Warka Tree Ethiopean Restaurant

Excellent Ethiopian in Guelph!
I've been to many Ethiopian places and this is the best I've ever had. It's certainly the best in the KW/Guelph region.
There are a few downsides. The service is not prompt. They might forget to bring you the drink you ask for, or not understand you when you ask for details about the food. Their phone was broken for a couple of months and their web site seems to go up and down.
But it is a family-run place, and they are lovely people, and the food is exceptional. Go and enjoy, and tell others, so that we can make this gem successful!

What a hidden gem! Never knew about this place in twenty years of living in guelph and was so happy to discover it. Excellent food, very friendly staff and often packed with people coming to enjoy everything there is to offer.highly recommend!

My first time with Ethiopian food, and I love it. The food was tasty, and high quality. The service was also very friendly. I will be back!

If you have never tried ethiopian food you are missing exciting and unusual tastes.
Plates like meat combination (43) for 2 are excellent value. 3 different meats, salad, greens, cheese. Big portions!
Food is a bit more spicy then in other ethiopian places. I loved it. Try also their tea or coffee. Their coffee is not acidic.

The best Ethiopian food you could ask for! If you haven't tried it, do yourself a favour and go there and see for yourself. Order a plator and try it all, if you like spice you will absolutely love it, if you don't you may find one of the vegetarian options to your liking. Since I've know this food, it is by far my favorite. Pricier than some options but worth the coin.

Very delicious and definitely worth a try. Trying a warka platter was more than enough for two people. Will be back for sure!

I’ve never had the food so I can’t speak on that, but I’d be careful about the men who hangout outside the store later than dinner time. I’ve seen them harass children, teenagers, adults, I’ve had a very drunk man try to run at me. DO NOT GO THERE. It’s unsafe if you’re a woman, or a child.

This is a top quality restaurant. For us the Warka Platter is a good introduction to the wonder of Ethiopian cuisine

Fabulous food excellent service. I would definitely go there again and bring frinds along with me.

I had never tried authentic Ethiopian cuisine and The Warka Tree did not disappoint! A great selection of traditional dishes with some local eats thrown in too. A great experience all around. The Warka Tree is a cozy space where you'll be served by folks who care about your experience.

I went with my girlfriend and we had one of their platters. A selection of spiced meats and veggies, all served on a huge piece of Injera. Their Injera is soft and spongey, it was very good. To finish off the meal we were served a coffee ceremony, Ethiopian roasted coffee beans served in a hotpot and poured into espresso sized cups. A great experience and delicious coffee.

I would definitely recommend The Warka Tree and supporting a local business.

One of the rare experiences that has it all - delicious cuisine, generous servings, great price, and wonderful people who offer the service. I'd give 6 stars if I could. Try the vegetarian platter

Wonderful food and gracious hosts/owners! The platter was a nice way to enjoy a variety of the dishes. Loved the inerja!

My girlfriend and I were excited to try our first Ethiopian food. She went to pick up our order on her own and this guy asked to see the confirmation number from skip the dishes. He proceeded to yank her phone out of her hand, add himself on her Facebook, add his number in her phone, and then forces her to take a picture with him. Non of the other 4 staff members seemed to mind him harassing her…

Friendly people, great coffee, amazing food, comfy and cozy, would definitely recommend it for quality Ethiopian food!

We had items 41 and 42 in the menu. Food was cold, lamb was not tender and the lentil was slightly spoiled as if it was previous day.

Wow amazing food! So fresh and delicious. We loved every bite of the awesome flavours. We will certainly be back again and again!

Warka Tree Ethiopean is traditional Ethiopian food at its best. The owner puts love into every dish she prepares.
They also sell Injera to take home if you want to prepare your own food.
Simply DELICIOUS!

This is one of my favourite spots in town. The food is great, but it's the people who make this a wonderful restaurant; the hospitality has been more like "you are a friend, come in and enjoy" and less like "I am a waiter, what do you want". It's a small but important difference in the feel of the place.

Impossible to order food from this restaurant on Skip the dishes or Uber eats. The store is not following their open hours. It says open hours is from 12pm-9pm and I order from Skip dishes at 12: 30 and 1: 00 and my order keeps getting cancelled. And then I have to waste time to ask for a refund on Skip dishes.
It’s disappointing cause I need to order from Skip or Uber due to pandemic.

I'm not sure how to know when this place is even open. They apparently don't follow their open hours. I placed an order through Skip the Dishes at 5: 30pm on a Saturday when basically every restaurant is open. Restaurant didn't accept order so it was automatically canceled by Skip with no reason (I am assuming nobody responded to Skip the Dishes at the restaurant) and then skip the dishes wanted to give me credit instead of refunding credit card.
So I had to waste more of my time chatting with someone at skip the dishes to get my money back. Really bad experience and I didn't even get food.

This is the second time I have tried to get food from here during hours that it's supposed to be open but wasn't able to either time because it was closed.

Terrible experience, food was over cooked to probably cover up how spoiled it was. Don’t know how they were before the pandemic but I wouldn’t chance eating there again right now. They were not very nice there at all either.

I don't eat meat so the only thing I've had is their vegetarian platter but I've had it SO many times because it's so yummy and filling and has lots of foods in it to satisfy whatever craving I have. I especially love the beets in it and wish I could have a whole side of just that sometimes

Fantastic food. Ordered take out of platters 42&45 for two, on Sentayehu's recommendation. Did not disappoint! Also picked up some of the Laza drinks. Definitely going back. Looking forward to dining in once restrictions have lifted.

The food here is delicious and I like how they give you large portions. But I think the service there can be improved. Sometimes when I come into the restaurant there is no one is at the front, and when I ate there they didn’t ask me if the food was good and I waited a long time to ask for the bill. And sometimes they don’t answer the telephone. But food here is really good and would recommend.

Ethiopian food is one of Roguetrippers favourite world cuisines. The complexity of flavours, the richness of spices, and the way the flavours of the various dishes on a platter combine to create more taste sensations is to die for. The Warka Tree has been a place we meant to try for quite some time, and since it is in Guelph, and very local to us, we finally made it happen. We ordered the Warka Platter for 2 which included chicken, lamb, salad, lentils, and beets, and more.

The food here is amazing. Our waitress was very kind and there was a nice family atmosphere in the restaurant. Definitely recommend

Friendly service. Yummy food. Quick service. Love the experience of eating the injera and food with hands.

Amazing east African food, I've tried many Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants and this is by far the best, best Chacha tibs in Ontario. I would highly recommend Worka Tree to my family and friends, you will not be disappointed.

Probably the only Ethiopian: Eritrea cousin in town but the best. The food is flavoursome and pleasantly colourful. I loved the chacha, dulet and the salad most in addition to the terracotta made traditional coffee.
The owner and the chef are courteous and very welcoming.
I think I am forever hooked with the East African cousin

My girlfriend and I wanted to try this place out for Valentine's and were so excited since we love Ethiopian cuisine. Unfortunately, we left greatly disappointed after waiting over thirty minutes without being greeted or offered a drink, let alone any food.

We actually walked up to the bar and waited there for ten minutes, hoping to at least get a drink order in, but we were ignored. On our way back to our seats, we got the attention of a lady who was dropping off food to another table and let her know we were ready to order.

After another ten minutes waiting, around the twenty five minute mark, the table across from us who came in ten minutes after we did had their food delivered which was really the cherry on top of the abysmal service we got that night.

All in all, we are extremely disappointed that this place wouldn't even take our money and wasted thirty minutes of our time on Valentine's Day. Luckily we made it to Cafe Greek Garden across town which was incredibly accommodating and offered delicious food which we loved. If you're at all hungry or thirsty, or wish to be served a drink within thirty minutes of sitting down, avoid this place at all costs.

This was my first experience with Ethiopian Food, and our friendly server did a great job explaining what was going on with the food, what to expect and how to eat it. She also (humourously) drew a line between her definition of "spicy" and what might be spicy for our poor, tender white taste buds. The food was lovingly presented, quite delicious and somewhat ridiculously inexpensive! Although the interior is nothing to write home about, we did leave feeling that we had made new friends that that we would be welcome back any time.

Great selection of Ethopian cuisine. I got the veggie platter. The food was amazing, fresh, flavorful. Service was great as well. I will definitely eat here again!

Attended this lovely place last evening with a Meetup Group. All I have to say is WOW! ️

Not sure why I never experienced this cuisine before but I will definitely be back time and time again. LOL. The food was fantastic and so full of flavour! And the coffee roasting and ceremony was a treat for the senses!

I actually have a sensitive digestion and to my surprise, no issues at all! Wonderful experience overall! You definitely need to try this place!

The ambiance should not be your first factor in deciding to dine here. The service was very good. The food, although different from anything I have ever had was good. I appreciate the presentation and friendly staff. It's good to try different things. The staff would be happy to assist here.

Great experience, went with my SO and we got the platter which was more than enough food. I have never had Ethiopian food before and this was a great introduction. The lady who runs the place was very sweet and next time I go there I going to try the coffee!

I wanted to order takeout and I called so many times and nobody is answering the phone. How are we suppose to order take out? We should not have to come to the restaurant and then wait for the food.

Authentic Ethiopian food right here in Guelph. They could use more English on their menus, but the food was plentiful, fresh and very tasty! After living in Toronto for years I missed having a place where I could get Ethiopian Food and was grateful to have discovered Warka Tree. It's not quite up to the standards of my favourite place in Toronto, but it's very good,

Very good Coffee, food is always goof and fresh. Keep in mind its not fast food, its good food.

Totally not impressed. Upon arrival, the place was open but they were doing construction and painting indoors, so tables were strewn all over the place. When a booth was finally put together we sat down reluctantly. The food was only okay. I can’t say much about it since I’m not too knowledgeable on Ethiopian cuisine. However, if you don’t like sour/vinegary foods, this will not be the place for you. My main grievance was the service - absolutely terrible. We ordered a regular coffee because they have that and a ceremony coffee listed on the menu. It took 20 minutes before we got any drinks, only to have the waitress say they didn’t have any “regular” coffee so we opted for tea instead. The food took 30-40 minutes to come out and the gentleman who arrived 20 minutes after us got their food before we did. The waitress never came around once to see how the meal was tasting which really bothered me. Definitely won’t be coming back.

Went here for my friend’s birthday and wish she’d chosen somewhere else. We waited TWO hours for our food with no explanation, no appetizers offered to make up for the wait, and we weren’t even offered drinks. When we were leaving, the server literally pushed our friend out of the door. It seems this is a common local hang out place, may have significance to the local community, but it certainly isn’t a place to go for good service or if you’re hungry. Too bad, we really wanted it to be good.

One chicken drumstick and sauce (Dori Wot) for $11.99 which was takeaway.call the restaurant to check if the made a mistake but NO.
This is a rip off.

Service was incredibly slow, over 1.5 hr to get the food to the table. The server ignored the table and did not offer any tide us over, nor did she come back to take drink orders.
Food was good - but after waiting so long would have eaten the table and been happy

The food was good. Service not great, just okay. Wine isn't very good but there are other drink options.

1. If you order takeout, expect most of it to be fridge temperature.

2. Don’t even try calling (if you can actually find their correct phone number online), they won’t pick up under any circumstances.

I’ve ordered the vegetarian platter a few times for takeout. The food itself was alright but nowhere near the quality of Ethiopian restaurants in other cities. Biggest problem with this place is they don’t care about their customers. If you want to order takeout, you have to show up to order it then wait because they don’t answer their phones. The wait is usually only 5-10 min and you will get maybe 1/5 of the platter that’s warm and the rest is literally straight out of the fridge.

I’m not sure if they intentionally give horrible takeout so people come in to eat (which I will never do) or because they just don’t care. I’ve been there waiting for food while others have come to complain about the food being cold. The lady complaining about her cold food, leaves and in less than 5 min they produced her entire order which I’m sure was cold. I ordered my food before her and got it after her and mine was also cold.

I started off this review as 3 stars but as I was writing I realized how bad this place actually is. It’s worth it to make the drive out of town to a place that values its customers.

What an amazing find. We first ate Ethiopian food over 23 years ago on a trip to Boston. Even in Boston those days it was unusual. Finding Warka today was a blast from the past and such a pleasant surprise to find the atmosphere, people, service and food were outstanding.

We had the Warka platter and were amazed at the quality, quantity and price. We'll definately be back to work our way through thus menu!