Fassil Ethiopian Restaurant

I have never tried Ethiopian food prior to coming here so I was excited! This experience was very enriching and I ate the entire meal with my left hand (as instructed by the man who served us). He was really welcoming and talked to us about the different dishes so we knew what we were having.

I absolutely loved the injera. The texture was so soft, spongey, and the flavour was light and slightly like sourdough. It paired really well with the dishes.

My friend and I got fassil's combination because we wanted to try a bit of everything and I really enjoyed the slow cooked beef that it came with. The other dishes were good too, but I was not familiar with the taste. We made sure to finish everything and we were so full by the end of our meal so the portion is definitely enough for two people.

If you haven't tried Ethiopian food before, you should definitely try some here!

Ambiance, cute little hole in the wall restaurant. Service, very kind. Food, amazing. Granted I've been once, but we ordered the combo platter and every single thing on that plate was a 10/10. The food was so flavorful. The combo platter states it feeds two, and it was definitely enough for me and my buddy, maybe even just a bit more than we could eat as we didn't finish everything off completely.

The restaurant was clean and welcoming and again the service was kind and prompt. I would recommend this restaurant completely and would definitely come back when I'm visiting again. Prices were also very reasonable. About 15 dollars per person, we were happily stuffed for a good price.

Fassil Ethiopian Restaurant serves up delicious Ethiopian food along with a good dose of warmth and hospitality as well. It seemed to be a one man show as there was only one man who greeted us, took our orders and served us our food. He was ever so friendly and as half the people in our party were completely unfamiliar with Ethiopian cuisine, he saw to it that they were served the best options available for sampling a good variety of flavours.

Veggie Combo
Siga Keye Wot
Yebeg Tibs
Doro Tibs

For anyone who's never had Ethiopian food, they serve the food on top of a soft flatbread, similar to a pancake in texture. This bread is called Injera and has a bit of a sour flavor to it. Extra rolls of Injera are given, and you're meant to use the Injera as a serving utensil by ripping off pieces of it and then using it to scoop up your food and eat it. Everything tastes so good with the Injera, and once you've finished the extra rolls of Injera you get to eat the large piece of Injera that's been soaking up all the wonderful flavors of all the various toppings that have been sitting on top of it!

It's very messy finger food so you should definitely make sure to have clean hands before indulging in this type of cuisine!

Bonus points for having air conditioning as we've been to other Ethiopian restaurants that did not have air conditioning during summer!

Service: Excellent
Parking: Free parking on the side street
Location: 736 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC

The food is always amazing! So tasty and flavourful. I usually get the veg combo with beef. The service is also great, the owner/chef is friendly and will recommend what you should try if it's your first time there. It has a homey feeling, great for a rainy/cold day. Also very reasonably priced!

Fassil is great - there is not much on Broadway in the eastern half of Mount Pleasant, but we hope Fassil gets the attention and business it deserves.

They were empty when we went today (a Monday) for lunch, but that meant we got the full attention of the owner/chef/server. He recommended the Fasil Combination, let us know what was spicy and not spicy, and even though Lamb is not an option for the combo, he cooked it for us anyway.

Decided to give Fassil Ethiopian Restaurant a try. They're located next door to Nha Trang Restaurant.

We dropped in for a Friday lunch (12:30pm). Only one worker, who was jugging all the serving and cooking duties.

Menu is short and sweet with 5 vegetarian, 8 meat (beef, chicken, fish and lamb) and two combination dishes. Most dishes are $12.00 to $18.00.

- Injera - stingy with the injera, R had to go up to ask for more. Injera had no character/liveliness to it; lacked the typical sour, fermented note.
- Fasil's combination ($30.00) - veggie combo and we opted for the siga keye wot. The scoops of vegetables were small. Our favourites was the chickpea puree (first time eating this) and boiled split lentils (nice kick from the berbere powder). The slow cooked beef was decent.

FER was okay but not inspired to come back. There are better Ethiopian spots in town.

Amazing veggie Ethiopian food. It's a small place, but clean. The manager is super friendly.
Their veggie set is awesome. Love love the injera bread!! Each with your hands, have a glass of wine and enjoy!

It was my first time trying Ethiopian food. I didn't really know what to expect. So I asked a little bit about the menu and they explained what to expect and what people typically order. There were three of us, and initially I misunderstood that each of us should get a veggie combo and add the meat to share. But it's actually a lot of food so we got 1 veggie combo, 1 meat, 1 fish and shared everything. This was more than enough for 3 hungry people.

I knew injera would be sour but I didn't realize how sour it would be! It was also more filling than I expected. It went really well with the spice of the lamb. Of all the veggies my favourite was the chickpeas. Next time I would get just the chickpea and some lamb or try another meat. Spinach was very bland and I think it was the lentils that was a little too spicy for me. The fish was just plain fish fried without much flavoring, I wouldn't get that again.

Definitely a place to come to with a few people to share everything with rather than eating individually. Definitely coming back here!

The food is so awesome. Best meal I've had in Vancouver!!! And the chef was such a chiller. He gave us fire recommendations and you can tell the food is made with love

Since Fassil was the first Ethiopian place I'd tried, I decided to revisit it to see what I thought after having tried so many more places. I ordered the vegetarian platter (~$12 plus tax), which was ready for pick-up 15 minutes later.

The platter comes with 5 dishes, many of which were on the watery side and sour side. I wasn't too impressed with any of the items. You got a lot of injera with it, which is intensely sour--borderline unpalatable after a while. I was full after my meal, but I really didn't think this place's food holds its weight. 2.5/5

All in all, pretty disappointing, especially considering the many good Ethiopian places nearby in East Van. Go to Axum instead.