RFK Rankings · Zanzibar
Best Restaurants for Solo Dining in Zanzibar 2026
Solo dining · Stone Town, Zanzibar · 6 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 15, 2026 · Updated June 15, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Zanzibar reads as a honeymoon island — the beach resort, the candlelit two-top, the restaurant balanced on a rock in the sea — which is exactly why the solo traveller should stay in Stone Town. The walkable old medina is the opposite of the couples' coast: a maze of Swahili canteens, harbour bars, rooftop tea houses and a nightly street-food garden where eating alone is the most ordinary thing in the world. You order at a counter, you graze a market, you take a stool over the water and watch the dhows. These six Stone Town rooms, ranked for the table of one, give you a counter, a short order and a welcome that never asks where the other chair went.
1.6 Degrees South
Shangani's double-terrace grill and wine bar pours sundowners over the water until midnight — Stone Town's easiest solo seat. Walk in.
6 Degrees South runs a double-storey terrace on the Shangani waterfront at Plot 60, an Afro-Continental grill and wine bar that stays open from late morning until midnight, the longest hours in Stone Town. The kitchen turns out grilled octopus, mishkaki skewers and a seafood platter off the day's catch, and the upstairs bar and ocean-view terrace are made for a single diner watching the dhows come in at sunset. It is the rare Stone Town room with a proper bar to sit at, a full wine list and a kitchen that runs late, which makes it the easiest solo seat in town. Take a terrace bar stool at sundown. Plan on 15 to 30 dollars.
Walk in and take a terrace bar stool at sunset.
2.Lukmaan
Stone Town's famous Swahili canteen plates biryani and octopus curry for a few dollars — order at the counter, solo. Walk in.
Lukmaan has fed Stone Town from New Mkunazini Road, by the old baobab tree, for decades, the medina's most famous Swahili canteen and the one locals send you to. You order at the front counter — point at the day's biryani, octopus curry, grilled fish or pilau, pay up front, and carry your plate to a shared table — which makes it the most natural solo room on the island, because everyone eats this way. A full plate runs four to eight dollars, the portions are large, and a single diner never registers as unusual. Go at lunch when the steam trays are fullest. Plan on 4 to 10 dollars.
Order at the counter; go at lunch for the fullest trays.
3.Forodhani Gardens Night Market
The nightly seafront market grills skewers and Zanzibar pizza for a single grazer — the cheap, easy solo night. Walk in.
Every evening the Forodhani Gardens on the seafront, in front of the Old Fort, fill with charcoal grills and trestle tables, the island's most legendary communal dinner. The move is to graze: a Zanzibar pizza folded around minced beef and egg, mishkaki skewers, grilled lobster and prawns by weight, a bowl of urojo and a glass of pressed sugarcane juice. For a solo traveller it is the easiest meal in Stone Town, because you wander the stalls, point, and eat standing or on a sea wall among a hundred other people doing the same. Come hungry, carry small banknotes, and arrive at dusk as the grills light. Plan on 5 to 12 dollars.
Arrive at dusk with small cash; graze the grills stall to stall.
4.Livingstone Beach
The old British Consulate pours cocktails and seafood on the sand with live music — an easy solo beachfront seat. Walk in.
Livingstone occupies the old British Consulate on the Forodhani seafront, a stone building where the deck runs out under the trees onto the sand. The kitchen cooks Indian Ocean seafood — grilled catch, prawns, calamari — and the bar pours sundowner cocktails with the ocean a few metres away, with live music most nights after dark. For a solo diner it is the relaxed beachfront seat: take a stool at the bar or a low table on the sand, order a plate and a cold drink, and let the music and the surf carry the evening. The happy hour at sunset is the value window. Plan on 15 to 30 dollars.
Take a bar stool on the sand; aim for the sunset happy hour.
5.Emerson on Hurumzi
Zanzibar's highest rooftop serves a set Swahili dinner over live taarab — book the communal solo splurge. Reserve ahead.
Emerson on Hurumzi sets its Tea House restaurant on the roof of a restored 19th-century merchant's house, the highest dining room in Stone Town with a 360-degree view over the medina to the sea. Dinner is a set three-course menu of Swahili cooking fused with Persian and Omani spice, served at 19:00 to a single seating, with a live taarab ensemble playing through the meal. It costs about 45 dollars a head before drinks and is reservation-only with a deposit. For a solo traveller it is the splurge experience: you sit on cushions at shared low tables, so a party of one is folded into the room rather than stranded. Book a few days ahead and arrive at 18:00 for the sunset. About 45 dollars.
Reserve a few days ahead; arrive at 18:00 for the sunset.
6.Zanzibar Coffee House
An 1885 merchant's house pours estate Arabica and light lunches over the medina — the daytime solo perch. Walk in.
The Zanzibar Coffee House occupies a house built in 1885 by Tharia Topan, a merchant and adviser to the Sultan, on Mkunazini Road opposite the market. It roasts and pours Utengule estate Arabica from the Tanzanian southern highlands — spiced coffee, a vanilla latte — alongside cakes, fresh juices and light breakfasts and lunches, with a rooftop terrace over the medina rooftops. It is the daytime solo seat: a single traveller can sit for an hour with a coffee and a book at the ground-floor café or climb to the roof for the view, with reliable wifi and no pressure to order a full meal. Come mid-morning before the heat. Plan on 5 to 12 dollars.
Come mid-morning; take a coffee to the rooftop terrace.
Avoid for solo dining
Wonderful rooms, wrong for one
The Rock. The Rock perches on a lump of coral in the sea off Michamvi Pingwe on the far south-east coast, Africa's most photographed restaurant and a couples' bucket-list booking. It is an hour from Stone Town, requires a reservation and a non-refundable deposit, and the whole experience is built around the two-top on the rock at high tide. A solo diner pays the premium for the photo, not the food. Keep it for the trip with company, not your night alone.
Upendo Beach. Upendo is a stylish Michamvi beach club whose restaurant, The View, runs a globe-spanning fusion menu for sunset crowds and Sunday brunch groups. It is a destination for couples and parties out on the peninsula, far from the walkable medina, with no counter or bar built for one. A single diner is welcome but adrift among the loungers. Save it for a group day at the beach.
Reservation strategy for solo dining in Zanzibar
Stone Town rewards the diner who walks in, because almost everything that matters for one is on foot inside the medina. Lukmaan, the Forodhani night market and the Zanzibar Coffee House take no booking at all — you order at a counter or a stall and sit. The waterfront bars at 6 Degrees South and Livingstone seat a single diner off the street, especially before the sunset crowd lands. The one booking that matters is Emerson on Hurumzi, a single rooftop seating that is reservation-only with a deposit, so reserve it a few days ahead. The east-coast destinations — The Rock, the beach clubs — need a taxi and an advance booking, which is the opposite of an easy solo night.
Solo timing here runs on the heat and the light. Daytime is for the cafes and the canteens, when Lukmaan's trays are full and the Coffee House rooftop is cool; dusk is for the Forodhani grills and a sundowner bar. Carry small banknotes and some US dollars, because many local rooms are cash-first, and keep an eye on the call to prayer and Ramadan hours, when some kitchens shift. At a Stone Town counter or a harbour bar, a single traveller is never the odd one out — the medina has always fed people one plate at a time.
Frequently asked
Where can a solo traveller eat alone in Stone Town, Zanzibar?
The canteens, harbour bars and rooftops of Stone Town are the answer. Lukmaan is a counter-service Swahili canteen, the Forodhani night market is a graze-as-you-go street-food garden, and 6 Degrees South and Livingstone both run waterfront bars. Zanzibar Coffee House is the daytime perch, and Emerson on Hurumzi runs a communal rooftop dinner. Order at a counter or take a bar seat and a single diner fits right in.
Is solo dining common in Zanzibar?
On the beach resorts, no; in Stone Town, yes. Zanzibar's coast is honeymoon territory of couples and set dinners, but the walkable Stone Town medina is full of canteens, cafes, street-food and harbour bars where eating alone is normal. 6 Degrees South, Lukmaan, the Forodhani market, Livingstone, Emerson on Hurumzi and the Zanzibar Coffee House all take a single diner comfortably. Stay in town and you are never stuck.
How much does a solo dinner cost in Zanzibar?
Anywhere from a few dollars to about 45. A plate at Lukmaan or a graze at the Forodhani night market runs 4 to 12 dollars, and a coffee and a cake at the Zanzibar Coffee House is similar. Seafood and cocktails at 6 Degrees South or Livingstone land at 15 to 30. The splurge is the set rooftop dinner at Emerson on Hurumzi, about 45 dollars before drinks.
Do Zanzibar restaurants take walk-ins for one?
Most of Stone Town does. Lukmaan, the Forodhani night market, the Zanzibar Coffee House and the bars at 6 Degrees South and Livingstone all take a single diner off the street. The exception is Emerson on Hurumzi, a single rooftop seating that is reservation-only with a deposit. The east-coast destinations like The Rock need booking days ahead and a taxi, so for an easy solo night, stay in town.
What is the best restaurant for solo dining in Zanzibar?
6 Degrees South on the Shangani waterfront is the pick. Its double-storey terrace is a grill and wine bar that stays open until midnight, the longest hours in Stone Town, with grilled octopus and a proper bar to sit at over the water. A single diner can take a terrace stool at sunset without a reservation. For the cheapest solo meal instead, order at the counter at Lukmaan.
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