Tsehay Ethiopian Restaurant & Bar

After the unpleasant exchange with the owner following my unfavorable review back in March, I figured I had heard the last of this place. But I am getting spammed with messages inviting me to give people gift cards to come to this restaurant, and to come for the holidays.Yuck.

Service, atmosphere, food - AMAZING. We were greeted with a very gracious host, and were seated right by the front window. The exposed brick of the of the old brownstone gave the restaurant a homey, rustic feel. The food came quickly and the server was extremely polite and inviting. My party and I throughly enjoyed the different dishes, particularly the yellow chicken stew and the spicy lentils. This is my second time having Ethiopian food so the process of using the injera for every bite was still relatively new but I think I got the hang of it! Service, ambiance, food: 5/5.

An extremely disappointing experience. I went here recently with a friend for a weekend lunch on what initially appeared to be a quiet day and we were seated immediately outside on a nice day and able to put in our order quickly. Other than this, the only positive of our experience were the lentil dishes on the vegetarian sampler. There were several things that contributed to our negative experience:Service:-We waited 30 minutes for our food from the time we ordered until we got it. We spent 45 minutes at Tsehay when we only needed to spend 25-30 minutes maximum.-Tsehay only had two servers working despite it being a weekend day. Given there was a neighborhood event that day with increased pedestrian traffic, there should have been more servers.-Tsehay should have let us know that there might be a longer wait than normal due to what seemed to be shortstaffing.-21 minutes after we ordered, we asked our server when the food would be arriving. Our server said it would be right out, but it took another 9 minutes for it to come.-When we asked a server about our food after we were told it would be right out, they apologized but gave no update.-When my friend asked our main server the second time about the food, the server was rude and explained that there was a mass order put in right before us and made it seem that we were somehow imposing by asking about our order almost 30 minutes after we placed it.Price:-Our veggie sampler that we shared was $30 for not a lot of food (see photo below). This is $6 more than Elfegne's veggie sampler for less food (an Ethiopian restaurant right across the street).-Tsehay automatically includes a 20 percent service charge but did not inform us beforehand that this would be included. If a restaurant is going to include the automatic service charge, the service quality needs to match. Tsehay did not provide service quality anywhere close to this level.Food:-Other than the three lentil dishes, everything else was just OK. The food quantity and quality did not justify the price we paid for it.I would recommend Keren or Elfegne if you're looking for Ethiopian food in and near Adams Morgan.

My first time having Ethiopian food!! I'm so glad I tried it at Tsehay. The restaurant had a nice ambiance, and my friends and I were able to get a table pretty quickly on a Saturday night. We decided to get the sambosas to start and a double serving of the vegan combo with an addition of meat. Flavors were incredible and the injera was the perfect texture. I personally preferred the stews over the vegetables and would probably just order a stew over a combo next time. Overall, the meal was really good and super filling.

We ordered the two combination platters, including the vegan combination (which features all of their vegan options) and the ye belay (which is a sampler of the meat dishes including beef tibs, lamb tibs, lamb stew, etc).All the dishes were served on one injera (sour fermented pancake) and they give you an additional basket of injera on the side as well. There are no utensils for this dish, and you grab bits of the food with the injera.The flavors of all the dishes we tried were absolute flavor bombs! My personal favorite was the lamb tibs, but honestly you can't go wrong with any of them.The service was prompt and attentive. Overall, we had a great time here!

We had a great time at Tsehay! The food was incredible! We ordered the beef samboas, the memo special, the fossolia and the red lamb stew. They serve the different dishes on one very large injera and they bring a basket of injera on the side. There are no plates or utensils. You use the injera to grab the food and get it to your mouth. We devoured everything like we hadn't eat in years. It was all so flavorful and delicious. My favorite was the fossolia (string beans). Our server was pleasant and helpful. The restaurant was not too packed at 8pm on a Friday but it got more busy by 9pm.

Super tasty sambosas, a beautiful and classy interior, and speedy service! I thought the vegan combo was very small for the price but great taste, especially the beets.

The service was great! I put in an online order but messed up the pickup time and they graciously made it to order with a smile and an apology when I showed up (two hours earlier than the indicated pickup time). The food was not so great. The sampler gave us a good taste of four of the main meat dishes and we were not impressed. For $40 I expected better. The meats were not of the highest quality - some of the very few pieces had gristle. We ordered a side of injera because the sampler didn't indicate it would come with some ($4 trashed because who needs 3 huge rounds of injera with 12oz of meat?)The sampler looked enticing, each slot filled up on top of the large injera with an extra injera wrapped up on the side. The flavor left us baffled. Do we just not like Ethiopian food or is this place overhyped?

I'm visiting DC and heard about the amazing Ethiopian community they have here, and this place was the closest to my hostel. The restaurant was very nice and the waiter was kind and helpful. I decided to take my food to-go after traveling all day. The waiter recommended the beef and potato stew, so I went for it! It only took a few minutes for my food to come out which was nice. Upon returning to my hostel and opening my to-go box, I will say I was wildly disappointed by the portions. After spending $30 on one dish (with tip), I was expecting much more. The food was good, but not jaw-dropping amazing. The bread was yummy but far too much bread for the amount of stew you get. I'd say the food is good enough for 4 stars but the price and portions just really brought it down for me.

Omg! How did we miss this gem all this while in DC? The wine is in house made and tasted fantastic. The food was absolutely delicious and made me fall in love with collard greens and cabbage. The vegan combo was perfect for two and the extra injera bread was so fresh and fluffy. Veggie portions was fresh and tasty. The beetroot, collard greens and cabbage are the highlight of the menu. The injera bread is so filling and soul satisfying. The service was perfect and the owner personally came to each table and spoke about all the ingredients and how they prepare them.Everything was clean and spotless! I highly recommend this restaurant.PS: The street parking is a nightmare here so book the garage next door for a hassle free experience!