The best restaurants in Tbilisi: 25 places from khinkali halls to new Georgian cuisine, by neighbourhood and budget

The honest answer is that Tbilisi does not have one “best” restaurant scene, it has several running in parallel: steam-filled khinkali halls where nobody looks up from folding dumplings, a new wave of chef-driven dining rooms reworking 19th-century princess cookbooks, natural-wine bars pouring amber qvevri wine by the glass, and late courtyards where the kitchen stays open past midnight. This guide picks 25 places across five neighbourhoods, Old Town, Sololaki, Vera, Vake and Marjanishvili, and tells you what each is good for, roughly what it costs, and whether you need to book.

Prices below are approximate per-person figures for a main course or a shared khinkali order, given in Georgian lari with a rough euro conversion at the National Bank of Georgia’s rate for 28 October 2026 of about 2.89 GEL to the euro. Menus, hours and even ownership change in Tbilisi faster than this article can, so treat every figure as a starting point and check a restaurant’s own page or call ahead before a special occasion. For background on the dishes themselves, Georgia’s tourism board keeps a short primer on national cuisine, and the traditional qvevri wine-making method is recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, which explains why so many of these addresses pour wine made exactly this way.

How this guide works: prices, booking and tipping

Tipping is not obligatory but 10 percent is standard at mid-range and splurge places if a service charge has not already been added; round up at khinkali halls. Most restaurants take cards, though some of the smallest khinkali houses are cash-only in lari. For a structured introduction to the food rather than a restaurant crawl, our Cooking Class in Tbilisi and Bread, Cheese and Churchkhela food workshops cover the basics hands-on, and the Supra Evening with a tamada is the fastest way to understand the toasting culture that shapes how Georgians eat together.

Old Town and Abanotubani: classics, khinkali halls and a view

• Dzveli Sakhli, a long-running Old Town favourite for khinkali, khachapuri and grilled meat in a courtyard setting, mid-range, no booking needed on weekdays.
• Shemoikhede Genatsvale, a theatrical banquet-style hall with live music most nights, good for a first supra, mid-range, book for groups.
• Ezo, a quieter courtyard restaurant serving home-style Georgian plates, pkhali and lobio done well, budget to mid-range.
• Azarphesha, a wine-forward kitchen near Baratashvili Street pairing classic dishes with an unusually deep qvevri list, mid-range, book ahead.
• Vino Underground, a narrow natural-wine bar with light plates rather than full meals, the place to taste small producers by the glass, budget for snacks.
• 8000 Vintages, part wine shop and part bar, useful for comparing regions before buying a bottle to take home, budget to mid-range.
• Funicular Restaurant on Mtatsminda, a splurge dinner for the panorama over the city as much as the menu, book ahead and check the funicular’s own operating hours before you go.

Sololaki: new Georgian cuisine’s home ground

Sololaki’s quiet streets below Freedom Square hold most of the city’s reinterpretations of Georgian cooking, a movement international food writers have followed with interest over the past decade.

• Shavi Lomi, a garden-courtyard restaurant that helped define modern Georgian dining, seasonal plates built around supra staples, mid-range, book on weekends.
• Cafe Littera, set in the garden of the Writers’ House, a tasting-menu approach to regional Georgian recipes, splurge, book several days ahead in summer.
• Culinarium Khasheria, chef-led reworkings of classics including khinkali variations rarely seen elsewhere, mid-range to splurge, book ahead.
• Kera, a small, precise dining room doing tasting menus around Georgian ingredients, splurge, book well ahead, limited seating.
• Barbarestan, built around a 19th-century Georgian princess’s handwritten cookbook, dishes you will not find elsewhere in the city, mid-range to splurge, book ahead.

Vera: wine bars and unpretentious bistros

• g.Vino, a relaxed natural-wine bar popular with locals rather than tour groups, good cheese and charcuterie boards, budget to mid-range.
• Zakhar Zakharich, a Soviet-retro dining room with hearty portions of khinkali and mtsvadi, mid-range, popular for late dinners.
• Chashnagiri, straightforward home-style Georgian cooking in a neighbourhood setting, budget to mid-range, no booking required.
• The Stamba Hotel restaurant in a former Soviet printing house bridges Vera and Sololaki, a modern bistro menu good for brunch or a lighter dinner, mid-range.

Vake: uptown classics, khinkali chains and vegetarian plates

• Racha, specialising in the cured ham and khinkali of the Racha region, mid-range, reliable and well-regarded locally.
• Purpur, a modern Georgian and European menu in a residential Vake street, mid-range, book for dinner.
• Salobie Bia, built around lobio (bean stew) and other vegetable-forward dishes, one of the easiest places in the city for vegetarians, budget.
• Pasanauri, a khinkali chain named for the mountain town credited with the dish, consistent and affordable, budget, several branches across Tbilisi.
• Entrée, a casual bakery-bistro good for a light lunch between sightseeing stops, budget.

Marjanishvili: budget eats, food halls and the late kitchen

• Lolita, a retro courtyard bar-restaurant with a kitchen that runs late, popular with a younger crowd, mid-range, no booking for the bar side.
• Fabrika’s courtyard food stalls and bars, a cluster of budget options from bakeries to wine bars inside a former Soviet factory complex, useful when a group wants different things; our Street Art, Courtyards and Fabrika walk covers the site in daylight.
• Machakhela, a citywide chain for cheap, fast khachapuri and khinkali, open late, budget, no booking.
• Tsiskvili, a large banquet-style restaurant popular with tour groups and families, consistent traditional menu, mid-range, book ahead for groups of six or more.

What to order: a short menu decoder

For a guided tasting across several wine bars rather than guessing the list yourself, the Tbilisi Natural Wine Evening covers three venues and a dozen wines in one night, and the Tbilisi Market and Street-Food Walk is a cheaper, daytime way to try khachapuri and churchkhela at source before committing to a sit-down meal.

Practical summary

• Book ahead for Sololaki’s new-wave dining rooms and weekend dinners anywhere mid-range or above; khinkali halls almost never need a reservation.
• Carry some cash in lari, a few smaller places and most khinkali halls still prefer it.
• Expect roughly 15–30 GEL for a budget meal, 40–80 GEL mid-range, 100 GEL or more for a tasting menu; verify current prices on the day, they shift with inflation.
• Eat khinkali by hand, leave the thick top knot of dough on the plate, and do not cut it with a knife and fork in front of Georgian company.
• If a supra breaks out with a tamada (toastmaster) present, pace yourself, toasts come often and refusing a glass outright can seem odd, though saying you are driving or unwell is always accepted.
• Use the neighbourhood groupings above to plan an evening on foot, Old Town and Sololaki sit close enough to walk between for a wine-bar-then-dinner combination.

Sources

• Qvevri traditional wine-making, UNESCO intangible heritage
• Tbilisi travel and dining context
• New Georgian cuisine movement
• Georgia food feature
• Consumer price statistics, Georgia
• National wine agency