Best Ethiopian restaurants in the Bay Area

Jan 19, 2024

Temescal’s Abesha is a lovely setting for Ethiopian food; shining lights over paintings draw the eye into the minimalist dining room. You might start the meal with crisp sambussas, fried isosceles triangles containing lentils, which have a gorgeous oily sheen and come with a side of berbere dipping sauce. One of the restaurant’s areas of expertise is kitfo, traditionally raw, minced and spiced beef — especially the special version ($21.95), which swirls together berbere-seasoned beef tartare with cheese and gomen (simmered collard greens). The hefty dish is even better when served alongside a veggie combo ($18.95), compounding the kitfo’s flavor with hot misir wot (lentils) and well-dressed salad.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Beer and wine

Hours: Lunch and dinner daily

Phone: 510-653-8383

Although most of the food is pretty remarkable at East African cafe Alem’s Coffee, the crusty bread is particularly memorable. It’s used to scoop up the shihan ful ($10.95), a breakfast-favorite stew that swirls together fava beans, minced chiles, feta cheese, a glug of olive oil and berbere, the Ethiopian and Eritrean spice blend. The crackly French roll is also featured in the fantastic, carb-heavy umbotito ($7.50), a sandwich made of tender potatoes, green chiles, red onions and vinegar for a bit of acid. Alem’s Coffee doubles as a local hangout, with lots of outdoor seating, where East Africans sip bold coffee and chat. Don’t sleep on the lunch options like the brawny, spicy tibsy ($14), a saucy meat stew served over injera flatbread.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Soft drinks

Hours: Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

Phone: 510-655-6003

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Barcote owner Mulu Reda serves a rich menu that spans protein options, including chicken, fish, beef and tofu. Try it all in the ultimate meat and veggie combo platter ($31.95), which features stewed chicken and beef and various veggies — most notably the chickpea-based buticha, sometimes referred to as Ethiopian hummus. Carnivores, be sure to sample the raw kitfo ($25), which has a pronounced taste of cardamom and sizzlingly hot mitmita spice. On the appetizer front, try the sambussas ($8.95), which have the crispness of lumpia. Those arrowhead-shaped packages are filled with whole lentils (or beef) for a chewier texture; make sure to dab them with the fiery berbere sauce. Accompany your meal with a glass of sweet tej ($6.95), honey wine from Oakland producer Enat.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Beer and wine

Hours: Lunch and diiner daily

Phone: 510-923-6181

Website

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Operating in North Oakland for over 30 years, Cafe Colucci recently moved to a larger location to make room for its spice arm, Brundo Spice Co. The Ethiopian restaurant draws both carnivores and vegans with various platters ($15.75-$16.95), which come on metal plates over fluffy injera. Or try snacks like poplpetti ($9), super savory meatballs topped with crumbled cheese. To drink, consider the lemonade ($5), a tart brew of sweet citrus flavored with pungent Ethiopian basil leaves. Make sure to pick up versatile spice blends like berbere or the much hotter mitmita (2 ounces for $9) to upgrade your home cooking.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Soft drinks

Hours: Brunch and dinner daily

Phone: 510-601-7999

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A stone’s throw from Lake Merritt, Enssaro offers diners a spacious environment and a comprehensive look at Ethiopian cuisine. Of course there are meat and veggie combos ($17-$57), but some appetizers like the nachos ($15) take a contemporary detour. If you’re looking to try kitfo, you could commit to a whole order, but there are also kitfo rolls ($16), where the spiced beef tartar is slotted inside injera spirals. Tame the heat with a spiced, sweetened tea, available hot or iced. Meat highlights include ye bere alicha ($19), turmeric-hued beef and potatoes, and the bolder, saucy ye beg wot ($19), lamb cubes cooked slowly in berbere and ghee.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Full bar

Hours: Lunch and dinner Wednesday-Monday

Phone: 510-238-9050

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Nestled in a Fremont strip mall, Haleluya is simultaneously a smoothie shop and a casual Ethiopian eatery. Art hangs on cream yellow walls, and the cafe-adjacent menu of flavored lattes and blended fruits only adds to its charm. For breakfast, there’s homey Ethiopian-style eggs ($12.99), a scramble with chopped jalapeños, tomatoes and onions, and ful ($12.99), pureed spiced fava beans. It’s easy to be smitten by the densely spiced lamb tibs ($16.99) in rosemary-flavored sauce, gingerly placed over strips of fluffy injera. Extinguish the spice with a juicy and refreshing apricot smoothie ($6).

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Soft drinks and smoothies

Hours: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday

Phone: 510-270-8310

The inside of Lemat in Berkeley is stunning, with its wood-paneled walls, long bar, ridiculously comfortable chairs and many woven Messob baskets — some are used for serving, others hang from the ceiling. It’s obvious that the restaurant is designed for large events, complete with a fully adjustable lighting rig. Don’t overthink it and go with a meat ($19.95) and veggie ($16.95) combo. The most notable meat option is the yesiga wot, chopped beef morsels in a thick berbere sauce, complemented by tangy injera. The veggie combo gives diners access to some off-menu options like buttercream-thick buticha (chickpea dip) and beets, a somewhat rare offering in the Bay Area. It's worth noting that the injera is made with 100% teff; it’s functional but crumblier than others.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Full bar

Hours: Dinner Monday-Saturday

Phone: 510-430-2717

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Of all the Ethiopian restaurants in the Bay Area, LeYou is best suited to introduce diners to a more contemporary take on the cuisine. One thing that jumps out immediately is the San Jose restaurant’s focus on small bites. Breaking from the norm of beef kitfo, LeYou reaches for ahi tuna (or salmon), creating an enthralling appetizer-size version dubbed kitfo bites ($10.95), served with crisped injera. The craggy beef sambussas come in egg roll form, vigorously flavored with cumin. For more crisp excellence, you cannot skip the kategna ($7.95), a toasted injera slathered with berbere oil. The vegan options are plentiful and less common, such as beets ($5.95) and sauteed zucchini ($8.95).

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Beer and wine

Hours: Dinner daily

Phone: 408-320-2620

Website

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Sandwiched between a clothing store and a tattoo shop in a San Jose strip mall, Kategna offers a vibrant, spacious environment. It encourages a communal eating experience with the option of gathering around Messob baskets, a traditional serving tray and table. Don’t skip the succulent beef tibs ($18.99), a healthy portion of cubed steak stir-fried with onions and peppers. Less hefty but still incredibly rich is the ful ($15.99), a thick fava bean mixture. Wash down the boldness with crisp Ethiopian beer ($4.75) or double down on the spice with a warm tea ($2.50).

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Full bar

Hours: Dinner Thursday-Tuesday

Phone: 408-216-9695

Website

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Opened in 2019, Mela Bistro offers creative, newer takes on Ethiopian food. The most notable of which is the tuna kitfo ($24), which is a rarity among Bay Area restaurants. It’s not as spicy as other kitfos (even if ordered hot), but the minced raw fish is strikingly melty. The technicolored vegetarian platter ($17) is a pleasing sampler of piquant lentils, well-seasoned beets and blistered string beans. If you’re a fan of injera, which is made with only teff here, make sure to try the decadent teff chocolate cake. Mela is in a prime location in Uptown, Oakland, so parking can be tough, but it’s conveniently near a BART station.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Beer and wine

Hours: Dinner Monday-Saturday

Phone: 510-844-4886

Website

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Moya is a quaint Ethiopian restaurant started in 2009 by Fana Alemayehu, who comes from the northern region of Tigray. The SoMa restaurant briefly went away in 2012 due to a fire and closed during the pandemic before reopening in 2021. The meatless options like the mushroom tibs ($17) — sauteed mushrooms with onions, berbere spice and rosemary — are as memorable as any of the meat offerings, though the sauteed beef tibs ($17.50) and doro wot ($15), simmered chicken in a piquant, rich sauce, are fantastic as well. Start with a vegan sampler ($17), which comes with spicy lentils, collard greens, cabbage stew, and yellow peas, then add a more substantial entree and ayb ($5), a house-made cheese. Moya also serves as a community space, where Alemayehu’s daughter Remy Menelik has hosted fundraising events for Tigrayan refugees escaping the genocidal violence of the Ethiopian government.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Soft drinks

Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday, dinner Monday-Saturday

Phone: 415-431-5544

Website

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Perfect for a quick lunch, Selam is a cozy restaurant in a San Jose shopping center where regulars sip tea and read newspapers. The affordable vegetarian combo ($13.99) is impressive for its luscious lentils, which come two ways: The more traditional, spicy red lentil has that piquant quality, but the herby green lentils steal the show. The shiro (chickpea stew) is distinguished by its bouillon-boosted savoriness. Selam’s injera has a smooth and almost elastic texture, like a high-hydration sourdough loaf. Do like the locals and pair it with a hot tea ($2.50).

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Soft drinks

Hours: Lunch daily, dinner Monday-Saturday

Phone: 408-984-9600

The soothing sounds of Ethiopian jazz calms diners into a relaxed state. The horns, drums and strings channel serenity for eating and imbibing honey wine ($8). If you’re really hungry, the buttery quanta firfir ($15.95), dried beef and injera rolls cooked with ghee and spices, can tame big appetites. For something on the smaller side, crunchy sambussas ($12.50) filled with mashed lentils are especially notable for their slightly acidic berbere sauce. The restaurant is in a crowded San Jose shopping plaza so parking can be a challenge, but there’s plenty of street parking available, too.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Full bar

Hours: Lunch and dinner Wednesday-Sunday

Phone: 408-645-5001

Website

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The scene inside Zeni is astonishingly charming. There’s a thatched-roof hut over the bar and an area with shorter stools where food is served in a traditional Mesob. The community’s love for the place is palpable, especially on a Friday night when the place buzzes with excitement. Although the restaurant does many things well, its forte is kitfo, steak tartare seasoned with aromatic cardamom and mitmita. (It’s available as part of the $25 meat combo platter.) If you can’t handle raw beef, you can ask for it to be cooked to your liking, though the staff recommends it raw, rightly so. As the spice of the meal builds, look to the honey wine ($10) for a sweet, crisp oasis of refreshment.

Payment options: Credit cards accepted

Drinks: Beer and wine

Hours: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday

Phone: 408-615-8282

Website

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Originally published on Feb. 21, 2023