My Top 5 Best Restaurants in Armenia

On all my travels, I never really thought much about where I’ll eat for lunch or dinner, restaurant recommendations, etc.

Most of the time, we (me and my travel buddy/ies) would just enter the nearest restaurant, wherever we are, or quickly google the nearest restaurant, check reviews and just go.

Tea break at Areni Wine Factory

Fresh Cherries Juice

It was my first time to travel with a tour guide when we went to Armenia. On our first day, he recommended this restaurant where we can have our lunch. It’s about 10 minutes’ drive from Sevan Lake. The restaurant is called Collette Restaurant.

Situated just beside Sevan Lake, the location offers amazing view of the lake with jays flying around and chilling on the lake or hunting for food. With a spectacular location, you can expect delicious food! We absolutely loved the fried potatoes and the pork barbecue. Well, we truly enjoyed everything they served on our table as a matter of fact (but of course, one will always have his/her favorite, right?) Our guide has recommended for us to try their Fresh Cherry juice, and, OMG, it’s just so refreshing! The best juice I’ve ever had. It’s been almost 2 years since I stopped drinking fruit juice.. I would rather eat the fruit and just drink water. But this, it’s a must try when in Armenia!

We couldn’t wait for the other food we ordered to arrive. we were so hungry but before anything else, we just had to take a quick SNAP! at Collette Restaurant

Now, came our bill. For all that food trip, for all 4 of us (including our guide), we paid AMD 11,000.00 (USD 22.68). When I saw the bill, I was like, let’s order more! But, we were already full… and we needed to continue to our next location.

We were so pleased with our lunch so we asked our guide to recommend a good place to have dinner somewhere near our hotel. And so it seems, that our hotel is practically at the center of the city where the best restaurants are! Most of the best restaurants in the city require a reservation ahead, so our guide made the call and reserved us a table at this restaurant called Tavern Yerevan.

at Tavern Yerevan… Khinkhali and Pumpkin Soup

Just around 3 minutes walk from our hotel, Tavern Yerevan always shows up on top searches in Google.

Grilled Pork, Vine Leaves with minced beef and rice, and Mushroom and Potato at Tavern Yerevan

The restaurant’s interior shows an elegant setting, once you enter, to your left is the music hall and to the right is this dainty-looking dining area. I think you can also enjoy dining at the music hall but I believe there’s an extra fee if you use the music hall as there’s usually live band playing… Anyway, we were ushered to the dining hall where the music from the music hall can still be heard, but not loud enough for you to still enjoy your meals and still carry discussion with your friends.

Tavern Restaurant offers an interesting mix on their menu. I noticed some familiar Mediterranean dishes on the menu and decided to try it as well. Each country has its own way of presenting one dish and I wanted to try the Armenian’s way.

We absolutely enjoyed our sumptuous dinner!

Now, for the bill…We paid a total of AED 16,700 (usd 34).  Not bad for a luxurious and fulfilling dinner complete with wine, for the three of us!

On our second day, our guide took us to a food court in Vayk for lunch. It’s just along the way to our location, and he shared that this place offers a variety of food choices, good quality food, and very affordable price.

at Vayk Foodcourt

The foodcourt has the cafeteria feel (remember high school). You just choose which dish you want and you will only pay according to each food/dish’ weight. So, you can choose as much dish as you want and ask the server to place just a small amount if you just really want to try it or if you’re not sure if you will like it or not.

My order cost me AMD 3900 (USD 8.00)

Vayk

I almost forgot to ask for recommendation to a restaurant for dinner! We had a long day and dinner reservation almost slipped my mind! I still tried to ask our guide for another recommendation, he mentioned a restaurant called Sherep. He tried to call to get us a reservation but they’re already full. He recommended another restaurant which also showed on my Google search, and lucky for us we were able to book a table!

It’s called Lavash Restaurant, about 12-15 minutes’ walk from our hotel. After a long day of sight seeing, we were famished. We ordered food like it’s for 5 people! Yes, again, we were very pleased with the food and we enjoyed the whole experience. The ambiance, crowd, friendly staff. Our bill AMD 16000 (USD 33.00)

Meat Sampler at Lavash Restaurant

Our first round led to another
at Lavash Restaurant

Last day in Yerevan, Armenia and we had half of the day to go around the city before heading back to the airport to catch our flight and go back to face reality. For lunch, we wanted to make it extra special. We tried our luck at Sherep Restaurant after the 2 hour “shopping spree” in Vernissage market. We didn’t buy a lot of stuff from Vernissage mainly because we already maximized our luggage allowance after the other day’s wine shopping at Areni Winery. So we only bought a couple of small souvenirs.

Sherep restaurant is just next to Tavern which is about 3 minutes’ walk from our hotel. We entered the restaurant and were greeted by 3 friendly staffs with their manager. I explained that it’s our last day in Armenia and we will be flying in the afternoon. That, we tried to book the other night but they were full and we really wanted to try there and we were hoping that they can give us a table.

Oh, yes, we did it! We got a table! The manager and the whole crew were so friendly. Our attendant, who’s struggling to talk to us in English was very nice and accommodating. Beautiful interiors and cozy setting.

at Sherep Restaurant

The restaurant also offers great choices on the menu. Prices looked just as affordable as the other restaurants we tried earlier.

After our meal, we ordered coffee and another attendant came to us and she recommended for us to try dessert. She showed us a picture of this striking, very pretty-looking desert!

tadah! this is it!

We just had to try it!

Oh. My. God! YOU MUST TRY IT. YOU MUST NEVER MISS IT.

You will definitely love me after trying it!

Anyway, here comes our bill! We paid total of AMD 15,000.00 (USD 31.00). Now, that’s not so bad right? 😀

I think there’s a lot more to do and discover in Armenia. And i’m so looking forward to come back and visit these restaurants again!

Bon Appetite!

Wine shopping at Areni Winery