Alķīmiķis — Restaurant in Riga

This is the place to go if you are in Riga and love good beer. None of the other "beer places" came even close to this one in quality. They have an interesting set up: bar with taps, etc. and bottle room where you can buy beer to go or to enjoy in house. Their selection on both taps and bottles highlighted up-and-coming Latvian breweries, as well as some of the best American, Danish, Dutch, etc. powerhouses. I couldn't believe that they not only had Mikkeller Beer Geek Vanilla Shake on tap, but it was also very reasonably priced. Their bottle shop wasn't huge, but it featured some beers from favorite breweries that I hadn't seen elsewhere, like the imperial gose collaboration between De Molen and Bayerischer Bahnhof (Leipzig) or the Mikkeller Beer Geek Bacon. We went here 3 times during our trip. We snacked one time and had a meal one of the other times. While the grenki (garlic dark rye toast) was tasty and a great beer snack, the entrees were underwhelming. Just medi ocre fare. Regardless, the next time I am in Riga, I will visit this place a few more times (just eat...

We fancied, Big Bad Bagels, but unfortunately they had no seats, so round the corner we found this place... It wasn't too bad, it was quiet when we entered around 13:00, however it was a lot busier by the time we finished. Serving time wasn't too bad, but in picture 1, those are the exact same beers, yet the colours are very different.... And judging by picture 3, they brew their own beer and might need to clean the pipes more, as the taste was very different! The food (1 beef and 1 pulled pork) were unfortunately cold before we finished them, inuding the chips, so they didn't come out piping hot but the food did taste nice. The service... One dude behind the bar, so I asked if I could take the menus to our table (save him the time) but was quite dismissive and didn't bring them over for another 10 minutes... It's alright, but with Riga being so small when you're in town, there are plenty of places...

A beer house which can (with some overstatement) be called a craft brewery. They offer several of their own creations on tap as well as in bottles; none of the beers I've tried there seem to justify the craft-y price level, at least for me and those with whom I visited. On top of that, the bartender wasn't too friendly or eager to explain their beers, as you'd typically expect from a craft brewery restaurant. Overall, only worth trying if you're visiting Riga with lots of free time to spare (waste?) and would like a really really full overview of the local beer scene, even the not-so-ingenious parts of it. In all other cases, there are IMHO much better alternatives, including locally produced ones, in the surrounding districts - I won't name the brands since that would look like a paid black PR, but you can always open my other Gmaps reviews...