Best Date Night Restaurants in Tbilisi 2026
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The date-night pick in Tbilisi for 2026 is Keto and Kote. Editorial runners-up: Cafe Littera, Barbarestan, Shavi Lomi, Azarpesha.
Twenty-nine Tbilisi restaurants sit in our directory. Six earn a date. The list opens in a candlelit 19th-century townhouse in Vera and ends on a tenth-floor terrace under the Narikala fortress.
Six Tbilisi Tables for Date Night
Carved wooden balconies, painted deep green, low ceilings that hold candlelight. Keto and Kote takes its name from a 19th-century Georgian opera and fills a townhouse of the same era at 3 Mikheil Zandukeli Dead End in Vera. The khinkali are faultless; the wine cellar is deep. Around ₾80 to ₾130 a head. The romantic date in the city.
The shrimp kharcho is Tbilisi’s best plate. Tekuna Gachechiladze trained in New York and came home to cook the Georgian canon lighter, in the garden of the 1905 Sarajashvili mansion at 13 Ivane Machabeli Street, behind the Writers’ House. Old trees, strung lights, mussels chakapuli. Around ₾80 to ₾120 a head. The garden date.
The menu is drawn from an 1874 cookbook found in a flea-market box — 807 recipes by Barbare Jorjadze, Georgia’s first female cookbook author. Chef Levan Kobiashvili cooks them at Aghmashenebeli Avenue 132. On the World’s 50 Best Discovery list. Mains ₾28 to ₾48, near ₾90 to ₾130 a head with wine. Tbilisi’s most singular meal.
Mismatched wooden furniture, a candle on every surface, the whole of Tbilisi at home. Shavi Lomi — Black Lion — sits in a house at 30 Qvlividze Street in Vera and cooks Georgia’s larder with real seriousness at a neighbourhood-bistro price. Around ₾50 to ₾80 a head. The unfussy, low-light date.
A wall of silver wine ladles, two streets from Freedom Square. Luarsab Togonidze opened Azarpesha in 2013 with John Wurdeman of Pheasant’s Tears, the cellar that revived Georgia’s qvevri wine. Nettle pilaf and meatballs in sorrel sauce, mains ₾30 to ₾50, the natural-wine list the point. 2 Pavle Ingorokva Street. The small-room date.
The tenth-floor terrace looks across the Mtkvari to the old town and the Narikala fortress at sunset. ATI sits atop the Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace in Avlabari, opened under chef George Ninua and now led by Arthur Linkevich. Adjaruli khachapuri, lighter dolma, mains ₾35 to ₾70. Listed by Gault&Millau Georgia. The view date.
How to Book
Keto and Kote and Cafe Littera want one to two weeks for a weekend; both fill with couples. Barbarestan and Azarpesha take small rooms, so book a few days out. Shavi Lomi and ATI will usually seat two within a day or so, though ATI’s terrace rail goes first at sunset.
8pm. Ask Cafe Littera for a garden table under the lights and ATI for the terrace edge before the sun drops behind Narikala. Keto and Kote’s balcony tables are the ones to request.
Frequently Asked Questions
The editorial pick for 2026 is Keto and Kote, the candlelit 19th-century townhouse in Vera named for a Georgian opera, where the khinkali are faultless and the wine cellar is deep. For a garden date, Tekuna Gachechiladze’s Cafe Littera behind the Writers’ House and the bistro warmth of Shavi Lomi both suit couples well.
Keto and Kote is the most romantic table in Tbilisi: carved green balconies, low candlelit ceilings, and a townhouse setting that feels like a private world. Cafe Littera runs a close second, its tables set under old trees and strung lights in the garden of the 1905 Sarajashvili mansion, behind the Writers’ House of Georgia in Sololaki.
A date dinner in Tbilisi is excellent value. Keto and Kote and Cafe Littera land around ₾80 to ₾130 a head with wine, while Barbarestan runs ₾90 to ₾130 for its 19th-century menu. Shavi Lomi is near ₾50 to ₾80, Azarpesha’s mains are ₾30 to ₾50, and ATI’s sit at ₾35 to ₾70.
Book Keto and Kote and Cafe Littera one to two weeks ahead for a weekend, as both fill with couples and the best tables go first. Barbarestan and Azarpesha are small rooms worth a few days’ notice. Shavi Lomi and ATI will usually seat two within a day, though ATI’s sunset terrace rail is the exception.
Expect modern Georgian cooking. Cafe Littera lightens the canon with dishes like shrimp kharcho and mussels chakapuli; Barbarestan rebuilds an 1874 cookbook; Keto and Kote and Shavi Lomi cook khinkali, khachapuri and walnut-rich stews with care. Azarpesha pairs wild, foraged plates with natural qvevri wine, and ATI plates Georgian classics with a contemporary hand.