I never got to try their infamous meatballs as there were confusing queues all over the shop with no clear direction on where to go to get them and pay for them! I understand that the confusion is done on purpose to keep people in the shop as long as possible but that's not how I like to shop unfortunately.
There’s a trick to navigating IKEA, the one here, anyway, and I guess they’re all similar.
When you first step in, there’s a main path you’re supposed to follow, and it’ll wind you up and down and over and around all their displays…through kitchenware, home office, bedrooms, home decor, all that.
At some point, it’ll lead you up to the cafeteria, so you can go up there and have your meatballs and pastry and tea, get refreshed, then back on the path to finish up through the seasonal and foods section and then the registers to pay.
However…if you’re observant, you’ll spy little secret doorways here and there, and those are shortcuts, allowing you to go straight from kitchens to bedding, completely skipping home office, for example. There are several of those in place, and it just so happens, since the cafeteria is popular on its own, that the secret stairway/lift to that is very near the beginning of the whole adventure.