Awash Ethiopian Restaurant

What a lovely wholesome restaurant. Whether it's dining in or carry out, the quality of their food is unparalleled. Staff that treats you like family, and fresh made food to fill your palate makes for a perfect meal! This no frills restaurant located inside a grocery store has some of the best Ethiopian food San Diego has to offer!

How have I not reviewed this place?!Best food ever!! I love taking people here to try Ethiopian food for the first time.I always get the meat and vegetarian combo. This can feed 2-3. 2 people if you are hungry hungry!!Comes with bread!Great service by this wonderful loving family. Parking is on the street so don't drive in circles over and over just park down the block and walk if you don't see something in the front by jacknthe crack just turn at the light, park and walk!!!

Definitely a family owned restaurant. Owners were amazingly friendly and the food was incredible!Not good with names, but their short ribs were to die for.

My favorite Ethiopian restaurant in San Diego. I love going here with a group of friends and getting the meat and veggie combination plates plus an extra plate of something the chef recommends. The service is both friendly and patient which is great when Ethiopian food is somewhat unfamiliar to me. I'll be back!

Great location and great service! We popped in here because a local friend recommended to try it while we were visiting. Our hometown Ethiopian restaurant closed down and we've yet to find a place to replace it. The restaurant is also a market and has indoor and outdoor seating. We were promptly greeted and we sat outside. The service was a little slow, it took them a while to take our order and bring out our drinks and food. It was well worth the wait. The food was fresh and flavorful! They gave plenty of injera to eat with. We are happy overall with our experience and will likely return next time we are in town.

4.5/5*While on a short visit to San Diego we decided to give Awash a try because of the good reviews and I was very pleased! I got the Meat and the Vegan combo so I could sample more items. I can't break down what each one was, but I do know that I was more impressed with the vegan options than the meat ones. It was a nice little spot and has a market in the back section with some other goods.

I rarely ever use this word: PHENOMENAL!! I am literally so amazed. I have never tried Ethiopian food in my adult life and was not expecting this. Our server was very friendly. He explained a lot of things to us and made recommendations and was accommodating and really nice. The place is cozy and feels authentic. Every single item we got was good. I don't remember what anything was called but the saucy meat thing in the small plate (kind of like a stew) was my favorite. My colleagues liked the short ribs the most. We almost didn't come here but I'm so glad we did. The big plate is shared family style and eaten with hands. No utensils, just the Injera (bread, like a fluffy tortilla). Everything was so flavorful, I don't even have words to describe it. Genuinely the best food I've had in a while!Highly recommend this place for both food and service. Presentation was very nice too.

Always craving Ethiopian food since we don't have it back home and was excited to try someplace new for lunch. I didn't read all the reviews just chose based on number of stars and what was open and closest. The place seemed like a very local neighborhood type place with friends hanging out, grocery store in the back. The proprietor was very friendly and responsive and kind. He seemed like a lovely person. The experience is very relaxed, not super professional. So we didn't have napkins until I got up to ask for some after having eaten and messy fingers, water is plastic water bottles from the store, gotta get up to ask for things bc the proprietor is behind the register. It's definitely got a bodega vibe and very casual atmosphere, not so much a restaurant.Food came out quickly. Got the meat combo and veg combo. VERY generous with the amount of injera given. Always my fave is the cabbage and carrots, cooked really nicely here with some nice bite left on the cabbage. The other dishes were fine. Perhaps my bad for not reading the reviews about the vibe and my experience was fine. Just not exactly a restaurant experience.

Incredible feast always treated like kings. Most friendly staff who always make us feel at home. Best service combined with consistently the best food make this a MUST GO. I've tried all the Ethiopian beers and coffee everything is good here. I buy the berber and Ethiopian butter after my meal when I need to restock. You will not be disappointed copying my order

First time trying Ethiopian food and it was delicious!Husband and I attempt to try a new cuisine every month, and glad we came across this place.Large potion size too!2 sides and 1 entree were enough for both of us (and we're both big eaters)Awash Special Tibs - this was delicious! Really perfectly cooked beef tenderloin, lovely curry (right amount of spicy and didn't seem too oily even though it had butter).Injera - so soft and so fluffy and flavorful! And really big too! Husband enjoyed it plain as well!Tikil Gomen (cabbage side dish) - this had a lot of flavor, but also too much butter. Nice dish overall.Gomen (collard greens side dish) - this was soso. Decent flavor, but had a bit of pungent taste to it for some reason. Probably won't recommend it.Red paste that was on the ribs was nice. Very strong flavor so I wouldn't recommend having too much per bite.