Shopping at Ikea is a whole-day affair, and, luckily, the Swedish furniture chain has a restaurant on site to fuel your adventure.
The Best Food at the Ikea Restaurant, Ranked
Published on May 30, 2025
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Pizza
Just like Costco, Ikea has a small snack bar right next to the exit with cheap grab-and-go foods. You can enjoy them while trying to figure out how to fit an apartment’s worth of flat-pack furniture into the back of a Honda Civic. Unlike Costco, Ikea’s pizza is not very good, even by cheap pizza standards. You’re better off baking your own homemade pizza to eat on the floor while you stare at the scattered parts of your new kitchen table.
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Plant Balls
These vegan alternatives to Ikea’s signature Swedish meatballs are surprisingly meat-like. Made of pea protein, oats, apple juice (seriously!) and other extra-special secret vegan ingredients, they’re deeply savory, with a bouncy, accurate meatball texture. But despite the fact that I would gladly devour a platter of these if they were served to me at a shindig, I probably wouldn’t order Ikea’s plant balls again—because I prefer the classic version.
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Hot Dog
The star of the snack bar, Ikea’s hot dog is very respectable. However, based on its in-store location, I can’t help but compare it to the Costco hot dog, which is so iconic it’s ruined all other exit-adjacent snack-bar hot dogs for me. If you can muster the strength to think about something other than Costco while eating one, you’ll probably enjoy them quite a lot! Sadly, I am not capable of this, thus diminishing my abilities as a professional hot dog critic. I’m sorry, America.
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Macaroni and Cheese
Ikea’s mac and cheese is slowly baked rather than cooked on the stovetop, giving it a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs quality that’s intensely comforting. It’s meant for the kids menu, but that shouldn’t stop you from ordering a kids plate as a side dish for your adult self.
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Chicken Tenders
Chicken tenders are essentially required at any establishment that serves children, and as a mother myself, I can testify that the Ikea cafeteria is pretty much the most family-friendly dining spot you can drag your kids to. But don’t let the fact that they’re meant “for kids” dissuade you from ordering a big plate of them for yourself! These are top-tier chicken fingers, with an ultra-crispy breadcrumb coating that doesn’t flake off or fall apart.
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Salmon Filet
Even though the Ikea cafeteria menu has plenty of stellar American-style options, when I’m there, I like to take advantage of its Swedish roots. Despite the fact that the salmon is one of the pricier items on the menu ($11.99), it’s still a steal that you won’t find anywhere else—one that’s cooked beautifully to boot. It’s so soft and buttery that it doesn’t need a drop of sauce to shine. In fact, I’d recommend ordering it with sauce on the side, so you can dig into the fish first before deciding to jazz it up or not. (And if you don’t like the sauce options at the counter, there’s always the honey mustard at the condiments bar.)
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Shrimp Salad
Ikea’s shrimp salad is simple, dressed with a touch of mayo, a squirt of lemon and a reasonable amount of dill that doesn’t overpower the dish. It’s a mild entree that’s perfect for a light lunch or an afternoon snack. For a full meal, get the shrimp salad sandwich, which is served on a flaky, buttery croissant. Otherwise, grab a small plate as an appetizer. Just because it’s a cafeteria doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to a (kinda) glamorous, multi-course meal!
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Marinated Salmon
You’ll find Ikea’s marinated salmon offered three ways: on top of the cafeteria’s Stockholm Salad, stuffed in a multigrain flatbread for a healthy wrap sandwich, or alone on a small side plate with a slice of lemon. No matter how you enjoy it, you will enjoy it immensely, and you’ll feel proud of yourself for eating something healthier than chicken fingers.
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Veggie Balls
This is the second of Ikea’s meat-free meatball options, and it’s the superior one. Unlike the plant balls, which are meant to mimic meat, the veggie balls are proud of their vegetable roots and don’t try to hide them. Made with chickpeas, carrots, peas, red peppers, corn and kale, these vegetarian balls are a bit like falafel but with a softer texture and a variety of veggie flavors. The tahini romesco sauce is so good, you’ll be licking it off the plate.
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Garlic Lemon Cod
I’ll admit that in the case of Ikea’s garlic lemon cod, I’m probably biased by nostalgia. A simple dinner of flaky baked white fish sprinkled with breadcrumbs and doused in freshly squeezed lemon juice was one of my favorites when I was a kid. And I’m sure it inspires the same feelings in many of you, since the dish has been a favorite of exhausted working moms for generations. While I can (and do) make this at home, it tastes even better when someone’s made it for me, so Ikea gets top marks for its version.
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All the Desserts
It’s impossible for me to rank Ikea’s desserts, because they are all so good. It would be a travesty if you didn’t try at least one.
If there’s a downside to the gloriously fudgy chocolate cake, it’s that it’s not served with a tall glass of ice cold milk. The Swedish apple cake tastes like real apples (not like the chemically-tinged canned pie filling), and is barely sweet, making it the ideal companion for a mug of bitter black coffee. The caramel almond cake is essentially a wedge-shaped version of Sweden’s beloved Daim candy bars, which put most American candy bars to shame.
And, after a brief absence from the menu, Ikea’s legendary princess cake has returned! This traditional Swedish dessert was originally designed for a literal princess, with a delicate disc of vanilla sponge cake slathered with raspberry jam, topped with a dome of fluffy whipped cream, wrapped in a thin sheet of pleasantly pink marzipan and drizzled with chocolate. How often do you get the chance to be treated like royalty when buying a couch?
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Swedish Meatballs
The best thing at Ikea is, of course, the Swedish meatballs. Did you honestly expect anything else? For many of us who didn’t grow up Scandinavian, these are the quintessential Swedish meatball, and just as essential to the Ikea experience as going home with a Kallax, Smycka or Malm. It would almost feel wrong to go to Ikea and not order the meatballs, but with so many other good options on the menu, it’s understandable. Just make sure to grab a frozen bag of meatballs from the Ikea Marketplace before you hit check-out—you’ll definitely find yourself craving them once you get home.
