Good Eats: Ikea Restaurant & Papa John's?

On our trip to Ikea we arrived around 11:30. It’s definitely a good idea to go before lunch because when we were leaving around 2:00 there was a line of cars all the way to the traffic circle (which won’t mean anything unless you’ve been there but it’s far).

So of course we had to make a stop at the Ikea Restaurant. I’m not talking about the Ikea Bistro or “Exit Cafe” that they have near the cash registers (pizza, hot dogs, ice cream) but the Real McCoy upstairs. Your choice of Swedish meatballs, chicken tenders, breaded salmon, spinach crepes, buffalo chicken wraps and a half-rack of ribs. Plus a couple different salads, garlic bread, cornbread and chocolate cake & apple pie for dessert.

We both got the Swedish meatball meal which included 15 meatballs in sauce (more like gravy than marinara), mashed potatoes, a side salad and a soda. Guess how much… $5.99 per. Plus we got 2 pieces of cornbread (at an exorbitant $.99 per). Now, you know where I’m heading with this. I wouldn’t be overly excited about the prices if the food sucked. And it’s true, the food was fantastic. Even more so paired with that price. I’m so used to places like the Museum of Science that crank up the prices and crank down the taste. Ikea is the exact opposite. It’s almost like the restaurant is a business unto itself and they actually try to please the customer.

I know it sounds ridiculous but I highly recommend it (the meatballs at least). If I lived closer I might go there just for meals and not even shop.

We also tried Papa John's for the first time in years (I've only had it once in life) because I signed up in time to win the free one topping pizza and 2 liter soda from their Super Bowl coin flip promotion. It didn't taste like "better" ingredients or a "better" pizza but it wasn't bad. We might start tossing it into our pizza rotation (not that we eat it weekly or anything).