Maciej Rewucki
Google
Let me put it this way – the food was absolutely delicious, aromatic and memorable, but the service left a lot to be desired. We came here for lunch after a walk around the center of Vilnius. We had to wait a bit for a table for five, which surprised us since we saw free tables around. It turned out, however, that none of them could accommodate an extra chair. Then, when they finally found another table for us, we saw that a chair had been added to another one. That was odd.
From the very beginning, the waitress didn’t seem very welcoming. She seemed quite indifferent, maybe even a bit rude, but I thought – okay, it happens. Then we struggled with the menu, which was poorly designed and hard to read, especially the English translations. It took us several minutes to find the cepelinai, as they were listed under a long, descriptive name that didn’t reference their traditional term. The menu didn’t seem to take cultural similarities into account. Maybe the description would make sense to someone unfamiliar with regional food, like an American tourist, but for us, as Poles, it was just confusing.
Eventually, using the restaurant’s website, we managed to locate the dishes we wanted and were ready to order. But then we had to wait again for the waitress to come back and take our order. When she finally did and the food started to arrive, we thought the worst was behind us – and for the most part, it was.
First, the drinks arrived, but not all at once. Then my friend got his soup, and I waited for mine. Turns out the waitress wrote it down but forgot about it. So I ended up eating my soup only after he had finished his, and it came at the same time as my cepelinai. We had also ordered mushroom sauce with the cepelinai, but that was forgotten too, and we had to ask for it again.
I hope it’s just a bit of chaos in the dining area, but I wouldn’t say the place was too busy to handle. It seemed more like a lack of coordination or not enough staff. Also, taking orders by hand on paper feels outdated – it makes it easier to make mistakes, as we experienced twice.
Now about the food – both the meat and vegan cepelinai were phenomenal, the soups were aromatic, and the koldūnai were juicy and full of flavor. And that’s exactly what frustrates me – the food passed the test, but the service did not. I might come back eventually, but not too soon. I’m simply used to a different kind of service in restaurants.
