited many restaurants in addis ababa and often left disappointed compared to the quality of our queen of sheba meals!

the only meals that we had in addis that rivaled our tampa fave were the few that were home cooked for us there. that is what really makes the queen of sheba so special - it is like being invited into someone's home! they won't let you leave until you are stuffed and they always want to know how you like what they are doing!

keep up the great work and we hope that the people here will continue to explore and find this amazing experience that truly brings us the feeling of being in the home of an ethiopian family.

love ethiopian food!. i love ethiopian food and have missed it, since the ibex closed in tampa, many years ago. i stumbled upon the queen of sheba, prior to it's opening, spotting the "coming soon" sign in the window. almost in disbelief, i hurried into the place, where norestauranthad survived before, and asked if they were open yet. seble, the owner, said they hadn't even printed a menu yet, but they were open! "no problem, i don't need a menu... i'll have some doro alicha, kik alicha and atakilt, to start", i said. i was so excited and .seble was stunned! i immediately went back to my office and "blogged" about it on realestatesizzle.com.that was two years ago and the queen of sheba is still one of my favorites in south tampa. i love to bring a "newbie" with me for their first adventure with the amazing flavors of ethiopian food, and, of course, eating with your fingers via the injera bread. if you have never experienced ethiopian food, trust me, this is a great place to try it, if you love ethiopian food, chances are this is one of your favorite places in south tampa, too!

thisrestaurantis amazing! i wasn't sure how i'd feel about ethiopian food but now it's one of my favorite places to go. the food has incredible flavor and everything is made with the freshest ingriedients. a wonderful and intrlerestinf place to go for a better experience than just dinner!