Emporio Armani Bar (Al-Farabi and Shashkina). Recently opened bar with moderate prices and excellent service. Life DJ and cosy atmposhere.
Gakku (7 Nikitina Street, between Nauryzbay Batyr street and Seyfullin avenue). On of the best restaurant serving Kazakh national food for reasonable prices. One should try "Beshparmak", "Kuyrdak" and other traditional Kazakh dishes. Foreigners are increasingly frequenting this new restaurant.
The Grill (on top of the hill at Kok Tobe). Take the cable car up, near Hotel kazakhstan on Dostyk. Located in a picturesque setting overlooking Almaty. You are perched over the city on a wooden verandah (some parts nice & shady) and it is an awesome setting. The beers are a bit pricey, but the shashliks are awesome and a few drinks here is a 'must do' experience.
Jantik Club (138 Bogenbay Batyr Street, Shagabutdinov street corner). Western-style bar. Life music and XX century super hits. Beatles fans will be very placed to visit this bar. Residents include Jeraldine Hunt, Oleg Magomayev and Jantemir. Moderate prices.
Mad Murphy's (somewhere on Tole Bi Street). Unless you're desperate for an Irish pub. The food is predictably mediocre and the bar is thick with smoke and English-speaking expats. Prices are a little steep but you are getting what your money's worth. Some of the best americanized food in Almaty. Although it is filled with middle/elderly business men mostly from America and The U.K it has recently attracted a younger crowd becuase of its fabulous live band. On fridays and saturdays the crowd at Murphy's is treated to great live english music, by the end of the night the whole bar is rocking to the band.
Queens Pub (Shevchenko and Seifullina). Modern English pub with live bands and evening shows (www.queens.kz).
Sapphire. Late night club and restaurant for the young people. Basic Chinese menu and live DJ with a dance floor. The main drawcard here is the shisha, or 'hubbly bubbly' 'nargile' or 'water pipe'. Other places in Almaty also have shisha (fruit flavoured tobacco, smoked for an hour or two from a hookah), but this is one of the few to use real charcoal and authentic Al Fakher shisha tobacco from UAE. The bar delivers the vodkas pretty promptly too.
Soho. Lunch isn't bad - a buffet with a nice assortment of breads, soups, salads, and main dishes called a "business lunch" at a reasonable fixed price. However the evenings are quite pleasant with live music and reasonable drink prices - no entrance fee during the week. Soho is a great place for a single business man to attend during the night. It is not a very classy joint and is usually packed with Almaty's working woman. Never the less they have one of the best bands in Almaty and they sing in English! Some of their covers are better than the originals, it's a must see event. Try making a booking for a table, to avoid having to stand at the bar.
Taj Mahal (across the street from the Ghorky Park entrance on Gogol). This Pakistani restaurant under new management has started to attract an expat crowd, probably because of their all-the-time 2-for-1 specials on draft Efes beer.
Tau Dastarkhan (halfway up to the mountains). Located in a large area made up of "islands" with Kazakh, Russian, Georgian, and Uzbek kitchens. Not to be missed in the summertime. It's as fun to walk around and see the various settings as it is to eat.
Turandot (two locations: one on Abai between Kosmonaft and Zhandosova attached to the theater building, other on Ablai Khan just below Makataeva). It is a very cheap and very tasty Chinese eatery. Servings are huge, so don't go overboard! There are plenty of vegetarian dishes to choose from, including tofu dishes.
Ultra's (Satpaeva between Kosmonaft and Seifulin). Fun restaurant with its own microbrewery on site. It is one of the Staut bars chain. The restaurant has an excellent array of beer, even if it's a little costly.
Zheti Qazyna (Ablai Khan and Makataeva). The restaurant with three kitchens: Uzbek, Asian (ie Chinese), European. The Uzbek room has wonderful wood decorations, blue-tiled kitchen you can see into.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Almaty
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Almaty - updated Apr 2024
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Almaty Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
