Kafana
Serbian restaurant · East Village ·
Traditional Serbian home cooking with Balkan wines & old-world charm
Traditional Serbian home cooking with Balkan wines & old-world charm
"Kafana has a lot of things going for it: It’s cozy, near the train, and the kind of restaurant you can actually walk into. The restaurant specializes in Serbian food with pork schnitzel ham rolls, roasted vegetable salads, pljeskavica, cevapi, braised meats, and more — but its wine, in particular, is lowkey one of the best in the whole neighborhood. Note: it’s cash only." - Robert Sietsema
"At this cozy, East Village Serbian restaurant with carnations on the tables, the only essential for a successful night out is the $55 Mešano Meso—a mixed grill plate heaped with salad and piled with things like ćevapi, pork neck, sausages, and bacon-wrapped chicken liver. A glass or two of Macedonian red won't hurt either. The wine selection here is interesting and fairly reasonable, with bottles from around $50. Just let your date know it’s cash-only beforehand." - bryan kim, molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman, sonal shah
"Sit in the dark, drink wine, and eat a variety of grilled meats at Kafana, a casual East Village spot with brick walls covered in black-and-white photographs. This place specializes in satisfying Serbian food, and it’s really the ideal venue for a date night with someone you’ve been sharing a bathroom with for the past decade. The Balkan-centric wine list has a good number of bottles under $55, and just about everything on the cash-only menu is under $25. We especially love sharing the $52 mixed grill." - bryan kim, will hartman, willa moore, sonal shah, molly fitzpatrick
"I’d begin a little East Village promenade with a bottle of wine at the Serbian restaurant Kafana — for example, the medium-body, dry Malvazija from Croatia’s Kozlovic Winery ($50) — followed by snacks like the roasted red pepper salad ($10.95) and meaty ćevapi ($16.95); the place is reasonably priced and satisfying (so far about $80 for two people)." - Robert Sietsema
"Kafana is not where you go when you want to order a bowl of lettuce and temporarily feel like a deer, a turtle, or something else that eats leaves. This Serbian restaurant is for when you want a heavy, satisfying plate of food that will most likely involve an excessive amount of meat. There’s pork schnitzel, lamb stew, pork neck, and an abundance of other good, meaty things, including a juicy burger stuffed with cheese (and served without a bun). Plus, there are lots of Serbian, Slovenian, and Croatian wine, and the candlelit space is the perfect place to camp out with a few friends for an hour or two." - bryan kim
