Baku - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
Local food and Georgian delivery is best. People claim some Indian and Sushi is okay but truthfully meh. Fast food e.g. burgers, wings, and fries type places decent. Bolt is an easy app for delivery. - Sep 2023
There is a huge selection of local cuisine restaurants. Other cuisines are more sparse and the quality is hit or miss. We've found a really tasty Indian food place, but the service is shoddy. There's a decent Mexican food place, but again, service is slow. The Hard Rock closed recently, but TGI Fridays is hanging on. Even some of the more popular places for expats can't seem to survive here. - Aug 2023
Lots of options; easy to find decent food. Just don't expect Michelin star or trendy DC brunch places. - Jun 2023
A pretty good variety. We even had a Mexican place for a while until it shut down. No Ethiopian or Korean unfortunately. Lots of great fancy Turkish and Russian places. And you can get good Georgian food here, which if you haven't had it is superb. There is even a Hard Rock Cafe, which my kids love after a sweaty day wandering around the old city. Azerbaijani food is also great and when you travel outside of Baku the kebabs and salads are so fresh and delicious. Breakfasts here are also really great. We haven't done much takeout or food delivery, but the options are many. - Jun 2021
There are quite a few varieties of restaurants available. Azerbaijani food tends to feature lots of meat grilled on a stick. There are several good Indian restaurants, a Thai place, a few Japanese places, Italian, and more. nuush.az will deliver food to your home from several different restaurants (think Grub Hub). - Jan 2019
There are many restaurants especially in the downtown area. Most restaurants are decently priced. I haven’t found many that are amazing, but the food scene seems to be growing. Lots of Azerbaijani restaurants, East European restaurants (Mari Vanna is our favorite among them), Turkish/Middle Eastern, and a few Asian ones that are mediocre. There is a Hard Rock Cafe and more and more decent burger places are popping up. Vapiano, which is an international casual Italian chain is pretty good and cheap, too.
Hotels like the Four Seasons, Hilton and Marriott offer great breakfast buffets for good prices. There are not too many food delivery services, but Papa John’s and other pizza places seem to be the most popular ones. - Jul 2018
There is a decent variety of restaurants for expats to choose from, mostly in the Fountain Square, Old City, and Port Baku areas. Georgian restaurants are a particular favorite among expats. Pizza delivery is common. We experimented with some other delivery options, but communication barriers when ordering, long delivery times, and uncertainty if the driver would find the apartment led us to discontinue that. Takeaway is not very common, although you can find shwarma or doner in many neighborhoods, and Cafe City offers takeaway at their various locations. Going out to eat is a regular adult social activity. - May 2018
If you live close to town, which we don't, you can have almost anything delivered to you, from pizza to sushi. We can have our cafe deliver food to us and a couple pizza places deliver out here. There are a lot of decent restaurants, but I don't really enjoy the local cuisine. - Mar 2017
McDonald's, the worlds largest KFC, and a lot of kebab! - Jul 2015
There are an increasing number of fast food restaurants. Cinnabon, Papa Johns, Schlotzky's, McDonalds, and a few others. The prices are some more than in the US. There are lots of Georgian restaurants, some decent Asian ones, a good Italian, and Azeri restaurants. The cost (without alcohol) is slightly less than the cost at a mid-range US restaurant. - Jan 2013
Only two McDonald's I'm aware of. KFC. They are in the process of bringing few other fast food places downtown during the Eurovision. Don't recommend any! Don't know the prices off hand. - Dec 2011
McDonald's, Fake KFC, Baskin Robbins are here and are expensive. There is a food court at the mall with a number of Russian and Turkish fast food chains. There are good restaurants here, too, but they tend to be expensive. There are two decent Chinese restaurants and an Italian restaurant which are reasonable and not far from the chancery. - Sep 2010
McDonald's and Mary Brown (a KFC wannabe). Cost is higher, and the "fast" concept is not followed. - Aug 2010
McDonald's, and we actually just discovered Mary Brown's (similar to KFC). There are also good oriental and Thai restaurants here. - Oct 2009
McDonald's is the only fast food and it's ok quality. there are a couple of decent English/European restaurants. Forget about eating red meat here. It is GROSS. The only main source of meat is chicken or sheep. - Nov 2008
There are many good restaurants in Baku. McDonald's is the only Western type fast food. You will find plenty of good food - Georgian, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Russian, Lebanese, Pizza, even Mexican. - Sep 2008
McDonald's and some Turkish fast food restaurants are here. Indian, Thai (although the two that used to be there closed down right before I left, Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, Turkish and kebab. - Sep 2008
