Lalibela Restaurant
1415 14th St NW
(between N P St & N Rhode Island Ave)
Washington, DC 20005 (202) 265-5700
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
26 Reviews for Lalibela Restaurant
Great place to get your fix of ethiopian food before catching a show at the Studio Theater. we went earlier tonight and enjoyed the veggie combo and doro wat (which was a bit spicy, but in a good way!). not an ethiopian place you would go for the ambiance/decor; for that, try Etete or Zed's. fast, friendly service. watch out for the ingera bloat!!
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Delicious food. Excellent vegetarian options. Unpretentious. Cheap. Good service.
What more can you ask for?
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This is a primo place to get Ethiopian food. I usually go to Meskerem in Adams Morgan for my Ethiopian fix, but my girlfriend and I decided to branch out and give Lalibela a go. The food is excellent. And although the inside of the restaurant is nothing to rave about, it's very pleasant to sit outside on the patio and enjoy some seriously good grub.
We ordered our usual -- a vegetarian combo plate for two -- plus a chicken dish which had some very subtle spices. Our waitress was friendly and attentive. The worst thing to happen was that I splattered my shirt with a substantial amount of food I'd really rather have eaten.
I have to say I like the ambiance of Meskerem better -- and if you were looking for a more fun place to eat, like on a date or something, you might consider it for the ambiance. But Lalibela wins in the taste department.
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Cool, friendly place to try some spicy Ethiopian food. Was with a co-worker, so we tried the platter for two... I think the spicy chicken was the best, but had a good time trying everything. Liked the "very" flat bread accompanying the entree, very different texture and soaked up the sauce... highly recommend accompanying the spicy food with a cold beer!
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Awesome awesome awesome. Like, seriously. We got the veggie combo and the #30, which was some sort of beef thing with peppers and such. I couldn't tell you what all I ate, but it was all really, really tasty. For anyone new to Ethiopian food like I was, you're given a plate of a spongy flatbread, and the rest of the food is all placed on a large platter. You tear off bits of the bread to pick up the food and eat it. It's fairly spicy, but far from unreasonably so. Total for the two of us? $20. That's it. And there was food left over. Now, we didn't get any drinks or anything, but still, you can't beat that at all. Service was good. The food came out quick, and our waters were kept full (which led to me constantly spilling on myself like an idiot). The waitress made sure everything was good, and it was. I'll be back!
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I knew this place had to be good when I walked up and noticed that everyone in the place, except me, was Ethiopian.
As a vegetarian, I love this place, although it lacks decor and light, I don't go here for those things...it's for the FOOD!!!!!!! It is a must try. SOOOOOO YUMMYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
Make way for the white folk train! CHOO CHOO!
Yep. That's how my family and I made our way into this restaurant!
No one except perhaps my stepfather had ever had Ethiopian but everyone was ready to try.
And the verdict from picky mouths?
Yum.
Except a few were turned off by the delicious bread, and a few needed some forks. But my husband and I could've grabbed that massive platter of deliciousness and run away with it.
Everything was great. The honey wine was great, the meat dishes were great, the veggies great, do you see a pattern emerging?
The staff was very helpful for my white folk train and I think everyone left with a smile (I will post pictures for proof! I swear!).
Personally, I think the bread that's been soaking in all the juices is the best and while some fingers were picking up the small bits of nibbles left, mine were tearing away ravenously at the bread.
Oh...so....good.....
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The veggie platter is just as good as Etete's and judging by the voracity with which my friends consumed their combo platter, it was also delicious. The waitresses were friendly and accommodating.
The honey wine however was not what I expected. Granted I don't know much about Ethiopian wines but the honey wine at Etete is sweet and tasty while Lalibela's version is crisp (sparkling) and tastes more like champagne. Not that there's anything bad with that, just not what I expected.
Lalibela is great though because it's cheap and has outdoor seating, not to mention a very convenient location.
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After reading reviews of this place, I had to try it out. I took two friends who just moved to the area to the place, and we had an extremely pleasant meal. All of us were Ethiopian food novices, so we all ordered our own entrees--a mistake, one dish would have been plenty to share amongst the three of us.
Lalibela was great, I'm definitely coming back!
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I brought my mom here after reading the reviews. We really enjoyed our meal. We ordered the vegetarian combo which had spicy lentils, yellow peas, greens, salad, cabbage, potatoes, and shiro. Wow the shiro was the bomb. I did not like the cabbage....it was soaked in butter. Injera was good, too. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. The servers were really friendly and nice, which is not really the norm, I've noticed, so that was a plus. Best of all? The price was under $20 for a LOT of (good) food! Go check it out!
I really enjoyed this meal. It's a great place for a casual lunch. Nothing fancy, but the meals are spicy and well-prepared.
And, of course, I love Ethiopian restaurants that have Ethiopians eating there.
4.25 stars. Lalibela was one of the first places I ever went in DC. I've had the luxury of eating dinner here on a number of occasions, and I rank it among the top three Ethiopian restaurants (along with Dukem and Etete) in the city.
One of the most amazing aspects of Lalibela is their consistently pleasant, unpretentious service. There is a certain humble quality to the restaurant that must be experienced; it's not the pinpoint detail one experiences at a restaurant like Duangrat's (which I believe has the best service in the greater DC area), but rather more akin to the comfortable vibe one experiences at a place like Oohhs & Aahhs.
With respect to the food, I have found the vegetarian items at Lalibela are tops in the DC area. Although they have meat items as well (including excellent doro wot and spicy beef), I think the strength of the menu is derived from the vegetarian selections. You cannot do wrong with any of them.
Best of all, Lalibela is super cheap. One can have an amazing meal with great service while watching the weirdness that is Logan Circle all from the comfort of their porch for less than $15. I have absolutely no reservations recommending this place.
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Now this is what I'm talking about. Good food, very reasonable prices, cozy space, and usually half a dozen regulars sipping tea at the bar. I like that despite being so close to Whole Foods, this place is completely unpretentious, and the owner (or at least who I think is the owner since he thanks us for coming by and asks what we thought of the food) is often there. I feel a slight bit of guilt reviewing this place, and worry that hip twenty-somethings will inundate this place. But, I have to be fair given that I dissed Meskerem in another review--this is a much better alternative.
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Hands down the most tasty Ethiopian I've had in DC. The decor isn't much, but the service is friendly and the vibe is very chilled out. My favorite dish is the #31 spicy beef. OMG. Now that I'm thinking about it, I must go get some immediately. It's sooo good.
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For the amount of Ethiopians in DC, I'm kinda expecting some knockout stuff, and this place is pretty darn good. Came here a while back with 6 people and we ended up spending less than 12 bucks a person, plus tax and tip, and we were stuffed. I really enjoy Ethiopian food and this place definitely did not let me down. The place was pretty dingy and the wait staff seemed to be more interested in hanging out in the bar and chatting it up, but I'd definitely come back again.
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No nonsense, damn good Ethiopian food, and astoundingly cheap. The honey wine here is decent, too, not as sweet as I've had it before.
Not a whole lot of atmosphere or even decoration, but makes it that much more credible in my eyes. ]
You like Ethiopian? Go for it.
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My partner, who is on business travel to DC, was looking for a place to eat in the Logan Heights area. I hopped on Yelp and guided him to this restaurant based on fellow Yelper reviews. His first impression when he walked in to the establishment was that it was dead, as in not busy. He said the decor was cheap looking. He ordered the #31 and #1. The #1 was not available -- hmmm. The spicy beef was flavorful but the quality of the beef was low quality -- seemed to be fatty and lots of gristle. The bottle of Heineken was cold and tasty! A so-so restaurant -- probably won't be back.
I can't believe that it took me so long to hit this restaurant. I'm a big fan of Ethiopian food, and I usually frequent the places on 18th or U Streets. But Lalibela does what those places do as good, if not better and MUCH cheaper. With four of my friends, we ordered the four person set meal (which they even let us tweak) for $45, meaning we each got out for under $10/head. And there was so much food! We all were stuffed, and some injera (spongy bread) was still left.
The veggies are very good, especially the cabbage, lentils, and split-peas. I wasn't really impressed with the Doro Wat, but I liked the other dishes. I'm a big fan of all things spicy, so I loved the spicy beef dish. Wash it all down with an Ethiopian beer and you're set. When I walked into this place, it smelled so authentically African-- it wasn't the smell of food, but I smelled a distinct mixture of incense and an almost earthy smell. Don't let that turn you off, but it was a real Proustian sensory moment where I was back in a home in Africa for a moment!
Long story short, I'd totally recommend this place. The decor does leave something to be desired, but it's a diamond in the rough for cheap, tasty Ethiopian food.
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WOOHOOO!
this is the ethiopian restaurant that brought me back to eating ethiopian food... $10/person, veggie platter. KICK ASS TASTEY!
I know, I know... everyone goes to Dukem... yeh yeh yeh... Dukem's atmosphere/decor is much nicer, but it's a tad bit pricier, harder to park near, and the service was terrible the time I ate there (and it was oddly NOT crowded at the particular time we ate there-- a rarity, i hear).
But most importantly, I actually thought the veggie platter had less flavor/taste than Lalibela's...
So, as far as veggie-ethiopian goes, my vote's for this place! Sit outside and people watch as the neighborhood continues to gentrify (and real-estate prices skyrocket) before your very eyes!
(However, according to my meat-eating friends, Dukem has THE best "tibs" ever! so, if you're more in the mood for meat, hit Dukem. If low-key, veggie-platter, people-watching, and really nice and really beautiful waitresses are more your speed, definitely go with Lalibela)
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I know that DC is known for its Ethiopian food but the places that the tour books suggest (mostly on 18th st. in Adams Morgan) are extremely over-priced for the food you're getting. The ambience at Lalibela may be a bit more casual than these others but the food is definitely on par and VERY reasonably priced. I love their vegetarian plate though I'm not a real vegetarian. I would caution however not to expect good honey wine or other liquor offerings with your meal - last time a friend and I ordered white wine and were hugely disappointed. Just go for the food and you'll leave full and happy.
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A great place to meet for a super delicious meal that's also reasonably priced.
Food: I usually split the vegetarian sampler plate with a friend, and between the 5-6 rich lentil and vegetable dishes and the wonderful injera, I've never left less that completely stuffed. Some friends have gotten the non-veg sampler, and while the meat is tasty, their dishes were also very very greasy, which was a little gross. The veg sampler is the way to go!! Also, don't forget to ask for hot sauce, if you like spicy. They have two types--a red paste and a red powder--both are so d@mned good! The honey wine is NASTY, so don't order it.
Service--The food always comes out promptly, the servers are quite gracious (even when my drunk friend repeatedly asked many of them how to cook the dishes, it was embarrassing), and there's nothing lacking in the service. Highly adequate.
Ambiance--This is where they lose the fifth star. It's sort of a strange place inside. It's not well lit, and the carpet seems sort of gross (like 60s style green plush). The tables get jostled easily, and overall, they definitely haven't paid much attention to decor.
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My first time trying Ethiopian food and I have to say I was impressed by this place. The atmosphere inside was fantastic and the staff was very friendly and attentive. We tried the honey wine, not too sweet, very tasty.
If you're a first timer try #37, sort of a sampler platter, with a variety of good food on it. I will definitely be back to this place.
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Nice, low-key neighborhood restaurant option. Less activity on weeknights and more on weekend evenings. All the standard fare at reasonable rates with pleasant servers. Seems to be a popular hangout for men at the bar. I usually go for the vegetable platter -- with some kind of meat if I'm feeling especially gluttonous. Finishing all of that requires 2 hungry people!
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All three of my stars here are for presentation, creativity and quite a nice staff. I'm not the person to ask about this. Just a little bit too ethnic and eccentric for me. Apparently, if you like Ethiopian food, you'll like eating here.
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so it was 11pm, just finished watching hamlet at the shakespeare theatre and was starving. i was in chinatown and didn't feel like eating chinese so I biked on home and went through the logan neighborhood and saw that lalibela was open! yipee! another restaurant to add to the list of late night eats on a week night (tuesday).
had a veggie platter for 2 with a friend, service was incredibly friendly and the food was YUMMY - only spent $20 in total - not bad in my opinion.
thanks to lalibela for rescuing me from low blood sugar. :)
oh, and there were no suburbanites there! haha
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A decent enough Ethiopian restaurant in DC. There are slightly better options I think (Roha and Meskerem), but this might be the best place to catch a soccer match!
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