I am a great lover of Ethiopian food, and when I moved here in September I was thrilled to find that there were 4 Ethiopian restaurants in Ottawa.
For newbies to Ethiopian I would describe it as a milder, less curryesque version of Indian food, that you eat with your hands and a mildly sour/salty crepe.
Unfortunately, it appears that my favorite one, East African Restaurant is now closed (tops taken off the tables, broken window, and lights off for over a month). Though they frequently got my order wrong and the service was slow as molasses the food was amazing and the prices were fair.
My new favorite is Habesha on the corner of Rideau and Charlotte. The food is delicious, the portions are decent and the price is good. The service is a little slow, but that may be because there usually is only one person working. I like to order the Habesha combo minus the doro wat (how are you supposed to eat drumsticks and eggs with injera?). I suggest you call first, as they frequently seem to close early.
I don't love either Horn of Africa or Blue Nile, though I will go if I am craving Ethiopian and Habesha is closed. The service is lacking, but that seems to be the norm at Ottawa Ethiopian. I have been to Horn of Africa several times and I find that each time my food is lukewarm and not flavorful enough. They are also extremely stingy with the injera. It is like Ethiopian for people with extremely sensitive tastebuds.
Blue Nile, while more flavorful than Horn of Africa, serves extremely small portions, the food tends to be lukewarm, as if obviously reheated. In addition, their injera is too thick. They also forgot to include the salad with my combo platter and the vegetable sambusa, was extremely deep fried and didnt contain the promised lentils, instead it seemed to hold cabbage, peas and carrots.
That being said, I will most likely go back to all three.
GarlicFiend
For newbies to Ethiopian I would describe it as a milder, less curryesque version of Indian food, that you eat with your hands and a mildly sour/salty crepe.
Unfortunately, it appears that my favorite one, East African Restaurant is now closed (tops taken off the tables, broken window, and lights off for over a month). Though they frequently got my order wrong and the service was slow as molasses the food was amazing and the prices were fair.
My new favorite is Habesha on the corner of Rideau and Charlotte. The food is delicious, the portions are decent and the price is good. The service is a little slow, but that may be because there usually is only one person working. I like to order the Habesha combo minus the doro wat (how are you supposed to eat drumsticks and eggs with injera?). I suggest you call first, as they frequently seem to close early.
I don't love either Horn of Africa or Blue Nile, though I will go if I am craving Ethiopian and Habesha is closed. The service is lacking, but that seems to be the norm at Ottawa Ethiopian. I have been to Horn of Africa several times and I find that each time my food is lukewarm and not flavorful enough. They are also extremely stingy with the injera. It is like Ethiopian for people with extremely sensitive tastebuds.
Blue Nile, while more flavorful than Horn of Africa, serves extremely small portions, the food tends to be lukewarm, as if obviously reheated. In addition, their injera is too thick. They also forgot to include the salad with my combo platter and the vegetable sambusa, was extremely deep fried and didnt contain the promised lentils, instead it seemed to hold cabbage, peas and carrots.
That being said, I will most likely go back to all three.