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Abyssinia - CLOSED
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
22 reviews for Abyssinia
Review Highlights
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"The Injera is quite good." In 9 reviews -
"The tomato salad is extremely tasty, the greens are some of..." In 3 reviews -
"...were my favorite, but the lentils and greens were great too." In 2 reviews
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22 reviews in English
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Review from Kiana B.
Mesa, AZ
2/22/2012
This place has the best Ethiopian food in Rochester. It's a family owned business and everyone is welcoming. I usually order the vegetarian combination platter and my favorites are the curried lentils and tomato salad. The Tej or honey wine is tasty too.
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Review from James M.
Rochester, NY
10/2/2011 1 Check-in Here
Second visit last week, and it was better than I remember in every way, almost.
We arrived and were seated promptly, had water within a minute or two, were checked on 5 minutes after that, had our order in, and were settled in for a long conversation and enjoying a bottle of tej when the unthinkable happened...our food arrived. Believe it. It could't have been longer than 15 minutes and our food was sitting in front of us. I was actually a little disappointed, until I had my first bite of tibs.
The girl and I shared the first sampler option which included lamb, beef tibs, chicken and greens as well as the standard lentils and cabbage. The beef and lamb were my favorite, but the lentils and greens were great too. Although their injera is very tasty, I was wishing for a fork toward the end of the meal as I was totally stuffed.
Great dinner and a bottle of wine for $40, not bad at all. Definitely will be back soon. -
Review from N B.
Rochester, NY
4/7/2011
The food here is amazing. Only thing is you have to be patient (or crazy) enough to wait a long time to get to try it. Every time I go here, the food comes out hot and delicious. About 85% of the time, I am usually ravenous and raging by that point because we ordered 45m - 1h ago. The dated interior doesn't help. Still, you can't take away from the quality of the food. I have tried a few Ethiopian places in NYC and they do not compare to Abyssinia - we are lucky in that aspect. I recommend going with friends who don't mind chit chatting while waiting a while for the food. In my opinion, it is well worth the wait/rage.
If you are new to Ethiopian food, I recommend the Tibs Wet (beef with berbere and other things I don't know). Their chicken dishes use drumsticks - that means chicken bones for anyone wary of those sorts of things. I personally find it extra delicious. -
Review from Jae L.
Jericho, VT
1/14/2011 9 photos
I am always amazed by the wonderful food I find in upstate New York -- well crafted, unique, pretty sophisticated, and a surprising variety of ethnic foods.
My husband, a contractor, has done quite a bit of volunteer work in Ethiopian, so when I foung Abyssinia on Yelp, he was ready to go. We had out two adult children in tow, and I was gald not only for their company, but so we could try more foods!
I think the highlight of the meal was the appetizer, the Tomato Fitfit ($5.95), an unimagineably good combination of tart tomato and savory spices that left you craving for more. My daughter had ordered one appetizer, and when we had consumed half of hers, we ordered another. My mouth is watering as I write... (Hold on -- I have to go raid my refridgerator...)
OK--I'm back.
For the uninitiated: Like the other dishes, the Tomato Fitfit came served on a round piece of injera (see my pictures), the staple carb of Ethiopian cuisine. It is like a flat pancake or crepe, but it is slightly spongy (but in a good way) in texture and looks (it has a lot of holes on top). Instead of using utensils, you break off a bit of the injera--which has its own slightly tart (think sourbread), yeasty taste--to pick up a piece of food or sponge up the tasty sauce.
For dinner, my husband and I ordered the Abyssinia Special I for One (11.50, see my pic), which came with Doro We't (chicken with Berbera chili sauce, which also has a whole dictionary of spices in it), Yebeg We't (tender lamb with Berbera sauce), Tibs Alicha (beef with tumeric, garlic, and onions), and Gomen (collard greens cooked with onions). (By themselves, each dish is about $10.50). I loved them all, but wish the Berbera sauces had been spicier and mor garlicky.
We had to ask for more injera because we were gobbling it up like the pigs we are.
I thought the ambience was not bad (I know -- it doesn't look great form the outside, see pics), and the service was not horrible. Not professional like most American restaurants, but polite and friendly like a family-run, ethnic restaurant should be. Granted, we came quite early -- just before 5 pm -- and there was only one other table. But we told the hostess that we had to be out in an hour, and they were very accommodating and polite.
Is it the best Ethiopian food in America? No. Do they deliver highly professional service? No. But it's good, cheap eats at a friendly place, and I sure wish we had something like it in Burlington, Vermont. I'd be there every week.Listed in: Yelp Help from my iPhone, Crave
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Review from Sonia J.
Urbana, IL
We ordered Special III dinner for two. The food was great, though I have had better Kitfo at another Ethiopian restaurant at San Diego.
The interior decor is nice. The food was served quickly!
The owner needs to work on customer service a little bit more. When we asked for check, he started looking at the menu to figure out the price and then prepare the check :))). -
Review from James S.
Manlius, NY
9/23/2010
Ok, let me get this out of the way - food takes a while here, but we were still in and out in an hour. I've decided that's part of the charm instead of getting worked up about it. The restaurant is also a hole in the wall - don't expect a fancy setting. But the food is worth the trip.
There is a lack of good ethnic food in upstate NY overall, and this is the only Ethiopian restaurant I've found. I've eaten Ethiopian in a few places, and this stacks up very well. The Injera is quite good. The sides were great. Wish the menu were online so I could get the right names, but the spinach and garlic were good, the lentils very good, and the potatos, carrots and onions fantastic. The Special Tibs were very nicely spiced, flavorful. And the Yebeg We't (lamb) was very good, but not spicy. -
Review from Jack M.
Rochester, NY
4/26/2011
I loved the food. It was amazing, and it always is. But I'm sorry, the service is absolutely terrible. And I am kinda tired of dealing with it. All the staff do everything on their time. They don't bring you things when you order them, you have to ask multiple times. Then when you want the check, well after everything is finished, it takes the woman forever to bring it.
But great food...great food. I just don't feel like a customer there. They almost treat you like they don't want your business. -
Review from Ren P.
Roanoke, VA
8/27/2007
I don't know of any cuisine as bullet-proof as Ethiopian (or are the cooks universally gifted?). Never once have I had a bad Ethiopian meal experience - although, I do favor some interpretations of the cuisine over others.
Abyssinia's food is solid, but it falls a little short of the best. I find it a bit oily, a bit salty, and a bit flat - I wonder if they are trying to hide the spices out of consideration for those who may take offense. If so, I wish Abyssinia would thumb their collective nose at whoever may not be ready for a full-blown experience and bring on the spice. Now, having lodged this complaint, I'll say that I will *never* turn down an opportunity to eat at Abyssinia.
The service here is great. Orders are taken fast, Tej and wine is available, and there's little wait before the food comes out. The owner is good with first-timers: giving guidance and advice when asked or when it just seems like a good idea. (I know the guy who mistakenly ordered the raw meat entree was enormously grateful that the owner volunteered a description of the dish.) The owner also makes sure we never leave hungry - he always stops by our table towards the end of our meal to ask if we'd like more of anything (we always order the vegetarian combination). We almost always request seconds -
The dining room is also respectable. It's too bad that diners don't perch on stools set around traditional woven basket/tables (That's the way to eat Ethiopian food!), but the tables and chairs in Abyssinia are quite nice and they do have a woven table on display. The dining area is L-shaped, which allows large dining parties to be given their own space. This space has cool murals in place of windows, and the semi-privacy allows you to enjoy the company of your comrades without feeling like you're performing for the benefit of / to the annoyance of the rest of the dining room.
Abyssinia has a decent following and gets a fair amount of Eastman School and Eastman Theatre related business. (Abyssinia can be busy if there's a big event at either, but there was only one time we had to wait to be seated.) Every time I eat here I notice at least one set of Ethiopian-cuisine-virgins taking the plunge (I've never seen any leave unhappy). I understand if the somewhat squelched flavoring of the food is an effort to balance the tastes of the first-timers with the aficionados, but I still vote for Abyssinia to unleash the spice.Listed in: Ethnic Cuisine Highlights in…
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Review from George J.
San Francisco, CA
8/25/2008
This place is absolutely great. My wife and I took my brother and his wife for a taste of something new and everything we ordered was a hit.
The service was fast and kind, great people.
Ok, Cafe Mereb in San Francisco, CA is leagues better, their shurro is outta this world, but Abyssinia is an excellent place when you are away from Cafe Mereb.
I highly recommend this place...try the shiro! -
Review from Don T.
San Francisco, CA
6/23/2007
Rochester's best Ethiopian restaurant. They went through a spate of being too oily/greasy (where the injera on the plate would nearly dissolve), but that's long past.
Service is great, injera is plentiful, it's never too loud, and the vegetarian combo provides a great smorgasbord of six or seven dishes... and somehow, no post-gluttonly food coma later. The Tej, though bottled in the Finger Lakes, is a semi-dry (not the Meade-esque aperitif of some) and goes well with the meal.
The owner and his wife, who serve and sometimes cook, obviously pour their heart into the place... a great place for friends, lovers, and big tips. -
Review from Mary F.
Philadelphia, PA
8/1/2011
Abyssinia, I love you.
This is THE BEST Ethiopian restaurant I have ever been to.
Whenever I visit a new city I love to try out their Ethiopian restaurants, but they never, ever can compare to Abyssinia.
I don't mind that it can take up to 45 minutes to get my order.
Have you ever tried making injera? it's hard! I can't do it!
Come with people who love sourdough(the injera), are great conversationalists (for the wait-time), have great appetites & don't lick their fingers(the nearly table-sized plate of food is eaten with your hands.) -
Review from Michael W.
Rochester, NY
3/16/2011
I love this place but can't bring myself to come here too often because it can't be healthy.
Abyssinia serves all of their entrees on top of injera (spongy sourdough-like pancake) that you share with your friends on a giant platter. You'll also be given a basket full of injera to use to pick up the food with your hands. Don't be a wimp and get utensils, use your hands!
We usually just get one of the meals with 4 entrees to share for a crowd but my favorite main is the beef dish served with whole hard-boiled eggs. Their vegetable entrees are also incredibly good. The best part? Eating the injera underneath the food that has soaked up all the butter/grease. Like I said, not healthy but amazing. -
Review from Susan L.
12/12/2010
We ate at Abyssinia several times when we lived in Rochester and the service from the owner couple was always great (very friendly and attentive), but the comments of recent patrons regarding the service makes me wonder if the restaurant has changed hands (we left Rochester five years ago). The food was always delicious (admittedly we don't eat meat - but there were certainly sufficient vegetarian options). On two occasions we ate at Abyssinia with another couple (different couples each time) and they also really liked it.
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Review from andy m.
Rochester, NY
10/6/2011
This restaurant is the reason why you can find a Chinese restaurant on every corner, but an Ethiopian restaurant may have a tough time thriving. I'm not suggesting Abyssinia "sell out." But I cannot see this place surviving on the basis of just being "exotic/authentic." Some places can pull off having terrible customer service/ambience/decor because their food is that amazing. Think... Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Well, this food is not amazing. It is ok. I don't think it is necessary to go into the pros and cons of Americanization. It is great that our country is a melting pot and different cultures bring different values and customs to the table. However, if the goal is to make money (not that it has to be), then this place will need to make some compromises. Not saying they have to put jalapeno poppers on the menu and make their servers wear "flair." However, some of the things that may work in Ethiopia are just not going to work here, because the countries are different. And there is nothing wrong with that.
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Review from john m.
Augusta, GA
1/1/2010
I've only come across Ethiopian restaurants 3 times one in Tampa one in Charlotte but this was the best ! got the combo plate really good
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Review from Margot C.
Ithaca, NY
8/6/2010 1 Check-in Here
Stopped here after a day at Seabreeze with the kids. It was even better than I remember, better than other Ethiopian restaurants I've been to in NYC, Philly, DC. Service not so hot, but was prepared for it thanks to previous posts.
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Review from Jason M.
Somerville, MA
8/28/2007
Excellent food! Very chill place, the waiter was friendly and quite helpful. This was my first and still only Ethiopian food experience, but it was damn delicious. I think I saw that Tej at the Sterling Renaissance Festival some months later... neat-o.
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Review from Lisa S.
Concord, CA
5/26/2010
The rating is mostly for the food, as the service was completely lacking. We went at about 1 pm on a weekday and the restaurant was deserted. The owner's daughter was watching Barney/kid shows, loudly, the entire time. The owner, while not unfriendly, seemed almost irritated we were there and gave us the complete bare minimum of attention. The meal took over an hour, and we had to pull the mom away from Barney to get our check. The food came out oddly -- first some sides on the large injera, and then the dishes that come with Special #1, almost 10 minutes later. The food was wonderful, I wouldn't mind going there for takeout. Perhaps dinner service is better? Extremely disappointed in the service.
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Review from Gustavo P.
Rochester, NY
10/16/2007
Returning after a long absence I found the service to be very friendly as usual.
My son (15) and I enjoyed a combination plate with the right degree of spiciness and the right combination of textures. I am particularly fond of the warm ingera and the tomato salad seasoned with lime.
Definitely the best Ethiopian in town. Worthwhile your visit. -
Review from Amanda W.
Liverpool, NY
5/14/2008
I would agree whole-heartedly with the previous reviewer that yes, the food is wonderful, but yes, they should add more of that Ethiopian spice that I love so much! I specifically searched out this restaurant when I was in town for business and brought along two of my colleagues (who had never had Ethiopian cuisine before). I ordered for the group, selecting the Platter III, which normally includes a chicken stew, a lamb stew, a beef stew, and the tomato salad. I substituted a lentil stew for the beef stew (I didn't think my dinner companions would like the raw meat). The service was quick and friendly, and when the food came, it was terrific. The injera was warm and spongy, just the way it is supposed to be. The stews were fantastic - my dinner mates particularly liked the chicken stew and the tomato salad - the tomatoes tasted surprising fresh for Western NY in May! And the bill was QUITE reasonable - $37 for a very filling dinner for three people. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, and my colleagues said they were pleasantly surprised since they had no idea of what to expect.
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Review from Ronald J.
Santa Cruz, CA
2/14/2010
My friend took me to this place and I absolutely loved it. I had had Ethiopian food before and this is definitely up there on my list of best places. The service is rather slow, but the food totally makes up for that!
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Review from Ama C.
Buffalo, NY
2/12/2010
I'm definitely an Ethiopian food lover and this place really hits the spot. I actually drive from Buffalo to Rochester just for the food and in my mind that shows commitment. The service is always great to the point that I have been offered more food after being done. The food is just fantastic. The tomato salad is extremely tasty, the greens are some of the best I've had and the beef is tender and flavorful. There is plenty of fresh injera to go around and getting more is no problem. The cabbies in the area love the place and I take that as a sign that the food is legit. The honey wine is not my favorite (a bit too dry) but I still drink it when I'm there. Being the Ethiopian food freak that I am I have to say that Abyssinia is in my top 3 and it's a three way tie. All in all, great food, great service, great prices, and clean though a very no nonsense non fru fru place. If you want to try Ethiopian food or are simply a fan of their cuisine I would really recommend Abyssinia.
