15 of Our Favorite Restaurants in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Walking through the City Center or Kapana of Plovdiv, one of the first things you’ll notice are the many unique cafes and restaurants. In Kapana especially, tables, umbrellas, and lights sprawl through the pedestrian friendly streets. All manors of savory and suite dishes are constantly being served, a symphony of different smells inviting you into each place. You have no dearth of choices of places to dine in Plovdiv. The only issue is choosing where to go.

Over our three and half weeks there, we had a chance to eat at many of the best restaurants in Plovdiv. While there are many many more places to choose from, these are some of our favorite places to dine. Hope to see you in Plovdiv in the future–and come with a healthy appetite!

Atlas 

Atlas makes it into our top 3 for restaurants in Plovdiv. We had the Thai coconut soup to start, stuffed chicken with risotto and sweet potato puree, and duck with cauliflower puree, mushrooms, broccoli, and pineapple polenta. We weren’t big on the soup, but both of our entrees were delicious and we easily ate the whole thing. The meat was cooked very well, nice and tender. And both of our dishes were very flavorful and had good presentation to boot! If the weather is nice, you probably won’t need a reservation because there’s plenty of seating outside. But if it’s cold or rainy, you may want to make a reservation because seating inside is limited. 

Aylyakria

At the time we visited Plovdiv, Aylyakria was rated as #1 out of 304 restaurants in Plovdiv on Tripadvisor. And from our experience, easily in the top 5. The name Aylyakria comes from the Bulgarian word Aylyak, which means a state of delight, pleasure, and chill, which is the philosophy of this little restaurant. It prides itself on serving top quality food in a casual, relaxed manner. We tried their rakia sour, which was pretty tasty (think pisco sour with rakia) and split their onion soup. I had slow cooked ribs with cheddar puree and truffle gravy, and Tony had bbq sticky ribs with roasted potatoes and grilled corn. Both really good and very filling. We had zero room for dessert, but were given complementary cookies anyway. And when I said I wasn’t able to eat the cookie due to a nut allergy, they gave us each some chocolate liqueur.  

Bluestone Doughnuts 

There aren’t many doughnut shops in the City Center/Kapana/Old Town area, but Bluestone Doughnuts is definitely top notch. They make artisan doughnuts with fun, unique flavors. Plus, all their donuts are made fresh each day and they rotate the flavors. So if you’re a big donut fan, it may be worth going more than once, because they’ll probably have a different selection. We tried their Boston cream pie, cherry pie, and passion fruit doughnuts, which were all delicious. My favorite was passion fruit and Tony’s was Boston cream. Their hours are a little funky though. They’re only open 11AM-6PM most days and they only make a set number of doughnuts each day, so they may close earlier if they sell out. Definitely worth getting there in the earlier part of the day to get the full selection!

Central Park

We hadn’t heard much about Central Park, but were pleasantly surprised by their menu, which appeared to be a mixture of Mediterranean, Asian, and Indian fusion. You can get everything from meatballs or kebabs to Korean chicken to tandoori chicken. We went there for lunch and had their goat cheese mousse with focaccia, the Funky Chicken Burger with avocado mousse, kimchi, and beet hummus, and the Pig Witch Burger with pork tenderloin, goat cheese, mango chutney, and bbq sauce, which was all quite good. Honestly wish we had time to go there again! 

Coupon Street Food Art 

Coupon Street Food Art is an interesting Bulgarian Asian fusion restaurant with a sort of funky vibe, decorated with different colored masks. You can go for some hearty burgers, kebabs, and french fries, or baos, gyozas, and tempura. When we went we split some rabbit gyozas and got the meatball and kebab platters. The gyozas were our favorite, but the platters were decent, as well. The platters were also huge and could probably be split between two people, especially if you get an appetizer. All in all, we’d go there again and are curious about more of their Asian inspired cuisine.   

Doner Kebabs 

If you’re looking for a cheap quick bite, try one of the many doner kebab places. We tried kebab boxes at Donor Kebab (intersection between Evlogi Georgiev and Rayko Daskalov) and Yogi Fast Food, which were both pretty good. Alex Foods also looks pretty popular and always seems to have a line. You can get a meal at these places for a couple USD, making this a very budget friendly option.

Hemingway

Hemingway is a nice restaurant for a date night and often has live music, which we think starts around 8PM, or so. We ended up going there twice because we always enjoy a place with live music. Our first evening there, we had garlic butter shrimp for an appetizer, veal cheeks with mashed potatoes and grilled onion, and sea bass with grilled vegetables. And on our second night, we had bruschetta, spaghetti carbonara, and glazed ribs with roasted potatoes. Both of our appetizers were good, especially the shrimp and the standouts from the entrees were the sea bass and ribs. They do seem to fill up though, so it might be good to get a reservation if you’re interested, especially on a weekend. It’s also better to request dining on the main level if possible, as it can get pretty hot upstairs. 

Restaurant Odeon

Probably the biggest appeal of Restaurant Odeon is that it overlooks the Roman Forum. If you go, we recommend calling ahead and requesting a table near the windows so that you have a better view. The inside is nothing crazy, but they do have an interesting stained class light on the ceiling. Dinner was good, but not one of our favorites. I had avocado soup with lemon and dill and pork tenderloin with crispy onions and vegetables. Tony had a salad and steak. Note: The steak is now what people from the US would usually think of. It was more like a burger with a sunny side up egg on top. 

Pavaj

Pavaj is a favorite for both citizens and tourists and has won two Restaurant of The Year Awards. It is definitely quite popular, especially on weekends. So you may want to avoid the lunch/dinner rush, which is around 1:00-3:00 and 7:00-9:00 Friday-Sunday. We had a late dinner there, around 9:30 on a Friday evening, and it was still pretty busy. I had fried zucchini balls with buffalo cheese and a salad with carrots, beetroot, and garlic yogurt sauce, and Tony had horse schnitzel with potatoes potato wedges and a salad with garlic yogurt sauce. If you go in the cooler months, they also have some great outdoor fire pits that put off quite a bit of heat. 

Raffy Bar & Gelato

Raffy is a good in-between option for a meal. It’s more pricey than fast food, but not as expensive as some of the other fine dining restaurants in Plovdiv. They have a pretty extensive menu with lots of options. So virtually everyone should be able to find something for their preference or diet. We ate there a couple times, once for lunch and once for wine and dessert, which was decent. It’s also a nice location, as it sits on the main square, where you have a good view of the fountain and people watching! 

Rahat Tepe

Rahat Tepe is a beer garden in Old Town, which serves traditional Bulgarian food. Their big thing are their clay hot plates, kind of like a giant skillet with sausage, chicken, or pork mixed with grilled vegetables. The outdoor area has some good city views and it’s pretty at night when they turn on the lights. It’s also home to lots of friendly cats, which we love! Definitely a recommended restaurant in Plovdiv for the views and ambience alone. Plus, catch a sunset at nearby Nebet Tepe, one of our favorite things to do in Plovdiv while you’re there

Smokini

Smokini is one of the nicer restaurants we ate at and probably our favorite restaurant in Plovdiv. Both the flavor and presentation of their dishes were top notch. We had an Asian inspired pulled pork bruschetta for an appetizer; sous vide chicken with pureed corn, mushrooms, broccoli, and fig sauce; beef cheeks with mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach, and crispy wontons; and white chocolate cheesecake with oreo crumble, strawberries, and blueberries for dessert. 

Tables

Tables is a great spot for breakfast or lunch or someone looking for some healthier options. Their big thing seems to be different kinds of toast. We tried their hummus mushroom toast and their open face grilled cheese with pulled pork, which were both quite tasty. Some other options include salads, beet toast, omelet toast, chicken toast, and eggs Benedict. If you happen to be in Sofia, they also have a location there.

Tams House 

Tams House also makes it into our top 3 favorite restaurants in Plovdiv for both taste and presentation. We enjoyed all of our dishes, which included: shrimp with roasted cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and beet puree for an appetizer; ribs with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and grilled onion; and salmon with tomato sauce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and a side salad. Their desserts were very creative. We had the cheesecake, which was shaped like an egg and covered in white chocolate with a mango yoke center and saw a dessert that looked like a small potted plant, which I believe was their chocolate mousse.  

Veggic

Veggic is a great option for vegetarian or vegan fare. It can be difficult to find good vegetarian restaurants in Plovdiv, but Veggic fills that spot nicely. They have smoothies, salads, veggie burgers, and rice, noodle, and quinoa bowls, plus plenty of protein options (tofu, vegan cheese, falafel, seitan, soy, tempeh). When we were there, I had a choco-maca smoothie and a chickpea, cucumber, pepper salad with dill and avocado dressing and Tony had a spirulina shake and Thai peanut salad, all of which we enjoyed.