Jeddah - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
Pretty much any chain restaurant in the US is available. Prices were typically more expensive than home but less than double. You could get delivered on HungerStation or other apps. Lots of great local options, including shawarma, more full-service regional food (from pretty much every country in the area), and many "adventurous" options for those with the stomach and the curiosity. Sometimes the particular chains available was odd, for instance Hardee's was quite popular but there were no Wendy's, Taco Bell, or Jack in the Box. - Oct 2022
Jeddah has numerous American brand fast food and restaurant chains that all deliver through apps like "HungerStation" and "Jahaz" that has made it extremely hard for me to loose weight (TGIFridays, Cheesecake factory, Outback, Texas Roadhouse, Applebee's, McDonalds, Starbucks, Shake Shack etc.). Local food is chicken and rice based and the local staff will show you their favorite restaurants. - Aug 2022
A variety of North American and UK chain restaurants and fast food places. Prices are 1.5-3 times what you would pay in the chain's home country. Most restaurants have a play area for kids, which is nice. - Nov 2020
Most restaurants will do take-away without much trouble. Food delivery is limited, because Jeddah doesn't use normal street addresses; most places that deliver will ask for you to send them a pin for your location, and then use a combination of the pindrop and the Force to find you. Sometimes your pizza arrives mostly warm. - Oct 2019
A ton of stuff is available that you would be shocked by. Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, Raising Cane's, Applebees, IHOP. If you eat at a Western chain, it will cost a lot more (especially Five Guys and IHOP), and sometimes it is the land of not quite right, but a ton of comfort food from home is available. Locally, there's not much 'Saudi' cuisine. The most Jeddawi thing you can do is eat at al Baik, a fast food chicken place. Otherwise a lot of the 'local' food is really Syrian or Lebanese, so lots of hummus, mixed grill, shwarma, shish tauk, etc. - Mar 2019
Eating out is probably one of the biggest activities in Saudi. Tons of western restaurants, every chain in the West (Shake Shack, Cheesecake Factory, every fastfood, Red Lobster, Texas Road House, Nando's, etc.). A lot of Italian, Pakistani, Indian, some excellent Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Lots of healthy places focused on quinoa salads and the like. Pretty much everything will deliver on an app. Talabat, Hungerstation, and Lugmety are the most popular. - Jan 2019
Pretty much any American fast food restaurant you could want. Cost is about double of the U.S. - Apr 2016
Most of them but more expensive than in the States. - Nov 2015
All of them, but they are more expensive here. There is nothing to do outside the compound, so going to restaurants is the only activity that you can do. Be prepared to gain weight. - Oct 2015
Everything is here, but it costs as much as in the States. - Oct 2015
Many fast food places and familiar American chains (McDonalds, Hardees, Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, FireGrill, Papa Johns, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Shake Shack, and Texas Road House (no pork). Costs are about 20% higher than in the U.S. There are plenty of Middle Eastern and Indian restaurants with relatively cheap prices. There are also some Asian restaurants (sushi, Japanese, Korean,...) - Aug 2015
All of them: IHOP, Cheesecake Factory, UNO Chicago pizza, Ruby Tuesday - of course, no wine or pork in the restaurants. - Feb 2014
Everything you can find in the U.S. is easily accessible here. Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, Appleby's, Burger King, KFC, and seemingly all the other chains. I'm not big on eating out, but my friends indicate there is no shortage of excellent upscale local restaurants with food ranging from Saudi to Western to choose from. - Dec 2013
Tons of U.S. chains, all at about U.S. cost range. Shawarma shops are plentiful, and the food is cheap. Hummus is disappointingly hard to find and is generally not good. - May 2013
All US fast food is available for comparable prices. - Nov 2010
