Hiwot Ethiopian Restaurant

To be fair, I've only gotten delivery from this place once, but I'd be willing to bet that their food is very good just from the one meal.

As soon as I opened the takeaway container it was apparent that the texture of their injera is very good. Soft, pliable, and springy without being spongy. Color is dark too, a good sign. Taste is not too pungent.

The picture of the shiro in their menu looked like the real stuff, the silky smooth oily kind that is made from fine lentil powder and cooked a long time. Sure enough the version that arrived did not disappoint, creamy unctuous texture and good flavor. I will order an individual portion next time.

Other dishes in the deluxe veg sampler were tasty. Based on the color and flavor of the misir wot (the redder lentil dish), they are using good berbere, maybe even homemade, so for meat eaters their doro wot is probably quite good. The vegetable dishes were also a standout. In many places these side salads are an afterthought to the stews. Theirs were all thoughtfully spiced with touches of fragrance and sweetness.

Relatively new to DC so can't compare to many other places. But certainly far better than a few other options much more centrally located in the district.

They have the best lamb, Tibbs
Unfortunately, they do not answer to those who do not speak Amharic language too much tribalism

Food is delicious. I took away a star because its a restaurant/bar, and they dont serve Tej. It's a part of my Ethiopian food experience. Food tastes Very authentic and fresh. I tasted the Ethiopian butter and berbere immediately. I'm not a fan of the darker injera. Which is what they serve. It has a vinegar after taste. The veggie platter is just yumm salad very fresh, and you can tell someone took their time cutting and chopping. The lamb tibs are very flavorful but a little tough. The portions are a bit smaller than most Ethiopian restaurants I've been to.

We ordered Veggie Special, Shiro, Lega tibs for about $80. The attached picture was after a few table spoons of each meal. The food was good. The food was covered with a lot of injeras. After pealing off those mount of injeras, all I found was an ice thin food. The food is definitely overpriced. I normally don't like to give negative reviews. But this time, I wanted to voice my opinion. We frequently order Ethiopian food from different Ethiopian restaurants to help out the community. I will not order from this restaurant again.

Very rude owner chewing chat/khat/ a US banned stimulant leaf from Ethiopia, while cooking foodUnhygienic! where I saw rodents running in the kitchen!!!
And the wife smoking hukah disrespectfully while getting drunk and serving at the same time,very bad reputation for a thriving Dc area Ethiopian food business!!

Just straight up delicious Ethiopian food. The portions are good, too. My husband and I really like the lega tibs and the deluxe veggie combo. We have tried Ethiopian food at other local restaurants and this one is the best we have tried so far. Ordering takeout over the phone is easy with them as well. The food is always ready when they say it will be. Try it, you will enjoy!

Tasty food but mostly just injera in the takeaway container. Very overpriced for what you get.

This is based on carry-out.

FOOD: 5
VALUE: 4


Because I did not actually eat there I can't speak to the service or ambiance except for the short interaction I had on the phone. I ordered over the phone and my friend picked it up.

The food is great!
Veggie sampler (the typical Ethiopian array: cabbage/carrot, collard greens, yellow lentils, red spicy lentils, tomato/jalapeño:onion)
Beef tibs : medium spicy.

Word of caution : if you are sharing the beef tibs (or anything that uses Ethiopian spices), be sure to go for the lowest common denominator for spicy level. The medium was too spicy for my friend. I thought it was delicious, but actually my mouth was pretty tingly.

Together, it was over $25 (not including tip), which I guess was fine. It's DC, so we should expect this price point. It was actually a lot of food and worked as lunch the next day for two people. I still thought it would be something like $9 each as there is a lot of injera (filling).


Enjoy!

Love this place--one of our favorite places in the neighborhood, as we get carry out from here every few weeks. Two of our mainstays are the beef tibs and special veggie combo. The real specialty, however, is the yebeg alcha, a braised lamb stew with onions and potatoes. It's honestly one of our favorite Ethiopian dishes ever, from any restaurant.

(Also, totally valid to question whether I'm the best judge of Ethiopian food. So, to steal a quote from our neighbor, who is actually Ethiopian: "Hiwot is legit. It's like your Ethiopian grandma opened her own restaurant." So, there's the authenticity check for those of you that need that affirmation.)

The food is not just really tasty, but it's also a good value--we usually order a veggie combo and a meat dish, and that's usually two full meals for us. (It helps that Hiwot is very generous with the injera.)

The restaurant itself is small, with a full bar, and recently remodeled. It's generally pretty quiet, but we've seen it get quite busy, too, generally later at night, when it seems like there's a regular crowd at the bar.

Definitely recommend this place really highly.

(Lastly, I think it's owned by a family, and they're really nice people--a nice plus.)

Whoa, not sure what happened but ordered around 7pm on a Sunday. Picked up our food and was expecting the good quality and flavor we've had previously here. Unfortunately, the vegetables tasted like they were spoiled and the meat also. Was our worst experience with Ethiopian food, not sure if they were trying to get rid of food that was past expiration or what but you can't do that. Hope they don't do this again.