Empress Taytu Ethiopian Restaurant

The experience is unlike anything you can get anywhere else! The style of eating is communal. Everyone shares of the same big plate and what's really special, is the coffee ceremony. They bring out the beans as they're roasting them and let you smell them before they take them back to brew. It's worth the visit. Edit: Went back last night with two friends, still fantastic. Our friends have never been and they could not stop raving about the experience and flavors. I am glad to see this place make it through the pandemic

Tried Ethiopian Cuisine for the first time and I must say I am mighty impressed. Picked a place with a 4.5 rating and that had plenty of Vegetarian and Vegan options to choose from. The ambiance at Empress Taytu was perfect for date, the service was very good and the food was pretty awesome. We tried the Veggie Combination Starter : 4 lentil sambusas, Ayib, Gomen and ambasha bread and then for main course we had a Vegetable Combination Entree a combination of five vegetable dishes: kik (yellow split pea), misir (lentils), gomen (collards), tikil gomen,(cabbage), and kai’sir (beets potatoes). Finally for Dessert we tried the Taytu Cake : Homemade cupcake served warm with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce #DateNight #Dinner #EthiopianCuisine #EmpressTaytu #YummyInMyTummy

Made reservations as per website suggestion and was glad I did. They were packed! But we didn't have to wait for our table. Being a Saturday night and apparently short staffed, the food was a little slow coming out. The wait staff were super friendly and apologetic and gave us a discount for the wait. The food was super flavorful and filling and everything was very tasty. You can't go wrong with the combination plates- especially if you're a newbie to the cuisine as we were. You get to try a little bit of everything! Some people have said that the food is too pricy- to them, I say you get what you pay for. Would go back again, and hopefully soon!

I was drawn here because of how charming it looked from the outside, biking past. When I finally got a chance to come by and eat, I was amazed that it was even more charming inside! On the particular day we came, we were told that they were short staffed with a woman and her husband (maybe the owners) running the service all themselves. Aside from a maybe 5 minute wait to sit, we never would have known they were short-staffed; our service was quick, unrushed, warm, and friendly! Can't speak highly enough about that woman running the show. And the food! I'm very happy to say that, while I may not have as many options for Ethiopian food in Cleveland as the 5 years I spent in Washington DC, it doesn't really matter because this is the best Ethiopian food I've had. Every dish in our party of 3 was truly distinct in flavor, and simply really, really good. I think if the owners were a different kind of people, they could charge double and get away with it. I can hardly imagine better food, and in such a delightful environment.

Empress Tatyu is one of my top favorite restaurants in Cleveland! Entrance is in the back, and as soon as you enter, you pass a bustling kitchen, into a main room that has been so carefully crafted. The decor and furniture make you forget that you're in Cleveland, and the customer service is warm and welcoming. The dorowat is my favorite (not as spicy as I've seen other people mention), it falls right off the bone! If you're not sure what to order, get a veggie or meat and veggie combo you're able to taste a little bit of everything!