Serves meat, vegan options available. Ethiopian restaurant in the DC area. Offers vegan versions of some traditional meat dishes. You can get a veggie steak sandwich, kitfo (chopped seitan with greens and tofu soft "cheese"), dulet (chopped seitan, with peppers, onions, and spices from the kitfo), tibs (larger pieces of seitan sauteed in either mild spices or berbere sauce), doro wat (seitan on a chopstick "bone" with a tofu-based "hard boiled egg" in berbere sauce). The veggie combo varies day to day and is enough food for 2 or 3 people. Casual place, more about the food than the ambiance. Service sometimes be slow, but the food usually comes quickly. Note: The bakery next door usually has 1-3 kinds of vegan cake, and always has vegan cookies plus baklava (made with honey). Soy milk is available to make vegan cappuccino and other coffee drinks. Open Mon-Thu 9:00am-9:00pm, Fri-Sat 9:00am-10:00pm, Sun 9:00am-9:00pm.
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Last update on 16 Jul 2012 by Guest
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Added by jrfishe1 on 23 Jul 2010
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20 Reviews
First Review by jrfishe1
spiderflowers
Points +267
Delicious - Edit
Dama has a great selection of vegan food and pastries. I like the vegan tibs, kik alicha, vegetarian combo platter, and the mille-feuille pastry. Ethiopian Orthodox religion fasts 180 days, during which only vegan food is eaten, so Ethiopian restaurants have great options for vegans and vegetarians!
Read moreGuest
ViennaVegan
Points +1528
Consistently good Ethiopian food -- plus vegan desserts - Edit
I've been going to Dama for a long time and have never had a bad meal. My favorite is the vegetarian sampler which gives you quite a bit of variety, as you'd expect.
Read moreVegan desserts as noted on their website:
Italian Rum (Reg or Vegan)
Milifolle (Reg or Vegan)
Tiramissu (Reg or Vegan)
Coffee Velvet (Reg or Vegan)
Raspberry Lemon (Reg or Vegan)
Chocolate Raspberry (Reg or Vegan)
Vegan Cookies
Vanilla
Apricot Raspberry
Anisette
Almond
Sugar Vanilla
Marble cookie
Updated from previous review on 2023-08-19
Guest
happy_banana
Points +1464
Amazing Ethiopian and great for vegans - vegan tibs!!! - Edit
I left the DC area a few months ago but this was my favorite place to go for years. Ethiopian food is often vegan-friendly but I have yet to find any other restaurant that does seitan tibs - and really delicious ones too. The prices are very reasonable for the portion sizes, the staff is always very friendly, and I always enjoy every bite. I miss it so much.
Read moreTheir vegan cakes are also delicious - so light and fluffy!
Pros: Seitan tibs!!!, Big portions
Guest
jrfishe1
Points +448
Amazing Ethiopian Food - Edit
The food is consistently awesome at Dama, and it's the only Ethiopian place I've ever heard of to offer mock meats and vegan pastries! Be warned, portions are large, especially on the veggie combo!
Read moreTheir lunch buffet (Mon-Fri) is always mostly vegan and often includes seitan dishes (as of November 2022 the buffet is all vegan but that may change). During Lent and several other "fasting periods" they have a special expanded vegan menu with a larger veggie combo, more vegan cakes, etc.
All cookies are always vegan, and if you want a particular vegan cake (like passion fruit, coffee velvet, or chocolate raspberry) you can order it in advance. The Dama family and the other staff are extremely friendly and make this my favorite restaurant in the DC are
Updated from previous review on 2017-08-05
Pros: delicious, cheap, vegan tibs!
Cons: not fancy, on bus line, but not near metro
Guest
plant_based_babe
Points +173
Delicious! - Edit
So many vegan options. I got the vegetarian combo meal (all vegan)…SO delicious. Will be coming back with friends!!
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2022-02-05
Pros: Lots of vegan options
Guest
HalimaAli
Points +95
Vegan Ethiopian dishes - Edit
Loved the veganized Ethiopian dishes. I got the vegan kifto and it was so good. I also got some pastries to go and they had some cookies that were vegan.
Read moreGuest
KelseyCoulter
Points +150
Overall a good experience - Edit
The atmosphere in Dama leaves a bit to be desired. The food was tasty and there are several vegan options but the service was not great. I highly recommend finishing the meal with a piece of vegan cake from the bakery side!
Read moreGuest
boysen_bean
Points +554
Good cake! - Edit
I stopped in for a quick slice of cake. There were three different cakes to choose from. It was very good! i love the creamy filling.
Read moreGuest
steveveg
Points +2201
Vegan cookies - Edit
We tried some of their vegan cookies - very nice. The vegetarians had tiramisu, also good. The lunch buffet was stilll set up, and looked appetizing, although we did not try them. Service was very friendly.
Read moreGuest
jainstonge
Points +230
Excellent vegan - Edit
We like the food here. Good service, too. And coffee. Lots of veg dishes to choose from as well as desserts. Try the ginger tea.
Read morePros: Vegan desserts , Good njera , Vegan options
Guest
MatthewTucker
Points +68
vegan Ethiopian - Edit
This place has been around for a while,you walk in and you can smell all the wonderful spices. They have a number of vegan meat dishes and the food was awesome.
Read moreGuest
jbswetnam
Points +40
Great food - Edit
Great Ethiopian food and pastries
Read moreGuest
KevinJohnson
Points +18
Awesome food - Edit
Looking for vegan options and this place was amazing, lunch buffet was Ethiopian and the waitress and everyone was great. 60 percent of buffet was vegan not to mention the coffee shop next door has many vegan dessert options.
Read morePros: Food, Service
Cons: Parking
Guest
tofumond
Points +100
New Experience - Edit
When we went to visit Washington, we stayed in Arlington and had no idea where to go for lunch, so we had a look at Happy Cow and found this interesting place!
Read moreMy fiancé and I had never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, so we were very excited to try something totally new!
While waiting for our food I got more and more excited as I saw that people were eating with their hands! I'd never been to a restaurant like this before and I'd always wanted, so this was a dream come true!
The "bread" they served (Injera?) was a bid odd for my tastes, but the lentil "dips" were amazing, I loved it so much!
I can only recommend this place! If you go to Washington, stop in Arlington and go to this restaurant! It's so amazing! Love it!
Guest
JacobS
Points +95
Best Ethiopian in the DC area - Edit
Dama is my favorite restaurant in town. They have a standard veggie platter similar to what you can get at any other Ethiopian place, except at Dama everything tastes twice as good. As if that's not enough, they also have fantastic mock meats. The veggie tibs are my favorite - so succulent! - but the veggie kitfo is great as well. But wait, it gets better. After feasting on a ridiculously delicious, huge, and inexpensive meal, you can get vegan dessert. I think you can order it from your table in the restaurant, but it's better to walk through the store to the cafe next door where you can scope out the desserts in person. All of their cookies (8 or 10 varieties of shortbread-type cookies) are vegan, and 95% of the time they have at least one vegan cake. Sometimes they'll have up to six vegan cakes. Chocolate raspberry, Italian rum, velvet, mocha... oh it is heavenly. Also, the staff are super nice. I go there enough that they almost seem like family now.
Read morePros: best ethiopian food in the area, outstanding vegan baked goods, nice, welcoming staff
Cons: service can be a bit slow, they serve meat
Guest
cookiem
Points +5888
Vegan Ethiopian food heaven - Edit
This is my go-to-place for vegan Ethiopian food. The food is amazing with its flavor, and they have vegan "meat" options like "tibs" or "kitfo." On top of that, their desserts have vegan options in a classic European pastry style that is better than any other vegan desserts of that style anywhere, period.
Read moreSo why not go? Well, the route to getting out of the District might be challenging. It's not in the most walker-friendly location, but, trust me, it's worth it. This is bar none my favorite Ethio joint in all of the DC metropolitan area because of the vegan desserts and attention to vegan food choices on the menu. They use fake meats and tofu for those who don't want just a "regular" veg sampler of gomen war, atalkilt wot, shiro wat, kik alicha or mesir wot.
They don't have many appetizer choices for any diners, but be patient and maybe order more main course dishes! It's worth the wait! Plenty of tasty injera to sop up the sauces and food - they will bring more as you need it, but I appreciate they don't dump it all on top of you because some may waste it.
As you are dining, there are TV's for entertainment… but not really a reason to go.
You will also see many expats, taxi drivers and locals coming in and out of the restaurant and cafe/ bakery portion, as well as the takeout in the middle for injera or food pantry basics.
Cakes are usually 1 of the following: mocha (chocolate and vanilla layers with cream plus coffee infusion), fruit cake (yellow cake with cream and fresh fruit on top), or rum cake (yellow cake with rum frosting and phyllo on top). There are a few other rotating choices. They are small slices, as cakes should be, and very reasonably priced - very!! The cookies are also super reasonably priced in the classic piped pastry style of jam filled sandwich cookies (apricot or raspberry), along with sables (think "butter" cookies) that are plain, sugared or blended with chocolate and even palmiers/ angel wings. YUM.
This place is the best vegan choice for Ethiopian in the District's metropolitan area. Go there for the savory traditional Ethiopian fare and DEFINITELY don't forget dessert - in fact, I always get some to go….
Pros: Vegan cake, Vegan cookies, Vegan food
Cons: Out of the way, Parking lot is oddly shaped
Guest
DC Vegan
Points +337
Yummy! - Edit
Although I was introduced to Ethiopian before I went veg, it's only after I went vegan that I really appreciated it. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy food, but I love, love, love shuro watt. Dama, which is near the Air Force Memorial and what once was the Navy Annex, is a casual restaurant with excellent vegan options. They serve vegan tibs! Yay! They're little cubes of seitan, well seasoned, and delicious. The last time I went, with friends, we tore through our vegetarian platter--and still had room for dessert in the attached bakery (just ask which options are vegan).
Read moreThere's not a lot of parking, and it can be tricky getting into the lot. It's also not near a Metro station, but there is a bus that goes nearby.
Still, Dama is one of my favorite places in the area to go.
Pros: Delicious food, good prices, friendly service
Cons: Limited parking, not near Metro station
Guest
Happy Eats
Points +41
awesome Ethiopian food - Edit
Lots of good vegetarian and began options. Vegan Chocolate raspberry cake is a must! Friendly staff.
Read morePros: friendly staff, many veg & vegan options, good vegan protein options
Guest
Pancakes
Points +92
Best Ethiopian I've had - Edit
Meskerem used to be my favorite DC area Ethiopian restaurant, but Dama has now taken that place. I've never seen or even heard of an Ethiopian restaurant doing mock meat dishes. It's also the only Ethiopian food that I've had that actually had a kick to it. I like spicy food, so I wouldn't have been unhappy if it was a little bit hotter, but like I said I haven't found any Ethiopian food to be spicy in the past. I do wish it was closer to home. I'd definitely be going a lot more often. I also had some chocolate cake, which was good.
Read morePros: Mock meat, Friendly staff, Relatively cheap
Cons: Not near metro, Not more of them
Guest
Jaelus
Points +117
Delicious! - Edit
The food here is really good. Excellent vegan mock-meat and veggie dishes. The portions are extremely large. You will be full, oh yes, you will be full. Also the cakes are delicious!
Read morePros: Excellent food, Great value, Friendly staff
Guest
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