Abyssinia Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in London

No idea why this restaurant is so highly rated as our experience was awful. Came one day last week for lunch, walked in and the entire place was empty, no staff anywhere to greet us or to seat us.

We sat down anyway and waited 5 mins before a little old lady came out and gave us menus. She then spent the next 15 min on the phone while we waited for her to finish her call and take our order.

She then took my 2 friends order , bizarrely she asked my friend if she was vegetarian when she had just ordered a beef dish??? However when I was about to give her my order she walked off!!! No word, no apology, just walked off to get my friends drinks before even taking down my order! How bloody rude!!

She looked very puzzled when we ordered and didn't write anything down. Thought she memorised the order, turns out she didn't even acknowledge anything we said, turns out she was the chef and not the waitress and couldn't speak or understand much English!!!

25 mins after we arrived a man in his car came screeching to a halt outside and rushed in and asked us what we wanted to order, this was the waiter, and the little old lady was just pretending to take our order. So we had to go through the whole ordering process again!!!!

However only 5 mins later our food arrived, which was suspiciously quick considering they were curries. Waiter then just dumped the lot onto the injera without even telling us which was which, I had to ask him what dish was what. Turns out it was all microwaved. Now I understand that most restaurants will cook in advance and reheat, that's fine but I don't expect cold, reheated 2 day old rice which was dry and hard. It's not that difficult to cook fresh rice each morning, especially as bad reheated rice can be dangerous. I barely touched my meal as it was disgusting and I've eaten ethiopian food before.

Also they charge £3 for a can of coke, the same price they charge for a bottle of bud. I have never heard of any restaurant charging same price for soft drinks and alcohol. Especially as this place had plastic table cloths and resembled a greasy spoon not a restaurant.

The only saving grace was the fact they discounted the bill by a few quid as the waiter saw just how annoyed/disappointed we were with the entire meal.

WILL NEVER GO BACK OR RECOMMEND TO ANYONE, AVOID UNLESS YOU LIKE BAD SERVICE...

If you want good eating food and you want it badly that you’ll go no further than this amazing restaurant which is almost certainly the best I’ve ever been to and I’ve certainly been at least 18 different ones

Good God the potato curry alone is extra extraordinary but when you mix that with the beef curry, you’re in for a treat to say the very least

If you want to get really stoned , try the honey wine called Tej it’s extraordinary and when he wore out of the restaurant, it bangs you in the face. Not like a bus but like an ethereal experience from heaven and beyond.

The cabbage and the potatoes are amazing you would not believe what they could do with carrots all basic stuff but turned into a foodie dream come true.

From the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank the owner of this independent restaurant a big big big big big cheers.

Yes, his name? Taz ! He’s not in it for the money he is in it for the community and for the sense of a great culinary experience and perhaps soft to him for that 👍😉 Should I...

The best Ethiopian food we had in London so far! We went for the chicken curry and a lamb dish. Both dishes were perfectly seasoned, they went very well with the injera, and we got a really nice spice mix to optionally sprinkle on the lamb for a bit of extra kick. Don't be shy to ask the owner for recommendations, he was very happy to explain a bit about the dishes and was super friendly. We were also offered some additional chick pea curry and vegetables to complement the meat at no extra cost. Soft drinks were very reasonably priced! I recommend the Cricklewood Broadway area in general, it has surprisingly good selection of restaurants, there are places for drinks, tea, shisha, cakes if you need more after dinner (for cakes, you must try Bagel Delight Bakery).  The area is a pleasant 10 minute-walk from the tube station which is perfect after...