Walia Ethiopian Restaurant
“As far as the ambiance, this place is quite relaxed, and it seems to be BYOB, judging by nearby tables.”
“Speaking of sides, all of the sides are great but my favorites are the lentils (Misr Watt & Misr Alicha Watt).”
“We again both agreed that the Misr Watt was the best of the two.”
Walia Ethiopian Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Amazing, delicious Ethiopian food. Simple dining room, and food can take awhile to come out–but worth the wait.
Very good food and attentive service. The vegetarian options are your standard for the cuisine. My go to is always the Tikel Gomen but the portobello Tibs are very good as well.
The atmosphere leaves a bit to be desired as we are most used to Mesob in Montclair. But it's not bad for a casual night out.
I do have to say this is my least favorite of the 3 local Ethiopian restaurants. But I do feel grateful that I can even say we have 3.
This was a small and cute place. My date and I came on a weekday afternoon. The service was took a little longer than we liked, but it was the type of place where one person does everything. I've been to a few Ethiopian restaurants, and the difference here were the portion size. They were very small, and when you factor in the price…too small. It could have been a meal for one or simply a bunch of appetizers. The food was good, but not the best I've had. The cubed beef was amazing. I got a ground beef type dish and that was just ok. The meal set up was pretty cute, but the servings were just too small for entrée price. We probably would have been better off taking food to go. On the plus side, they did honor the check in deal for a free appetizer.
Overall, a great place to go if you are watching your portions. So if I start another vegan challenge, and want take out; this place would be my go to.
Solid Ethiopian in the heart of South Orange. There is one other Ethiopian in south orange and both have thei appeal. I think that the other one has better food by a small bit. However that ambience and service was better at this place. So give them both a try and judge for yourself.
Decided to try Walia for lunch. We're fans of Lalibela and Mesob and wanted to see how this compares.
The vegetarian dishes on the whole were very good. The ingutai tibs in particular was excellent with the addition of onions and is superior to the same dish at Mesob.
The disappointment came with the meat dishes. They were very bland with a texture bordering on the dry side. Nothing to write home about, and a big let-down after getting superior vegetarian sides.
We went when it was a an extremely slow day, so cannot really comment on the service. I would say the restaurant ambiance is really casual. Some of the Yelp pics are misleading because of they were possibly retouched with filters. It is not a place I'd take someone for a special night out.
Overall, while the experience wasn't bad, it just wasn't remarkable enough to warrant a second visit, especially when dinner prices are comparable to the the restaurant's immediate competitors.
Friendly service, nice location, and immaculate restaurant.
Food was OK as far as Ethiopian goes. Pumpkin was standout for our veggie combo, but everything else was a bit more bland than other Ethiopian restaurants we have tried.
This may be a good thing for those that are more sensitive to the spices.
Value was ok, but a little less than others we compare. 4 item veggie combo for 26.95 is less than other offerings of 6 choices, many which include the soy options as well, which this restaurant does not.
No comments on meat offerings since we did not try.
I know nothing of Ethiopian food, but very much enjoyed the experience. Yes, you eat with your hands, but akin to Indian food with flatbread: you don't get your hands messy. The staff is really friendly.
Let me start out by saying that what you get here is not 'dinner', but a cultural dining experience. It's unlike any other cuisine in how its presented to how it tastes. We went here with another couple and none of us had really ever partaken in an Ethiopian meal before. After a quick introduction and explanation from the waiter we ordered a spicy mushroom appetizer (very flavorful) and another puff pastry-filled appetizer (Sambusas). Both were very good and flavorful. For our main meals we ordered the Chicken Tibs, the Kitfo (which I ordered raw and absolutely loved), the Yebeg Alicia Watt and one other beef dish along with a number of vegetable sides for all of us to share. There was plenty of food left over and we all left full and happy. The food itself was very flavorful (although not as spicy or hot as they said it was). It was definitely a great experience to have and one we'll be sure to be back for again. Another side bonus is that its BYOB.