Restaurant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
MENA-ranked, near-impossible to book.
Ranked #31 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, Lunch Room is one of Riyadh's most credentialed dining destinations and one of its hardest tables to secure. Pearl rates the booking difficulty as Near Impossible — plan well ahead and use a hotel concierge if you can. For food-focused travellers, it belongs at the top of the Riyadh shortlist.
Lunch Room earned the #31 spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list, which places it in a bracket of restaurants that genuinely warrant effort to secure a reservation. The ranking is not honorary — at this tier, you are looking at a kitchen operating with real technical discipline and a room that has been recognised by one of the few credible pan-regional awards in the category. The honest advice: pursue a booking. Riyadh's dining scene has matured quickly, but a venue with a verified MENA 50 Best credential is still a narrow field.
Specific menu details, pricing, and hours are not confirmed in our data, and we will not invent them. What the award record signals is a kitchen positioned at the serious end of Riyadh's restaurant spectrum — not a casual drop-in, not a hotel dining room running on brand reputation, but a destination that reviewers and judges have put on record. If you are arriving in Riyadh as a food and travel enthusiast looking for the meal that will anchor your trip, Lunch Room belongs on a short list alongside Aseeb and Marble.
The address on Takhassusi Branch Road puts it in a well-trafficked Riyadh corridor, accessible but not the kind of neighbourhood you stumble through. Plan your visit rather than improvising it. Google reviewer data shows a perfect 5-star average, though the sample size is small , treat it as directional confirmation rather than a statistical verdict. The MENA 50 Best placement carries considerably more weight here as a trust signal.
Saudi Arabia operates under its own context when it comes to beverages. No alcohol is served, which is the baseline for restaurants operating within Saudi law. What distinguishes venues at this level in Riyadh is the quality of their non-alcoholic drinks programming , whether the kitchen team has invested in house-made ferments, sophisticated mocktail construction, cold-brew and botanical infusions, or a curated selection of premium non-alcoholic spirits and artisan sodas. At a MENA 50 Best-ranked venue, the expectation is that the drinks program is considered, not an afterthought. Think of the standard set by contemporaries at this tier globally: Atomix in New York City builds beverage pairing programs that function as full creative counterpoints to the food. Whether Lunch Room reaches that level of integration is something you will be able to assess on arrival , but you should arrive expecting more than a soft drinks menu.
For the explorer diner who cares about the full table experience, the drinks pairing question is worth raising at the time of booking. Ask what the kitchen recommends alongside the food. The answer will tell you a lot about how seriously they are treating the format.
Pearl rates Lunch Room's booking difficulty as Near Impossible , a classification that applies to a small number of venues in Riyadh and reflects real demand compression. A restaurant sitting at #31 on the MENA 50 Best list draws regional visitors and well-organised locals who plan ahead. Walk-in availability at this level is unlikely. If you are travelling to Riyadh from abroad, treat this reservation the same way you would treat securing a table at Le Bernardin in New York City or Lazy Bear in San Francisco , pursue it early, have a backup option ready, and confirm the booking closer to travel.
No online booking link or phone number is confirmed in our data at the time of publishing. Your most reliable path is to contact the restaurant directly via its address or through your hotel concierge if you are staying locally. A concierge at one of Riyadh's major properties will often have working relationships with sought-after venues.
Practical Details: Reservations: Near Impossible , book as far ahead as possible; concierge assistance recommended. Booking method: Direct contact via address; no confirmed online booking link. Budget: Price range not confirmed , expect positioning at the higher end of Riyadh's dining spectrum given the MENA 50 Best ranking. Dress: Not confirmed; smart dress is a safe assumption for a venue at this level. Location: 8030 Takhassusi Branch Road, Riyadh 12364.
If Lunch Room is unavailable or you are building a broader Riyadh itinerary, Aseeb and Marble are the natural alternatives to consider first. For a wider view of what the city offers, our full Riyadh restaurants guide covers the spectrum. If you are also planning your stay, our Riyadh hotels guide and Riyadh bars guide are worth reviewing alongside. For those exploring the broader Saudi dining circuit, Kuuru in Jeddah and Tama in AlUla represent the wider regional range. Internationally, venues at a comparable award tier include Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico and Dal Pescatore in Runate , useful reference points for understanding what sustained regional recognition at this level typically looks like.
Bar seating details are not confirmed in our data. Given the Saudi context , no alcohol service , there may not be a traditional bar counter as a dining destination in itself. Contact the restaurant directly to ask about counter or informal seating options before assuming you can walk in and sit at the bar.
No group booking policy or private dining information is confirmed in our data. At a MENA 50 Best-ranked venue operating under high demand, large group reservations at venues of this calibre typically require advance arrangement and direct communication. Contact the restaurant well ahead of your preferred date. If group dining is a priority and flexibility is limited, Marble or Benoit may offer more accessible group booking processes.
Solo dining at a serious restaurant in Riyadh is a reasonable proposition, especially for a food-focused traveller who wants to concentrate on the meal itself. The MENA 50 Best ranking suggests a kitchen worth experiencing on its own terms. Counter or bar seating , if available , would be the natural format for a solo visit. Confirm seating options directly before booking. For solo diners who want a lower-pressure alternative in Riyadh, Bistro and Co. offers a more informal setting.
The three closest alternatives at a serious dining level in Riyadh are Aseeb, Marble, and Myazu. Aseeb is the strongest option if you want a Saudi-rooted food experience. Marble skews contemporary and accessible. Myazu covers the Japanese end of the city's upscale dining range. All three are easier to book than Lunch Room given its Near Impossible rating. See our full Riyadh restaurants guide for a complete picture.
Yes , the MENA 50 Best ranking makes it one of the more credible special occasion choices in Riyadh. The challenge is the booking difficulty: Near Impossible means you need to plan well in advance. If you cannot secure a table, Aseeb is the most natural fallback for a meal that will still feel considered and occasion-worthy. For a pure splurge with more international framing, Myazu is worth considering depending on your group's preferences.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch Room | Near Impossible | ||
| تكية - TAKYA | Saudi Arabian | Unknown | |
| Marble | Unknown | ||
| Aseeb | Unknown | ||
| Myazu | Unknown | ||
| Hong | Unknown |
Comparing your options in Riyadh for this tier.
Saudi Arabia does not permit alcohol service, so a conventional bar setup is not part of the experience at Lunch Room or comparable Riyadh venues. Whether counter or bar-adjacent seating exists is not confirmed in our data. Plan around a table reservation and treat the food itself as the centrepiece.
No group capacity details are confirmed in Pearl's data. For a venue ranked #31 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, expect limited covers and tight table allocation — conditions that typically work against large parties. If you are planning for six or more, check the venue's official channels and have a backup option like Aseeb or Marble ready.
Pearl rates Lunch Room as near-impossible to book, which makes solo reservations a harder case to argue than for two or four. That said, high-calibre ranked restaurants in this tier often offer counter or chef's table formats that suit solo diners well. Confirm seating options when you attempt to book, because a single seat may open up when paired tables do not.
Aseeb and Marble are the two closest alternatives worth considering first — both operate at a serious level in Riyadh and are more achievable to book. Myazu covers a different format if Japanese is the draw. Hong is the option if you want a Chinese-leaning experience. None carry Lunch Room's MENA 50 Best ranking, but all represent credible fallbacks if you cannot secure a table.
Yes, with a caveat: the near-impossible booking classification means you need to plan well in advance. A #31 ranking on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 is a verifiable credential that makes the effort worthwhile for a significant occasion. If the date is fixed and you cannot confirm Lunch Room, Marble is the most straightforward Riyadh alternative for the same intent.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
