Tagla Cafe

The meat and veggie combo was delicious nicely spiced and generous portion! Friendly and warm service — we will be back!

There might be bad Ethiopian food, but I’ve never had it. Delicious food, prompt service, friendly staff/​owner.

I love Ethiopian food. I came by myself and no other customer. But lady was warm welcome to me. I ordered vegetarian plate. Oh My~~~~big volume of one person. You can share with someone. It was so nice flavor of spices and colorful veggies. Plz wash your hands before eat… Use right hand only to eat it. It’s good to eat their way. I enjoyed meals and take home leftover. Lady was so nice. I wanna eat here again

This was my first time having Ethiopian Food and our table got the meat Combo and while there was a bunch of spice. It took a while to get used to but that was some of the most flavorful food I’ve ever had. The old lady and man relaly took care of use supplying us with water. You can taste the love in the food.

Tagla café is great. I’ve been here for lunch and dinner and the food has always been finger licking good. Tonight, we ordered the meat combination for two and also tried their honey wine. The food tasted great and had a nice kick. Pick out the jalapeño peppers if you don’t like it spicy, or ask them for a non spicy version. The injera bread tasted great and the combo platter was full of flavorful veggies and meat. The honey wine also had a good flavor profile and reminded me a bit of plum wine, but with more of a honey flavor. I highly recommend this place. The service was ask great, and the owners were very hospitable. Parking is on the street and is kind of a pain, but just be patient and you’ll find a spot to pull into off Rainier.

My family and I loved the food. It was so flavorful. Each dish was spiced differently. My daughters age 7 and 10 each found their new favorite dish. Look past the shabby storefront for terrific food.

Looks can be deceiving. One of the best tasting restaurants in the Columbia City area. If you want the norm go down the street and eat a burger. The server/​cook was hospitable and warm. We will be back again for sure. We were full to the brim.

Delicious food and the most charming couple run it. Pricing is exceptionally reasonable. Just the best. I just love being there! It feels like they invited me to their home for dinner. Highly recommend!!! Oh — also very good for vegetarians as there are plenty of options.

There are bars on the outside windows. The décor’s homey, done up with checkered tablecloth, large thatched urns and photo collage posters of African wildlife in beautiful technicolor. Speaker wire crawls out from behind a couple of monitors mounted up in the corners. You pretty quickly get a sense that this is going to be a special meal.
Buddies got a dry-​fried beef dish that was unreal, plus the chicken tibs. Those came out on separate plates they spooled on a giant shared injeera whose rim was loaded up with lots of veggie extras. I got the meat combo, which honestly should’ve fed two people, but I put away because it was so good – and because you don’t want to come into what feels like someone’s home and not polish off their cooking. We all had tea.
The food took a while to come out, and I was completely fucking happy with that. Because it gave us time to talk over tea; because you can hear it sizzling in the back as you unpack the day, and you know it’s being cooked up to order, and you strongly suspect it’s going to be good. It was!
We spent a little time helping Zeke program a universal remote for his new TV after the meal and talked with both he and his wife for a long while.
This place has real heart, and I’ll be back.
We were the only ones in the place besides the two owners on a rainy Saturday night, so: get the hell in here and make sure this place stays open!

The place has bars on the windows but don’t let that keep you from the incredible veggie platter. I’ve eaten at a lot of Ethiopian places and the food here really stands out. These folks make a great variety of inexpensive and delicious dishes. The older couple running the place are cute and so sweet! Most people seem to get take out here, but we’ve eaten in too. Completely unassuming, this is not think kind of place that underwent a fancy remodel with the gentrification of Columbia City. Its the kind of place where the male owner is usually watching sports with friends at the bar and will give you an update on the action while you wait for your food, and the female owner responds to a compliment on the food with free second helpings. I agree with others that at times the food could be hotter, but its a small complaint, really. This is a great place.

Little family run hole in the wall restaurant. Felt like we were walking right into their home and we loved it. We were the first customers of the day and one of the ladies there apologized for not being ready yet and asked is it okay if we sat there and waited a bit. I only heard good things about their food so I had no problem waiting. It only took about 20 – 30 minutes to get our food, which flew by because we were talking anyway. She was very apologetic, but the food was delicious so no complaints here! We shared the veggie combo and it was more than enough for the 2 of us! :] I’ll definitely be back!

I came with family. The service was friendly and the food was great. A wonderful experience.

Mom and pop restaurants don’t get much friendlier than Tagla Café.
Husband and wife owners, Tesfhun («Zeek») and Muchit («Tagla»), put heart and soul in to their cooking and hospitality. Both as patrons and hosts for a 40-​person party, we’ve had memorable experiences with this family and look forward to our return. The meat and veggie combo platters are a tasty place to start whether you’ve had Ethiopian food before or not — the flavors are fragrant and savory (with just a touch of spice) and the portions are deceptively filling. The communal aspect of this meal is worth a visit and who doesn’t love eating with their hands? (Forks provided by request.)
Street parking or across the way at Walgreens.

It’s all about the food, great for lunch and dinner. The best Ethiopian around, we have tried many! Its a lot like Indian food but healthier. The combination plates are must to start with so you can try everything!
Best restaurant for Gluten Free options!

Delicious!
I have been to over 15 Ethiopian restaurants in the city. Thus far, Tagla Café has easily creamed any other Ethiopian restaurants. Their food is well seasoned, not too oily, not too spicy, not too anything, really. It’s perfect.
I eat there more often than I would like to admit to, now that I’ve discovered them. I hope you do, too.

It’s 1.5 review… I was so excited for the meat combo… But everything was cold… It was my husband and I who are here… And we had a friendly friend join us «hello mister FRUITFLY»… Sick. Never coming here again. We should have went to our other restaurant for injera… Here are some pictures for u to enjoy…

I definitely wanted to love this place, especially due to other reviews and my love of hole in the wall restaurants. However, I’ve had better Ethiopian food elsewhere and I unfortunately will not be going back anytime soon.
It’s really a shame because it seemed like the restaurant used to be pretty good back in the day, per other reviews.
*** *** *** ***
Here’s my take:
**CONS:
1). I don’t mind the Columbia City/​Rainier Ave area, but the restaurant looked pretty run down and it initially appeared like it wasn’t even open. Since we already arrived, I felt like I needed to try it out/“not judge a book by its cover,” even though a part of me was definitely unsure.
2). So many FRUIT FLIES just hanging out while we ate, trying to get at our food. No bueno! :(
3). Food and injera pretty much came out cold, which made eating the food very unappealing.
**PROS:
1). Nice and friendly staff. Our waitress was very sweet and offered us water often to make sure we were okay. She really was trying to make it a good experience for us.
2) Food was generally not bad tasting, even though there were some definite issues described above.
I really hope Tagla gets some changes enacted, because I love it when small/​local businesses thrive.

Great flavors, very authentic. Good food. Very friendly service.
Only knocks for the fact that a couple things in the combo weren’t hot /​seemed reheated and there were fruit flies flying everywhere. Service was slow as there was only one person doing everything.
But definitely going back for the food.

Tagla is a bit of a hole in the wall located on Rainier and Genesse. I agree with other reviewers: the inside and outside are modest, but the food and service are great, and the prices are excellent. I ordered the vegetarian combo platter, and I loved the variety was served — lots of lentil dishes, some veggies, kale, and all served with Injera – a fluffy, pancake-​like bread used in place of utensils. The owner came over to our table to take our order and check in on us. The staff is very friendly and attentive.
We had a couple of complaints. The restaurant was super hot, and there were some flies hovering over our meal. And, despite asking for not too much spice in our dishes, most of my lentils were actually almost too spicy for me to eat (and I do like a little heat) — same with my fella. Just a little too spicy.

The food here is fantastic and excellent! I ordered the vegetarian platter and it was so delicious that I couldn’t stop eating it even when I was full! Plus, the portions are huge and was more than enough to share with a friend for dinner.
The ladies in the restaurant are sweet and kind. The other reviewers are entirely correct– don’t let the gritty exterior or modest interior put you off. Your taste buds will be thanking you for the delicious meal!
You won’t go wrong coming here for amazing food!