Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
“Anyway we got split lentils, soy tibs, fake beef tibs, pumpkin stew, collard greens, and chick pea "dumplings".”
“Her injera is fresh, pleasantly sour and made by her — and there is plenty of it.”
“Best of all, Lalibela is BYOB, so feel free to bring your favorite bottle of wine!”
Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This is one of our favorite spots in South Orange for a meal. My boyfriend and I come here for dinner when it's just the two of us and also with friends. It's a small eatery on Irvington Avenue, so at max a group of no more than four. The food is really delicious and the people who work there are friendly and welcoming. It's great for vegetarians because you have a diverse selection of options to order off the menu. When it's just the two of us ordering, my bf and I will go with the Beyainatu, which is the veggie combo for two (a choice of 6 veggie entrees/sides except the ingudai/portabella mushroom tibs). It's a good deal. If we're extra hungry, we'll order the veggie Sambusa (it's kind of like a samosa, if you like those, but with Ethiopian flavors) as an appetizer. The coffee is a good way to round of the meal, too.
Its a small place but a nice one .It has a relaxed feeling to it. There is ample of street parking just a block away.
The food is great. I have had some great Ethiopian food in past and I will put Lalibela in that league.We had ordered Yebeg Tibs (lamb in sauce) and Doro Wat (Chicken in sauce) . It was served with some vegetable sides. The lamb and chicken gravy was awesome, we had asked it to be bit spicy. We had plenty of anjeeris with the entrees.
The price is OK for the food. Will certainly recommend this place and suggest Yebeg Tibs (lamb in sauce) and Doro Wat (Chicken in sauce).
Things have gone downhill a bit at Lalibela 🙁 They have no heat in winter, just a few space heaters. They're closed more frequently. The injera was raw in the center and flaky at the edges. Service was spotty and forgetful. Had to ring the bell to pay our table's check. Doro tibs is oily.
This is an amazing Ethiopian restaurant and is walking distance from the train station in south orange. I was on a delayed annoying train ride from NYC and was so hungry all I could do was read yelp reviews and fantasize about food. I came across this restaurant and remembered it fondly so got off and walked over. Even at 840pm on a Monday the place was busy with only one server and I got the last table. I was trying to leave by 910pm and the server was great and got my order in. The owner or manager came out to check in on everyone and soon my food arrived freshly made. I got the Doro tibs, red lentils, and vegetables. They were hot fresh and absolutely delicious. Since I was in a hurry I scarfed it down and made my train with 8 minutes to spare. I will be back to this gem of a restaurant.
Wow! I love trying new food and my friend and I decided to really make the most of it. We saw Lalibela is nearby and raved about on Yelp so we decided to give it a try. It was a happy surprise that they're also offering an Amazon Local deal which really pushed us to try it.
We came on a cold Friday evening – many of the 9-10 tables in the small restaurant were full but we were fit snugly between two other smaller tables and nearby one of the small electric heaters. We ordered two meat dishes, the beef Lalibela Tibs and the lamb Yebeg Tibs (we went the stew route!) and had sides of Tickel Gomen, Shimbra Asa, Misir Wat, and Fasiola. Both the meat dishes were absolutely amazing and so full of flavor. The lamb was slightly spicy but very well crafted. As for the veggie dishes, I liked my friend's selection of the chick pea Shimbra and lentils that were so flavorful and a little less of the other two but still very well made.
It's the first time I really ate with my hands and it was messy but so so good. It's an experience like I have never had before. I really enjoyed it as a proud omnivore and know plenty of vegetarians/vegans can appreciate the flavorful foods offered here. I will definitely come back!
To this day, I am forever grateful to Lalibela for introducing me to the wonders that is Ethiopian food. Prior to the birthday dinner my friends and I did here, I had absolutely no idea what the heck the cuisine was, but now that I do… man, oh man was I missing out!
From the moment I stepped into the restaurant, I already knew I was going to like this place. From the dim lighting to the Ethiopian accents in the room, the restaurant had a relaxed, yet hip atmosphere that I was totally digging.
Seeing as how this would be the first time any of my friends and I would have eaten Ethiopian food, we were completely lost at what to order. Thankfully, everyone who came to our table was so friendly and helpful and within minutes, we had successfully ordered our first Ethiopian meal.
We ordered 2 platters filled with heaps of veggies and meats galore. I honestly don't even remember what everything was, but what I do know is that everything was delicious. I couldn't even tell you how many pieces of injera I ate because our baskets kept getting refilled the second we were almost finished with them. Definitely ate enough for at least 3 people that night and probably gained like 5 pounds, but I ain't even mad about it. The food was worth it.
Best of all, Lalibela is BYOB, so feel free to bring your favorite bottle of wine! Ethiopian food and alcohol? Pretty much the recipe for the perfect start to any night. If you haven't had Ethiopian food yet, get your butt here, stat. You won't regret it.
"I have no idea what I'm eating, but it's delicious." This pretty much sums up what went through my mind every time I tried something new here. I went here with 4 of my friends, and it was my first time trying Ethiopian food. I had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at the overall experience. Everything is eaten with a spongy bread (Injera). The actual food we ordered was served on top of this bread, and we were also given extra rolls of the bread on the side to eat with everything. Anyway, we ordered the sample platter appetizer and 4 entrees to share among everyone–1 chicken, 1 lamb, 1 shrimp, and 1 beef. Each entree came with 2 vegetarian sides. We didn't know which vegetarian sides we wanted to order, so we just asked for chef's choice on those.
My favorite entree was the lamb one (Yebeg Tibs?). I've never had lamb prepared like that before, and I was really surprised at how much I liked it. The chicken entree (Doro Wat) was a bit hard to split up because it came on the bones, but it was delicious. The meat was very tender and flavorful. The beef entree (Meklit's Kitfo) we got was very unique. It had a slight kick to it (the kind of spice that you barely notice until you keep eating it), and it also had some sort of cheese in it. The server explained that she really loves this dish, but unfortunately people tend to not order it after hearing her description of it. I would have to agree with her opinion on this; it is amazing and definitely worth ordering. The shrimp entree (Shrimps Tibs) was also pretty good, but it was probably the entree I liked the least. The appetizer platter and sides were all good too. I thought some of the sides were much better than others, but I really can't remember which ones.
I have no idea how the prices here compare to other Ethiopian restaurants, but I was stuffed at the end of the meal and more than content paying what we paid. There was only one lady working there who seemed to be doing everything by herself, so the service towards the end was a little bit slow. Nevertheless, she was very friendly and willing to answer any of our questions about the food in detail. This was especially comforting for a guy who has never tried Ethiopian food before. I'll definitely be back to try more of the menu. 4.5/5
I've been to many Ethiopian restaurants, and find that in areas where there is a critical mass of diasporic Ethiopians, the food tends to be better as there's more competition; see: Washington D.C., Los Angeles. I haven't quite found a 5-star Ethiopian place in Manhattan, ironically, but there are other good options in the wider tri-state area (Mesob in Montclair, NJ and Walia, which is on my to-try list).
Lalibela is a cozy spot with warm service and pretty solid food. Their injera is springy, with just the right level of tart ferment-y flavor, and all the dishes we ordered were on point in terms of texture and flavor. Some of the standouts that we tried were the yebeg tibs (lamb), gored gored, gomen, and misir wat — we were impressed by the balance, nuance, and seasoning of these the most. Every meat entree except one comes with two vegetable sides, and we found that two meat entrees plus four veg worked well for three people. I'd probably order one more meat for a party of 4 (though we still couldn't finish all the injera on the platter!).
There's street parking near/around the corner from Lalibela, and it's worth a trip if you are an Ethiopian food aficionado — to me, it's a more difficult cuisine to master as a home cook since the injera requires a long ferment time and some special treatment. I'm much happier to sample expert chefs' preparations!