The Best Restaurants in Liepāja – Ranked and Reviewed

You’ve got two, maybe three meals in Liepāja before you move on, and every “best restaurants in Liepāja” list you’ve found so far is the same twenty names in a different order — pulled from TripAdvisor, translated once, opinion-free.

That’s fine if you just want to confirm a restaurant exists. It’s no help at all when you’re trying to decide which two or three meals actually matter.

The harder problem: this is a small city. Get it wrong, and there isn’t a backup street of restaurants to wander into instead. One bad booking is a bigger loss here than in Riga. If you’re wanting something different, say Caucasian, you’ve got one option. If you’re after sushi or pizza, you’ll find a place on almost every corner.

This is a ranked list from someone who lives here and eats here regularly — not a scrape. Most entries are personally verified, with the honest opinion attached. A couple of fine-dining picks are reputation-led rather than personal visits, and that’s flagged plainly rather than dressed up as something it isn’t.

For the complete guide to cafes, bars, and other eating establishments, see my article on where to eat in Liepāja which can help you decide on where to go based on your taste, schedule, and budget.

What this ranking actually is

This is a ranked list of 21 restaurants in Liepāja, Latvia — a Baltic coastal city of around 85,000 people, roughly three hours from Riga. Most entries are ranked from direct, repeated experience. A small number are ranked on reputation and Michelin Guide recognition, clearly marked, because being honest about what you haven’t tried yet is worth more than pretending otherwise.

The ranking runs from fine dining to budget, plus a separate seasonal section for beach bars, because comparing a €40 tasting menu against a €6 lunch plate on the same scale doesn’t tell you anything useful. (Source: Liepāja Restaurant Week official page.)

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Fine dining, ranked

1. MO Liepāja — Michelin Guide-featured

MO Liepāja, on Friča Brīvzemnieka iela 7 in Julianna’s Courtyard, is the restaurant most guides lead with. It features on the Michelin Guide, though not as a starred restaurant; nobody in Liepāja is chasing a Michelin star. The menu runs to tartares, carpaccios, a venison burger, Irish lamb, and Burrata cheese ravioli.

Ranking it first is a reputation call, built on the Michelin Guide feature and consistent independent reviews, not a visit. That’s the honest version. This entry will be rewritten from direct experience once that visit happens — worth checking back if you’re timing a trip around it.

2. Restaurant Olive — the safest fine-dining choice for groups

Restaurant Olive, at Klaipēdas iela 104C, runs the widest menu of any top-range dining restaurant in Liepāja — sushi, burgers, seafood, pasta, and pizza, all held to a consistent standard. It’s the most-reviewed fine-dining restaurant in the city, with over 1,600 Google reviews, which makes it the safer bet for a group that can’t agree on a cuisine.

The room itself is comfortable rather than showy — sofa-style seating you can sink into, and large windows that let in plenty of light without much of a view to go with it. It sits close to the southern end of Liepāja beach and a short detour outside the main centre. Definately worth catching the tram to the shopping centre “Baata”.

3. Piano, Promenade Hotel — go back for coffee in the annex

Piano sits inside the Promenade Hotel on Vecā ostmala, overlooking Liepāja’s harbour, and the menu changes with the season using Latvian ingredients throughout. It’s more formal than MO without losing the enjoyment — and despite what older write-ups claim, it doesn’t get crowded.

The harbour-view seats people rave about aren’t in the main dining room — they’re in the restaurant’s annex. That’s worth knowing before you book, because asking for “a window seat” in the wrong room misses the point entirely.

A genuine local habit: come back another day just for coffee in that same annex after eating in the main restaurant. It works as well for a slow afternoon as it does for dinner.

4. Chef Nauris Hauka, Kolumbs Hotel — not yet personally verified

Chef Nauris Hauka runs the kitchen at the Kolumbs Hotel, and describes his own cooking as “natural, direct, honest” — a fair summary of what reaches the plate. The kitchen is open to view, the chef is usually present, and the menu follows whatever’s available rather than what’s convenient. It’s a fixture of both Restaurant Weeks, and its event menus are consistently among the most talked-about in the city.

Again, I’ve not been there, so this one is ranked on reputation and the strength of what other diners consistently report.

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Mid-range restaurants in Liepāja, ranked

The mid-range tier is where most locals actually eat, and where a couple of these entries deserve more attention than the guides usually give them.

5. Restaurant Vecais Taizel’s — the best beer in Liepāja, brewed on site

Vecais Taizel’s serves burgers and steaks done properly, in central Liepāja — but the reason it belongs this high on the list isn’t the food – it’s the beer. Vecais Taizel’s brews on site, and has the best range of beer anywhere in the city. It’s one the few establishments in Liepāja that has a full kitchen with its own brewery.

The restaurant’s atmosphere is genuinely good — the kind of place that works whether you’re there for dinner or just to work through the beer list. Portions are generous. It’s a participating restaurant during both editions of Restaurant Week, so if you’re timing a visit around that, book here.

Is Vecais Taizel’s worth visiting for the beer alone? Yes — it’s the only restaurant in Liepāja brewing its own beer on site, and the range on offer is the widest in the city, well ahead of anywhere else serving food alongside it.

6. Hot Potato — the most-reviewed restaurant in the city

Hot Potato, on Lielā iela near the canal, is the most-reviewed restaurant in Liepāja, with over 2,500 Google reviews. The menu is Latvian-inspired — potato dishes, chicken tabaka, pork medallions, seafood, pasta — served in a rustic basement setting. Interestingly, the lava cake turns up in reviews far more often than you’d expect from a side mention on the menu.

It’s a genuinely solid choice, not just a popular one. “Always busy” oversells it, though — the queue only really builds in July and August, when tourist numbers peak. Outside that window, walk-ins are usually fine, even for dinner.

7. Bel Cibo Pizza Napoletana — the first authentic Neapolitan pizza in Latvia

Bel Cibo was the first restaurant in Latvia to serve authentic Neapolitan pizza — properly wood-fired, correct dough, ingredients sourced from Italy rather than approximated locally. The pizza itself is perfect, and the atmosphere carries real authenticity to match it.

The one place to manage expectations: the wine and beer list is limited and priced well above what the food quality would suggest. Order the pizza, keep your drinks order simple, and you’ll leave happy either way.

8. Spiķeris — the seafood specialist, on local word-of-mouth

Spiķeris occupies a former grain warehouse on the canal at Vecā ostmala 53 — one of the more atmospheric dining rooms in the city, warehouse beams and all. It’s the most focused option in Liepāja for Liepājas menciņi and fresh Baltic fish, less formal than Piano but more reliable specifically on seafood.

This one comes with a caveat: it’s not a personal visit. Locals in Liepāja rate it highly for seafood, and that word-of-mouth is the basis for its place on this list. Like Taizels, it has a onsite brewery and serves is famous Puta beer.

9. Pavillon de Roze — a genuinely different menu, with one caveat

Pavillon de Roze, on Uliha iela, serves a Caucasian menu drawing on both Azerbaijani and Georgian cooking — by the restaurant’s own description, not a guess. Khinkali, qutabi, kufta-bozbash soup, and eggplant rolls make it a genuine change of pace in a city otherwise dominated by Latvian and European kitchens.

Worth the honest caveat: the lamb dishes, ordered twice, came out dry both times. Everything else on the menu has been good, and it’s still worth choosing specifically for something different — just steer toward another dish if lamb is what you’re after.

10. OXO Brasserie — a solid find, not yet personally tried

OXO Brasserie, at Palmu iela 5, serves European and Central European food and holds a strong 4.6 out of 5 across 13 TripAdvisor reviews. Reviewers consistently praise the food quality, friendly staff, and cozy atmosphere — several call it a hidden gem — with burgers and pork chops singled out most often.

This is a third-party-sourced entry, not a personal visit, and the reviews aren’t uniformly glowing: a few diners found the more experimental dishes under-seasoned, vegetarian options are thin, and the terrace has had a bug problem in season. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Worth trying, with reasonable expectations set going in.

11. Upe Restaurant, Līva Hotel — reliable, not a destination

Upe, inside the Līva Hotel on Lielā iela, is Liepāja’s standard spot for Liepājas menciņi — around €15 for the smoked cod, potatoes, onion, and cream that defines the city’s food identity. The menu otherwise reads as a fairly standard hotel restaurant, and the atmosphere leans a bit too hotel-ish to recommend for its own sake.

It’s reliable rather than exciting — a sound choice if you’re staying at the Līva, and worth knowing about for the menciņi specifically, but not worth crossing the city for.

12. Darbnīca — a short menu and genuinely good pastries

Darbnīca, in central Liepāja, runs two things well under one roof: a short menu of Asian dishes and burgers, and a cafe side that’s built a real following for its pastries — its apricot croissants get singled out repeatedly in reviews (4.4 out of 5 across 129 TripAdvisor reviews). The atmosphere is relaxed and informal, and the staff are consistently friendly.

Worth knowing as a flexible option — a proper meal when the busier mid-range places are full, or a coffee-and-pastry stop on its own.

13. Pastnieka Māja — the one to approach with caution

Pastnieka Māja runs a broad menu — meat, seafood, burgers — and is one of the few restaurants in Liepāja that explicitly flags vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, which genuinely matters if you’re travelling with dietary restrictions.

That’s the good news. The food itself has been inconsistent on repeat visits: duck arrived overdone, the bill has been wrong more than once, and the dining room runs cold in winter. It stays on this list for the dietary flagging, ranked accordingly low, with the same direct opinion applied here as everywhere else on this page — a place worth knowing about, not one worth recommending without reservations.

14. Fontaine Delisnack — quick, wide-ranging, not the highest quality

Fontaine Delisnack sits right beside the canal, beside the Promenade Hotel. It’s the same owner as Mermaid on the beach, running a menu wide enough to cover burgers, pizzas, Asian dishes, and Tex-Mex under one roof. Outside seating in summer is genuinely nice, canal view included.

None of it is the best version of any of those cuisines, and it doesn’t try to be. What it’s actually good for is a quick meal and a beer without much planning — the waterside location does the rest of the work.

15. Oskars, Amrita Hotel — for Amrita guests

Oskars is a standard hotel restaurant inside the Amrita Hotel — fine for guests staying there, not a standalone reason to visit otherwise.

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Budget restaurants in Liepāja, ranked

16. Street Burgers — better than the price suggests

Street Burgers delivers genuinely gourmet burgers at a budget price point — better food than what you’d expect to pay for, in a city where that combination isn’t guaranteed.

17. Doka Pica — a local institution, not a pizzeria

Doka Pica is, confusingly, not a pizzeria — despite the name, it serves traditional Latvian food, and large portions of it, for €5–8 a head. It’s famous locally for the length of its lunchtime queue. I’d give it one star as it’s a bit of a “greasy-spoon diner.” But locals will give stars for the prices and portion sizes. Worth experiencing once as a local institution rather than as a destination in itself.

18. Čili Pica — the reliable chain option

Čili Pica, Latvia’s national pizza chain, has multiple locations in Liepāja. Not a destination, but dependable when you need something fast and familiar, and open when smaller independents aren’t.

19. Klondaika Tex-Mex — exactly what you’d expect

Klondaika serves Tex-Mex, and delivers exactly what that description promises — no surprises, not a priority stop, fine if the craving hits.

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Liepāja Restaurant Week

Liepāja Restaurant Week runs twice a year — spring (April, roughly 10 days) and autumn — with 17 or more restaurants offering exclusive three-course-plus menus for under €35, created specifically for the event rather than pulled from the regular menu. The spring 2026 edition ran from 10 to 19 April with 17 participating restaurants, including MO Liepāja, Piano, Chef Nauris Hauka, Spiķeris, Vecais Taizel’s, Upe, Pastnieka Māja, and Red Sun Buffet.

The event draws food tourists from Riga — a three-hour drive each way, just for dinner. That’s a reasonable proxy for how seriously the city’s kitchens treat it. If you’re flexible on dates, timing a trip around Restaurant Week is the single best way to access the top of this list at a predictable, lower price.

This article on things to do in Liepāja can help you plan a complete vacation based around Restaurant Week or any other time of year you decide to visit.

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Beach Restaurants in Liepāja (summer only)

Bars on Liepāja beach run roughly from May June to September or maybe early October and close for the season once the weather turns. They don’t follow fixed dates, so check before planning a specific evening around one.

Mermaid — my personal favourite

Mermaid, on the beachfront, is the one entry on this entire list that’s an outright personal favourite rather than a considered recommendation.

The menu is excellent, the drinks are excellent, and the terrace in summer is the best seat on this stretch of coast. It’s less documented online than Red Sun Buffet, which undersells it badly — this is the beach bar worth prioritising, not a footnote.

Red Sun Buffet — the largest and most established

Red Sun Buffet, at Peldu iela 59A, is the biggest beach dining operation in Liepāja — four distinct seating areas, from ground-level covered seats to sand-level tables, an international menu of burgers and grilled meats, DJ nights, and country music through summer. Over 1,200 Google reviews back it up as the most popular option on the beach.

The upper sun deck is the one worth asking for. One evening there stands out — a Labietis beer, a live country band playing to nobody in particular, and the sun dropping below the horizon. Nothing about it was arranged. That’s usually how the good evenings there go.

7. Līnija (7th Line) — the reliable overflow

Līnija sits beachfront next to Red Sun, more casual and with around 770 reviews — a solid option when Red Sun is at capacity, which it often is in peak season. The highlight of 7. Līnija is the number of dining places they have on the beach.

Cukurfabrika — drinks first, food second

Cukurfabrika, near the beach, leans drinks-focused rather than food-led — good cocktails, reasonable beer prices, house music. Better treated as an evening drinking spot than a restaurant.

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Who this ranking is for

This ranking suits visitors who want an honest opinion over a translated directory listing, and who are planning no more than a handful of meals in a city where getting one wrong actually costs you. It’s built for people who’d rather know upfront that a recommendation is secondhand than have that fact hidden behind confident prose.

Best for: Food tourists, couples planning a special-occasion dinner, anyone timing a visit around Restaurant Week, and groups who need one restaurant everyone can agree on (Olive). Not ideal if: you need every single entry backed by a personal visit — two of the four fine-dining picks here are reputation-led, clearly marked, pending an update once they’ve been tried firsthand.

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What to know before you book

Two entries on this list — MO Liepāja and Chef Nauris Hauka — are ranked on reputation and the Michelin Guide feature, not a personal visit. Both will be updated with firsthand detail once that happens. Treat them as strong, well-evidenced recommendations rather than tested ones.

Kitchen hours run earlier than you might expect from Western Europe: dinner service typically starts 17:00–18:00, with kitchens closing 21:00–22:00. Book ahead for MO Liepāja and Piano in July and August, and for anywhere participating in Restaurant Week — several fill a week or more in advance.

Vegetarian options are thin across most of this list; vegan is difficult outside composed salads. Pastnieka Māja is the exception on paper — it explicitly flags vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options — but weigh that against the food-quality caveats above before booking on that basis alone.

Frequently asked questions

Is MO Liepāja worth it?

MO Liepāja, in Julianna’s Courtyard, features on the Michelin Guide — not as a starred restaurant, since no restaurant in Liepāja currently holds a Michelin star, but as a recognised listing. The menu covers tartares, carpaccios, a venison burger, and Burrata ravioli. This recommendation is reputation-led rather than a personal visit, clearly flagged as such, pending a firsthand update.

What is Restaurant Olive in Liepāja known for?

Restaurant Olive, at Klaipēdas iela 104C, is Liepāja’s most-reviewed fine-dining restaurant, with over 1,600 Google reviews, known for a wide menu spanning sushi, burgers, seafood, pasta, and pizza. The atmosphere is comfortable rather than formal, with sofa-style seating, making it the safest choice for groups with mixed tastes.

Does Piano at the Promenade Hotel have a harbour view?

Yes, but not from the main dining room — Piano’s harbour-view seating is in the restaurant’s annex, overlooking Liepāja’s harbour on Vecā ostmala. The annex is also worth visiting on its own, just for coffee, after eating in the main restaurant. Piano does not get crowded despite its popularity.

What is Hot Potato in Liepāja known for?

Hot Potato, on Lielā iela, is Liepāja’s most-reviewed restaurant overall, with over 2,500 Google reviews, known for Latvian-inspired dishes — potato dishes, chicken tabaka, pork medallions — served in a rustic basement setting, and a lava cake that comes up repeatedly in reviews. It’s genuinely busy only in July and August.

Does Vecais Taizel’s brew its own beer?

Yes — Vecais Taizel’s brews beer on site and has the best range of beer anywhere in Liepāja, alongside a full menu of burgers and steaks. It’s the only restaurant in the city combining a kitchen with its own on-site brewery, and it participates in both editions of Liepāja Restaurant Week.

Does Liepāja have a Michelin-starred restaurant?

No — no restaurant in Liepāja currently holds a Michelin star. MO Liepāja features on the Michelin Guide as a recognised listing, which is a different distinction from a star. There’s no Michelin-star ambition in the city’s dining scene at present, though the overall quality regularly surprises visitors expecting less from a city of 85,000 people.

Which Liepāja restaurant should I avoid?

Pastnieka Māja is the one entry on this list to approach with caution — despite explicitly flagging vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, repeat visits have produced overdone duck, billing mistakes, and a cold dining room in winter. It stays on this list for the dietary flagging alone, ranked low, with the food-quality issues stated plainly rather than softened.