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Empress Taytu Ethopian
Rating Details »
- 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
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
11 reviews for Empress Taytu Ethopian
I've eaten in half a dozen good Ethiopian restaurants in NYC and I find Empress Taytu to be just awesome.
The veggies are superb, the meat is great, and the samosa-like appetizers are a favorite.
I was worried the first time we went that all the odd decor was a bad sign, but I got over it - in fact now I love sitting in the odd little chairs under the thatch roof and watching Ethiopian music videos on the tv.
I like that you can see the kitchen, too - the smells that come out of there are dreamy.
I've been coming here for years and it's really good Ethiopian food - definitely on par if not better than what I've had in other cities. Plus, you get to eat in a hut. Enough said.
Actually, not quite enough. Get the veggie sampler and some mango juice. So delicious. If you're OK with meat, I've heard that the lamb is great too. Some of the dishes are pretty spicy, so you might want to ask them to tone it down a little if you're wimpy about that kind of thing. Or have them point you to the milder dishes - there are a lot of them also.
The servers here are incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about all the menu options. They are also really slow. I've never gone to Empress Taytu in a hurry because the food there is definitely worth savoring, but if you go, don't expect to get out of there in less than two very-well-spent hours.
My first, and so far best, dining experience at an Ethiopian restaurant. This is the place where I first discovered my love for injera (Ethiopian bread), beef tibs (cubes of beef marinated in an Ethiopian blend of spices), and tej (Ehtiopian honey wine). The food was truly amazing. The above mentioned items are must tries.
If you can't consume alcohol and cannot compliment your meal with the tej wine, the mango juice should suffice as a good alternative.
The vegetable combination is also delicious. The common vegetables, prepared with specialty spices in a uniquely Ethiopian fashion, provide a good balance to the meal when eaten with the meat dishes.
Also, if time and budget permit, try the authentic Ethiopian coffee "ceremony." It is a bit pricey but it is one of those things you must try at least once. You sit on little footstools while the server performs the ritual coffee roasting ceremony basking those partaking with the wonderful scent of fresh Ethiopian coffee. The server then adds a tiny bit of butter into the coffee (instead of milk or cream), which is apparently how it is served in their country.
If and when you do come, try to sit under the hut in the corner of the room on the little stools and eat from the large communal plate on top of the traditional basket table stand - this will make the experience more enjoyable.
This restaurant is the most authentic Ethiopian establishment I have eaten at thus far. The ambiance is more authentic than any of the Ethiopian/East African restaurants in my hometown of San Diego, despite the much larger population of immigrants from the Eastern (Horn of) Africa region.
In fact, I enjoyed Ethiopian cuisine so much that one of the first things I did after I moved back to San Diego after college, was look for Ethiopian restaurants and try the ones I found. My friends and I enjoyed Empress Taytu so much that we made the 1+ hour drive from Wooster, just to come to here, numerous times after discovering this restaurant.
Keep in mind, this restaurant is not located in the best area of Cleveland. Nonetheless, this place as a must try even though the outside of the restaurant and surrounding neighborhood is less than aesthetically pleasing, to say the least.
I love Ethiopian food, and had a great meal at Empress Taytu. We started out with a delicious beef samosa type app, blanking on the real name, with a good peppery dipping sauce. Then split the meat and veggie combo to try a variety of things, all really good, and they give you a nice pile of extra injera. Excited to go back and try the rest of the menu. Waitress also super nice!
The moment we walked in we knew the food would be good. The first step we took inside welcomed us with a warm, inviting scent of exotic spices. The atmosphere and decor, of an indoor thatched hut and basket-tables with various murals, will make you feel that for a short time, you are not actually living in Cleveland, but some foreign locale.
We got a meat sampler and veggie sampler to share and although it might not look like a lot of food, eaten with the injera they give you you will leave very full. The meat dishes are actually more flavorful than the veggie dishes which I find unusual because at previous Ethiopian restaurants I've been to it's been the opposite case.
The tea we ordered was delicious, but we were a bit confused because we were served what looked like hot tea-colored liquid in a tea cup, and then a Lipton tea bag. I tasted this tea-colored liquid. Well, it tastes like spiced tea... but is that just the spices they add to the water, and then I put in the Lipton bag? And if so, the "Ethiopian spiced tea" I ordered isn't very Ethiopian if there is Lipton in it, no? I decided that the hot spiced liquid in the cup was good enough that it didn't need any Lipton mucking up the flavor.
Despite the neighborhood which leaves much to be desired, this restuarant is authentic and lovely.
I am tall, my date, also tall. We sat at the traditional basket tables underneath the thatch hut-like roof. We looked like Will Ferrel in Elf, and felt a bit silly, but it would not have been the same without the table designed for the food.
I seriously can not tell you what we ordered, we got an appetizer sampler and a meal sampler.
All of the bread is delicious and unlike anything I had ever had. I LOVE bread and was delighted to try a different kind. I may even purchase the flour used to make it.
It was definately not a first-date kind of place. You should know the person you are eating with pretty well considering the lack of utensils.
I really like the warm towel they provided to cleanse your hands before the meal.
Authentic Ethiopian food with, sadly, authentic Ethiopian service.
The good news; the food here is great. You can eat at a small hut, and have the bread spread over the table like pizza dough, and eat little bits of spiced vegetables and meats by tearing off the bread and then scooping it up with your hands. It's phenomenally tasty, even though you should be warned that the bread WILL expand in your stomach.
When you're done, you can have genuine Ethiopian coffee, which is like thick Turkish coffee but a little more cinnamony.
The only problem? Don't come here unless you have some SERIOUS time to kill. We spent two hours, and the coffee took - no joke - another hour to get. It was delicious, but every time we've thought about going back, we asked, "Do we have the time?" And we've heard from friends that the situation hasn't improved.
Now this is some REAL Ethiopian food!
Empress Taytu is a gem. It's authentic, and family run. The minute you enter, you forget about the fact that you are in one of the shittiest neighborhoods in Cleveland! You can hear the women speaking ... well, Ethiopian, I guess! When you walk in the entire staff is dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing, and they welcome you warmly. They even have a grass-roofed hut to sit under for dinner, which makes you feel you are enjoying your meal outdoors. You sit on low African seats around a woven basket table, and the waitress brings you hot cloths to wash your hands with right away.
When your food comes, it is laid out on a large round serving tray which is lined with Injera bread. The food is served in neat little piles on top of that. Each person gets their own basket of fresh injera to tear away, and "pinch" the different meat and veggie dishes with. Of course, you eat with your hands.
Empress Taytu has a few beer, wine, and mixed drink selections. They also have a coffee ceremony to end the meal with.
Now that I live in San Diego, I sure do miss Empress Taytu! It was a first-rate experience at a super reasonable price!
This is one of the most different and exciting restaurants I've ever been to. I have only experienced one other Ethiopian restaurant, but this one beats it hands-down, both in terms of food and the overall experience.
One can choose to eat western-style at a table, or in traditional Ethiopian fashion, which is what I would recommend: in a small hut built into the restaurant, around a lower table with lower seats. Food is then brought out and served with bread, which can be used to pick up the food, eating with your hands.
The food itself is amazing: bold flavors, totally unlike anything one would encounter in the types of Cuisine that most Americans have had contact with. Perhaps the closest I would describe it to is the rich Indian curry dishes, although the food here has a very different flavor and is much less heavy. Everything I have had here has been outstanding.
The service is good and the whole experience is worthwhile: even the menu is written both in English and in the Ethiopian script. One can't go wrong with this place.
I went here for the first time in college. Yes the atmosphere is great, nice that it is the only Ethiopian restaurant in Cleveland. it's in a crappy neighborhood and I didn't feel well after eating there. I'll definitely pass on it.
but if you want an great and different experience then it's a go
empress taytu is exciting because it is: a) an ethiopian restaurant and b) an etiopian restaurant in cleveland (i'm not sure that anyone else can hold stake to that claim?)
the food was great, though i have no idea what i ordered (i think we took the server's advice for something with meat, greens, veggies and was spicy!)
like the previous reviewer, i too got the opportunity to sit under the grass-roofed hut. this is a great place to go with a group, and be sure you go on an empty stomach b/c portions aren't small!