.jpg){kind=link}
Guide | Denver | 5 November 2026
Denver’s Ethiopian dining scene grew up along East Colfax Avenue. Colorado’s Ethiopian community grew out of immigration sparked by the Ethiopian Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s, 5280 magazine reported, and the first Ethiopian eateries in the area opened on Colfax. One of them, The Ethiopian Restaurant, is still cooking in its storefront painted in the colors of the Ethiopian flag, and Colfax remains home to several of the restaurants below. Others have opened farther east in Aurora, and one long running favorite now cooks in Lafayette, in Boulder County.
This guide covers five Ethiopian restaurants from our Denver 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, current map and review listings, local business directories, or coverage in the local press. Opening hours change often, so please call ahead or check the restaurant’s own website before you set off.
East Colfax Avenue, Denver
Three of the restaurants in this guide are on East Colfax Avenue, between the 2800 and 7200 blocks, a short drive from one another.
The Ethiopian Restaurant, East Colfax Avenue
2816 E Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80206. 5280 magazine describes The Ethiopian Restaurant as Colorado’s first Ethiopian and African eatery. Negussie Denku and Elleni Mekonnen opened it as a hangout for what was then a local Ethiopian community of just 15 to 20 people, their daughter Nardos Negussie told the magazine, and when 5280 wrote about it in October 2023 the family had been running it for 38 years, with Mekonnen still cooking. The magazine recommends the special tibs, chunks of beef sautéed in spiced clarified butter, served on her injera made with both wheat and teff, a grain that was not available in Colorado in the 1980s. Its map and review listings show it open from Tuesday to Sunday in the late afternoon and evening, and closed on Mondays.
Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant and Bar, East Colfax Avenue
5707 E Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80220. 5280 calls Abyssinia a South Park Hill spot with a cozy, inviting atmosphere and a wide menu, and suggests it as a good place to try Ethiopian food for the first time. Its recommendation for a group is a bottle of honey wine for the table, then the doro wot, chicken drumsticks stewed in a rich, slightly spicy sauce, with the seven item vegetarian combination; the magazine especially liked the green beans. The restaurant is listed in the Colfax Mayfair Business Improvement District directory, and current listings show it open for lunch and dinner and closed on Tuesdays.
Queen of Sheba Restaurant, East Colfax Avenue
7225 E Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80220. Westword calls Queen of Sheba Zewditu Aboye’s one woman show and says it stands out among Denver’s many Ethiopian restaurants. Meals start with tart, springy injera, Westword says, and it singles out a shared platter of misir wot, kitfo, doro wot and gomen (spicy lentils, seasoned raw beef, stewed chicken and collard greens). The restaurant describes its cooking as homemade Ethiopian food in the East Colfax Cultural District directory. Current listings show it open from Tuesday to Sunday in the evening and closed on Mondays.
Aurora
Nile Ethiopian Restaurant, South Havana Street
1951 S Havana Street, Aurora, CO 80014. 5280 describes Nile as a lively, well lit restaurant that caters to the local Ethiopian community, where large parties often fill long tables, and warns that service is relaxed, so do not expect to be in and out within an hour. The magazine recommends the lamb tibs awaze, fried cubes of lamb simmered in a spicy sauce with a hint of rosemary. The restaurant takes reservations and offers catering and private parties, and its website says it is open from 11 AM to 9 PM and closed on Wednesdays.
Lafayette
Ras Kassa’s Ethiopian Restaurant, South Public Road
802 S Public Road, Lafayette, CO 80026. Ras Kassa’s has moved several times over its long history, 5280 reported: its first home was at the Highway 93 turnoff toward Eldorado Canyon, it later spent many years in the heart of Boulder, and since 2017 it has been in Lafayette. Owner Tsehay Hailu still runs it. 5280 recommends starting with the homemade farmer’s cheese served with injera and fresh tomatoes, then trying the assa, a pan fried Rocky Mountain red trout, or the engudai, mushrooms cooked in red wine. The restaurant says it is open every day from 3 PM to 9 PM for dine in and takeout, and asks takeout customers to pick up on the east side of the building.
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; Ethiopian food is traditionally eaten by hand.
- Combination platters are the easiest way to try a range of dishes. Many Ethiopian Orthodox Christians fast from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays and before Christmas and Easter, so every restaurant here serves vegetarian dishes.
- 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.
- Finish with Ethiopian coffee, or try tej, a traditional honey wine, where it is served.
Find more Ethiopian businesses in Denver
Our Denver city page lists Ethiopian restaurants and a market in Denver, Aurora and Lafayette, and we are adding churches and other community listings as we verify them. 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 Denver area? List your business for free.
More guides: Ethiopian restaurants in Los Angeles, Ethiopian restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ethiopian restaurants in London, Best Ethiopian restaurants in Washington DC and Best Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle.
Sources
- 5280 magazine, Ethan Pan, “9 of the Best Ethiopian Restaurants in Denver, Aurora, and Beyond”, 17 October 2023 (community history, The Ethiopian Restaurant, Abyssinia, Nile, Ras Kassa’s): 5280.com
- The Ethiopian Restaurant on Yelp (current hours and phone): yelp.com
- Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant and Bar on Restaurantji (current hours, address and phone, updated November 2026): restaurantji.com; Colfax Mayfair Business Improvement District, Find a Business: colfaxmayfairbid.com
- Westword, Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant (Zewditu Aboye, dishes): westword.com; East Colfax Cultural District business directory: eastcolfaxculturaldistrict.com; Queen of Sheba Restaurant on Restaurantji (current hours, updated November 2026): restaurantji.com
- Nile Ethiopian Restaurant website (address, hours, reservations, catering and parties): nileethiopianrestaurantcolorado.com
- Ras Kassa’s Ethiopian Restaurant website (address, hours, phone, pickup instructions): raskassas.com
Last updated: 5 November 2026. Listings were checked on 5 November 2026. Ethiopialist has no commercial relationship with any of the restaurants in this guide.
Send corrections to the Ethiopialist editors.
Featured image: The Ethiopian Restaurant on East Colfax Avenue in Denver, a small corner building painted in the colors of the Ethiopian flag, in November 2010. Photo: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped.