Nuala — Restaurant in Almaty

Visited in September 2025. Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 Almaty.

Drawn by glowing reviews and a seafood-heavy menu, we chose Nuala and settled on its lovely summer veranda. The indoor dining area is equally striking, with an elegant art deco design that clearly had a lot of effort poured into it.

FOOD:

The menu showcases high-quality seafood, sourced from Europe and Russia (notably the scallops), alongside some meat options. We sampled several small plates to get a taste of the range. The two Gillardeau oysters were a standout—meaty, fresh, with a subtle briny and sweet flavor, perfectly detached from their shells. The popcorn shrimp were a hit, ordered multiple times for their soft, juicy flesh and crisp coating, lightly dressed with a mayo-based sauce—simple yet consistently delicious. The smoked salmon pâté had a pleasant, creamy texture, though softer bread would’ve been better for spreading. The grilled octopus was tender but slightly chewy and lacked the smoky, grilled flavor we craved. The scallop carpaccio impressed with its sweet, fresh, and delicate texture. However, the vegetable dishes fell flat: the tonnato peppers had barely a trace of sauce, leaving the pepper to dominate, while the cabbage, though properly cooked and soft, blended too much with its creamy sauce, lacking a distinct flavor punch. A pleasant addition was the ice cream they offer as a complimentary treat at the end of the meal.

SERVICE:

We visited twice, and the first experience was exceptional, thanks to our waiter Anton, a true professional who made us feel cared for with every step. The second visit, however, was lackluster, with service that felt hit-or-miss depending on the staff.

VERDICT:

Nuala left us with fond memories, thanks to its quality food and inviting atmosphere. The extensive wine and champagne list—practically a book of its own—at reasonable prices was a rare treat. We recommend it for seafood lovers and those seeking a stylish dining...

Nuala is a hip restaurant with a beautiful menu, situated in a setting with medium/high level music and champagne on every table. The waiters are smart and uniformed, with small shoulder pouches equipped with whatever they need to make the clients happy. The space has both indoor and outdoor seating. The menus comprise ample seafood and meat selections in an easy-to-read two column format in both English and Russian on the obverse. The whole seabass with dressed greens is one of the best I’ve tasted in Central Asia, perfectly cooked on both visits I came with the perfect amount of fat and lean balanced in proportion. The dressed greens had a hint of lemon to provide enough contrast and not steal the show from the fish. Pastas are great — congolese (aka clams) and king crab were sweet and perfectly accompanied with a light butter sauce and homemade noodles, though my nitpick is that the noodles were a bit entangled and difficult to separate and eat. Wine is served in the proper glassware and even decanted on some occasions. Would definitely return. One of the best...

Worst service- mood ruined. Do not recommend- there are better places in Almaty.

I’ve been here a few times; this time was the worst- the service- tall Russian guy who didnt know anything about the menu, the wine assortment(!); took away our salad 5 min after he brought it- we didn’t even touch it. and he was overall very rude making silly inappropriate silly jokes; and so much more. the so called bonus system is a joke- cant even use it- they dont explain how to use it in the beginning too. i wanted to take out my lil sister for a nice evening but mood ruined- definitely wouldn’t recommend to anyone in town because of the worst service and apparently the way management team does not even care about it.

No menu in Kazakh, too- they better not forget in what country they’re building their business; all the waiters are Russians- once again, super...