The concentration of restaurants along Jomas iela is the main dining scene in Jurmala. The offering ranges from Latvian home cooking — smoked fish, grey peas with bacon, dark rye bread — to international menus aimed at the summer tourist trade. Quality varies, but the better places take ingredients seriously, drawing on the Latvian larder of forest mushrooms, fresh dill, smoked meats, and Baltic fish.
Tables spill onto the street from late May, and in peak summer the atmosphere is festive and busy. Prices are noticeably lower than Riga's Old Town for comparable food, which attracts day-trippers as much as overnight guests. Booking is advisable on summer weekends, when the street is at its most crowded.
Look for restaurants that prominently feature Latvian rather than pan-European menus — the local dishes are generally more interesting and better executed than the generic tourist fare. Lunch specials (dienas piedāvājums) at the less tourist-facing places offer good value.