Hands down one of the nest shish Kanin spots in Brooklyn …read more Salads are always fresh and good As well. Been here about ten times now. Definitely way better then the two spots across the street Gulchataue and Sherdor!! Both have bad service and the kabobs are nasty at sherdor and the meat Is tough at Gul.

They have really good garlic fries and a pastry with meat in it I think it's called samsa, very…read moregood. They do take a while to prepare your order but it's worth the wait, they ja e very good lamb and you can dine in or take out, they have music on weekends, very good overall.

I am not Russian, nor do I pretend to know the ways of Eastern European cooking intimately, but I…read moream a frugal food idea and I go to local haunts wherever I am to sample local cuisine. What better place to get comfort food than to head to Brighton Beach? A sure sign that I am in the right place is that I stick out like a sore-thumb -- being the only Asian person in this seat of babushka's is always reassuring. I used to come here regularly after a long day of teaching, and while the amount of containers I always leave with is a bit disparaging as a science teacher trying to save the Earth, I can take each visit as a "cheat day" if it means I get my beet salad, fish with ketchup, and vitrushki's. Really, there are no frills here, and I don't know how "authentic" the food is, but it's cheap, delicious, and filling, and the workers have always been extremely kind, atypical for what I thought of from the stoicism of most of Eastern Europe.

My favorite spot to buy Russian food during my trips from Manhattan. Great salad bar - probably the…read morebest Olivier in the area. Great stuffed peppers, chicken cutlets etc. Wish they would bring back the cold tongue dish! Also, the frozen pelmeni are on the expensive side compared to other stores nearby - would buy these here too otherwise. The staff is always courteous and they accept credit cards. Usually not very crowded.

This place was recommended to me by an Uzbek friend. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, it seems…read morelike type of place people bring their families. The restaurant is decorated beautifully and the tableware feels so special and fancy. I ordered a tandoor baked samsa, a pumpkin samsa, and a small lagman soup. The beef samsa had a shatteringly crisp exterior, well laminated with many flaky layers. The pastry was almost impossibly light and crisp. The interior contained roughly chopped beef well-seasoned with black pepper, onion and cumin seeds. It had ample filling and was warm and satisfying. The pumpkin samsa had a heavier, slightly greasy texture as I believe it was not baked in the tandoor oven. The filling was not mushy and the cubed pumpkin had a pleasant texture. The sweetness of the pumpkin was leveled out by savory diced onion. The pastry on this samsa was chewier and it provided a nice contrast to lighter beef samsa. I can't decide which I liked more. The soup was fantastic. The noodles appear homemade and the vegetables on top are very soft but not mushy. The pieces of beef are remarkably tender. The broth is marbled with red stained oil and the rich, beefy, savoriness is tempered by some type of bright acidity. The distinct aroma of fresh dill permeates the soup. The crunchy fresh herbs add an additional texture to the soup. I was surprisingly full at the end of this meal and the prices were extremely reasonable. If you're looking to try some Uzbek food in Sheepshead Bay I would certainly recommend this place.

This place was once upon a time a good restaurant for Uzbek food. now it's horrible in many aspects…read morelike the food and service.

Short review- if you're looking specifically for shashlik/shish kabobs, this is the best of the…read moremany Azeri spots. The lulya here, along with the chalahach/lamb chops and especially the sturgeon, are outstanding. The rest of the menu is good also, such as their very tasty kutaba, but go here for the kabobs. I went to this Azeri/Azerbaijani restaurant a while ago with a large party. As per most other spots serving either Central Asian food, Russian food, or food from the surrounding regions, you'll have a different experience if you're with someone who speaks one of a few languages (Russian/something similar and/or the local ones depending on which restaurant of course) as well as if you're in a party or not as there's party platters and stuff to order instead. In terms of service, it was friendly, and the inside was pretty casual. A guy was singing live music eventually, which is pretty normal for these spots. We had a few salads and cold appetizers to begin with. For salads, there was an avocado salad with fresh tomatoes as well as a Greek salad topped with basturma, which were both good. There was also cheese served with tomatoes, as well as an excellent version of eggplant rolls/nigvziani badrijani stuffed with walnuts and spices. The last cold appetizer was a tasty version of soslu patlıcan, a dish of Turkish origin with mashed eggplant, tomatoes, and various other spices. There were also two variants of kutaba, which is a type of stuffed pancake. My preference, as per other times, was the meat version, which had lamb and onions inside and was topped with a generous amount of sumac. It was tender and well-filled, though I think the one at Village Cafe is a little bit better. There was also a good vegetarian version, which was refreshing and nice to eat in between bites of all the richer foods. The big platters came out next, consisting of their specialty, which are the various shashlik/shish kabobs. For this place in particular, the best type of kabob is their ridiculously good sturgeon with generously large pieces of grilled fish served with pomegranate molasses (of course,) along with rice and onions with some sumac on it. It is meaty and tender and perfectly grilled. There was also a large meat platter with very good chalahach/lamb chops, along with very tasty lulya (ground lamb,) chicken, beef, and some liver, which would be for some people a bit undercooked, but I found it to be fine. Other hot dishes included potatoes and mushrooms, along with some fries, which were fine, though I didn't really bother with them anyway, as I was already pretty stuffed. For more home-cooked dishes, I would probably recommend Village Cafe more, as there's more of a selection. However, if you're looking for grilled Central Asian style meats, I haven't found a better spot yet, and I've been to a large number of them, from Azeri spots like this one to Bukharan ones to other places.

To begin let me say that I have no experience with food from Azerbaijan, so I have no basis to…read morecompare the food from this restaurant with any other similar restaurant. I would just like to say that the food, service, and ambience were all very good quality at this establishment. The food was delicious and the experience was made more pleasant by the helpfulness of the server who patiently explained all the dishes and beverages. The food was well prepared, plentiful and delicious. a few of the standouts were the dolmas, the sauteed onions, mushrooms and potatoes, the bread and the plov. The Azerbaijani tea was also tasty and a unique experience. Altogether, it was a delicious lunch.

Behind a retro blue awning sits a restaurant dear to Brighton beach and to me! Ive been coming here…read morewith my family since I was a child so the food, vibes, and TVs playing endless Russian music are so nostalgic for me. Recently, I took a friend here who is not familiar at all with Eastern European food and she loved all of the dishes. The cutlets were perfectly seasoned, and the buckwheat was buttery and warm. It tasted just like what I eat at home. We also had the sweet cheese vareniki which tasted desert-like and were so decadent with the sour cream. The Compot had a refreshing fruit flavor and paired so well with our meal. The service was quick, and we were able to request extra plates to share our order.

A friend who grew up in the Bronx had never gone to Brighton Beach. 'C'mon,' I said. 'Let's go!'…read more We didn't start off with a bang. Delicious elsewhere, their Ukrainian borscht -- one of my favorites -- fell a bit short. G ordered lobster bisque. Compared to a restaurant in Florida, Oceanview's soup had minimal lobster. Her rating, a measly '2 stars.' G's chicken kebob with grilled vegetables was as good as what I had here before. This time I ordered cutlets, fried with chopped chicken. It was okay, jazzed up with G's hot sauce. I won't get it again. With a glass of wine and a table outside, we enjoyed taking everything in: a heated argument between two Russian men cursing each other over parking. (It was like a skit from 'Saturday Night Live.') A table of locals chain-smoking ... I didn't think anyone smoked anymore. And of course, the rumble of the Q train above which is practically a signature of Brighton Beach. Lunch was actually pricey which is why we avoided both cafes on the boardwalk. In retrospect, we should've splurged on a scenic view for a few dollars more. 3.5 stars.

Short recommendations: Liver "Le Cream," Siberian Pelmeni, Spanish-Style Meat…read more As per the name's direct translation, Stolovaya is a Soviet style canteen restaurant. The place has been open for many years, and I had passed by their quirky-looking interior several times prior to going there recently with a group. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the space started quiet, but got decently loud and packed as the night went on. To drink, a few of us had a pitcher of Kompot, which is sour cherry flavored and decently priced at $9 for a pitcher, but way too sweet for my liking. Along with kompot, there are also sodas, water, hard liquor, and beer, with most of the current beers being German imports, including $9 for a giant pour of Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, which isn't a bad deal at all. In terms of food, I preferred the appetizers. They gave us some dark rye bread and butter to begin. As some of the vareniki were not available, we started with some Siberian Pelmeni, which consisted of 25 pieces of pelmen for the very reasonable $9.95. Along with the obligatory smetana/sour cream, we added some free grilled onions on top, and they were plump and tasty. I guess my only complaint would be that they felt a little bit watery, as perhaps they weren't drained properly, but at the price point and flavor, I can easily forgive that. The star of the night was surprisingly the $14.95 Liver "Le Cream," listed as warm chicken livers over greens. The liver was tender and tasty, and the cream sauce had a nice light mix of spices and herbs, including some horseradish or mustard or something similar for a bit of tang. Along with said liver/cream/greens, the dish also contained toasted sunflower seeds, which added a nice texture. This was excellent. We also ordered the Greek Salad for $9.95, which was different than a typical version in a nice way. Instead of a block of feta, the cheese was grated, which coated the various vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives in a delightfully salty mixture. I also liked the lack of lettuce, making it more similar to the traditional horitaki/village salad. My least favorite appetizer was their version of Veal Tongue Salad, or salad "Tashkent" for $8.95. The price was nice, but it lacked flavor compared to some other spots, with Tashkent Supermarket among other spots making much better versions. It was fine, but I would fill up on other dishes. The only other cheaper thing that I wouldn't recommend would be the $7.95 Lamb Kebab. The portion size was fine, but the meat wasn't particularly tender or super flavorful. The side satsebeli/tomato sauce helped, but I would recommend the various nearby Central Asian or Georgian spots for better shashlik instead. It was alright. The rest of the dishes were entrees, so they came with a choice of sides, which included either mashed potatoes, buckwheat, or rice. While I like buckwheat, another person was allergic, and some others dislike it, so my choice was voted out. We mostly got some decent mashed potatoes or some tasty rice, which I believe was cooked in some type of stock as it was very flavorful. They also came with a nice vitamin salad, a crunchy and slightly sour mixture of cabbage, carrots, and peas with some parsley, which helped with the overall richness. First to arrive was the decent $14.95 Filet of Trout. The fish was lightly fried and flaky and came with a nice homemade tartar sauce. This was good. There was also the Chicken "Tabaka" for $17.95, served with a garlic sauce. The chicken was pounded a bit thinner than some other spots and was pretty tender, but I have preferred some other places. I did like the skin, though. There was also an alright $16.95 Beef Stroganoff, served in a bread bowl. The portion was large, and the beef was tender, but there weren't that many mushrooms. I also preferred the flavor from some other places, such as Skovorodka. This was good, but not amazing. Last and best was the "Spanish-Style Meat" for $17.95. This had 3 relatively large pieces of beef, which I believe was skirt steak. The beef was cooked wonderfully, and there was some great flavor and grill marks. There was a relative chew, but not too much. This was excellent and a surprising final highlight. Another person got a coffee and some tiramisu, as they don't have any Russian dessert options like napoleon or smetanik. He seemed to like both. We overall had a good meal. It wasn't my favorite spot serving this food, but I would go back and get more of the dishes we loved.

Stolovaya is the most USSR restaurant in the world. Has basically every stereotype of the Soviet…read moreUnion, not to mention the food was fantastic. I really recommend this place for you to go!

This restaurant has delicious moldovan traditional food with the best service! It has a cozy vibe…read moreperfect for any occasion. 10/10 would recommend

My fiend Radu brought to this place to try Moldovan cuisine for fist time in my life and it was…read moreAMAZING. We started with some chicken soup,10/10. For our main we got rabbit and lamb chops10/10. tasted so fresh and delicious. The service was outstanding they treated us well.

Was walking down Bath Ave today and saw a big picture outside of the restaurant of some Tandir…read moreSamsa. It looked like empanadas, so we went in. This was our first time in an Uzbek restaurant and eating Uzbekistan's cuisine. We were very curious. The menu was in Uzbek. Although there were some English on the bottom, we still didn't know which picture represented which item on the menu. The waiter was very helpful in telling us which picture was which food. We ordered one tandir samsa, one avocado salad, two lamb kebabs, one manti meat (which looks a lot like xiaolong bao), one glass of kombot berry juice, and one cup of black coffee. The food was delicious. We loved and finished everything. The beef in the tandir samsa smelled so good inside my mouth. The avocado salad was so fresh. The two lamb kebabs were my absolute favorite. They're not dry and burnt like the shish kebabs you get at fairs and festivals. They were very juicy and not burnt at all. I love the gaminess smell of the lambs. The manti meat looked a lot like a Chinese dumpling, but it's bigger and they have a mixture of beef and lamb inside. It was so delicious. It came with a white, thick dipping sauce that looks like yogurt. The kombot berry juice reminded me of a delicious plum juice that I had in Beijing. It was so good! The hot coffee was also delicious, similar to the morning coffees in Mexico. Overall, we loved the food and service here. We were so glad to have tried something new today!

So service was pretty good after they got started . Although…read morethey didn't bring water at all the whole time . The lagman soup wqs the best I ever had . Manti were cool and no broth inside them at all as if they were sitting there waiting for someone prior . Meat was really flavorful but the beef a bit dry . Lulya kabob best I ever had The achichuk and other salad with tongue were very good but such small portions and price definitely seemed to High for the portion Other places u I go to pack it on I would maybe give it another try but many others out there