Addis Ababa - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
Italian restaurants are popular here, but they're not very good. They're more like gathering places than foodie spots. There is a good vegetarian Indian restaurant, a decent taqueria, some high-end restaurants that look nice (but the food is far from great).... We use Deliver Addis for takeout. It works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't, but it will do. There are of course good Ethiopian restaurants, but it's easy to get tired of the food because it's very limited. Restaurants are ridiculously expensive for being mediocre and in Addis Ababa (e.g., easily $20-25 dollars per meal, while restaurants in Cape Town for example offer great fare for $6). - Dec 2023
Lots of Ethiopian and Italian food restaurants. There are some Indian, Chinese, and other Asian restaurants as well. Check out some of the evening dinner show programs, such as Yod Abyssinia or Fendika. - Aug 2023
Deliver Addis is very well run. You can order Ethiopian, Indian, burgers, pizza, Korean, etc - Aug 2023
Deliver Addis is horrendous. They cannot keep up with the overall demand. Many different restaurants throughout the city. You will not find sushi. Italian seems to be the go-to option if dining out. - Aug 2022
There is a food delivery service that is pretty good! Lots of great Ethiopian restaurants as well as restaurants that serve pizza, burgers, tacos, shawarma. Lots of good food!! - Jul 2022
Pizza places and few restaurants. - May 2022
There are several good restaurants, but they tend to be expensive. - Jun 2021
There was a Turkish restaurant which was good. There were also an assortment of other restaurants, many of which we did not frequent as sickness was common in Addis. - Feb 2021
Many restaurants and a good online ordering home delivery service called Deliver Addis. The quality of meals tends to be fairly meh, which reflects the lack of ingredients (lots of substitutions) and lack of training and care amongst many cooks. Good coffee is actually harder to find than one might think - mostly because of inconsistency in the roasting and preparation. Pizza is excellent, reflecting a little leftover Italian influence. - Aug 2020
Sakura for Japanese and The Village for Mexican. Honestly, eating out is like playing roulette for GI issues. If you go out, you do it with the understanding you may regret it later. - Mar 2020
Deliver Addis is a delivery service and they have a range of restaurants to choose from. Just know food here is just okay (with the exception of Ethiopian food, which is great). You can find Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indian, Turkish, Italian, French, American, burgers, pizza both Italian style, and good old Pizza Hut. Again, many outings, but just expect it to be only ok. Dinner for two at a restaurant in a western hotel can easily cost over US$200. - Feb 2020
Deliver Addis is a good option and the food is usually fine (sometimes gets a bit tossed around in transit). A great restaurant is Mamma Mia and Mandoline. - Feb 2019
When we lived there, there were no restaurants that delivered, or we weren't aware of them at least. There are quite a few decent restaurants spread around the city, some take a while to get to. Local restaurants are everywhere, and cheap. Most international cuisines will have a restaurant, but sometimes only one. - Oct 2018
Restaurants are hit or miss and inconsistent. They struggle to stay open with the challenges of operating in Ethiopia. My understanding is that outside investments are not allowed, and all businesses must be majority Ethiopian-owned. Sishu, Bake and Brew, Five Loaves, Yod Abbisynia, etc. Generally though if you want to go out, you can find something. Keep your expectations low and take your probiotics, as stomach issues are common. DeliverAddis is a great option for home delivery. - Aug 2018
'Deliver Addis' is useful. There are takeouts and take away available. There are many restaurants to choose from. Some are good for Addis, others are not stable in quality and taste. Indian, Mediterranean, Yemeni, Brasilian, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Italian, Burgers, Pizzas, Sandwich, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Lebanese, French, etc. There are lots of coffee shops. - Jul 2018
There are about 10 restaurants that we use at times, like pizza, hamburger Ethiopian food and a few Italian places. But again if you are a foodie forget about great food in Addis. - Jan 2018
There are a lot of good restaurants to choose from, though they can be hard to find the first time. I was amazed by the quality of the Italian food, complete with handmade fresh pastas. Other options include French, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Yemeni, burgers, brunch, pizza, and Ethiopian, of course. If you are vegan you will love this country; due to the huge number of animal-product-free "fasting" days in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, every single restaurant has at least one vegan option at all times. Costs are probably on par with what you'd pay in DC, so eating out is not cheap. There is one delivery service I know of - Deliver Addis - and it works quite well if you're very careful about where you put your house marker when you sign up. Don't expect your food in under an hour though. - Sep 2017
We use Deliver Addis frequently - quality is hit or miss and luckily, the guys know where we live but as the other person stated, forget about addresses so expect the drivers to get lost the first couple of times. Oh and nobody, and I mean nobody in this country, seems to have change and everything is cash so plan on having lots of smaller bills on hand for everything (restaurants frequented by ex-pats are an exception). There are some decent places but one reason we don't venture out is that it's a process: traffic, no parking, traffic after dinner when it's likely darker out and way, way more dangerous to drive because there are few street lights. They are useless and pedestrians just don't understand that while they have the right, as they should, stepping out in front of car in the dark when nobody can see you, is very dangerous. Driving is a nightmare. So...on the rare occasion we do go out to a restaurant, there are some decent Italian places, relatively. - Aug 2016
There is an online service called Deliver Addis, but it's not reliable. Plus it requires internet, which only works intermittently. No street addresses in Addis, so they often get lost and by the time you receive food it is cold and inedible. There are some "average" restaurants, but no real fast food. Even the most expensive restaurants (Sheraton or some of the Italian places) are only "great" in context - compared to the dearth of quality/selection. I've never been anywhere like this - where there is really no "cheap but amazing" street food or local fare. Love Ethiopian fare in the US and abroad, however the poor quality of ingredients here detracts greatly. Restaurants, regardless their mediocre quality, can be quite pricey. - Aug 2016
No fast food or international chains at all (I hear a rumor KFC is coming though). Generally, there is a nice selection of different cuisines (Thai, Indian, Korean, Chinese, French, and a ton of Italian). And eating out here is ridiculously cheap. Be aware, food safety issues are a problem, but if you stick to your basic rules around no uncooked vegetables and well cooked meats it's not horrible. - Feb 2016
No fast food, some decent restaurants but we never found anything consistent that we loved. Prepare for a lot of doro wat and injera. - May 2014
If you die without McDonald's, living abroad is probably not for you. That said, if you need fast food for some reason, there are some local burger joints. There is one burger joint located in the Edna Mall area. The burgers are better than American fast food, and probably a million times healthier. Cost range at the many decent restaurants varies, but are a lot cheaper than in the United States. They tend to use unhealthy oil and MSG in a lot of stuff, so beware. - Jan 2014
No fast food whatsoever. A few decent restaurants are scattered around town. Prices for a nice main dish range from US$5 to $12+. Don't expect amazing things on the menus though. And drink options are often disappointing -- or exorbitant. - Nov 2013
Fast food? No. But good restaurants are appearing. - Jun 2012
Fast food? What's that? There are plenty of cheap, good restaurants. - Aug 2010
There isn't much fast food, at least not in the sense of chains. There is excellent Ethiopian and Italian food in every neighborhood. Indian, Chinese, Korean, Thai, French, Belgian, Greek, Turkish, and BBQ is also available. Restaurants are very affordable:good Ethiopian food can be had for a few dollars, ten dollars will buy a nice dinner at any of the above, and it's difficult to spend more than thirty dollars anywhere in town. - Jun 2010
There are plenty of decent restaurants but no fast food. There's Thai, Chinese, Indian, Ethiopian, Korean, Tex-Mex, Georgian, and others. - Mar 2008
