Keeping up with trending restaurants in Riyadh has become a task in its own right. A new place begins appearing across social media, reservations fill for several weeks, and, before everyone has managed to book a table, another restaurant opens somewhere else in the city. Some keep that attention long after the first photographs disappear. Others are much easier to get into once the initial excitement has passed.
The restaurants people are talking about now are not all new in quite the same way. Mahsan and Em Sherif Sea Café have only recently opened, while Berenjak returned to Riyadh with a permanent home after building a following through its earlier pop-up. Cipriani Dolci has quickly become part of the Diplomatic Quarter’s all-day dining scene, and Kantami is still filling tables several months after arriving from Al Khobar.
From regional Anatolian cooking and Lebanese seafood to Persian kebabs and a late-night grill built around vinyl, these are the restaurants currently getting Riyadh’s attention.
Mahsan
Mahsan has brought a much deeper look at Anatolian cooking to Shorofat Park. The restaurant is led by Turkish chef Ömür Akkor, whose work draws on years spent researching the food traditions of regions including Gaziantep, Adana, Kilis, and Central Anatolia. Rather than reducing Turkish food to a familiar line-up of grills and breakfast dishes, the menu gives regional recipes and ingredients far more room.
There are hand-rolled sarma, charcoal-grilled meats, slow-cooked lamb, and warm bread arriving at the table, alongside dishes that may be less familiar to Riyadh diners. Pistachio soup is likely to be the one everyone asks about first, although the menu has plenty that deserves just as much attention once the initial curiosity has passed.
Dessert stays close to traditional Turkish flavours, with sütlaç, muhallebi, and several varieties of helva. Leaving space may require a little planning, particularly once the table has already ordered more grilled meat than anyone originally intended.
The interiors carry the same sense of place as the menu. Earthy walls, Turkish rugs, and warm details give the restaurant the feeling of an old Anatolian home without making the setting feel overly themed.
Mahsan feels closely connected to the food it serves, which is a large part of why it has stood out so quickly. Reservations are sensible, particularly later in the week when the restaurant begins filling from the early evening.
Em Sherif Sea Café
Em Sherif Sea Café has brought a seafood-led version of the Lebanese restaurant group to Laysen Valley. Fresh seafood sits at the centre of the experience. Guests can look through the day’s display, choose what they want and decide how it should be prepared rather than relying entirely on a written menu.
The meal still begins in a very Lebanese way. Hot and cold mezze arrive for the table, bread baskets empty almost immediately, and someone usually decides another plate is needed before the seafood has even appeared.
Grilled fish, prawns and other catches can then form the main part of dinner, allowing the table to build the meal around whatever looks best that day. This works particularly well for groups where not everyone wants to order the same way. Some may be there entirely for the seafood, while others will remain perfectly happy moving between mezze and freshly baked bread.
The restaurant carries the polished style associated with Em Sherif, but the focus on the Mediterranean gives this Riyadh opening a clear identity of its own.
Laysen Valley suits the pace of the meal too. Dinner can continue across several courses without needing another plan immediately afterwards, although the surrounding district offers somewhere to walk once everyone has finally agreed that dessert is no longer possible.
Cipriani Dolci
Cipriani Dolci has given Riyadh a more relaxed way to experience the well-known Italian name. Located at 1364 in the Diplomatic Quarter, it opens from breakfast until late evening. That makes it suitable for coffee and pastries in the morning, a long lunch, afternoon dessert or dinner rather than saving it for one particular kind of occasion.
The menu includes several Cipriani signatures, including carpaccio, baked tagliolini and its famous vanilla meringue cake. Pastries, coffee and lighter dishes make the earlier hours feel just as natural as the evening service.
That flexibility is a large part of its appeal. There is no need to organise an entire night around the reservation. It can be the place chosen after a meeting, during a weekend breakfast, or when someone suggests stopping for coffee and quietly orders enough dessert to turn it into a full visit.
The dining room follows the clean, recognisable Cipriani style. It feels polished without making breakfast or a quick lunch seem out of place. Its Diplomatic Quarter location also keeps it connected to the rhythm of the area, with residents, professionals and visitors moving through at different points of the day.
A first visit will probably begin with the well-known classics. The next may happen sooner than expected, particularly once the vanilla meringue cake has entered the conversation.
Berenjak
Berenjak returned to Riyadh with a permanent home and an audience that already knew exactly what it wanted. The London-born Persian restaurant first appeared in the city as a temporary pop-up. Its success made the move to VIA Riyadh feel less like an introduction and more like the return of something diners had been waiting for.
The menu is built around the table. Mezze, freshly baked bread, stews, rice, and charcoal-grilled kebabs are served for sharing, gradually filling every available space until somebody has to begin rearranging plates.
Bread is a particularly important part of the meal. It arrives warm from the oven and quickly becomes the way the table works through dips, sauces, and anything left behind that nobody is willing to waste.
The kebabs may be the dishes people recognise first, but Berenjak makes the most sense when dinner includes a little of everything. Small plates, khoresht, grilled meats and rice can be ordered in stages, allowing the meal to grow rather than arriving all at once.
The VIA Riyadh restaurant keeps the warmth and energy that made the earlier pop-up so popular. It feels busy without losing the feeling that dinner is centred around one shared table.
Weekend reservations remain a good idea, particularly when everyone in the group already has a different dish they insist cannot be left off the order.
Kantami
Kantami arrived in Riyadh from Al Khobar in early 2026 and has continued drawing diners to Nawaf Square in Al Malqa. The restaurant takes inspiration from the Japanese izakaya style, with sushi, bao, noodles, robata dishes and larger plates all designed to be ordered across the table.
Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, shapes much of the restaurant’s visual identity. The idea appears throughout the interiors and presentation, giving the space a clear look without allowing the design to take over the food.
The menu moves easily between familiar choices and dishes that give people a reason to try something new. Tempura, prawns, Japanese curry, udon and matcha desserts all feature, with most plates arriving in a way that encourages everyone to reach across the table.
Kantami suits the way many people prefer to eat Japanese food. Several dishes arrive at different points, everyone tries a little of everything, and at least one plate needs to be reordered because it disappeared before half the table had a chance to taste it.
The interest has continued beyond the first few weeks of opening, and popular reservation times still fill quickly. Booking ahead remains the safest option for dinner, particularly towards the weekend.
The Vinyl Ember
The Vinyl Ember sits inside Kimpton KAFD Riyadh and makes the most sense once the evening has properly begun. The restaurant combines open-fire cooking with an American grill menu, a chef’s counter and a soundtrack built around curated vinyl. Low lighting and darker interiors give the room a late-night atmosphere from the moment guests walk in.
Fire is central to the kitchen. Grilled meats and American-inspired dishes are prepared in the open, allowing guests seated at the counter to watch the process rather than seeing only the finished plate when it arrives.
The music is not simply playing in the background to support the name. Vinyl shapes the pace and mood of the room, giving dinner a different energy as the night continues.
This makes The Vinyl Ember particularly easy to settle into. The restaurant already has enough atmosphere to carry the evening, so there is no immediate need to finish dinner and begin searching for somewhere else to go.
It has also helped give Kimpton KAFD a dining identity that feels separate from a standard hotel restaurant. The fire-led menu, chef’s counter and focus on sound all feel connected rather than added together because someone wanted a more interesting concept.
With dinner continuing until 1 am, it works just as well for a regular evening reservation as it does for a much later meal after plans elsewhere in KAFD.
Where Riyadh Is Eating Now
Riyadh’s current restaurant conversation is spread across different neighbourhoods, cuisines, and styles of dining. Mahsan has arrived with a menu closely tied to Anatolian history and regional cooking. Em Sherif Sea Café has given Laysen Valley a new seafood destination, while Cipriani Dolci has slipped easily into the everyday rhythm of the Diplomatic Quarter.
Berenjak returned with the advantage of diners already waiting for it. Kantami has kept its tables busy beyond the initial opening period, and The Vinyl Ember has created a late-night restaurant where the fire, food, and music all belong to the same evening.
The list will inevitably change. Riyadh opens restaurants too quickly for any “trending” guide to stay untouched for long. For now, these are the tables people are trying to book before the next round of openings gives everyone somewhere new to talk about.
Explore The Riyadh Atlas for the latest restaurant openings, hidden dining gems, café recommendations, and insider guides to the best places to eat across Riyadh.
