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    Recommended Reviews - Smetana

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    Aleyna S.

    Great food and reasonably priced. The smoked salmon, roe and potato pancakes were delicious and definitely large enough to suffice as an entire meal.

    Polish Plate: stuffed cabbage, Polish sausage, pierogis and potato pancakes.
    kris r.

    Bright and welcoming restaurant. Service wonderful. We began with a cup of borscht which was really a bowl in any other restaurant. The rye bread was so good. We shared the Polish plate which also came with a bowl of cucumbers cream and dill or some other salad choices- the cucumbers were great. We had a little taste of most of the items on the Polish plate but were too full to finish. The pierogis were spinach and so tasty. Also loved the Polish sausage . My mother thought the stuffed cabbage had too much rice but I thought the taste was so good even with more rice. Had lemonade and tea. Wish this place was closer to my home -- Roscoe village- because I would order on a regular basis

    To go plate!
    Vikki Y.

    Ordered carry out because their kitchen was closing at 7pm on a Sunday! I ordered two orders of the stuffed cabbage and one order of the chicken noodle soup. The food was ready as the time I requested and was so tasty. I grew up eating Eastern European food at friends houses and I loved the flavors of what I ordered. The stuffed cabbage came with a side of yummy potatoes with dill and a side of yummy beets. The food was fresh and very tasty! Portions were okay (not huge) and I'll definitely return to try other dishes. The restaurant itself is not very big or super fancy but it had plenty of seating and was very clean. There is plenty of parking in the plaza outside. It's right next door to the nail place and one of the first restaurants in the plaza (it took a second to find it). The prices were very Glenview/Northshore. My order for two orders of stuffed cabbage and one bowl of soup came out to be $60.00 which is kind of high compared to deli prices. However it was very tasty and comparable to prices in the area. Would definitely return and try other items!

    Herring Beets Tartare
    Joy C.

    Smetana was located in a strip mall at the corner of Lehigh and Glenview Rd., in downtown Glenview. In between a Dunkin' Donuts and a liquor store. We walked here on a Saturday around 6pm and we were the only customers at that time. Our server greeted and seated us right away. Since we were not familiar with the items on the menu, we wanted to try different things. HERRING BEETS TARTARE- the herring and the beets went well together. POTATO PANCAKE w/ SMOKED SALMON- the salmon was good and the pancake was ok. BOGRACH- this was a hearty soup and there was a lot of meat. It would have been better if the meat was more tender though. PORK CUTLETS- I enjoyed the beet salad and the mashed potatoes. The pork cutlet was nothing special. Overall, it was good to finally try Smetana and the unique dishes they have. The service was friendly and efficient. The place was clean and I liked the neat interiors. More power to this small, local business!

    Rebecca F.

    This is a great restaurant. High quality ingredients and everything is cooked to perfection. I had the breaded pork chop with a side of mushroom sauce poured over. We also had mushroom and kraut perogi and spinach and cheese perogi and they were both excellent. I also tried everything on the Polish platter. I hope this restaurant enjoys a lot of success because I want them to stay here in the community so we can continue to dine here. The service was excellent too.

    Outstanding spinach, potato and meat pierogis.
    Will K.

    Outstanding food. Very good recipes and cooking to back it up. The pierogi plate features a mix of spinach, potato and meat pierogis and were all delicious. The chicken noodle soup was outstanding, a very flavorful broth with a great mix of thin, light noodles and chicken breast chunks. The restaurant interior is medium sized with maybe 8 tables and works as both a nice date night setting or casual meal. Nice interior touches. SUPER friendly servers, including Oha and Kanza. So sweet. I hope the new restaurant does well and lasts. A great add to the neighborhood. I'll surely be back.

    Polish plate
    Victoria F.

    Came here based on a friend's recommendation, and I am glad I gave it a try! We went on a Saturday afternoon (not peak hours) so there were plenty of seats. The space is on the smaller side, and I could see there being a wait during normal dining hours. The decorations were charming and gave a cozy feel. Our server was helpful in describing the different dishes. We got the Polish plate, combination, pierogies, and European schwarma. Although the food is on the pricey side, I thoroughly enjoyed each dish. I thought everything was fresh, flavorful, and had beautiful presentation. We were too stuffed for dessert, but next time I want to try the honey cake!

    Hot fruit tea with oranges and berries
    Lisa A.

    Absolutely love, love, love this place. I think it was recommended by the Yelp community leader, Kesha, and I headed with high expectations and I give it an 10. When you walk in it is so inviting, nice seating arrangements with comfortable covered chairs which adds a nice touch and the waiter was so pleasant and helpful because I had only been to a place in West Roger's Park that was good but it was very rundown and they didn't seem to care. This place was refreshing, inviting and very bougie. They offer many vegetarian options and meat of course. I'm not sure what they're known for but first thing on the menu is pierogis, meat, cheese, potato, sauerkraut, mozzarella, and spinach. They're really good but I can't imagine eating 10 by myself. It's a good shareable option. I chose Ukrainian borscht as my soup (it was cold windy and slushy) and also shared the Zapiekanka with mushrooms and cheese as an appetizer. Next as my main course I had the breaded pork chop with mashed potatoes and I chose beet salad, and everything was homemade and authentic. The waiter told me that you put sour cream on everything and including the soup. I'm not accustomed to that so I didn't try it tonight. The pork chop was very good and real mashed potatoes were good but I really liked the beet salad. I got to try a bite of each item in the Polish plate and all of it was scrumptious. The fruit tea served hot or cold is very enjoyable with fresh fruits and in the summer I would love it cold but tonight hot was perfect. The crepe dessert was a bit cold but all of it fresh. There's a nice drink menu with hard cider, beer, wine and signature cocktails, but I can't handle the liquor so can't comment on that. Being such a foodie I could come here every day but I suspect my finicky husband will lose interest. I'll find my gal pals to join me. See you soon, Smetana, my little "sour cream "!!

    Cherry Pierogi
    S S.

    Really delicious food here. The place itself is on the smaller side but super quaint. The staff/ owner is super nice and speaks at least 3 languages (English, Russian, Polish) which is helpful if you have older family members that want a taste of home but don't speak English. The food is also phenomenal, everything is fresh and made from scratch and tastes exactly how your grandma would make it. The portions are also fairly large and the prices reflect that.

    Blueberry pierogis

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    1 year ago

    Awesome food. Worth a try! It's central European food which is unique. Rather than Hackney's give yourself a different treat. Family owned!

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    2 years ago

    Great and tasty food. Nice selection of drinks and reasonable prices. Will come back. Thank you

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Lovely atmosphere. Welcoming services. And good food. We like coming here for a lunch on weekends.

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    We have been walking by but not stopped until now!! It was great! Super clean, great service and the food was beautiful and delicious.

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    3 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Great Eastern European food ! Friendly staff and great service. Will come back to soon!

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    2 years ago

    Average food, good service. Great drinks made by the owner. Very accommodating owner.

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    Page 1 of 2

    Smetana Reviews in Other Languages

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    Jibek Jolu

    Jibek Jolu

    4.2
    (227 reviews)
    1.4 mi
    $$

    Jibek Jolu was all I could ask for to relive my time in Kyrgyzstan!! As soon as I walked in, I saw…read morethe familiar design, camels, and all the detail that transported me out of Chicago, yay!! It's so refreshing when a restaurant can do this! I wanted my family to experience a glimpse of Kyrgyz food, so of course we ordered all the things only a local would know about ! Shout out to our guide during our trip- he made sure we tried lots of cuisine that was all the way Kyrgyz food! The crispy eggplant is a must and is my favorite ! The eggplant is light and the sauce that is drenched on top is perfect to balance the fried crispy exterior. Next I ordered Samsa, Plov, and lamb kurdock. My husband ordered the beef rib and mash potatoes. Not the most Kyrgyz but he did try everything and loved it all! If you want a taste of central Asian cuisine please come to Jibek Jolu! Don't forget the honey cake!

    Beautiful space, delicious food, huge portions. A lot of us hadn't tried this kind of cuisine…read morebefore or this restaurant so we tried asking our server for recommendations. He wasn't very helpful unfortunately other than naming some appetizers that we tried, though these came after some of our entrees came out. It was also very difficult to get water and refills on water but other than that we loved our experience. We over ordered because again, we were not aware of how big the portions would be and our waiter wasn't very informative: Carrot salad- even as a side this was a big portion to share with delicious light Asian flavors Jibek jolu salad- another great shareable with a tasty dressing and cuts of tender beef Khachapuri- one of the recommended apps, also a big portion to share though we didn't know what to do with the raw egg that came on the side. After flagging someone down to help us, we discovered that this was a delicious cheesy bread with egg mixed in. Crispy eggplant- another recommended app which was delicious and sweet Lamb kurdock- I didn't love this dish it was kind of dry and lacking in flavor but huge with lots of potatoes and veggies Combo skewers- so much meat that was all very tender and flavorful, though it came on one thin soggy tortilla. It would have been nice to have more tortillas on the side to make a wrap. I also tried the chicken tabaka, and this was delicious with a curry flavor. Overall, most dishes were so delicious, but it was a bit of a learning curve on how to order and what to expect.

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Jibek Jolu
    Honey cake

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    Honey cake
    Magic Jug

    Magic Jug

    4.4
    (88 reviews)
    8.3 mi
    $$

    Under no circumstance whatsoever would I ever use the term "comfort food." So normie, so NPC, so…read morerevolting. At least, I thought I would never apply this opprobrious term. But what other word exists for capably made Ukranian food? It is comfort food qua comfort food. The Platonic ideal of such. Savory in the extreme with more subtle notes of sweet and tart. On a previous trip to Chicago I lodged in a neighborhood bordering Ukraine Village. The proximity allowed me to sample a few establishments from the Ukraine. Things were fine; nothing extraordinary. On this more recent trip, I braved an excursion to the western suburbs, just for the Magic Jug. A food blogger named Hammond said it's the best. He did not lie. So it's in the occidental hinterlands of the city. And yet, my fellow diners were all from the Ukraine. So Ukranian, in fact, they all spoke the mother tongue. Besides that, the surroundings were not particularly Slavic. Minimalist pinewood interior makes you think moreso of Japan and less so of the Eastern Bloc. But anyhow. The chief feature that makes it so good is that everything is seasoned and flavored perfectly. The cooks - all from the Ukraine and all women - each possess palates with sniper rifle precision. The pelmeni (stuffed dumplings of similar appearance to tortellini). So beefy. So oniony. And finished with an herbaceous garlicky seasoning. The golubtsi (stuffed cabbage) at Magic Jug is without it's usually tomato sauce, giving you breathing room to really basque in the chicken broth in which the rice and veg were cooked. The effect: think a reconstructed chicken noodle soup - only with a fat dollop of smetana (sour cream). And the stewed liver. Really like a liver Diane. Don't be a wuss, eat the liver. Get it with mashed potatoes. I had mine with buckwheat so you don't have to. They also have several selections of house made bread. I ordered the one that's like a pull-apart brioche. Too full to appreciate it from on a visceral level, I was still able to note the craft involved. Within it, there contained the balancing act of well developed gluten and pliant interior.

    This place is absolutely a must try. We've been wanting to stop by for years and finally went in…read moreand literally everything that came out of the kitchen was so flavorful and amazing. We weren't sure what to order or how to narrow down what to get and the server made some great suggestions. For salads we had the cabbage salad and the beet salad, both were really good on their own and also if you mix them together too. The large meat pie - I forgot the name of it - was incredible too, and I had to get it with a side of the mushroom gravy which went well on everything. The dumplings were really good too and the mushroom soup was probably the best soup I've had in years. We will definitely be back.

    Photos
    Magic Jug
    Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings)
    Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings)
    Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings)

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    Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings)
    Anelya

    Anelya

    4.2
    (78 reviews)
    10.3 mi

    This was a very special experience. Chef Clark and Chef Kim know good food. They develop delightful…read moreideas, they serve you stories and memories you'll make and stories and memories you'll think of every time you take a bite, and they truly live this life. Parachute was incredible, and Anelya is just as spectacular. It had been on my list to dine for a while, and my husband and I finally had the chance to go. Imagine my delight when I saw Chef Kim on America's Culinary Cup. What a bright mind, and everything she delivered had immense talent behind it. Together, these chefs bring what you can experience in a meal to new heights. So it should come as no surprise that every bite at Anelya was just as good as expected. From the roe tart to the pampushky, to the varenyky, to the kyiv, and the honey cake, every single bite was a dream. This is a must visit, and one you'll want to make multiple times. Chef Clark and Chef Kim, thank you for bringing this special place to Chicago.

    Borscht never sounded great to me when I was younger, but I now enjoy beets and duck, so I'm…read morepredisposed to re-evaluate. At Anelya, the borscht is nothing short of amazing. Served in a deep bowl, it is hearty serving; full of shredded duck and intensely flavorful. Add a dollop of the delicious sour cream for a spike of brightness and dig in. You may want to split it, or you'll likely take some home. The dumplings are also good, and Kelly loved her chicken Kiev. I ordered the short ribs and found them a bit overcooked and greasy. Would not reorder. The cheesecake dessert was good, but the chocolate drunken cherry dessert is better, if they have it. The cocktails are creative and well made. The wine list is primarily Eastern Europe/Central Asian, and quite good. We enjoyed the Monastery Tvrdos Vranac. The dining room is cozy and playful. We did not have room for Zakusky but would definitely return to try that and get another bowl of borscht.

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Entree Potato Pancakes
    Entree Potato Pancakes
    Dessert Pomegranate Sorbet

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    Dessert Pomegranate Sorbet
    Shokolad

    Shokolad

    4.5
    (323 reviews)
    13.6 mi
    $$

    I love Shokolad so much and it is my #1 underrated restaurant in Chicago for a quaint breakfast and…read morelunch. I've been coming here for the past five years and it absolutely never disappoints. I've had everything from the Ukrainian scrambled eggs, ham and gruyere crepes and the Athena omelette (add chicken!) to the pierogis, paninis, hutsulske pechenya (beef stew--OMG it's so good and only available Saturdays) to the delectable assortment of cookies in the pastry case. The carrot salad the comes with a lot of the dishes is amazing! Everything here tastes homemade, and I really love it because nothing is oversalted or overseasoned, just delicious homey perfection. If you are looking for salty American "home fries" or diner hashbrowns this isn't your place. Potatoes are buttery and have a melt in your mouth consistency, but what I love about Shokolad is that the flavors are subtle, savory, and just right. It feels truly European and authentic, and while I'm no expert at all on Ukrainian cuisine, this place is an absolute gem. My only complaint is that the service can be slow (but always, always kind). As long as you come not in a hurry and are ready to enjoy your meal with patience, you will leave delighted.

    Great little hidden gem in Humboldt! The food is cooked so fresh and was so affordable. Service was…read moresuper friendly and quick and they have a cute little outdoor patio. Love that they do half sizes of the pierogis as well!

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Borscht
    Borscht
    1/2 Pelmeni; 1/2 Eggplant, green pea & potato varenyky

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    1/2 Pelmeni; 1/2 Eggplant, green pea & potato varenyky

    Smetana - modern_european - Updated August 2026

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