Riga Restaurants

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Another restaurant in the Lido chain offering Latvian fare in cafeteria style. This is one of the most centrally located and you'll certainly pass it at some point in the Old Town, on a street by the Dome Square.

While there are plenty of locals in here, certainly don't expect to be the only tourists. As with other Lido's, collect a tray and pick your food. There is a bar area where you can get your beer, I went for a mead type lager which was rather nice around 2.00 lat, though they seemed shocked that we were drinking small glasses - perhaps they're more used to British and Finnish lads turning up and drinking the place dry.

It's much of a muchness, nothing special but probably a reliable place if you can't be bothered with anything on the expensive side in the Old Town. This place also has a separate smoking bar at the back which is quite unusual in non-smoking Riga. Gets quite full at weekends in the evenings.

Favorite Dish: The kebab style sheeshka (?) with rice was decent value and filled a gap. The local lagers are also nice so you could just spend time in here having a beer if you're so inclined and don't want Sky Sport blaring at you.

The stewed fruit desserts didn't really go down well with me. I did notice that they did seem to keep running out of food and the selection isn't quite as good as Dzirnavas.

A meal here will probably set you back between 10 to 12 lats (about 10 - 12 GBP).

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Part of the Lido chain of Latvian self service restaurants, these tend to be popular with locals popping in for a fast and decently priced lunch or dinner on the way home from work as well as tourists searching out local food.

This one consists of two large rooms, laid out in slightly pseudo-'traditional' Latvian style. No fills cafeteria style restaurant with female staff dressed up in ye-olde costumes. Grab a tray and go for it, while trying to work out what price corresponds to which dish. Staff will probably speak enough English to explain what is chicken, pork etc.

Layout in the particular Lido is slightly confusing, split into two main seating areas one bit with a water feature and different buffet areas. Go for the section on the right hand side where the buffet has trademark sheesh and grilled meats, or at least make sure that you have a good look around all the sections before you choose.

Piped music changes randomly from traditional to Eastern European pop. Slighly soulless atmosphere but then you're probably here for the price rather than a candlelit meal.

Favorite Dish: Solenka soup, a tomato soup containing mixed meats, an acquired taste at 1.30 lat. Darzenu kremzupa (cream of vegetable soup got thumbs up), 1.30. Very nice dry pork ribs at 3.00 lats and cheese pancake .60 lat. Kviss sweet cider was really nice at 1.00l for 25cl. Stuffed pork dishes also very nice.

Probably nothing that will blow your socks away but maybe an easy indtroduction to local cooking, prices for a main dish anything from 2 to 7 lats.

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I had never been to a cafe that I'd seen classified as 'Jewish' so as this was only a few steps away I'd been hoping to check this place out most of my stay.

I popped in here eventually while waiting for the Jewish Museum to open and as that was only an hour or so after breakfast, I could only manage a coffee.

Nonetheless I have my observations.

Food looked good, especially the soup and well priced. Locals of whatever ethnicity clearly pop in here to take away the pastries or grab lunch. Prices are very good as it's a little outside the normal tourist trap of the main Art Deco streets. It makes a more budget, local option in this area.

It's a bright modern cafe, with a Jewish theme and interestingly decorated. Customers ranged from office types picking up pastries, to a grandmother and grandson having bread and soup. Worth a visit.

Favorite Dish: I saw hearty looking soups served here to those who ate in, and pastries going to the numerous people who popped in to take-away.

Coffee was decent and at .80 good value too which is good because this place strikes me as a cafe rather than a restaurant.

I'd be intrigued to know what this place is like in the evening though. It was constantly busy in the early afternoon, which suggest they produce some good evening meals. I recommend going to the Jewish Museum and then popping downstairs for lunch.

Note that they are closed on Jewish religious festivals, so from sunset on Friday, all Saturday until Sunday morning. Closes at 22.00.

This has to be one of the absolutely best steak houses in Riga, true to its name, this is the "Steak Place". I am not a red meat eater any more, so I went for chicken, but the meat lovers in my entourage swore by the food.
The place itself is decorated more like an Italian restaurant in my opinion, but the food definitely was steak house fare.

Favorite Dish: Steaks, any which way they come.

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Hotel Metropole was one of the first foreign-owned hotel establishments in Riga when it opened in the early 1990s. The standard was top class compared to most other places back then, and it still holds a good standard. But the surroundings have changed and these days the plump chairs and the thick wall-to-wall carpet does not strike one as the ultimate luxury. As far as the hotel goes, I've never stayed in a hotel in Riga so I don't know about that bit.

But the chef's good. And the owners are Swedish so that's why you would find Swedish food here.
Well, I admit, you'd have to be pretty daft to go try find your "own" food in Riga when there is so much else also on offer. But believe me, this is as authentic as it gets. It's restaurant class even if it was in Sweden.

Favorite Dish: My classic order is the prawn sandwich. This is prawn sandwich Nordic style, and it is good. The sandwich is drowned in prawns, and the bread is really nice white Latvian bread for a local touch. (Latvian white bread tend to be a bit sweet, but thick.)
My husband chose to go for another Nordic classic, the "pyttipanna", a hash that originally was made from left-over boiled potatoes and any meat you had available. The classier ones have potatoes and good quality meat cut into ever so small cubes and it is served with pickled beetroot and a fried egg on top.

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This was a fun place to have a light lunch at. Of the places we could find along the main haunt (Jomas iela) this one was definitely the one that had the best price/quality ratio and the nicest ambiance.
The decor of the place is rather creative - look close at the table! :)
The menu is also available in English, which helps if you are not familiar with culinary terminology in Latvian.

Favorite Dish: The chicken Kiev with rice I had was fine :) Unfortunately I don't remember what it cost any more...

This is not a place to come to dressed in jeans and trainers. This is a fine establishment, with a price level to match but food that is simply divine. They have a pizza oven that is the real thing and put to good use :) This is an authentic Italian restaurant, with fine interior and well-trained staff. The menu is available also in English.

In the pic, we had ordered some pizzas home - to die for, I promise! :)

Favorite Dish: Cambozola pizza. Something not quite the ordinary, and delicious.

We ate here as part of a conference hosted dinner and while the food was very good, it didn't appear to be traditional Latvian cuisine.

The menu consisted of steamed shrimp (a bit tasteless), duckling breast (very good, very lean), and a walnut, balsam, and chocolate mousse dessert (also very good).

Overall, the food was pretty good, except I was hoping for more traditional cuisine. A nice upscale restaurant though for impressing business clients.

Favorite Dish: the duckling breast was the best thing we ate at this restaurant