Tsehay Ethiopian Restaurant And Bar

Incredibly warm and welcoming Ethiopian restaurant. Due to an unexpected flight cancellation, I found myself in DC with 24hrs to fill and so many places I wanted to try. Tsehay is situated on an incredibly charming street in a very lively neighbourhood (lots of local hangouts and a great indie bookstore just up the road). The food is, simply put, incredible. Tasty and warming - you can tell the owners really put the love into their cooking. I got the beef tib & shiro combo along with the gluten free injera (I was so thrilled to see they had gf options!). It came with a side salad that had this tasty mustard seed and vinegar dressing. The owner stopped by to check in and was so friendly. After talking a bit, he insisted on giving me a little sample of the Ye Bere Alicha (which was divine - the turmeric beef stew was the perfect thing for an overcast rainy day). When I find myself in DC, this will be one of the first places I come back to visit and I will be recommending any friends who are visiting the area to make the trip up to this delightful restaurant.

I loved this place when it was on Georgia Ave, but after two tries at the new location (under new management I imagine), I won’t be back. The service was terrible. I waited 30 minutes to have my order taken, then another 30 for my friends glass of wine, and my beverage never came, but then showed up on the bill. They overcharged and pricing isn’t explicit (every plate comes with injera, but they’ll bring out another basket without asking & charge you $5 for it in addition to the entree?) The server we had was very forgetful & had too many tables. He also simply did not know what gluten free meant (we have an allergy). The quality of the food unfortunately has diminished since their reopening. Still decent, but portions are MUCH smaller, and just not anything to write home about with so many other great options around.