For nearly a half decade, Ebony restaurant in San Luis Obispo has run counter to the region’s meat-loving sensibilities and served up vegan Ethiopian cuisine to a curious and ever-growing audience. 

But Ebony’s story may soon come to an end. The family-run restaurant is living on borrowed time in an off-the-beaten-path downtown location and looking for a place to call a permanent home. 

The restaurant is currently nestled in the back of a mostly vacant building in downtown SLO, but at the end of this month, it will lose its lease as the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art prepares to take it over. 

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Right now, the owners are in their last few weeks to find a new space. 

“As of today, we don’t have a place lined up,” Ebony co-owner and spokesperson Feben Teffera told SFGATE in late December during a visit to the restaurant. Originally, the museum wanted them out by the end of December, but granted the restaurant a one-month reprieve. “We love what we do and we think we’re doing something cool in this town.” 

The outside of the building that currently houses Ebony restaurant in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Dec. 30, 2025. Ebony, an Ethiopian restaurant that draws fans from around the state, faces closure at the end of January.

Co-owner and spokesperson Feben Teffera of Ebony in San Luis Obispo, Calif., stands behind the counter of the restaurant on Dec. 30, 2025. 

A view of the hallway that leads to Ebony restaurant in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Dec. 30, 2025. Ebony, an Ethiopian restaurant that draws fans from around the state, faces closure at the end of January.

Teffera admitted a lot has to come together over the next couple of weeks to keep Ebony going. A pause in business would likely destroy the restaurant; if forced to shut down, “that’s going to be the end of us,” she said. 

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Ebony started almost five years ago in a small commercial space in a business park across the street from the SLO airport. 

The restaurant came about by chance. Teffera, who had emigrated from Ethiopia to New........

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