1051 Bloor St. W.,
536-4162.

Queen of Sheba is on Bloor between Gladstone and Dovercourt, often gets missed since it looks so unassuming and does not catch your eye (poor signage perhaps?). Opened in 1985 or 1986, it’s the oldest Ethiopian restaurant in Toronto (and the oldest in Canada). The restaurant inside is divided into a front dining hall with 5-6 tables and a back dining hall with more than 10 large circular tables. Lots of space for big group meetings.

The one page menu is very much the same for every Ethiopian restaurant. As vegetarians, we really had only one option, the veggie platter. Zam and I ordered the veggie platter for two ($14.95) which was very filling. Portions were very large. Our veggie dish came with two types of lentil “curries” –one red and one brown, with salad in the middle and cholard greens, cabbage, and potato curries. With Ethiopian spiced tea, our meal came to $21 with tax and tip which was an excellent deal.

Food temperature was luke warm which is normal considering it was Ethiopian food. The food was very tasty, comparable to Nazareth. The food was better than Ethiopian House on Irwin. Service was okay. Waiting staff were shy and slightly reserved.

Décor was minimalist in design with champagne (orange-pink) coloured walls and very little art. Need a serious makeover. The decor and ambiance is tacky and dated (trapped in the 1980’s), needed a makeover (like Mahar or Salad King did over the past few years).

Queen of Sheba accepts all cards but at the time of our visit, their debit machine had not been working for months so they only accepted cash.Open Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-midnight. Sunday, noon-midnight.

Reviewed by Mark