Our Favorite Restaurants from Our Time in Tbilisi, Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia has some amazing, unique foods that you must try, along with plenty of fantastic restaurants to visit. One of the best ways to get acquainted with the city’s regional cuisine is through a fantastic food tour like we did. And of course, when you’re ready to explore some food on your own, there are plenty of fantastic restaurants throughout Tbilisi. We picked a few of our favorite restaurants in Tbilisi from our time there.
Restaurants
Iasamani
Iasamani is an upscale Georgian restaurant set in an old residential building. It has a cozy, vintage atmosphere with original walls, white tablecloths, and soft lighting, making it great for a romantic evening. We had their cucumber walnut salad with cheesy cornbread patties, chicken in blackberry sauce, and lobio. Lobio is a traditional kidney bean stew. It was flavored with walnuts and accompanied by mchadi, the traditional Georgian cornbread. We were very satisfied with our meal there and enjoyed all of our dishes. They also had a really good flavored lemonade, as well.
Cafe Museum Tbilisi
Cafe Museum Tbilisi is part of the Museum Hotel. It has a beautiful indoor dining room, as well as a charming terrace. We ate there during Tbilisoba, a festival celebrating Tbilisi, and it was surprisingly peaceful and quiet despite many other areas being rather crowded. The main dining area is beautifully decorated with a triangle mosaic tile floor and dark green velveteen chairs and accented with modern gold light fixtures and mirrors. And their terrace has a charming checkerboard tile floor, marblesque tables, comfy rattan chairs, and is surrounded by greenery. We had their chicken in cherry garlic sauce and their beef kharcho with imeruli khachapuri (cheese bread), fried sulguni cheese sticks, and tomato cucumber salad.
Ninia’s Garden
Ninia’s Garden has a few different dining spaces. There are a couple rooms inside, as well as a hidden courtyard. Its indoor dining spaces have clean white walls accented by blue windows, exposed beams, and greenery. But its real gem is probably the courtyard that you would never know was there until you get inside. The courtyard is surrounded by a brick wall, with a charming little fountain at the center, and is illuminated with soft, warm lighting at night. It’s also home to several friendly cats who will wind their way around your legs, come up for pets, and ask for food. They aren’t too pushy though, so no worries! We dined there in the evening for dinner. I had the veal with cheesy mashed potatoes and creme brulee for dessert. And Tony had their pork ribs with beets and potato wedges and the waffle with sweet cream and berries for dessert. The food was good, but the options are rather limited for people like me with nut allergies though.
Craft Wine Bar
Craft Wine Bar has three dining spaces, two inside and one outside. The interior is a warm clay color with vintage photos and wine bottles lighting the wall and a brick fireplace. A second smaller dining space sits in the back near the kitchen and craft goods. And my favorite spot is definitely the covered garden. You can’t beat a little greenery and fresh air.
We split their tomato salad with onions, herbs, and kakhetian oil; chicken liver parfait with java plum jam and grilled bread; and katleti, which are minced meat patties, kind of like meatloaf, paired with mashed potatoes and tomato sauce.
Tony was hesitant to try the chicken liver, but we both enjoyed it and it actually ended up being my favorite dish that evening. It was very mild and creamy and paired really well with the sweet jam. Just a little drop of the jam with each bite went a long way.
Definitely make reservations though. We didn’t think it would be a problem since we went on a Wednesday, but most of the tables were reserved. We were lucky to get a spot in the back near the kitchen, but I would have liked to eat in their garden or main dining room.
Barbarestan
Barbarestan was without a doubt one of the nicest restaurants we ate at and I would recommend it in a heartbeat. It’s right on Davit Aghmashenebeli Ave with a cute vine covered carriage out front. The inside is decorated with exposed bricks, plants, copper pipes and pans hanging from the ceiling, and a large built in china cabinet. When we were there they also had live music, which added to the romantic, cozy ambiance.
They but an elegant twist on traditional Georgian dishes and are particularly proud of their menu, which is based on a 1874 cookbook, Sruli Samzareulo (The Full Cuisine), written by the first Georgian feminist and publicist, the Duchess Barbare Eristavi Jorjadze. After we were seated, we were shown one of the first editions of the cookbook, which they keep in a protective box.
For appetizers, we shared their dambalkhacho and tutmaji. Dambalkhacho is a traditional Georgian cheese. It was presented as a liquid and spooned onto our plates where it solidified and was accompanied by wine flavored jelly cubes. Which may sound weird, but it was delicious. And tutmaji is a traditional noodle and yogurt soup. They presented the noodles first and then poured the broth over the noodles at our seats. The noodles were thick and chewy and the sauce had a nice creamy garlic flavor.
For our main entree, we each had the roasted pig, since it came highly recommended by our server. The pork was slow roasted, very tender, with a nice crispy skin, and a delicious plum sauce, and it was paired with a beet mint salad with crispy rice.
And though we were already completely stuffed after our entrees, we decided to get dessert, as well, which was worth it. I had the white dessert, which was coconut ice cream. This may sound boring, but trust me when I say it was definitely better than just grabbing a scoop at an ice cream parlor. The ice cream was paired with meringue, citrus jelly, apple, and marshmallows. And they also poured coconut milk over dry ice to make it smoke/bubble. Tony had their smoked sulguni dessert, which was a smoked cheesecake mixing some local flavors like walnuts and fruits along with a mixture of textures from creamy to crunchy. Delish!
Otsy
Otsy was our other favorite restaurant. It sits on Ioane Shavteli St right next to the famous leaning clock tower. You can dine indoors or on their shaded patio to watch the tower or tourists as they pass. It has almost a perfect 5 star rating on Google reviews, with nearly everyone gushing about their food. And after going there, we can see why.
We had their roasted mushrooms and cheese cloud as an appetizer (seasoned mushrooms, cheese mousse, garlic, tarragon, and crispy onions). This looked like a puffy soup and tasted amazing! It was rich, creamy, and loaded with flavor. A very decadent appetizer that’s great with a nice glass of wine. For our main courses, we shared the lamb filet and Saperavi braised beef cheeks.
Whether you’ve previously been a fan of lamb or not, I would highly recommend it. These were prime sirloin cuts that were very tender and juicy with a delicious broth, not too gamey, and it was paired with a very delicious, flavorful vegetable ragout. The Saperavi braised beef cheeks were equally tasty. Most of the time when I’ve had beef cheeks they’re a little too fatty for me, but these didn’t have any chunks of fat and were very tender with a nice glace and melted in your mouth, along with creamy, buttery mashed potatoes and Parisian carrots.
This place might fill up on weekends or holidays though. So, reservations are recommended.
Cafe Leila
Cafe Leila is a vegetarian restaurant that was once a sweet shop. It’s located on Ioane Shavteli Street near the famous leaning clock tower and right across the street from Anchiskhati Basilica. It has beautiful wood carved walls and ceiling, along with hand-embroidered chairs depicting folklore stories and even scenes from some movies by a once-popular writer in Tbilisi. Here we had a variety of pkhali served in a gobi (large wooden bowl). Pkhali are spreads made from pureed vegetables, walnuts, and herbs. Our gobi included 5 kinds of pkhali: eggplant, carrot, beetroot, spinach, and cheese, as well as cornbread, three types of cheese (salted and smoked), and pickled vegetables (cucumber, beetroot, peppers, and jonjoli). Jonjoli are pickled flowers made from the staphylea or bladdernut plant. It doesn’t look super appetizing, but was actually pretty tasty and is apparently loaded with vitamins.
Sherwood Bistro
If you’re looking for something cute and casual, Sherwood Bistro is a great option. It’s a cute little garden restaurant located near Roses Park, a short walk from Fabrika. It’s surrounded by greenery with a glass ceiling that lets in natural light and warm hanging lights at night.
They have a variety of affordable options, including soups, salads, pizza, pasta, burgers, sandwiches, or hot dishes.
We went there one day for a very casual lunch and had their tomato soup and chicken fajitas. The fajitas were actually pretty good, but don’t expect it to come with the type of tortillas you may be used to. They tasted fine, but were cut into bite-sized little squares rather than traditional taco sized ones. That said, we’d still go back.
Sapore Cafe
This was our absolute favorite sweet shop and it seems like it must be a favorite for others, as well, because it was always pretty crowded. We always stopped there on our way home and took our order to go to enjoy back at our apartment. During our stay, we tried their cherry cake, chocolate mousse cake, strawberry cheesecake, and whoopie pies. Everything we had was delicious, but I think one of my favorites were the whoopie pies. They were crunchier than other whoopie pies I’ve had, but so good. Like a thick, buttery oreo cookie!
