Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant

Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant is hands down one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had. The flavors are authentic, rich, and unforgettable — every bite feels like a celebration of Ethiopian culture. The food is simply top-tier.

Didn’t really like the setting inside. There was grass on the floor and tables weren’t clean. The food was okayish. Service was good. But I wouldn’t visit this place again. There are better Ethiopian restaurants.

The food was so good! And so filling! Hana was such a good server! Every needs to come here 👏🏼

The food was so delicious! My boyfriend and I split the Blue Nile and it was a great combination of veggie and meat.

The food was great! The owner (I think he was the owner) provided great service and explained everything patently. He even gave us a little extra of our favorite meat. The place had a good authentic vibe (as if I know because I’ve never been to Ethiopia) but it seemed like most people there were all Ethiopian. I highly recommend it.

Hana and zee were amazing. Kind service and delicious food! Authentic and fluffy injera

We came here a few weeks ago and were treated with great service! The combo platter was very delicious. I enjoyed the cooked kitfo, but my partner was expecting a more raw kitfo. The cook was kind enough to bring out some raw kitfo after the confusion. All in all we had a great time, left the establishment full, satisfied and happy.

If you’re looking for an authentic Ethiopian dining experience in Seattle, look no further than Blue Nile Ethiopia Restaurant! From the moment you step through the door, you are greeted with warm smiles and the inviting aroma of spices that promise a culinary adventure.

Had so much fun sampling different flavors as we grabbed the injera! Very interactive and fun with variety of meats, spices all within a grasp of the sourdough Flatbread. Never tried ethiopian food before and it was really enjoyable! Only thing was service was hard to get as she was working alone but she was very kind and helpful when able to serve.

Sadly I wasn't fond of this place. The food was not very good. I ordered the vegetarian combo and an extra side of shiro. The food lacked flavor in general, potatoes on drier side, and the shiro was not anything special at all. Other areas such as star coffee and abay Ethiopian cuisine have much better food. The lady who helped me was not super friendly either although I don't believe it was her intention so I didn't take it anyway, still it did not add to the experience. I was sitting there waiting to ask for a check after I was done eating, i decided after 5-8 minutes I'd just look at prices on menu and add tax and then add an over 20% tip and leave cash on the table. Knew what I left would more than cover it. As I was walking out of the door the lady yelled from a distance "you didn't pay for your food", shocked as there was a family of 7 eating nearby, and the low level of professionalism as well as and on assumption of wrongdoing, I awkwardly said I left the money on the table and continued walking out where I waited for 5 minutes for an Uber. Beyond the waitress not being attentive while I was eating, and not being the most friendly and accusing me of not paying for the food. The food was below average. Truly my review is based on the food 90%. The food was below average so that's why I put 2 stars instead of 3.

I went into this place ready to try something new and boy it did not disappoint. The food was actually incredible and all the staff was so so sweet !!! I would highly recommend this place even if it doesn't look the fanciest in the world!!!

Awesome food. Really tasty. Really enjoyed hanging at the bar and chatting with them. Recommend choosing one of the combos to get a variety of things to try. Family combo gave us that.

This place was really cool. We sat outside. The service was awesome. We met the chef the food was OK I'm just not used to Ethiopian food. I was looking for African food but overall great experience.

Great food!! Our server Makida(sp?) was really nice and attentive. Mango juice and extra egg is a must

We are quite picky when it comes to Ethiopian food and have a hard time finding restaurants that we like as much as our own family's Ethiopian restaurant. Decided to try Blue Nile and was pleasantly surprised. Happy to find a place close by that our family can enjoy!

First time to Blue Nile on a Wednesday night. The place is easy to find. Parking lot of front was full. We parked in the next street. Menu is great. We got the Family Dinner for $31.99. it was a little too much for 2 of us but we aren't mad. Everything was amazing. The lady working there was super nice. We can't wait to come back. Ambiance is straight up like going to your friend's house and having dinner "downstairs" very homely. They have a full bar.

Super delicious, recommend getting the family feast - great selection of veggies and meat dishes!!!

Best Ethiopian in Seattle! Large portions and fresh well spiced ingredients! This is our new Go-to!

Cute little venue with the feel of home cooked food. The service was slow despite my party being the only seated party but our waitress was friendly and accommodating. Totally recommend if you're looking to dip your toe into this unique style of cuisine!

We happened to be in the area and were craving Ethiopian food, so we stopped here and fell in love with this place! We ordered a vegetarian combo and green chicken, and they were both delicious. The veg combo was definitely better than the chicken though, it was more flavorful. It was sooo much food, enough that it lasted for a few days as leftovers! If you plan on coming, I'd recommend splitting a combo with a few others. The bread was delicious and fresh and the waitress was so kind! The only negative was the green chicken was a little bland, but we would definitely come back for the veggie dishes :)

Just finished a most amazing and delicious and authentic Ethiopian meal. We had fish, beef, lamb, chicken and the veggie combo. All were excellent. Taste, seasonings and spice level, and of course the injera bread. Then add the very kind server!!! We will definitely be back!

Wonderful place, delicious food, and huge portions perfect for sharing! Service was really fast, too. We shared a combo platter for brunch. Would absolutely come again!!

I feel terrible saying this, but their food is the worst Ethiopian I have ever tasted. Both times eating their foods was there was via a delivery service, so I have never been to the restaurant itself. As soon as I received it the second time, I remembered that this was the place that I had not liked in the past. The lamb tibbs was not edible and green chicken was barely mediocre. :( For excellent Ethiopian, I would highly recommend Meskals or Jabena Cafe.

My first time trying Ethiopian food- it was delicious! Everything had flavor, the injera was tangy, certain meats had a spicy kick.

Love this place so much. Their take out is just as good as when I used to dine in. I live the veggie sampler and the door wat here. All the veggies are great, you can't go wrong! It's always delicious and a great value since I get a couple meals out of my order!

Amazing food with a great price. Had dinner with all four of us sharing the big shareable plater. I will be back.

I've only been to their new location on rainier, but it's my new favorite. There's a million ethiopian places around rainier and central district and I've tried the veggie combos and shiro at almost all of them. Kezira used to be my favorite, but the last year or two they've really gone downhill. So glad this place moved in! Veggie combo portions are smaller than a lot of others, but their flavors are better. Plus love that they have okra in it. Shiro portion is pretty decent. I've only gotten togo btw, so I can't speak to portions for dine in

By far my favorite Ethiopian restaurant in the area! If you're looking for good flavorful food this is the place to go. Recently I've noticed a lot of the other Ethiopian restaurants have been making bland food. I've heard that they're trying to tailor their food to people less familiar with the cuisine and spices. Blue Nile is the exception to all of this!! They pack so much flavor into all their dishes and some come with extra sauces and spices to allow you to step up your own food. Overall great food packed with flavorful.

Our family's favorite Ethiopian food in the neighborhood! Spices are perfect, they always have okra (a family favorite!), and the full bar is an added bonus! We eat here often and cannot say enough about how much we love this food! Even better is the folks are super nice! My husband and I argue over who gets to go in and order on "to-go" nights as it is a wonderful environment to sit and have a beverage while we wait on our order. We could order ahead of time, but then we wouldn't get to hang out!

I wanted to like this place, it was recommended by a friend. However, the service for take out was non-communicative and unimpressive. Even then, I gave the food a try when I got home, and there was a LONG HAIR in the middle of my food. Clearly, this place needs better food preparation and hygiene practices. Beware!

Picked up a couple to-go orders of the Vegetarian Combo and it was the best meal I've had in months and months. Incredible flavors and textures, perfect injera and love in every bite. I want to thank the angels who share and prepare this food because it is a generous therapy. Thank you, I truly appreciate you!

We got the family combo and it was great! The service was quick and we had a great time!

I went here the other day and got the veggie combo to go. It was maybe the most delicious Ethiopian ever. Each dish in the combo was cooked just right, spicy but not too spicy, fresh, and the overall experience felt very authentic.

The food here is excellent! Not better or worse than other Ethiopian restaurants. Just different. But really really freaking good! You get so much food for a really great price! Beers are inexpensive as well. Dining in is fun. There's never a huge crowd, most of the people seem to be of actual Ethiopian descent, and even the TVs show the EBC! Some of the most hilarious stuff to watch on mute (and I mean no offense, gotta keep it real). There's a bit of a bar area in the entrance area and a dining area to the side. It's kept clean, it's pretty minimal, the woman that seated and took our order was very friendly! I groan at reviews that want to chalk stuff up to race. Clearly, these uncomfortable reviewers are the ones that have the racial issues. It has nothing to do with the business.

We ordered 2 family non veg combo with no beef. The combo was customized as we didn't want to eat meat, also got a non veg combo inclusive of beef and a veg combo. Liked the chicken and lamb but my friends didn't like the beef chunks. The food was delicious for me as I liked the spices. The servers doesn't seem to clearly understand things we say and a lot of confusion. They are nice though but communication was a problem. Also it's not a kids friendly place (we had kids), it was more of a bar kind and place smell cigars, wait time was too much, like 25 mins. I would like to go back if service was fast, irony I forgot to take pics by the time food arrived.

I wouldn't live in Ethiopia but I would eat Ethiopian food every day. For the past three weekends, I've been ordering takeouts and delivery from different Ethiopian restaurants around town. Blue Nile I had my family combo delivered to me because it's a 20min drive each way, but I wouldn't do that again because it costed me nearly $70 for a $38 meal, including a handsome $11 tip for the driver because I felt sorry for her having to drive such a long way to deliver my meal to me. It'd be worth it it I had eaten at the restaurant, but I would still give it a 3-star because I was not impressed with the food given I had plenty of other experiences to compare it with. The meats, although full of variety and dominated the dish, lack flavor, but the vegetarian portions are quite tasty. I'm a meat connoisseur, so am selective of their distinct tastes, but all 4-5 different types of meats just all tasted pretty much the same to me, and the only difference is the texture. It seems like they used the same spices for all their meets and the only thing I like about them is that they are spicy, since I like spicy food. They put the entire family combo in one to-go box, and I completed the meal in two settings, unlike what some reviewers said it feeds 4 people or so, it doesn't.. more like 2-3 people. For the same sort of food I ordered from different restaurants, I get 2 full boxes and finished the food in 4 settings. I wouldn't go back even if I'm nearby.

The food was good but very pricey than the Ethiopian restaurant I usually go eat at. Jebena cafe I actually found is one of my favorite Ethiopia restaurants but when im feeling lazy I want to find one close to me in my area, I may try this one again

Best Ethiopian food I've found in the Seattle area! Their spicy lentils are amazing!

Our family is always looking for good ethnic food. We have tried Ethiopian cuisine in the past and really enjoyed it. Jeremy was able to seat all 9 members of our family on short notice and had amazing customer service. The food was delicious and we loved the injira. I would highly recommend anyone who is looking for great Ethiopian food.

Ordered the family combo for me & my mans! It was so good & flavorful. They give you enough injera as well. Other restaurants seem to be a little bit more on the bland side lately, but it was nice to eat at restaurant where there was an abundant amount of flavor. I love the spice level as well!! Anyways, visit this location and you won't regret it!

They do NOT honor Restaurant.com certificates. They claimed that they had just told Restaurant.com to discontinue, but I think it would have been good business practice to honor what we paid for. Its apparent that customer service is not their forte. The food was fine but not as good as other Ethiopian I've had. The Blue Nile combo was a great deal (for 2 to share too) with 4 meat and 4 veggie items, though I only really enjoyed half of them. My favorite was the Green Chicken (with spinach). Bathrooms are fine... Not at all bad like I expected from other reviews. I guess they cleaned them up.

This is probably my favorite Ethiopian restaurant and they have pretty good food and customer service

I really really wanted to like this place since it's close to where I live, but I should've known better than to get my hopes up. At every ethiopian place, I order beef tibs. This was the first place I've been to where the tibs was cooked with no spices/awaze. The awaze comes on the side and it's barely enough to provide enough flavor. The beef looks boiled and the chunks are so big and chewy I had to cut them up. Some of the pieces tasted like lamb, which I dislike immensely and made me gag. There is a slight buttery flavor that is edible, but I like my tibs red from being soaked in tons of awaze. Also, the injera is bland and not tangy enough. The best part of the meal was the bits of injera that had soaked up the butter and small amount of awaze, and that's saying a lot. Pretty disappointing overall.

Even though I love Ethiopian food and Seattle offers a bountiful array of Ethiopian restaurants, I've somehow only dined at Mesob (http://www.yelp.com/biz/mesob-ethiopian-restaurant-seattle) and Blue Nile. My first trip here was years ago and I guess all I can say is that I liked it enough to come back last spring and introduce a friend and fellow Yelper to such East African delights. The restaurant is small, but boasts a sizable bar. They evidently attempt to make up for the lack of ambiance by blasting loud music. It is also not the cleanest of places, but this shouldn't surprise anyone. Blue Nile was full of people hanging out, drinking at the bar, and playing electronic games. There were very few diners. In spite of this, the service was PAINFULLY SLOW. This gave us plenty of time to catch up, but I swear we waited at least half an hour for the check after we were done. Our waitress was nice but incredibly difficult to understand. This was sorta an issue as we wanted to order a meat combo (a typical item) but it was not on the menu. In the end she conceded to our demands and we got a ton of food for $19. Fortunately, the food was worth the wait and sketchy atmosphere. I noted a few differences in the food between Blue Nile and Mesob: - The injera was paler and fluffier, and we each received our own serving on a plate instead of a shared amount in a basket - There was less variety of items (especially the veges), but each pile was bigger - There was no egg (who cares) or chicken leg (bummer) We ate till we were beyond stuffed and I think there may have been some tidbits left. Ethiopian food doesn't make for good leftovers, so don't bother. Just eat as much as you possibly can. I don't think they charge for extra injera so go for it. FYI, this part of 12th Ave is super shady so be on guard.

The moment I walked into this restaurant I felt like a minority. I walked into the room and everyone stopped to stare at me. I was not greeted, though every other customer of Ethiopian or African descent was.(I was the only white person in the restaurant) Taken back, I walked up to the counter and was asked... well told "to go, right?" I was pretty upset at her comment back but being a Sunday with not many options past 7pm in my area I ordered food to go. I wasn't offered water or anything, she brought out the check as she brought the food and I left my money and got the heck out of there. This was a clear case of Critical Race Theory and I don't know how this business can treat people this way and still stay in business. needless to say I WILL NEVER GO BACK! OHH AND THE FOOD... I HAVE HAD 10 TIMES BETTER ETHIOPIAN FOOD IN SPOKANE!!! Go somewhere else.

I'm kind of expecting bad food when I come to a restaurant where the nationality is famous for being hungry. I was not disappointed in this respect. We were here for lunch at an odd time, so besides some cab drivers eating and drinking at the bar (the full bar), the slack service did find us eventually. I was treated to greasy bits of lamb in some kind of hot spicy grease oil which I pinched up with bits of that bread they serve in Ethiopian restaurants. There was also an ok vegetable platter with an assortment of veggie stuff. I nibbled at all of them and a couple of the mysterious foods were tasty. After reading the other reviews about this place, I wonder if we ate in the same restaurant. I didn't have a memorable experience at all. I remember enjoying this type of food more. It's a little sad when you start thinking about the places you would rather be eating just after they set the food down.

My First experience eating Ethiopian food! It's a comfortable dining experience with friendly wait staff. Dim lighting and Fancy decor. I went all out on my first experience and went with Kitfo..A raw ground beef with spices and Ethiopian butter...but they lightly cooked it and did not put too much spice on it for a newbie. It tasted pretty good but not getting a combo and having one flavor got a little boring so half way in I side order a Green Lentils with medium spice. The lentils were sweet tasting and complimented the Kitfo. I found the Injera bread is less sour when the food rest on it for awhile and became more enjoyable (for me). To be honest I did not totally enjoy the meal...I was decent with some odd flavors that hasn't been introduced to my pallet but later on the next day I started to crave it. So This might be a start of exploring more into Ethiopian food.

Got veggie combo and doro tibs, veggie combo was delicious, doro tibs- had two wings in red sauce- two wings. Total was $32. Good veggie combo but got ripped off on doro tibs. Sad day.

Food and overall service was admittedly pretty good, but the restaurant would not accept my valid Restaurant.com $25 gift certificate because they didn't know how to process it. Nevermind the fact that we came to Blue Nile specifically because we had the voucher and ordered practically everything on the menu to meet the $35 minimum. Just saying. Not cool. At all. I have filed a formal complaint with Restaurant.com with the hopes that at the very least Blue Nile will be banned from advertising false offers on their site that they cannot honor.

You can't beat this place for price, food quality, and most importantly for yours truly - scoopability. I cook so much at home that I love going out for food that I would never dare take on myself. Blue Nile never fails to impress in that regard. The platters are the way to go, people. Order ONE for two people, and if you're still hungry, God help you, get another. The affianced and I ate for days on leftovers - and even had to toss some! The absence of the 5th star is for the bathrooms...::Shudder::

Did they really think we could not tell the difference between beef and lamb? Maybe they were counting on us not saying anything since the waitress had such attitude. She kept pushing chicken. There are so many other Ethiopian Restaurants in the area. Why did we pick this one? :-(

Amazing food, awesome music, and super friendly staff. One of the best places I've been to in Seattle. Would highly recommend.

A friend got a gift cert that included a free bottle of wine so we went there to give it a try. The food is average and the portion is generous. What cracks me up is the free wine we got...it was "2 buck chuck" merlot lol. I have never been to a restaurant that served "2 buck chuck". This is a good joint if you like Ethiopian food, great value.

This is one of my favorite Ethiopian restaurant in seattle I love the food and the prices is good and they do have a good customer service you should try this place

This place is the shit. Granted, it was (as for so many others, it seems) my first time eating Ethiopian food, so in a sense I can't be that great of a judge. But still. A friend and I ordered the vegetarian combo -- doesn't initially look like enough food for 2 people, but more than stuffed both of us (and there was even a little bit left.) Everything was tasty, and the platter had a good variety (lentils, cabbage, collards, something that seemed like chickpeas, and something very tasty but unidentifiable by my dining partner and myself.) With tip, the whole thing set us back all of $15. Awesome. My 4 (rather than 5) stars result from: 1. We sat round for some time after the waitress cleared our table and got no bill; eventually we just went up to the bar area and paid. This didn't seem to be a problem, but the preferred location for payment is still vague. 2: The decorations were crooked. Stupid thing to complain about, but I'm bothered by random things. Though not bothered enough to not enjoy awesome food.

Not bad, but I've had much better Ethiopian food. Some of the meat items on the platter were very tough, and some of the vegetables did not have enough spice/flavor for my taste. The food was brought out quickly, and one combination platter was plenty of food for two people to share (probably three), and it was pretty inexpensive. However, this is definitely not the cleanest establishment, so if you're a stickler for clean places I would suggest going somewhere else. This may be an unfair representation of their cleanliness, but there was a large brown bug (a small cockroach, perhaps?) in the middle of our table. Also, when I went to the bathroom to dispose of the bug and wash my hands, it was not as clean as I would have hoped. I would have given the food a 3 and the service a 4 (probably a 3 overall), but with the dirtiness I feel compelled to give it a 2.

Great Ethiopian cuisine for decent prices, I could not ask for much more than that. I loved the food which is the most imporant part. Also, they serve food til 2AM! Things I really disliked: lack of lighting, loud-ass Ethiopian music that no one but the waitress was listenings to and the sketchy customers they attract at late hours. A-OK experience indeed.