Etete

Went here with a friend from South Africa. Just like any African place there is definitely no hurry. So if you are looking for something fast don’t go. The service is slow but we’ll worth it. The food is made while you wait so everything is fresh. She made us a meat platter and it was delicious. It’s a 2 floor both looks identical. We took a sit by the window where they had a traditional setting. It was cute. I my friend have tried some Ethiopian restaurants around and attested this one is the BEST!

It’s been a while since my fiancé I have visited this Ethiopian restaurant. Unfortunately, tonight they really disappointed. I love their unfiltered Tej (honey wine), and while we’ve found better Ethiopian food nearby, Etete’s atmosphere was always something I was happy with. Tonight service was lackadaisical (or oblivious), and our Goden Tibs (short ribs) were almost entirely inedible fat (and took about an hour to get to us). The bathrooms are in desperate need of a deep clean. When we asked to sit upstairs, we were told no because no one was up there — immediately followed by a large party going upstairs (just tell me it’s reserved?). With such prime location in a quickly up-​and-​coming neighborhood, it’s really a shame to see this place going downhill so quickly. Hope they can turn it around.

Two hours, no food. WTF. How are you still in business? Please close and do everyone a favor.

Intro: This is only my second time having Ethiopian cuisine. I don’t feel qualified to judge the authenticity, but I can certain evaluate the taste and experience.
Ambiance: The place has evening lighting. Nice layout, but nothing that wows you. It’s cozy enough to be intimate. It’s relaxed enough to be trendy and hip. I’d describe it as laid back and the restaurant aims not to be pretentious.
Food: I found the menu a little challenging, but I probably just didn’t eat my Wheaties that morning. We started with the sambusa and that was delicious. For the entrée’, I got the lamb and my friend got the chicken, along with two veggies. Ultimately, I was satisfied with the lamb, but I wish I had gotten more stuff (veggies) on the platter. They gave us a lot of injera with our meal, so I felt that I had to be sparing with the little bit of vegetables we ordered to split between 2 people. My friend got the dora wat chicken, which was just one chicken leg. it seemed a little underwhelming in appearance. I was very satisfied with the taste of the lamb. It had solid spice and the injera was satisfying, although it can become cumbersome midway throughout the meal.
Customer Service: The staff was really nice and friendly. They were personable and prompt with our orders. The staff is what earned the third star.
In Closing: I imagine that if you enjoy Ethiopian food a lot, then this place will probably tickle your fancy. I’m not that versed in the flavors and combinations, so it left me desiring a little more. That said, I do recommend visiting this place at least once and exploring the menu.

Hands down the best Ethiopian food ever! Just make sure your company rolls up there sleeves and washes their hands! All food is eaten with your bare hands. I have not sample a bad item in their menu. The food is always fresh and flavorful. Anytime we are in mood for Ethiopian cuisine we return to Etete’s for a authentic Ethiopian experience.

Went here with a friend with high expectations, and Etete met them! Thou the restaurant is small, there was an upstairs and downstairs (we ate upstairs), the atmosphere was very relaxing. The lights were dim so the experience was intimate, and that was appreciated after a long week. Our waitresses were prompt, helpful and even funny.
I ordered Doro Wat, it came with a chicken leg & a hard boiled egg. It was good! Seasoned well, and spicy but not too much. My friend ordered the lamb tibs and he enjoyed them (as did I) LOL, he also had the cinnamon tea which he enjoyed; but needed water after drinking :) We also had Sambusa which was my favorite of the entire meal. Also, the injera, which was our utensil was delicious! The honey wine was great too. I ended up enjoying two glasses. Overall, this is a great place to have authentic Ethiopian food! Go ahead and try it… You know you want to!!!

Dinner here was enjoyable but not my favorite. The dishes weren’t as large as I thought they would be and weren’t totally filling (although that could just be because I didn’t eat all the injera). I ordered the key wat which was savory and tasty but the meat had a surprising amount of fat on it. The side of potatoes it came with was a nice surprise and complemented the sauce of the dish well.
Overall, a small, quiet restaurant with a relaxing atmosphere and pretty good food.

The mood shifts from the hustle and bustle of DC 9 and Nellies next door, to calming red tones and the gentle voices of the wait-​staff at Etete. You come for Ethiopian food in D.C. with a few known facts: service will go at it’s own pace; the honey wine always seems like a better idea that it is, and never fill up on too much injera! Etete fits seamlessly in with the plethora of Ethiopian restaurants vying for attention near U street. It elevates the normal bare-​bones seating of Zenerbach, but doesn’t serve you cutlery in an attempt to over westernize like Ethiopic. Serving sizes are pared down compared to their neighbors, but extra injera comes fast and furious if you need to fill that stomach. The honey wine seems to be home made and comes in refilled bottles… probably worth skipping, but their Derek Tibs are on point. If Dukum has gotten to big for it’s britches, and your show at the 9:30 Club is not for another 2 hours, head into Etete, they’ll take care of you!

Food was good but service was super slow for a pretty empty restaurant. 4 for food, 2 for service, 3 overall.

I am new to the world of Ethiopian food and Etete is the best I’ve had so far.
Staff was super friendly and the food was delicious. My favorite was the Gored Gored. Great flavor and just the right amount of spicy.
If you’re feeling adventures try some of the Ethiopian beers I’ve had a few and have not been disappointed.

We came for lunch and the place was nearly empty. The weak tress took a long time to come. Ordered two dishes one of which vegetarian. The vegetarian was supposed to have carrots, potatoes, beans, onions etc. we received only carrots and potatoes. The waitress indifferently told us they are out of beans. The potions wert very small and the meat was tough. At the end had to look for the waitress we couldn’t care less if we were not satisfied.

Delicious Ethiopian food in an unpretentious atmosphere. Friendly servers. Ethiopian beer! And yes, honey wine if that’s your thing. There’s a stage with a speaker upstairs: looks like they have live music sometimes, which would be cool. The sambusa, on the starter menu, in particular were delicious! Order one each so you don’t have to share. :-)

I was introduced to Etete by a friend. I was at first skeptical but I gave it a shot. I’m glad I did. Their Gored Gored is the best I’ve had in DC so far. And they gave plenty of Injera to get all of the juices. Took off one star for the sides/​veggies. They didn’t have the depth of flavor I’m used to from Ethiopian food. But still I will be back very often.

This place is seriously underrated! The food is very tasty and it’s my favorite Ethiopian place in DC.
Derek tibs and veggie sampler you can’t go wrong :)

We met some friends here for dinner. It was a table of seven and on a Monday night so there were plenty of tables open.
The food was delicious, although some of the tips were very rare (which may be your thing but not ours).
The service was great but the music was somewhat weird, buffering and starting and stopping every 11 – 14 seconds the entire time we were there. We weren’t sure if this was an Ethiopian thing or not. When I finally asked the server about this, she told us it was «Internet» radio and it was buffering… so it all made sense. She turned it off after that.
This was a good place right next to Nellies. Great location and the food was delicious.

Upscale Ethio spot in the city.
Terrific ambiance and vibe.
Lega Tibs… cubed pieces of marinated lamb sauteed in onion, jalapeño, spiced butter = yumm-​o.

Etete used to be one of the best Ethiopian restaurants on that corner, but has fallen very very far in a year.
We went for dinner last night. The food was mediocre at best but the service was awful! My wife ordered a salad that didn’t show up for 45 minutes, then main courses came out much later and weren’t cooked properly. The waitress and the bartender were gabbing away very loudly in amharic and not paying us any attention, no drinks, not taking our orders, just talking really loudly to each other. Our waitress thought she was doing us a favor by taking our orders and offering to bring us food. She was wearing this huge blonde wig that looked like part of Cecil the Lion’s mane, and she couldn’t care less about the tables.
They were saving their 4-​tops for 4-​people, so when 3 parties of two came at around the same time, they had us all sitting side by side, with barely a foot between tables, while the rest of the restaurant was totally deserted.
One of the waitresses seemed more skilled (read: she was actually doing her job) and started taking care of us instead of Cecil. We ordered a ground beef dish and asked for well-​done (one of the options on the menu), but it came out rare anyway. She actually scraped all of the beef off of the injera bread and took it to be cooked again. She stole my spoon when she did it. Well, there’s a first for everything!
— Bad service. Undercooked beef, inattentive waitresses, poor attitude
— Mediocre quality of meat
— Not expensive, but not cheap. Neighboring restaurants have better service at that price.
— Loud. Three parties sitting essentially atop one another while the restaurant was empty. Booming bass from DC9 next door.
We won’t be back, ever.

I have had Ethiopian one other time and it was like night and day. The restaurant is small but well kept, clean and quiet. The service was spectacular; I don’t know who helped the past Unilocalers but our waitress was very helpful/​polite without being overly hovering. The owner was sitting nearby and he greeted us, very friendly and solicitous of our opinions.
I had the tej (honey wine) which was absolutely delicious. We started with sambusas which were fresh and well seasoned with perfectly cooked lentil filling. For dinner, two of us split the vegetarian platter and yeawaze tibs (spicy beef stew). They also brought an extra order of yefem tibs (charcoal grilled beef strips in garlic). I loved EVERYTHING, including veggies like collard greens I typically wouldn’t touch. The food was spicy, well-​seasoned, well prepared and generously portioned. I wish they would open a location back home!

Etete is like home for me. I’ve tried other Ethiopian restaurants but none of them have stacked up to the food quality and even the service here. My go to items to order are the Goden Tibs and veggie sampler. My only complaint about Etete is that they often sit you very close to other customers when there is ample seating around the restaurant. Other than that, I love it.

Food was fantastic. We got the veggie combo for two … fully intending to take leftovers home, but we passed the point of no return without blinking … so I will need to start from scratch, again, tomorrow.

1 for service 4 for food 2 for ambience
Very pathetic service. Go to this place only if you are very very hungry. Will never ever go there again

It’s a lot like Dukem, but smaller in size — both the restaurant and the menu itself. And that’s a good thing! The pescetarian dish that my guest and I shared was perfect! Not to mention, we were seated for dinner at 11pm on a Friday (after coming from the E Street Cinema), which should be a more common thing in DC than it already is. Kudos to that!
I’ve eaten at several Ethiopian restaurants in the area and throughout. Etete is my new favorite. Their atmosphere is great for first-​timers of Ethiopian cuisine, as well as casual dates and small groups (four or less).

This was stop four of CMYE: Unilocal tastes the District with Carpe Diem. The space is intimate, but lovely. The servers were nice. I loved having so many vegetarian options on the menu. The honey wine was interesting. This place is worth a visit.

3.5 for service. 4 for food.
My friend who was visiting from out of town wanted Ethiopian food… and I hadn’t ever found that liked the Ethiopian food that I had tried in the past. But, based on the recommendation of a cab driver, I took my friend visiting to Etete…
I am glad that we went because I actually enjoyed it! There were busy, but very personable. I thought the food was flavorful, and we ordered the Yeawaze Tibs based on some Unilocaler recommendations.
The customer service is probably 3.5… Our waitress was very nice, but it seemed as if she was forgetful. Perhaps it was just super busy, but it took ages to order, get our food, and get out bill… Also, 20 minutes after ordering, my coffee was served lukewarm and only half-​cupful a… No milk or sugar, and then I had to wait for another 15 minutes for the milk.

Etete was one of my favorite Ethiopian restaurant in DC area! The food always tasted good and authentic!
So, Yesterday I have had lunch there. I’ve ordered the same thing I order every time! and I was pretty disappointed! The meat quality wasn’t that good, the portions got a lot smaller and a bit pricey! I mentioned that to the waitress and she looked at me like like I was speaking Chinese!
Sadly I’m giving two stars to my one of favorite restaurant! They really need to work on their customer service and this new small portion thing specially when it’s gotten a bit pricey!

Ethiopian cuisine is definitely one that caters to both vegetarians and omnivores very well. It’s also one that encourages family style eating and sharing, making it fun to eat with a group of friends.
We started off the meal with a sambusa per person. Piping hot pastry, stuffed with lentils and spices. We decided to go and eat the vegetarian combinations with two fish. The fish were fried to perfection and were delicious. Problem was, that they didn’t scale one of the fishes very well. But, one fish is more than enough per person and can easily be shared. The vegetables were delicious. My favorites being the red lentils and the yellow lentils.
Reservations not too necessary for weekday dinners. We were able to snag the window seating by the front. We didn’t have any problems with service, but it was a pretty slow weekday night and drinks were made with a strong hand, making for a good night.

Traditionelle äthiopische Kost vom feinsten! Unbedingt einen Tisch reservieren. Der Laden ist abends voll!
Die Bedienung war freundlich und aufmerksam, das Essen großartig (und vermutlich auch sehr authentisch, obwohl ich das kaum beurteilen kann), und der Abend insgesamt ein voll zufriedenstellendes Erlebnis.
Schön wäre es, wenn das Platzangebot ein wenig größer wäre. Die Tische stehen schon arg eng beieinander. Andererseits erzeugt das klamme Platzangebot eine spezielle Atmosphäre, die vielleicht ganz gut zum kommunikativen Prozess der Nahrungsaufnahme passt.
Vor einigen Jahren war diese Ecke Washingtons angeblich soetwas wie eine No-​Go Area. Aber das Viertel hat sich gewaltig verändert. Restaurants und Cafes überall. Definitiv einen Abstecher von den üblichen Touristenattraktionen (The Mall) wert!