Ikea Cincinnati- some pretty tasty cheap eats

It seems strange to be recommending a furniture store for some tasty and cheap food, but if you’re hungry and in West Chester, Ikea’s cafeteria style restaurant isn’t a bad bet. 

I was doing a little furniture shopping yesterday after work and I thought I’d grab a quick bite to eat.

The cafeteria is very bright and clean and amazingly enough, completely furnished with Ikea furniture.  It has a nice ambiance and not crowded at all.  The weeknights at Ikea are not busy so the line for food was very short.
There are quite a few choices of meals to choose from with most being only $4.99.  The most popular dish seems to be the Swedish meatballs.  Almost every tray that I saw had one of the Swedish meatball platters on them.  So, I too chose the Swedish meatballs platter and an apple cake and a drink.  All for less than $10.00.  The meatballs come with mashed potatoes and a lingonberry sauce.

The Swedish meatballs are smaller than you’d think from the picture but quite tasty.  They have a slightly dry and crunchy exterior like they had been deep-fried.  That’s probably the secret because everything tastes good when they’re deep-fried!  The meatballs come with a gravy that also works well with the mashed potatoes.  The ligonberry sauce tastes pretty much like cranberries but not quite as tart.

I apologize for the pictures of my half eaten meal.  That’s just a testament of how good the food is.

For a drink I recommend the Ligonberry juice from the fountain.  It’s not carbonated and not too sweet.  The apple cake was good too, only $2.29 for a slice.

It took me a few seconds to figure out where to put the tray when I was finished.  The area to put tray is slightly walled off, but is marked with a sign.  You place your tray in racks just like in college!
I’ll have to stop back for their .99 breakfast!  Review of the $.99 breakfast to come! 🙂