Empress Taytu Ethiopian Restaurant
This experience was somewhat of a disappointment. I had been led to believe that this was a very authentic, “fine dining” Ethiopian restaurant and while both of the servers present were definitely Ethiopian, only one of them was able to communicate. Sadly, it wasn’t the girl that had our table. When dining in a restaurant where assistance with the menu and suggestions are pretty critical, our girl was not only unable to help us, but was barely able to understand some of the questions posed. We were pretty much on our own and unfortunately that didn’t turn out too well. I was so excited that when he discovered what type of restaurant we were trying this Tuesday night, Mr Z didn’t get this horrible expression on his face (as you have probably gathered by now….he’s not very adventurous). Instead, he went into this with optimism and I was totally sure this was going to be great. Not so much. I tried to order a variety of things that weren’t on the “scorcher” side, and as a result, they didn’t have much flavor at all. He wasn’t crazy about the “spongy” bread that is used instead of utensils either. Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, but having been to Ethiopian restaurants in other cities, I don’t think this was as good as it could have been.
The positive takeaway was the coffee ‘ceremony’ which wasn’t really ceremonial at all, but the coffee (which is roasted, ground and brewed while you wait, so it takes a while) was outstanding!!!
If you’re in the mood for a very different experience, give it a try…..you might be pleasantly surprised!
Empress Taytu is located at:
6125 Saint Clair Ave
Cleveland OH 44103-1627 United States
216-391-9400
http://empresstayturestaurantcleveland.com