Cravings Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Addis Ababa

Overall the waiting staff are friendly and helpful when they can. The food is average, I ordered a local fish dish. Their strawberry and lemon drink had a horrible taste, like it had additive or some sort of food colouring that overpowered the fruits and altered the drink's taste. I shared the table with another customer who happened to order the same drink, and she thought the same thing. We were given pineapple juice, and it had nothing of a freshly pressed juice as I was told. It tasted inorganic. In the end we were given a small 500 ml bottle of water each, which was far cheaper than the smoothie and juice. When I had to pay, I asked that they remove the smoothie drink from my bill and charge me for the water, first the waitress said that it couldn't be done because she would be charged for that drink if I didn't pay for it. Given that it's unfair for her to pay, I asked to speak to the manager who wasn't much helpful at all, saying that she won't remove the juice from the bill. As I was getting ready to go board, I had to pay almost 7usd when the water I was given was about 2usd, very illogical and a real rip off. I explained to her that's poor customer service as I didn't drink both juices, they took those cups full, as I took a couple of sips only and couldn't stomach the drink. She didn't seem to care. In the end, I paid for the drink I never drank. 51 usd for a fish dish, a juice I never had and a brownie that took more than 30mins to arrive and didn't taste good. My advice, when ordering stick to generic drinks, stay away from their juices, they're definitely not freshly pressed and taste like chemicals were...

Update: I gave this place a positive review a couple of years ago — “Nice vibe and services.”

However, my recent experience was completely different, and I strongly feel the need to update my feedback. My new review: “AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS.”

A lot has changed since my last visit. The servers and manager were extremely rude and unprofessional. Here’s what happened: Outrageous prices. A small glass of draft beer costs $16 USD — that’s nearly 1,600% higher than what you’d pay outside the airport. I’ve traveled widely and have never encountered such absurd pricing, even in other airports around the world. Refusal to honor agreed payment. Before ordering, I politely asked if I could pay in the local currency (Birr). The server confirmed “yes.” But when it was time to pay, everything changed. The manager suddenly said, “You can only pay in dollars or by card.” I explained that I didn’t have those options and reminded him of what the server said. I offered to pay by local bank transfer, but he became hostile and even threatened to call security, saying I might miss my flight. I calmly told him I was willing to pay as agreed — just needed their bank details. After I insisted and asked them to call security or their supervisor if necessary, the manager finally returned with the account number. I completed the transfer immediately.

My conclusion: They clearly had a way to accept local payment but deliberately made it difficult. I felt disrespected and intimidated for simply trying to pay fairly.

This experience forced me to rewrite my old review. Avoid this place — the staff are rude, dishonest,...

only eat here if you want to get sick with salmonella! we ordered drinks and chicken wings, which came out pink in the middle. naturally we sent them back and asked to make sure they were cooked properly. next batch came out the same. at this point we just wanted to leave but the manager apologized and pushed us to have fries instead. we finally gave in, had a few fries, and got the bill. to our surprise the wings were included! we told them we won’t pay for the wings we didn’t eat as we would’ve gotten sick. they told us ‘the first batch was just made warm’ and that after the second try we should’ve let them keep trying while our appetite was totally gone. as if restaurants are allowed to cook chicken ‘medium rare’ and wanting it fully cooked is a taste preference. they threatened to stop us boarding our flight until we paid for wings we didn’t eat. and acting as if the fries were a huge favour they did for us. even after just 2 bites to try the wings before realizing they weren’t cooked both my partner and i have had upset stomachs and had to seek medical care. never again, do not trust this place as the food is bad, you will get sick, and staff are incredibly rude and...