EBG Rating: 7.6/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A superb selection of Belgian classics. While the tap selection is good, combined with what’s on offer in bottles you really can’t go far wrong. True specialists may moan that there is not enough in modern styles or from independent producers and they may have a point there.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
A main bar room greets you on arrival, wood panelled and decorated with Benelux signage, but the pub continues to a back room in the same style with more space, but still a pubby feel.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Convivial, relaxed and casual, it is genuinely like entering through a sliding door into Belgium itself.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️
Food, snacks.

Value For Money:
❤️❤️
Certainly on the higher end, though not extortionate and there is no alternative we know of in Riga centre where you can find the same quality for cheaper or in as good an environment.

Description:
Established in 2011, something of a peak-era for the profile of Belgian beer, Bon Vivant offers a blend of Grand Café, Estaminet and Brown Café in a pubby setting. While a restaurant, food is not obligatory, certainly outside of usual mealtimes, when the atmosphere is quite relaxed.

A main bar room greets you on arrival, wood panelled and decorated with Benelux signage, but the pub continues to a back room in the same style with more space, but still a pubby feel.

We are always cagey about including theme bars that feature abroad – you aren’t in Riga to sit somewhere designed to feel Belgium after all, so we set a high threshold for venues of this kind.

Bon Vivant is noticeably a step above the vast majority of theme pubs, in the authenticity of its appearance, the helpfulness and efficiency of staff, the ambience and atmosphere inside and the quality of its wares.

As other reviews attest to, food and drinks don’t come cheap here, but this is the heart of Riga old town, and you’ll do well to find cheaper for the same wares, and certainly won’t find a venue as nice to consume those in.

(Added April 2026)