The Cheap End Is Better
Of the 379 places here with a low price band, 68 per cent clear 4.7 on Google. Of the 203 with a high one, 64 per cent do. The cheap half of Bali is not the compromise half — it rates higher.
Nine hundred and forty-four places in this guide publish a price band. Three hundred and seventy-nine of them top out at Rp 125,000 and two hundred and three of them start at Rp 250,000, with three hundred and sixty-two sitting in the middle and taking no side. Compare the two ends — rated by the same public on the same platform — and the result is not close, in the direction most people do not expect.
The cheap group has a median Google rating of 4.80. The expensive group has 4.70. Sixty-eight per cent of the cheap places clear 4.7; sixty-four per cent of the expensive ones do. Paying four times as much moves the median rating down a tenth of a point.
That is not an argument that expensive restaurants in Bali are bad — a hundred and twenty-nine of them clear 4.7, and the ones that do are on this site too. It is an argument that price carries almost no information about whether you will enjoy the meal, which means using it as a filter is throwing away the two hundred and fifty-seven places on this list for no reason.
What the list is made of says something too. A hundred and thirty-nine of the two hundred and fifty-seven are cafés and bakeries against a hundred and sixteen restaurants, which is the coffee scene showing up in the numbers: Bali's cheap end is unusually strong at breakfast and unusually thin at dinner.
Geographically it spreads far wider than the expensive end does. Denpasar has twenty-five entries, Pererenan twenty-five, Ubud twenty-four and Canggu twenty-two, with Mengwi and Tanah Lot carrying fifteen and fourteen — places that barely register when you sort the island by spend.
One honest limit on all of the above. The band is Google's, not ours, and a place with no published band fails both tests rather than landing somewhere in between: an unknown is not a claim in either direction. So this compares the two ends of the 944 places that publish a band — it says nothing about the 619 that do not.
KOPI ZEEN Kuta
Cafe, Coffee shop in Kuta. 4.8 on Google across 7.2k reviews. Rp 25–50K.
Acai Queen Ubud
Açaí shop, Cafe in Ubud. 4.9 on Google across 5.4k reviews. Rp 75–125K.
Wong Fei Hung Sunset Road, Authentic Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum 黄飞鸿（Sunset Road) 港式烧腊粥粉面饭店 Legian
Restaurant in Legian. 4.9 on Google across 4.2k reviews. Rp 50–75K.
MY.BERRY CAFE Coffee & Eats Ungasan
Cafe in Ungasan. 4.9 on Google across 3.9k reviews. Rp 75–125K.
Compound Warung Ubud
Balinese restaurant, Indonesian restaurant in Ubud. 4.8 on Google across 4.2k reviews. Rp 50–125K.
Kenji Ramen (Menya Kenji) Berawa Tibubeneng
Bar, Cocktail bar in Tibubeneng. 4.9 on Google across 3.1k reviews. Rp 75–125K.
Sugriwa’s Warung Ubud
Restaurant in Ubud. 4.8 on Google across 2.7k reviews. Rp 50–100K.
Dough Darlings Canggu Tibubeneng
Cafe in Tibubeneng. 4.9 on Google across 1.7k reviews. Rp 25–75K.
Café Sukka Baturiti Tabanan
Cafe, Coffee shop in Tabanan. 4.9 on Google across 1.6k reviews. Rp 25–75K.
Warung Sabar Amed
Balinese restaurant, Seafood restaurant in Amed. 4.9 on Google across 1.5k reviews. Rp 50–100K.
Bebek Goreng H. Slamet Legian
Indonesian restaurant, Delivery service in Legian. 4.7 on Google across 2.6k reviews. Rp 50–75K.
Coffee & Thyme Gili Trawangan Gili Trawangan
Coffee shop, Cafe in Gili Trawangan. 4.7 on Google across 2.2k reviews. Rp 50–125K.
Dapur Kecil Lembongan Nusa Penida
Restaurant in Nusa Penida. 4.9 on Google across 1.1k reviews. Rp 25–50K.
The Tropical Ants by Goldmine Ubud
Cafe, Restaurant in Ubud. 4.7 on Google across 1.9k reviews. Rp 50–125K.
And the rest
The Global Village Foundation KafeSingarajaCafe4.9 ★ 1.1k · Rp 50–100KView on mapGoogle Maps
De Morelos MexicanaCangguMexican restaurant4.9 ★ 1.0k · Rp 75–100KView on mapGoogle Maps
CataVaca JatiluwihTabananBalinese restaurant4.8 ★ 1.2k · Rp 50–75KView on mapGoogle Maps
Cookies Coffee Shop and WarungNusa PenidaVegetarian restaurant4.7 ★ 1.6k · Rp 50–75KView on mapGoogle Maps
Nasi Tékor BaliDenpasarBalinese restaurant4.7 ★ 1.6k · Rp 25–50KView on mapGoogle Maps
Ubud Coffee Roastery - UbudUbudCoffee shop4.7 ★ 1.6k · Rp 25–50KView on mapGoogle Maps