Ukranian East Village Rstrnt

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.

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

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.

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

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!