East African Cafe

Shouldn't be listed as a vegetarian restaurant as it serves lamb, beef, etc. Also, the vegan buffet on Tuesdays is not all you can eat/choose what you want. You get a plate with a few options and that's it, hope you like it otherwise you're going home hungry.

Smallish place, amazing food. Staff was sweet to us. Venue was clean. We ended up sharing three #11 non - vegetarian combo platters between six of us, 2 Corona, 4 mango juice and 1 tea. The food was Ethiopian-inspired, injera etcetera. The mango juice was the purest I've had. The tea was amazing, the hot water was already infused with cloves - super tasty. Will definitely return.

CA$10–20

Great food choices and very affordable for a lot of food! A little slower service, but overall great vibe especially with friends.

We wanted to try an Ethiopian restaurant and the East African Cafe came up on a Google search, so we decided to give it a try since we wanted something vegan. City owned paid parking is available on the side of the building just a few steps from the cafe. We arrived at 3:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon and noticed there were only two other patrons inside. The inside of the cafe is well worn. It's an older building with a lot of African decor. We noticed it's not the cleanest restaurant as we saw a lot of dirt on the window frame and floor. The men's restroom seemed like it hadn't been cleaned in a couple of days but wasn't totally disgusting. If the owners paid a little more attention to cleanliness it would make the cafe more appealing. The cafe has no WiFi; we're good with that. The owner was very friendly and helpful when explaining the menu. Owner and his wife work inside. Food: very tasty! We ordered the Vegan Combo because we wanted to try a little of everything and a Shiro plate. One thing we liked very much is that you eat without utensils. You simply break off a piece of their sour dough bread and grab the food with it in your fingers. We've eaten like this before and food tastes so much better than putting metal utensils in your mouth. I was expecting some of the vegan items to have a little more seasoning, as some seemed a little bland but I image that's the way it's supposed to taste; we've never had African cuisine. The cabbage and lentil vegan items were definitely our favourites! One thing I definitely don't like is that they reheat food in a microwave. Microwaves have no place in restaurants, especially this one that serves good fresh homemade food. So the ultimate question is, would we return? This restaurant has good food and lots of potential but sadly, however until we read more in depth positive reviews, we won't likely return.

We ordered vegetarian combo. It was more than enough to feed two people. The taste is better than average. The ambiance is a bit more like a pub.

Ordered the vegetarian platter to go which also happens to be vegan. It has to be one of the best options to try a bunch of different stews. My favourites had to be the Tikil Gomen and the Ater Alicia. If you like it spicy, you can always ask for a few chillies 🌶 on the side. The owner was very kind and the service was quick. Highly recommend this location when you are craving some East African food!

CA$30–40

Got to this restaurant from a word-of-mouth referral, and we are pretty happy with the choice to eat here. The platter allowed us to sample various African flavours which were quite nice.

Ordered take out, two large portions that lasted two adults for a full dinner and lunch, for $40. First time trying East African food and it was very good! The platters come with many flavourful options and a lot, A LOT; of the “bread” (injera). We found the vegetarian options were the most flavourful. They were able to make the food less spicy for us, though I would recommend the heat if you can handle it. Highly recommend calling about 15-25 mins before hand to give them time to prepare, if ordering take out. Sadly we had to eat the food 3 hours after ordering (our own fault), but even still it was very good.