Dahlak Restaurant — Restaurant in Burnaby

Tried this restaurant based on the high rating on Google map - Unlikely to return.

a pickup order.

Something minor: the ordering process on the phone was a bit unsmooth, resulting in wrong order.

The interior has its own characteristics, but looks somewhat dated.

Overall, we hope the menu could explain a bit more about the foods and provide more options for different food preferences.

I've never had Ethiopian food before. Not sure if I ordered the wrong dish, but the Chicken and Lamb Tibsi both come with lots of (too much) thin 'bread' that look interesting but taste sour.

The chicken meats are soaked in sauce with lots of (too much) oil. No greens come with any of the Tibsi's; the website images show otherwise. The tastes are not bad, but a bit too strong for us.

Also tried Hummus Caramalized Onions. The bread tastes ordinary / dry, which is ok. I would prefer having this bread to go with Tibsi's. The sauce seems to be made of beans with added oily sauce.

Ended up with leftover of lots of those thin sour 'bread' for Tibsi's that we don't know whatelse to go with.

Value wise, it depends on how you like the thin sour bread; but for us it's way too much, and we are more interested in the meats which are not enough compared to other restaurants.

Free street parking available on...

Dirty dirty dirty location. Splatters of who knows what on the walls, glass panels are hardly see through from grim. Bathrooms were even a nightmare. The immediate vibe this place have when walking in was like stumbling into a nightclub during the day before they have even cleaned up from the previous night.

Music they played was ran off of a tablet playing music off YouTube videos but you have to suffer through ads like those awful 30min ads that just run if you don’t click next on it. If you’re going to do that at least pay for YouTube premium so you can have music for your establishment with no ads , it’s like $10 a month..

On to the food and service Server was also the cook which should’ve been a red flag. We ordered our food she went back to make it while we listened to our 10min ad on loud. Food was not what was expected. Very bland and one dimensional felt like anyone could’ve made the dish. Meat and salt. Which leads me to the aftermath and conclusion for this review. Currently sitting at home gut wrenching and continuous trips to the bathroom. I’ll let imagination figure that one out.

Absolutely would...

My boyfriend took me out for our anniversary and we came here for dinner (7:15 ish pm on a Tuesday, maybe about 10 people in the restaurant including us). I've never tried Ethiopian food and was really looking forward to it. The moment we came in, the music was blaring loud, the bass turned all the way up, and you couldn't hear anyone talk. My boyfriend and I had to text each other to talk 🤨.

This place is also a hookah lounge but has zero ventilation and we couldn't breathe properly. Doors and windows closed completely as well.

We asked numerous times if they could turn the music down, and the waitress said she would every time, but then said that "they" keep saying no and won't let her. So we asked to get our dinner to go since we already ordered it.

Food was delicious, but instead of a nice anniversary dinner, we ate at...