UkrainianEastVillageRestaurant

I've been here a number of times with friends and my parents - my father liked that he could talk Russian to the waiter to order. I usually get borscht with blini or stroganoff. They have an assortment of yummy dishes. The prices are very reasonable, and the decor is simply and nice. I look forward to coming back.

Pros: Ukrainian food you can't get other places

Cons: none

Posted 05/16/09

Rarely do I write reviews...so bear with me:

I remember coming here as a child and loving the food. Even now, the food is the truest in the area to that my grandmother and aunts prepare. I live out of the area, but try to come at least once a year. I especially love the borscht (which is the best I have been served in a restaurant) and the combination plates are nice when I take my friends want to try Ukrainian food. My personal favorite are the verniki. True, no salo...but I don't know how much of that they would sell (I can't imagine having it...my parents yes...me no). It is sad that there are not more places that serve Ukrainian food, especially in an area that was so Ukrainian in the 60s.

Service has been friendly and no, they do not rush you out.

I would not speak Russian/expect the staff to speak Russian in a place that advertises as a Ukrainian restaurant. True, many people from Ukraine speak Russian...but Ukrainian, similar as it is, is a different language.

This is definitely a place that you have to try if you are curious about Ukrainian food.

Posted 02/26/09

I'm from Ukraine, went out with my friends to this place last night.
It was a huge disappointment. Unfriendly service: The first thing a Czech(?) waitress told me was "Why do i think i can speak in Russian to her", when i started ordering in Russian.
First came bread, which was not fresh, as someone else has mentioned in their review.
Then the food came. They brought desert (blini) at the same time, for some reason.
Everything looked terrible and tasted bad. Maybe blini were ok, but the rest really like from the worst Ukrainian cook ever. Dry mashed potatoes, weird tasting sauce..
They do not bring away the plates after you've eaten, unless you ask them.
When we ordered vodka, it came on the rocks! Nobody ever drinks vodka like this in the Ukraine. What is this all about??

Pros: georgian wine

Cons: bad food, unfriendly service, bad atmosphere

Posted 12/17/08

I love the pierogies here. The prices are great and it's a nice cozy spot to come and hang out with friends or parents. They even bake their own Challah and regular bread! We shared blintzes for dessert and those were great. I highly recommend the strawberry ones. My friend had the scallops and those could have been better but the mashed potatoes (which I'm a huge fan of) were quite tasty.

BTW one of my friend's is a vegetarian and she walked away very happy. It's tough being a vegetarian and eating affordable food in NYC and this place had a bunch of dishes and entrees to chose from, aside from the standard "cooked veggies" options so popular at other spots.

They also have a great selection of beers (Ukrainian and other) and other drinks. I noticed that they had a huge party room downstairs so I'm thinking of having my HS reunion here. I asked and the party room is free if we order food, and having an actual open bar would be great.

Oh, btw there's no counter at this restaurant and I don't think they serve french fries so the review below by Mister Lessons must have been of Veselka. This is NOT veselka.

Recap: Great food, awesome prices and nice cozy atmosphere.

Posted 11/28/08

Are we all a bit too star struck (nearly 5 stars?) over this East Village institution? I believe we may be, and yet for some reason we continue to return time and again. Perhaps it is the comfort we get from the vegetarian combo platter or a cup of mushroom barley, but let's step back from our nostalgia for a moment and list some big problems with this restaurant: 1. The french fries are always horrific - they arrive to the table cold, some overcooked from double dunking while others undercooked. The grease is also used to deep fry kielbasa and other foods, imparting undesirable flavors to the all-accepting fries. The potato product used as french fries is substandard - at or below diner quality. What would Anthony Bourdain have to say?!? Its the simple things that count and getting them right makes all the difference. 2. The service, which regulars have come to live with, is often slow, disinterested and error-prone. 3. The line cooks should eat off-line and keep colorful topics to themselves, this includes the manager who scowls and dresses down tardy workers. 4. Zapping my stuffed cabbage in the microwave results in cold spots inside and no one wants that on a chilly January afternoon.5. Pricy? - NYC diners are quite pricey, so Veselka seems in step with that, but the price of many basic items can be add up to a home-cooked twenty bucks. Will I return? I cannot help myself. It is still Veselka and it does taste home-cooked (except the fries of course). My advise - sit at the counter - that way you can always hand back a mistake or crappy fries to the cook directly. They will love you for it!
-Mr. Lessons

Posted 11/11/08

I haven't tried the food but The tango classes were full of total beginners and worse they thought they were intermediate. I learned to dance in Buenos Aires and was really quite shocked at the level here. I suppose there might be some true dancers who come because the fridany milonga goes to 2:30 just like one in BA would. I left at 11:30.

Posted 10/26/08

I loved this place, I have been eating here for quite a long time.
There are so many options in Manhattan that some times you stop going to a place for a while with no reason.
Last Friday we went to this hidden restaurant again. I found the same good food: the stuffed cabadge, goulash, borsht, apple cakes,
I was happily surprised with 2 secrets about this place:
1) Amazing Beer form East Europe and so cheap.
2) On Fridays they open a big party space in the back with classes of Argentine Tango and dancing with Live Musicians.

We stayed with my girlfriend until 2 am! The people running the Friday nights here are the same that had the great "Belle Epoque" with Tango and Cuban Music on Broadway years ago.

By the way, something is wrong in the city when we allowed a beautiful landmark of the nightlife and private events like "La Belle Epoque" to closed down and be transformed into a Real Estate office? It was, without doubt the best little club to take a date for dining and dancing in the city.

Now that there is Entertainment in the back room we will be here quite often. What is better that pirogues, Tango and great beer?. I hope they also bring back the legendary Cuban music nights as well

Pros: Great prices, good food, great entertainment on Fridays

Cons: Sometimes the smell of the kitchen invades the room

Posted 07/02/08

I've been coming here since I was 6, when we escaped to America back in 1969, after the Russians came and invaded in the Prague Spring of '68. Ukrainian PLAST at the Ukrainian National Home upstairs after Ukrainian School at St. George's around the corner, my father used to play chess and my mother recited Taras Shevchenko (and a myriad of other Ukrainian Poets) here and we always had the best, true Ukrainian food made by Ukrainian chefs from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Those that say that its not as good as Brighton Beach should go back to Brooklyn and eat their Russian (or Russified Ukrainian Food) there! The combination platter is the best selection of meat, saurkraut, cheese, or potatoe Varenyky (Pierogies), Holubci (Stuffed Cabbage), and Kolbasa with Saurkraut; Borscht is just like my late mother's, Barley Mushroom soup to die for, Potato Pancakes, Letcho, Cheese Blintzes, Blinchiki, Bread, and then some ... all for very reasonable prices. The Tango dancing on friday nights brings an added flair and introduces non-Ukies to Ukrainian culture and dance ... yes Ukrainians can dance Tango too. My sister and I used to dance the Hopak and other Ukrainian dances here taught by our own prima ballerina, Roma Pryma-Bohachevska, who mentored two generations of Ukrainian children and young adults and am sure she appreciates that dance to this day is an integral part of the hall below the restaurant!. The owner, Josef, is fantastic and if you want salo, venegret or olivier, Joseph will get it for you or you can go back to Russia's Little Odessa in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach and keep your Russified opinions to yourself! This is in response to eynatcitychick, kb21, and yekaterina101 opinions which are completely ridiculous and unfounded and if you don't believe me come and see for yourself while I have the Klitchko brothers visit the non-believing Russified propagandists!

Pros: Eveything!

Cons: Nothing!

Posted 05/14/08

I eat in this restaurant almost every day. Very good food: the stuffed cabadge, borsht, apple cake is delicious. Fruit drink is great.
One think is not good : restrooms in basement.
I liove this place!!

Posted 02/03/08

As a Ukrainian I can give this place a fair evaluation. The bread wasn't fresh, and Ukrainian food goes hand and hand with fresh Ukrainian bread. What bothered me the most is that amount of dishes that had nothing to do with Ukraine. The restaurants' credit card machine broke earlier this morning which they did not inform us about before we set down for dinner. In this day and age people do not carry much cash around especially not enough to cover a dinner for three. The waitress informed us about this problem only after we tried to give her the credit card. I gave this restaurant 3 stars due to inadequate serves and the fact that there were more foreign then ethnic dishes. If you do decide to visit this restaurant I would highly recommend the cheese vareniki as well as nalisniki(crapes). Overall this place is the only one outside Brighton Beach that offers a good amount of true to taste Ukrainian food.

Pros: inadequate serves, more foreign then ethnic dishes

Cons: good Ukrainian food outside of Brighton Beach

Posted 10/24/07

I agree with the previous review. Its not authentic Ukrainian, much like Veselka. Whats up with these places claiming to be Ukrainian authentic when most of their menu is American cuisine? I was definitely dissapointed in the menu (which is not cheap either) but the borscht is good (even through my grandma makes better). This is the only place outside of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn that serves free (delicious) Ukrainian bread. They try too hard with the decor, and there are tango lessons in a room next door so its loud and people keep going through the restaurant all the time.

Pros: good bread

Posted 04/06/07

What restaurant can claim to be Ukrainian if salo, venegret or olivier do not appear on the menu? With the exception of vareniki, bline, borsht, and golubtsi (stuffed cabage leaves) the "Ukrainian East Village Restaurant" was nothing more than your average New York deli/diner. But even those dishes, just like the restaurant, were Ukrainian in name only- the borsht was sweet and the bline (blitzes) were fried, southern style.

Posted 07/26/06