So who here has ever eaten at an IKEA?
When I ran across this heated rebuttal to an inane Spiegel article about IKEA breakfasts in Europe, I remembered Julia mentioned to me that she knows people who regularly go to IKEA for good cheap breakfasts.
My first point of comparison was those awful Target bistros (whenever I think of Target I think of the smell of nasty hot dogs) but surely IKEA does things better. Perhaps I should rethink my "I will never again set foot in an IKEA" policy.
Posted by Matt Bruce at January 18, 2006 04:39 PMI have, several times. (The IKEA here is quite a ways out of town, and going there with the munchkin pretty much always entails eating there, as her ravenous maw must be sated every few hours or I have hell to pay).
They're surprisingly good. Cheap, as you'd expect. But the food is decent, and it's easy to find healthy options. (I usually get poached salmon, steamed vegetables --- blessedly not cooked to oblivion --- and roasted potatoes). The best part, though, is the lingonberry soda in the soda fountain.
I haven't been there for breakfast, but they are dirt cheap. They're definitely better than Target for food.
Posted by: victoria at January 18, 2006 07:29 PMYeah, the IKEA food isn't bad. I was mostly curious to see how my family's approximation of Swedish Meatballs (a childhood staple, even though we're German/Norwegian) stood up against a corporate/restaurant version. VG is spot on re: lingonberry soda.
So, will this replace Superdawg as the NAQT lowbrow group meal?
Posted by: greg at January 18, 2006 09:50 PMI've had ice cream and lingonberry soda there.
I'd eat breakfast there, but it's a bit far away unless I decide I need some furniture anyway. Next time I will make an effort!
Posted by: maribeth at January 19, 2006 10:22 AMA number of the people I work with have been to the IKEA that opened up here (as has the wife and distaff side of my in-laws), and they have all remarked at the surprising quality of IKEA food and its value. The wife and her relations were a little less surprised, as it's apparently pretty common in Britain to have a cafeteria in your department store (from firsthand experience, I'd not suggest eating at a British Home Store unless you were famished).
Ligonberry soda? Now I have to go.
Posted by: Mark at January 19, 2006 12:01 PM