Guide | San Francisco Bay Area | 30 October 2026
The Bay Area has been eating Ethiopian food for more than four decades: the Cal Alumni Association traces the region’s first Ethiopian restaurant, the original Blue Nile, to Oakland around 1980, and some of the restaurants below have been cooking for most of the time since. Oakland and Berkeley have the oldest cluster, San Jose has a strong group of family kitchens along West San Carlos Street, and San Francisco has a homey dining room in the Mission. Every one of them is built around a shared tray of injera.
This guide covers ten Ethiopian restaurants from our San Francisco Bay Area city page, grouped by area. Before adding each one, we checked that it is still open at the address shown, using the restaurant’s own website or ordering site, current map and review listings, or recent coverage in the local press. Opening hours change often, so please call ahead or check the restaurant’s own website before you set off.
Oakland and Berkeley
Five of the restaurants in this guide are in the East Bay, most of them on or near Telegraph Avenue, College Avenue and San Pablo Avenue in North Oakland and south Berkeley.
Cafe Colucci, North Oakland
5849 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608. Cafe Colucci has been serving Ethiopian food in Oakland since 1991, and in 2022 it left Telegraph Avenue for a space on San Pablo Avenue three times the size, The Oaklandside reported. The restaurant says its spices and herbs are imported from Ethiopia through Brundo Spice Company, and it sells spices and cookbooks to take home. It has a full bar with cocktails made with African spirits, takes walk ins only, and says it has received more than 25 awards, including a Michelin Guide recommendation.
Enssaro Ethiopian Restaurant, Rockridge
5897 College Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618. After more than 20 years on Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt, Enssaro moved to a larger home on College Avenue in Rockridge in the summer of 2026. The Rockridge Voice reports that the new restaurant has a full bar, a patio by a fountain, room for private events and a dedicated area for the coffee ceremony. Enssaro says many of its ingredients and spices come from the town of Enssaro in Ethiopia, and it offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. It is closed on Tuesdays.
Addis Ethiopian Restaurant, Telegraph Avenue
6100 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609. Addis is a casual restaurant on Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland with its own parking lot. Its menu runs from kitfo and lamb tibs to a vegetarian combination of gomen, misir wot, ater kik and tekel gomen. For two people, the Kornis platter brings together kitfo, lamb tibs and quanta firfir, and the owner has said the kitchen offers 100% teff injera when it is available. In 2015, KQED’s Bay Area Bites singled out its yedoro wot, chicken legs stewed in berbere sauce and served with a boiled egg.
Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant, Claremont Avenue
5200 Claremont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618. Red Sea serves Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes. KQED’s Bay Area Bites called it one of the oldest restaurants on its 2015 list of favorite Ethiopian spots in Berkeley and Oakland, praising its bamiya, stewed okra and potatoes, and its gored, cubed beef sautéed in spiced butter and lemon juice. The restaurant says its most ordered dishes include the vegetarian combination and kilwa begee yebeg tibbs, and that guests often mention the hot kitfo and shiro. A house combination is made for sharing, and the restaurant also caters.
Ethiopia Restaurant, Berkeley
2955 Telegraph Avenue at Ashby, Berkeley, CA 94705. Also known to many diners as Meskie’s, this casual restaurant in the Elmwood area serves meat, poultry and vegetarian dishes on shared platters of injera, and its OpenTable listing describes the traditional way of eating, washing hands first and sharing a large plate set on a woven mesob. Reviewers mention gluten free injera and a patio at the back, and it takes online orders for pickup.
San Francisco
Café Ethiopia, Mission
878 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. The Infatuation describes Café Ethiopia as warm and homey, like a friend’s apartment filled with Ethiopian paintings, woven baskets and flags, with generous pours of tej, or honey wine. Its menu includes chicken kitfo, zigni, a spicy beef stew, and vegetarian platters for two to five people. Dishes are traditionally served family style on one plate, but the kitchen will separate them if you ask. It opens for dinner only and is closed on Tuesdays.
San Jose
Four of the restaurants in this guide are in San Jose, three of them on West San Carlos Street west of downtown.
Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant, West San Carlos Street
1261 West San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95126. Gojo was opened in 1994 by a husband and wife from Ethiopia, and its name means home in Amharic. The restaurant says it is still family owned, that every stew and every injera is made from scratch in house with the family’s own spice blends, and that the cook is the owner. It describes itself as a small, dimly lit dining room where regulars are greeted by name.
Mudai Ethiopian Restaurant, West San Carlos Street
503 West San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95126. Mudai serves Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes. Owner and chef Selam Tkabo took over the business in 2014 when its original owner retired, and she cooks family recipes she learned in her mother’s kitchen in Ethiopia, San José Spotlight reported in 2021. The restaurant has a second room with a mural of the Blue Nile Falls that is used for parties, and its manager told the paper that Mudai is known for its vegan and vegetarian dishes as much as its lamb.
The Lunch Box Ethiopian Restaurant, West San Carlos Street
1876 West San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95128. Now trading as Ethio-LunchBox, this restaurant gives vegan and vegetarian dishes a long section of its menu, from shiro and misir kik to mushroom tibs, alongside doro wot, kitfo and tibs sandwiches and breakfast dishes such as foul. It also serves freshly brewed Ethiopian coffee. It takes reservations and online orders for pickup, and it hosts private events with customized menus.
Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant, Saratoga Avenue
1320 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, CA 95129. Zeni is run by owner and executive chef Zeni Gebremariam, and its website says it has been cooking in an unassuming row of small businesses on the west side of San Jose for almost 20 years. It offers traditional style seating and uses imported spices and beverages, and it was featured on KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area in 2009. It is closed on Mondays.
A few tips for first timers
- Most restaurants serve dishes together on one large tray lined with injera, a soft, slightly sour flatbread. Tear off a piece and use it to scoop up the stews.
- Combination platters are the easiest way to try a range of dishes, and every restaurant in this guide serves vegetarian dishes such as misir wot or shiro.
- If you need gluten free food, ask whether the restaurant has 100% teff injera that day, since many kitchens also use wheat or barley flour.
Find more Ethiopian businesses in the Bay Area
Our San Francisco Bay Area city page lists Ethiopian restaurants, churches and other community listings across Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara. Know a restaurant we have missed, or spotted a change at one of the places above? Tell us and we will update the guide. Own an Ethiopian restaurant in the Bay Area? List your business for free.
More guides: Ethiopian restaurants in London, Best Ethiopian restaurants in Washington DC and Best Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle.
Sources
- Cal Alumni Association, on the original Blue Nile in Oakland and its 1982 Berkeley branch: alumni.berkeley.edu
- Cafe Colucci website (since 1991, spices imported from Ethiopia through Brundo Spice Company, full bar, walk ins only, more than 25 awards including Michelin Guide Recommended, address): cafecolucci.com; The Oaklandside, 15 August 2022 (move to San Pablo Avenue, three times the space): oaklandside.org
- Enssaro Ethiopian Restaurant website (ingredients and spices from Enssaro, dietary options, address, hours): enssarooakland.com; Rockridge Voice, “New Location, Same Authentic Ethiopian Cuisine and Warm Hospitality”, 11 August 2026: rockridgevoice.com; The Oaklandside, 28 July 2026: oaklandside.org
- Addis Ethiopian Restaurant menu (dishes, Kornis platter): addisoakland.com; Addis business page on Yelp (parking lot, owner’s answer on 100% teff injera): yelp.com
- Red Sea Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine website (dishes, catering, address): eatredsea.com
- KQED Bay Area Bites, “Guide to 7 Favorite Ethiopian Restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland”, 4 November 2015 (Addis, Red Sea): kqed.org
- Ethiopia Restaurant ordering site (address, cuisine, online orders): orderethiopiarestaurant.com; OpenTable listing (traditional service on a mesob, patio): opentable.com; Restaurantji listing (Meskie’s, gluten free injera, back patio): restaurantji.com
- Café Ethiopia website (menu, hours, address): sfcafeethiopia.com; Café Ethiopia menu on Yelp (family style service, dishes separated on request): yelp.com; The Infatuation, Cafe Ethiopia review: theinfatuation.com
- Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant website (opened 1994, family owned, made from scratch, address): gojorestaurantsanjose.com
- San José Spotlight, “The Biz Beat: Mudai brings flavorful Ethiopian food to San Jose”, 2 December 2021: sanjosespotlight.com; Mudai Eritrean and Ethiopian Restaurant website: mudaiethiopianrestaurant.com
- Ethio-LunchBox website (vegan and vegetarian focus, coffee, reservations, private events, address): ethiolunchbox.com and its menu
- Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant website (owner and executive chef Zeni Gebremariam, almost 20 years, hours, address): zeniethiopianrestaurant.com; KQED Check, Please! Bay Area, Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant (30 April 2009): kqed.org
Last updated: 30 October 2026. Listings were checked on 30 October 2026. Ethiopialist has no commercial relationship with any of the restaurants in this guide.
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Featured image: A combination platter of stews, greens and salads on injera in a woven tray, with rolled injera, berbere and drinks, at Cafe Colucci in Oakland. Photo: Cafe Colucci (official restaurant photo from cafecolucci.com), cropped.