Oda - Traditional Albanian Cuisine in Elbasan

This would be the place to take visitors for traditional Albanian Food. The decor is unique & the Albanian music makes it a fun place. I came here several times with friends. First time when I tried lamb head & intestine & they were tasty. I liked their raki, lamb, cornbread with yogurt, veggies. I love their veggie soup. The service was good.

Great food in a great atmosphere on wooden tables under clementine trees. A lovely spot to relax and enjoy. There is no seafood but great authentic Albanian delicacies. We had the white cheese, filled cabbage leaves, filled peppers, meatballs and country chicken with rice. Everything was delicious! There happened to be live music too which inspired the locals to perform a spontaneous dance inbetween the tables. Fantastic experience!

A great restaurant to get a taste of the Albanian cuisine. What I loved about it is the fact that it had indoor and outdoor tables, as well as a lot of cats around. 🐈Great for cat lovers! Also, the food is tasty and served fast.

Lovely local food, with friendly staff. The live music is great. We got to dance with some local women which was such a good experience. Overall, great food + atmosphere 👌😋😀

This place lives up to its reputation - beautiful setting, delicious traditional food, and friendly staff make for a fantastic evening. Prices are also very reasonable!

This is one of the most popular spots for traditional Albanian food and usually they have live music on the weekends as well. You can find all the traditional food items from Albania here. They also have lamb, spinach pies, eggplant and stuffed bell peppers. Wine is not very expensive here either so I recommend it. The seating is outdoor among lime trees which adds to the atmosphere

A very good traditional restaurant with amazing friendly staff and delicious food at reasonable prices.... They have Wi-Fi too!I am surprised some people say its a tourist trap!!

We ate here a few times because we enjoyed it so much. The restaurant has a beautiful patio outside with trees for shade. I felt welcome as soon as we walked in the first time. The food is traditional and reasonably priced. The service and ambiance are top notch. Highly recommend.

Very cute cats, great garden to sit in, very friendly service and great vegan and plant-based food options for an excellent price. Definitely a must visit if you don’t (want toeat meat or are vegetarian/ vegan in Tirana.

If you don’t want to be disappointed just book a table.. gr8 traditional food.. service not the best because is always very busy !!but for sure they need more staff :)

Beautiful restaurant. Traditional style and food. Food really good. Plenty of choice. Didnt understand what some of the dishes were but choices made were lovely. The bread is gorgeous. Entertainment was on but you pay for it on your bill. Not expensive though. 250 lek each.

A very cute place for meal. Especially garden. We tried few regional dishes - head of lamb, tave dheu and kolloface. The lambs head was a culinary curiosity, but tave dheu and kolloface were delicious. We ordered also fresh vegetable salad. Good beer. There is live music in the evenings. Its worth coming here.

Excellent place for traditional Albanian food. Great outdoor seating area. Very friendly staff and extremely affordable prices! Has WiFi, too. It has good vegetarian options too (and potentially a couple are vegan, too). Definitely worth visiting for a traditional Albanian cuisine experience. :)

Delicious traditional food in a lovely outdoor seating area. Large portions, but even if you over order, youll find a way to finish it.

Honestly the most amazing tiny little local spot. Very simple menu but delicious as garden area and rooms side super cute wouldn’t eat anywhere else in the city

Great food, very delicious and at a reasonable price for Albania, which means cheap in general. Definitely recommend the chicken in saç and the tav dhehu!

Food and atmosphere (slow roasted lamb and a gorgeous lime tree lined courtyard with live local musicwere incredible. Cute kittens make there way between tables begging scraps. Overall it was perfection. Reservations recommended.

Doesn’t worth to visit. Food quality is fair. Atmosphere is ok. What’s really terrible in this restaurant is that they don’t accept payment by credit card. It’s cash only!Restaurant entrance is not on the Main Street.Lamp dish is good although it’s fatty. Chicken is not good and better to avoid it.

Good restaurant for tourists if you want to try out some Albanian food. In a hidden street. Better to book beforehand if you don’t want to wait for too long. Very nice atmosphere if you want to enjoy music at the same time.The food was excellent but we found 2 times hair in our food… we told the waiter but he didn’t make any comments.Also the sits on the side (on the rockare not comfortable if you want to sit there for a long time.

atmosphere - yes. all guests are tourists. I ordered 2 dishes: 1 was ok, 2nd - I didnt eat.I wouldnt go again.

It was a tourist trap.Went there with 2 of my friends, 1 American, one Belgian. The food wasnt very well prepared, the server hate to explain to us what any of the traditional foods actually are. They didnt pick up our plates. They didnt respond to any signals we gave them to come, even screaming. The locals payed less than us and got treated better. There were bees everywhere. Then when i was fed up and wanted to pay, they couldnt even present me with a functional bill. They could only show me the total. They told me it was a printer error.One of these things i could excuse, but not all of them at the same time.If you want some of the Instagram worthy pics, i would just get a drink here.Absolutely ruined the night for me.Ps: everything there is just something with rice.

The food was decent.. the stuffed eggplant was awful and didn’t enjoy it at all… the waitress was really nice and friendly

Absolutely fantastic place and delicious regional food. This restaurant is hidden in the backyard but there are directions to enter.

Nice location but unfortunately it went downhill from there. Very slow and at the same time extremely stressed service. Decent food but for the price not worth it. Very touristic - all the guests were foreign. Better to spend your money somewhere else

Best restaurant in Tirana. Loved the music, food, staff, literally everything... made my birthday there. Everyone was satisfied, we danced all night.

I nice place, Ive been there a couple of times.💵 Accepts only cash what is not too convenient.🥙 Baked lamb tastes amazingly. Stuffed peppers are very good. The rest is not as good. If you want a healthy meal, you need to order everything separately: meat, salad, side dish. Portions are big and these 3 meals would be good for 2 persons.🍷 Wine is okay but feels a bit strong. Twice, we have got 25cl and it was too much for 2 person.⭐️ The place is not a highest standard but is okay for its price. Definitely worth checking once.Adding a fresher menu in case one needs 🙂

Tucked out of sight, just a few steps down an alleyway, awaits a cozy restaurant serving traditional Albanian dishes.We started the meal with Pasha soup with Meatballs - this soup is rich and creamy, essentially a bechemel broth with a touch of lemon. Absolutely fantastic and something we want learn to cook. We also enjoyed a large appetizer of “stuffed grape leaves”; these rice filled treats were possibly the best we’ve ever had!Next was the “Lamb cooked in woodenstove”, three different cuts of lamb, we think parts of shank, shoulder and rib. The shank was a little on the dry side but flavourful. The other two cuts were more joint and tasty. It’s a very, very simple meat dish with minimal spices, served with a basic yellow boiled potato - naturally sweet and creamy but naked as is often the tradition in this part of the world. While this dish was enjoyed, we probably wouldn’t repeat it.Last, we had the Head of Lamb - 100% an “I dare you” order. It is, in fact, the skull of a lamb split in half, with the accompanying meats, tongue, brain and eyeballs. This is a dish for people who like the taste of offal (liver, kidney, etc). The brain imparts a bit of flavour on the whole thing. There isn’t a lot of meat and it’s a good bit of work to scrape it off the various parts of the skull, the interesting part being how different the meat is in flavour and texture - for example the jaw versus the cheek. We’ve always wanted to try it, because we have a firm rule of trying everything once. And once was probably all it needed!We are eager to return and try other dishes. The vegetable dishes are particularly popular here and look very rich tasting, filling and interesting. It was a wonderful night of being food voyeurs!There’s a large back patio with a stone floor and lots of trees growing out of the ground, providing a nice cooling shade, and a good amount of spacing between tables. There are also charming crochet umbrellas and lights hung among the trees creating a festive and attractive atmosphere. On our particular visit, there was live music - a band of talented singers and musicians filled the space with lively folksy tunes. Every now and then a couple could no longer fight the urge to dance and let themselves have a little fun!If you don’t have a reservation a table will be hard to find at peak hours. We got lucky, because the two of us agrees to share a table for 4 with two other strangers if another pair walked in without a reservation. We were seated with a couple of very nice Italian ladies and the table was large enough we each had our private conversations and evening.

Overated - I would not go back nor recommend. Food was a disappointment.I would give 5 stars👏👏to the wait staff for working there. We were provided menus 25 mins after being seated, but the waiter was friedly and apologised for attending to us later. To his defence he was being overworked just like all the other staff and on a 35c day.

Oda is one of the rare restaurants offering what is labelled as Albanian traditional food. Its mostly popular with visitors and tourists. Locals rarely venture here. The food might be labelled as traditional, but the offerings will appeal to a very limited audience. I visited because I was curious. Theres a lot of room for improvement.

Very traditional, nice seated area at the back of the restaurant outside when the weather is good. The food was delicious and cooked very well. No fussy eaters this wont be the place for you, but if you want to try authentic Albanian cuisine this is it.

This traditional Albanian restaurant was very tasty. Small menu consisting of lamb and veggies dishes. We had lamb, stuffed peppers and veggies. Was all tasty. Sat outside in courtyard which was nice. Friendly staff. Menu in English.

It is hidden behind the (blackjewellery shop, not visible from the main road. Very basic authentic local food. Dont expect fancy presentation. Reasonable price.

Traditional restaurant, only 10 minutes walk from town. Some Albanian restaurants in Tirana don’t have a huge number of vegetarian options, but here there were many. Customers were a mix of tourists and locals.We were recommended this place by our Albanian tour guide.

The place is a little hard to find as it’s tucked away from the main street, we were lucky a nice local saw the we’re kind of lost and showed us the way.The food taste is great, we ordered rice, peppered rice, lamb, grilled vegetables honey yoghurt and a few sodas. Portion and price is below the traditional norm (as a local Albanian), you can get more for the price somewhere else. But if you are a tourist wanting to try local cuisines I guess it’s okay.Overall, for a one time experience, it’s worth it.

It seemed to be a restaurant that many tourists visit.You can eat traditional Albanian cuisine.Its a very cute restaurant with a renovated house, a cozy space, and traditional costumes and decorations.I loved all the foods.I forgot to take a picture, but the lamb meat was delicious too!The dish of rice wrapped in cabbage had a taste that made me feel nostalgic.The location was hard to find, but its a nice restaurant that makes you forget the noise outside.And i shouldnt forget to say this, that the price was surprisingly reasonable.

This is the best place you can visit when you are hungry,eager to taste albanian food and meet awesome people. Everything was perfect,from the place, food, people working there!! This is must taste! Faleminderit❤️

Oda is true local restaurant. If you are in Tirana you have to come. The prices are good, food excellent and special shoots. The workers are nice to you and you can pay by card or cash. Feeling like you are in the village with amazing atmosphere. ✅✅✅

During 12 day visit to Tirana we came here 2 times. Food is fantastic, not extensive menu, very authentic environment, family atmosphere, we kept trying multiple dishes. I would strongly recommend .

This might be the cutest and most unique restaurant in Tirana.The atmosphere, the music, staff friendliness and the restaurants fully traditional meals menu makes it the best.I ate there 2 times, and every time the meat was super tender and side dishes very flavorful.The best restaurant in Tirana.

Very good traditional food. The youngest waiter was very kind and professional!The lamb was good but the best was the soup and the eggplants

Great atmosphereThe owner is a beautiful Albanian ladyHer daughter speaks English fluentlyThey serve traditional Albanian dishesThe food is so so deliciousBetter call for reservation before you goA must visit when you are in Tirana

Great traditional food! If you want to explore the Albanian cuisine, come here.This is a restaurant for those who wants to fell new tastes and textures. The tave plenci (lamb stomachis addictive, the stuffed peppers are excellent too.I ate kokoreci in Greece and Turkey but these are definitely the best.This is not a restaurant for those who usually eat pizza and burgers.Friendly owner.

A small restaurant hidden from the main street, everything we tasted was incredible from the soup to the liver&cheese! You must try the eggplant stuffed with vegetables !!!Please forget about the toursits places near the market, walk 5min and enjoy !!

Place is okay, food was tasty when we have been there.We was turning back to this restaurant this year because we really liked the food last year, but we will not go anymore and I would not recommend the place to anyone as dont like the attitude of the owner lady...not friendly at all and made us to feel like they doing favour to us, she looks very arrogant....nose in the sky. They made us feel we are not welcome there and will definitely not go back anymore.We decided to choosw Era restaurant in Blloku instead, lovely place with very friendly staff. In addition if you want to try more traditional food you should choose Era, they have plenty food, better than this arrogant place....

We came quite late so had to wait and then when we got seated quite a lot had gone but was our fault! If you want a table outside try and book. Had the fresh salad and lamb cooked in a wood stove, was very tasty and rice was perfect. The raki is very strong but all reasonable prices. Wish I could have tried the aubergine and the spinach pie, next time!

The most pretentious place I have been to in my life. If you come here without a reservation, you will be made to feel horrible. Like you dont deserve to be here and how dare you show up without booking a table in advance. Try that if you dont believe me.Also the food is pretty mediocre. The chicken is only served full, no small portion and costs 1500 lek, like you cant get a small portion of chicken at all. What a genius idea.Oh and yeah the toilet was probably from 10th century , you can check the picture. Its just a hole in the ground.I hope they start serving some better food and train their servers to have less condescending attitude .However the rice inside the pepper stuffed rice was nice.I would recommend to avoid this place and walk to the farmers market (100 metresand go to any restaurant there. Much more worth it.

An authentic food, very tasty and unique the lamb meat tastes exactly how it should be tasting if not beyond. The stuffed eggplant is awesome l.

Nice Albanian food, lots of vegetarian options. Stuffed aubergine is very good and it’s a big portion too. Baked cottage cheese with peppers is nice. Kokorec (lamb intestineis okay, I personally didn’t like the flavor even though I tried it before. Beer is good

You cannot find a similar restaurant in terms of environment and food. It is located in the heart of Tirana but still isolated from the busy streets and noise of Tirana.I recommend this place because its warm, authentic and very pleasant. The prices are fine and worthwhile.

We found this restaurant on happy cow as it has vegan options. They are opening at 13 on Sundays and we came at 11 (before our flight). The owner (I guesslet us in and served us food and drinks despite it was closed. We were so happy! She was super friendly and nice. She didnt speak any English word and we Albanian but we understood each other perfectly :)The food was excellent! Really nice Albanian vegan food.The leek pie, we took with us as it was cheese inside but she told us so our grandfathers enjoyed it ;)Thank you so much again for your hospitality, well done!