The 7 best places to eat in Luxor, ranked
Plate of Egyptian mezze with tahini bread and salads
Seven restaurants in Luxor worth the trip, ordered by whether I would actually go back this week.
1. Sofra — the standard-setter for Egyptian food
Sofra on Mohamed Farid Street, one block back from the Corniche south of the temple, is the restaurant every Luxor guide recommends and it deserves the recommendation. Two floors of a restored 1930s house, decor that is neither cliché nor sanitised, and a menu of properly cooked Upper Egyptian food: molokhia with rabbit, stuffed pigeon, tagine of beef with okra, and the best baba ghanouj I have had in the country.
Mains are 180-350 EGP and a full meal with drinks and mezze runs about 550 EGP per person. Book for dinner in the December-February peak — the roof terrace fills by 8pm. Lunch is easier and cheaper, with the same kitchen. Order the stuffed pigeon at least once even if the concept unsettles you; it is the dish Sofra does better than anyone. Skip the Western dishes on the menu; they exist for tourists who have made a mistake.
2. Al-Sahaby Lane — rooftop with a view and a proper kitchen
Al-Sahaby Lane sits on the second floor above the Nefertiti Hotel just north of Luxor Temple, and the rooftop terrace has a direct sightline down onto the temple lit up at night. The food is a step below Sofra but the setting is one above, and the tagines and grilled meats are properly done. It is the best combination of view and reliable food in Luxor.
Expect 400-500 EGP per person for a full meal with a beer or a glass of wine. Book the terrace for 7:30pm to catch the temple lights coming on. The mixed grill for two at 700 EGP is honest value. Do not order the seafood — Luxor is 280km from the coast and the delivery logistics do not work. The kitchen is Egyptian at heart; stick with what it does well and the meal is memorable.
3. Aisha — West Bank home cooking
Aisha, in a converted house on the West Bank near the Deir el-Bahari road, does a set menu of home-style Egyptian cooking for 450 EGP per person including a starter spread of ten small dishes, a main course of chicken or beef tagine, and dessert. The setting is a courtyard under bougainvillea and the food comes out at the pace of an actual home meal — slowly, generously, with no menu decisions to make.
Book a day ahead through your hotel or by phone. It works best for lunch after a morning at Hatshepsut or the Valley of the Kings — you finish at 2pm, walk in, and the food is ready. Compare with Africa restaurant nearby, which does a similar format for slightly less but with less polish. Aisha is the one to book for a proper long West Bank lunch. Alcohol is not served; bring your own if it matters.
4. Metropolitan Café — day-long Corniche spot
Metropolitan Café on the Corniche opposite the Iberotel serves reliable food from 8am to midnight and it is the best place in Luxor for a long low-effort meal with a river view. Breakfasts are 120-180 EGP, sandwiches and salads at lunch run 150-250 EGP, and the pizzas in the evening are genuinely decent at 200-320 EGP.
It is not a destination restaurant. It is what a good café should be — open when you need it, priced fairly, quick to seat you, and with a view that justifies sitting for two hours with a laptop or a book. The mint lemonade is excellent. Skip the shisha unless you actively want it; the outdoor terrace can get smoky in the evenings. This is the restaurant you will end up eating at three times in a week without planning to.
5. 1886 at the Winter Palace — the special-occasion room
The 1886 restaurant at the Sofitel Winter Palace is the formal dining room of the old hotel and it does French-Egyptian fusion at proper hotel-restaurant prices. A three-course meal runs 1,800-2,400 EGP per person before wine, and the wine list is the best in Luxor by a distance. The room itself — high ceiling, original 1886 fittings, correctly starched linen — is the reason to go.
Dress code is enforced: jacket for men, no jeans, no trainers. Book two or three days ahead. Order the duck if it is on the menu and the crème brûlée for dessert. This is the restaurant you take a partner to on a last night in Luxor when you want to end the trip with a formal meal in a room with 140 years of history. It is not everyday value but it is the only restaurant in Luxor operating at this level.
6. Al-Gezira Kebab — the honest local grill
Al-Gezira Kebab on the West Bank, near the ferry landing, is a working-class grill house that grills kofta, chicken and lamb over charcoal in front of you. A full meal with bread, salads, tahini and grilled meat runs 180-280 EGP per person and it is the best value hot food in Luxor by a wide margin.
There is no menu in English and the seating is plastic chairs on the pavement. Point at what is on the grill, agree a price, and it appears in ten minutes. No alcohol. Cash only. This is where you eat between a morning at Medinat Habu and an afternoon at the Valley of the Nobles — 20 minutes, full stomach, back to work. Skip the tomato salad if it looks like it has been sitting; ask for it fresh and they will make it.
7. Puddleduck — reliable Western food when you need it
Puddleduck, a British-run pub-restaurant on the East Bank a short taxi south of the temple, is where you eat when you have had six consecutive Egyptian meals and want a burger and a proper cold beer. The burgers are decent at 250-320 EGP, the fish and chips work, and the beer selection is the widest in Luxor.
It is a functional restaurant in a specific niche and it does that niche well. Not a destination; not somewhere I would send a first-time visitor. But on a two-week trip when the child is refusing another tagine or you simply want a Sunday roast, it is the answer. Open lunch and dinner, closed some Mondays in low season, and the terrace is pleasant on a winter afternoon.
Before you book
The questions people ask about East Bank, answered with this month’s numbers.
In tourist-licensed restaurants, yes — the Winter Palace, Al-Sahaby Lane, Puddleduck, most hotel restaurants and Metropolitan Café all serve beer, wine and spirits. Local Egyptian restaurants like Sofra and Aisha, and grill houses like Al-Gezira Kebab, do not serve alcohol. There are two off-licences on the Corniche selling Stella and Egyptian wine to take away.
Grilled meat cooked to order in front of you at busy local places is fine — the turnover is high and the fire kills the risks. Avoid cold salads that have been sitting, unpasteurised dairy from carts, and juice from stalls where the fruit is pre-cut. Fresh sugar cane juice pressed in front of you is safe and the best drink in the city for 25 EGP.
10% of the bill is standard in mid-range and upmarket restaurants and is not always included as service. Check the bill — if service is added at 12%, leave a small additional cash tip for the waiter directly. In local grill houses and cafés, round up to the nearest 20 EGP. In taxis and calèches, tips are baked into the negotiated fare.
