Dire Dawa Cafe & Restaurant

Veggie platter was fantastic! Our server was super nice and fun. Relaxed atmosphere and great music. Will be back.

One of our favorite places to dine. We had never experienced Ethiopian food before moving to TX. We tried several but ended up back here!! The staff has always been kind and they’ve suggested different things for us to try!! The spinach is delightful and the lamb is so flavorful! Think we might head to Richardson tonite!!

My family and I come here at least once a year to dine in. This is our favorite ethiopian restaurant and my parents are always excited to go. There is a long wait for food but it is so so worth it! The owner is an absolute sweetheart and is so friendly. When we came to celebrate my dad’s birthday, she put sparklers on his cake and made a whole show out of it. We love Dire Dawa!

We love this place. The whole environment is very welcoming and the food is unbelievable. My wife and Inused to live down the street so we’d order from here all the time. When we moved about 25 minutes away, we tried all the other Ethiopian spots closer to where we live now and we still make the drive here whenever we can to get the food. Top notch. We love the owner and she knows our order by heart now; fish goulash and gored gored with an extra side of mit mita.

However, in the last year, something has been happening at the restaurant that is concerning and makes us worried that things are going to keep going south. When the owner isn’t there, the service is really poor. One night, my wife and I made the drive there because all she was craving was the fish goulash which is the same dish she’s been ordering for several years. When we got there, a waitress told us “We don’t serve that anymore” which was bizarre because it’s a very commonly ordered Ethiopian dish. My wife was disappointed but she ordered something else since we were already there. When we returned a few weeks later, the owner was there and we asked her why she dropped fish goulash from the menu to which she replied “Of course we still serve that. Who told you we don’t?” So…that was very strange. Why would a waitress just say they didn’t have that? Maybe the crew in the back didn’t feel like making it or the waitress was feeling like giving us a hard time. I don’t know.

And recently, they’ve stopped taking to-go orders over the phone. That’s a huge disappointment because, often times, I ordered food to pickup on my way to work at nights and I’d just pick it up and head on my way with some damn good food. But now, they are saying you have to be in the restaurant to order and then it takes about 20-30 minutes to get the food which then makes me late to my night shift. We’ve been very loyal to Dire Dawa for years but not being able to order ahead for pick up and having to make the 25 minutes drive there and then wait another 20-30 minutes for food is, unfortunately, going to probably force us to phase out our fairly regular visits to this place which is a huge bummer because their food is awesome.