Nursel Central Asian & Russian Cuisine

I’m very upset. I ordered takeout and was hoping to enjoy my lunch, but I feel completely disappointed. These syrniki are 100% ruined — they’re burnt! This is spoiled food. It shouldn’t be served to guests at all. If I had been eating at the restaurant, I would have asked for a replacement immediately. But since it was a takeout order, it seems like no one cared about the quality of what was given to the customer. I’m really upset that I couldn’t enjoy my lunch. honestly feel like this was done intentionally because it was a takeout order. When they handed it to me, they placed the good-looking side facing up so I wouldn’t notice that the other side was burnt

Went to this place for dinner during my stay at Belmont, CA. The place good a decent atmosphere and ambience. I tried their Samsa, and some chicken and beef items. The food was served at a good temperature. The taste was decent too. However, I feel there is room for improvement on taste. Service was very satisfactory.

When considering Central Asian cuisine on a spectrum, there is Mongol on one side and Uzbek on the other; flavors served at Nursel veer towards the former, reminiscent of the nomadic origins of Kyrgyz highlanders. Manty, stuffed with hand-minced beef, is hearty, meaty and filling — reminiscent of a more rustic version of Georgian khinkali. Savory pastries include Cheburek (a comforting deep-fried beef patty) and Samsy (flaky puff stuffed with choice of beef, chicken, cheese or spinach). Fried Lagman, hand-pulled noodles noteworthy, but a sauce little dressed beyond just soy sauce. Korean Carrot Salad, a must-have accompaniment on any Central Asian table. A novel, culinary experience worth a visit amongst any Silk Road enthusiast. Share a meal amongst friends and family, best enjoyed with various fruit compotes and rare berry teas. Grab-and-go bakery option perfect for Caltrain commuters with the San Carlos stop just across the street. Unique Central Asian themed interior with nomadic references in murals and textile.

Absolutely outstanding experience! The borscht was simply magnificent — rich, deep flavor, perfectly balanced, and clearly made with high-quality ingredients. You can really taste the care and tradition in every spoonful. The solyanka was just as impressive — hearty, aromatic, and full of character. One of the best I’ve ever had. What truly sets this place apart is the quality of the food and the excellent service. Everything felt thoughtful, warm, and professional. The staff made the experience even more enjoyable with their attention and genuine hospitality. This is comfort food at a high level. Highly recommended — I’ll definitely be coming back!

The food was great! I really enjoyed plov! It was very tasty! I love the new year menu, where we had also Oliver salad, and Samsa. I would recommend to try plov there.

Absolutely loved this restaurant! The food was incredibly delicious — every dish was full of flavor and beautifully presented. The interior is stunning, cozy, and elegant, creating the perfect atmosphere for any occasion. The staff were so friendly and welcoming, making the whole experience even more enjoyable. Highly recommend this place — can’t wait to come back!

Foods always good here but this time ordering takeout (plov) they didnt even mix the rice properly and gave much elss portion than before. Also the tomato salad was missing. Disappointed theyre not able to keep quality

Nursel is such a wonderful restaurant! The food is absolutely delicious — the kind of dishes you dream about. The desserts reminded me of childhood, so tasty and comforting. Portions are very generous, everything is flavorful, and you definitely won’t leave hungry. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and the whole place feels cozy and authentic. I really enjoyed my exprience here and highly recommend NurSel to anyone who loves hearty, flavorful food

I've never had Krygyz food before. This restaurant is conveniently located next to the CalTrain station. I parked about a block away. It was unclear to me whether the parking lot nearby was for the restaurant or only the company next door. There's plenty of seating and it's separated into three rooms. There are buttons on each table you can press for service. There were two other parties there when we arrived. We ordered the borscht, manty, and lagman. This was plenty of food for the two of us. Everything was super delicious. Having never had Central Asian or Russian food before, I had no expectations. They also brought us a bit of hot sauce which I thought was delightful. Everything was super flavorful. I would absolutely come back!

We loved our experience here in this cozy restaurant. It's obvious that it's a small business and you feel great supporting a cuisine that's not often represented here. The food all tasted great and it felt homemade since the portions of meat were always generous! Service was friendly. We were a party of 3 and ordered the samsy, manty, lagman noodles, and borsht. I loved the samsy as it really reminded me of Turkish börek. The manty was surprising to me since I'm more familiar with Turkish mantı -- the dumplings were HUGE and it felt very similar to Chinese xiaolongbao, but the skin was a bit thicker and it felt like it might be a bit overcooked. I did love how the lagman noodles were super chewy and they were very generous with the amount of meat/peppers in the dish. Borsht was great too, as I adore beets. I loved the samsy so much, I even bought an extra one to take home for my partner to try. Next time we come, we'll try the solyanka and the plov, and maybe a dessert!

The cake was too cold, as if it had been in the freezer. The noodles were very bland and the broth was bland too, but it's a 7/10. The dumplings were good, but the meat inside was kind of lumpy. The service was good, 10/10. The atmosphere was clear, quiet, calm, and cool. The interior was beautiful and unusual.

I absolutely loved this place! I was recommended it on a whim by the Yelp recommendation engine and I guess they know what I like. After browsing the menu, I realized that the food here was actually pretty similar to Xinjiang/Uyghur food, which I am a HUGE fan of. I got the laghman (soup version) and it was so hearty! Really tasted somewhat similar to the Xinjiang restaurants that I liked to go to. This is one of those rare restaurants where the food actually tastes a ton like home to me. So much nostalgia and I absolutely loved it! I plan to be back to try more dishes and bring some friends with me this time. Great little hole in the wall places like this one are not that easy to find and I'm very happy I came across this place in one of my favorite cities in the Bay Area to boot!

I love Borscht soup and ate it a lot while in college. The soup contains cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes and beef. It's served with sour cream here but I opted out of that (due to a dairy allergy). I also got a tomato salad which is a simple mix of tomato, onion, cucumber and dill. Both dishes were nice and light which is exactly what I was looking for.

Found this place when I did a search for "stroganoff" which is really hard to find in the Bay Area. They make a killer chicken stroganoff which I've now gone there 6 times to get. . .absolutely delicious and perfect. On my first visit we had the vareniki and manty, which were great, the lagman and borscht were just okay. We didn't try the desserts because we were so full but would like to try the Cinderella dessert next time.

Very good food and service!!! Price is not bad. I will be going again next visit to bay area.

Incredible spot. Staff is very friendly and helpful, food is amazing and surpassed our expectations, and prices are reasonable. I will say I wish they had a different space with more room and more parking close by, but what a spot?! To-go is recommended, which is what we did this time. If we lived closer, this would definitely be a weekly or (more realistically) an every-other-week stop.

Had a team dinner here. The restaurant is quite nice, staff is attentive and friendly. Unfortunately the meals several of us ordered were overcooked and not that great. Appetizers were interesting and tasty however. One of my party didn't get her meal. When she asked she about her meal they told her they were out of that item. Seems odd they didn't ask her if she wanted something else. Not the best experience.

THEY ARE THE MASTERS OF TWO THINGS! LAMB AND CUSTOMER SERVICE! They are definitely the masters when it comes to lamb! What we were served: Borshch, Plov, Manty, Fried Lagman, Vareniki, Lamb chops, Napoleon Cake. The customer service, and hospitality was excellent, and felt sincere. It was their Instagram that got me curious about this restaurant. My friend at fencing/ practice have has been recommending this restaurant. We would talk about what I should try there and I would follow their IG and send their post to him. They're doing a fantastic job on their IG content. I suggest linking IG and FB together so that when you post on one, it automatically posts on the other. I wanted to try this restaurant for last year's birthday, but something came up. So this year for my birthday, it got pushed back due to family emergency. So I said, we're eating here 2 weeks from now. So the family made time. They are very responsive on IG. I have a gluten allergy and they answered all my questions perfectly. The restaurant's décor is charming, and almost perfect. The main room's décor could use some more colour. Maybe some small accent somewhere. Maybe an ikat print somewhere just to make me a bit excited and feel it's a Central Asian place. The banquet hall felt more fun to be in. I like the mural of the yurt tent. Maybe a small accent could be in the plates or bowl where food is served on. I'm thinking a small reasonable amount. I was very excited to see the banquet hall in person after seeing it on IG for so long. The front counter display is what gives this restaurant its charisma, and charm. I think that bit is a brilliant idea. Borshch was excellent. It was both veggie savoury, and meat savoury. Perfectly balanced between the two. Everything was the right ratio. Plov was interesting. It was excellent, but it was interesting. I've never seen plov with tomatoes. I have to admit, it makes sense to put it in, because the tomatoes does bring some balance. I understand the tomato slices were to be fillers, but it was a very practical one. It gives me a nice break from all the savoury meat flavours a bit. And I thought it was intelligent that they didn't mix it into the plov and had it separate on its side. It also adds colour to the presentation. So yes, this is an addition that makes sense. The lamb was very tender, and soft. Carrots were packed with meat juice and flavour. So was the fluffed rice. The rice wasn't over or undercooked. It was the right amount where it locks in the flavours and doesn't lose its glucose. I'm South East Asian, I'm very particular about my rice. Lol. Manty was beautiful. I'm allergic to it so my family told me it was delicious. Fried lagman was beautifully presented. I'm allergic to it so my family told me it was delicious. Vareniki looked fantastic. I'm allergic to it so my family told me it was good. Lamb chops were fragrant. It was definitely over charcoal. Perfectly cooked, and seasoned. Napoleon Cake was beautiful. I'm allergic to it so my family told me it was delicious. The cream was savoury. We ate around the later part of their dinner shift. The puff pastry sitting in cream does have a fast self-life. We were right on the line. I wish we came in earlier so they can have it at peak experience. I forgot to order the Samsa. They show it on their IG. Maybe I'll pick some up the next time I'm in the area. There's other appetizers that look amazing as well. In conclusion, it's definitely more than 5 stars. I enjoyed it. It was a simple, easy dinner for me. I love Central Asian food. This was comparable to the homemade ones I've had. The lamb chop is more....above and beyond since it was deliciously fragrant from being cooked over charcoal. They are the masters at lamb! lol. For the last couple of days, I've been recommending this restaurant to all my friends at fencing. It's that good. Everything. The experience all together. I do plan some gatherings among my friends. The banquet hall is something I'm taking notice on, because of the excellence in food and ambiance. We'll see what the friends vote on.

Authentic Russia and Asia cuisine. The chicken salad is spot on and the beef puff was really good. The borscht is as authentic as it gets.

Low light, relaxing atmosphere, tentative staff. I loved the hearty soups. The borscht (red beet and beef) soup was great with sour cream. The Solyanka soup was my favorite due to its smoky, full flavor. I also tried my friend's lentil carrot soup, which I liked well enough but I prefer the other two much more. I also tried the Napoleon cake, which was light and fluffy. It was very lightly sweetened the way most Asian desserts are. A mix between baklava and cake.

Overall this place is so delicious and very clean, people here a fantastic. Let me tell you am from Central Asia, Uzbekistan and i miss home deeply but this place brings me comfort and love of my culture food we had growing up this place is wonderful! *to owner and cooks thank you and please keep your food the same don't change for nothing it's simply the way how it should be it's perfect.

I was in the area and needed to sit down and relax for a bit so I popped in and asked for ginger tea. It took a few minutes to arrive and I was puzzled by that. Then I got a huge teapot with ginger tea, honey, mint leaves and lemon slices. It is delicious. I'm in 7th heaven!

I was craving a soup on a sick and rainy day... and Nursel made it as cozy as can be! Highly recommend and I'll be back to try others on the menu. Ordered the: Shurpa (soup; a Russian Caldo de Res with dill, if you will!), Solyanka (hearty smoked(?) soup with olives), Kuurdak (potatoes & lamb), Samsa (pastry puffs) with chicken/onion and spinach/cheese. They all hit the spot. I feel like I'm being nourished back to health!

Do not waist your time and money there. Not worth it. They need to learn how to cook and how to respect people.

Check your bill! The waitress charged me $20 for an $8 drink, and of course when she replaced it she didn't refund the tip. When you pay, there's no itemized bill. We were at least the second table in a row have a complaint about the bill correction. The tip is also on the post tax amount, but it does start at 15% so it washes out to a fair amount. Otherwise food was good. We got the bed clay pot and manty - very savory.

This is a hole in the wall that whenever we go to, it's quite empty. Why? I'm not sure because the food is delicious. The restaurant is also quite spacious, yet quirky with a mural in the back room and a table to the side where my kid enjoys playing chess. You order with a QR code and also there is a button you push for service. Sometimes, you have to push the button multiple times because it doesn't seem that work or maybe the light isn't turning on in the back kitchen. I would consider this Slavic food so If you're looking for Russian or Ukrainian food, it hits the spot. The shuba is delicious as is the chicken stroganoff. Some portions are hearty whereas other portions are small (shuba). The food is somewhat on the expensive side but you get what you pay for. It's well made and if you enjoy this type of cuisine, it's spot on. The service is friendly but only expect to get checked on when you order by qr code or by the button on the table. Would definitely recommend and there are pastries in the front. Always enjoy eating here as I do need my Russian / Ukrainian food fix from time to time!

Excellent food and fast courteous service. The location is super nice, right off Caltrain station. Small and charming interior. Definitely will recommend.

I don't think I've ever had Central Asia/Russian food, so I came here to try it since I won a gift card from them. First impressions: The restaurant inside looks pretty spacious even though the space looks small from the outside. There were a few people dining inside, but not a whole lot. You can choose to sit inside or outside. Majority of the food here was SUPER salty. The fried lagman could've tasted so much better if they didn't put as much salt as they did. There was only a few beef pieces, and most of it were noodles & peppers. The chicken kebab was also salty. If you eat it with rice and the salad, then I'll balanced out. I will say their rice was really good. The fajita dish was alright. It's similar to the fried lagman, but has no noodles. The pelmeni soup was kinda bland. The meat dumplings were good. They give u a side of sour cream to dip it in, so it has that sour taste.

Definitely my go to place now! The staff is really nice, the food is authentic, the ambiance is just amazing! Perfect for parties too

Very authentic central Asian cuisine. Also conveniently located right outside the Caltrain station. The manty, lagman, and chicken stroganoff had big portions. The beef samsa filling was really well seasoned with cumin and the piroshki dough was so soft. Tastes like home!

It was really good experience! Thank you so much guys, please keep going and only the best to your business. Everything is tasty, very careful to each Client, truly good. Hope service will be same good. Thank you!

Super cute place, nice homey staff running it. I got some pastries that they had ready to go and some dumplings that had to be cooked, but everything came out quickly and hot and fresh and delish! Right next to the San Carlos Caltrain station so be sure to check it out!

Are you up for something different? I stopped in with my mom for dinner last week to try this unique cuisine. There are a few dining areas and we sat up closer to the entry inside. The menu does a good job explaining the dishes. We went with the fried lagman beef noodles and my mom ordered the beef in a pot. The lagman came out first and it was delicious, especially the noodles. My mom had to wait 15 minutes longer for her beef in a pot - not great to have such a gap between each person's orders. The beef in a pot was tasty with the beef, potatoes and cheese. There was enough food to take some home. I noticed the restaurant was so quiet, no energy or vibe at all. All I could hear was the hum of the AC and some clatter from the kitchen. How about playing some soft Kryg music in the background for ambiance? For service there's a small button on the table to press to get an employee over to the table. That's a little impersonal. Also, the server relies on it too much and doesn't even glance at the table, much less check in, unless you press the buzzer. How about taking some initiative? The table next to me had to get up and go up to the counter to get a menu to look at dessert options. Instead of waiting for the buzzer to ring, how about checking on your diners more often? If the buzzer never rings, that's a good thing - it means you were proactively providing excellent service.

Wanted to try something different for lunch, so decided to check out Nursel. We were seated quickly and told to press the button on the side of the table when ready to order. We decided to share the Pelmeni (to me, reminiscent of wonton soup - flavorful dumplings in a light broth) and the Chicken Stroganoff (can't say I've eaten it this way before - good). Portions were just enough for the 2 of us to share. Bread was also served on the side. Plenty of tables. Service was ok in that they don't necessarily check on you but will come when the button is pressed for service.

Romantic, ambience with low light and calming decor. Big room for parties in the back. This quaint menu has 5, yes FIVE hearty soups, of which the Borscht and the Solyanka (smoky flavor) are the best. The lamb soup is simple and pretty good with the red hot sauce. The lentil/carrot soup is also simple and the lemon makes it interesting. The Napoleon cake is lightly sweet and fluffy, perfect for sharing with someone, (or TWO someones!) after dinner, since it's a decent size.

This was a bit of a mixed bag. First off the service was, to put it kindly, difficult. It was hard to get the order placed due to a communication barrier. I asked to be seated and instead was handed a to go order. I had to explain that I didn't order and then I was taken to a table. When I ordered I could tell that the server didn't either hear or understand what I said so my friend and I repeated the order three times. When we were served my entree didn't arrive so my friend waited while we explained that I was still waiting for my entree. She asked if we still wanted it and we said yes. Ten minutes later it came out. The cheese samsy was excellent, the manty was very good. The meat in a pot was bland and the plov was flavourful but the meat was a bit fatty and tough. We also tried a piece of Medvedik and it tasted like Graham cracker with a slightly sour aftertaste. Inside is spacious and beautifully decorated and there is plenty of parking just outside. Overall it was an interesting, yet frustrating experience.

Table for 2 on Saturday night at 7:45pm, we were out the door by 8:30pm. When I say the service was lightning fast I'm not lying!! We were seated immediately, order was taken within a few minutes, the food came, we ate, got the check, and zipped through the door. Traffic was low/moderate - I could only count 4 other tables besides us. The cuisine is described as Central Asian and Eastern European, which I am not privileged enough to eat more of! It is unique to me in the sea of American, European, and Asian cuisines available in San Mateo so I was very happy to try it, and enjoyed my experience. We ordered: * Vinegret - very colorful veggie salad with beets, carrots, pickles, and potatoes. The flavors are very mild and tasted good. * Lagman - noodles served in a spicy veggie broth, topped with lots of veggies. If I wasn't partial to the Shorpo, this would definitely be my favorite of the night. The noodles are thick and chewy, the broth is definitely where the magic is. We dipped the table bread into the broth and finished it that way. It was sublime, wish we had more! * Shorpo - lamb soup in clear broth, with carrots and potato. This was my actual favorite. The broth is super aromatic and tasty, and really hit the spot. Simple recipe, great execution. This was perfect for a light fast dinner, and I liked that it was quite healthy as well. I left feeling full but not too lethargic. I'd definitely recommend to try this spot if you get the chance!

We ordered four dishes. All are delicious. This place shouts authentic central Asian food. I had the lamb dish with potatoes, the lamb is very tender and well cooked. I also tried the lagman, the noodle is very well seasoned. Overall, we all have enjoyed our dishes and love to go back again. One thing we noticed is that all dishes is a bit overpowered by black pepper, which is a bit unpleasant if you try more than one dish. But overall a must have central Asian place in Bay Area other than San Francisco.

A cool and unassuming local spot with an Instagram worthy wall. I was randomly craving Eastern European food and was so happy to find Nursel nearby. It's not everywhere that you can find vareniki in the Bay Area! We got a meat skewer the dumplings and two samsa combo. I will say the cheese samsa was an unexpected hit! The crust was perfectly flaky and the cheese was nice and gooey. The vareniki was also a star. Though it is filled with potato it was so savory and flavorful you could easily have a meal with just that. Otherwise the ambiance was fun. There were just a few of us there but they were playing some upbeat European music and staff were cordial. I would go back even if just for the samsa and vareniki. They were that good!

What a lovely family owned restaurant! Amazing customer service, cute décor with photo opportunities. I felt so very welcomed and it really made me wish I lived nearby and wasn't just out of town visiting. Food was great and I would love to come back. We got the: 1) Borscht: -Eastern Euro soup with beef, cabbage, beet, potatoes, served with sour cream. -This was my first time having borscht that wasn't at a Hong Kong café, so it's definitely a slightly different flavor profile but tasty nonetheless. I love beets and I love soup, so I knew I would love this dish. -The sour cream does make the soup a much creamier stew and brings out the richness of the beets. Very filling and enough to share for sure. 2) Plov: -Slowcooked lamb with rice, onions, carrots, and tomatoes. -Another very hardy, filling dish. Lamb was savory and meaty without tasting too gamey and there's a generous amount of chopped veggies throughout. Mouth is watering remembering this order. 3) Medovik: -Honey cake layers paired with simple sour cream frosting -Divinely sweet and enjoyable dessert. Imagine a Biscoff cookie but in a moist, not too sweet cake form. Multiple yummy layers with sour cream frosting in between. -I would order this as my birthday cake if I could it was so good. As a suggestion from our server, they also have daily freshly baked pastries and sweets, so I ordered a long pastry that was not on the menu. It was like a very long meat pie or empanada, filled with minced, ground beef and some other spices. Not too oily and yummy and easy to eat! If you're in the area, please drop by and have a meal at Nursel. Unique, not so easily accessible, delicious food with great staff.

Lovely food well presented. Flavorful fun from an underrepresented culinary tradition. Our salad was super fresh ... flawless arugula (subbing for the mixed greens) worked very well with everything from the dressing (Russian l think) to the perfectly ripe avocado slices, plump corn kernels etc. The lamb soup was simple but rich & delicious ... very warming. The laghman was full of flavor ... hand noodles (that reminded me of some l had in Uighur lands years ago) in a tomato sauce with peppers celery & meat that delighted in its' subtle combination of spices et al. Service polite friendly ... all it needed to be. Outdoor seating a plus ... Kazakh food shines here ... want to try more soon.

Wow, what a meal! It was sooooooo good. If you asked me before this meal what Central Asia and Russian cuisine was, I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell you. But I feel like I have been sleeping on this! Everything we order was delicious. I only have 1 photo to share, because when the food smells so good, you just dive in without even thinking. We ordered: 1) Cheese Samsy: light, flaky, buttery. It's like a croissant and grilled cheese sandwich combo. 2) Solyanka soup: Beef, smoked chicken, pickles, potatoes in a rich broth, served with lemon and sour cream. Similar to Aush soup. 3) Plov: slow cooked lamb with rice. Similar to a biryani. Very tasty. Will definitely be back to try the Chicken Stroganoff. Plenty of parking around the back.

Cracks in flooring, rice, onions and other food on floor under our table and several places in restaurant. The meat was so fatty that it was inedible. Picture the midwestern Ramada inn in the movie Fargo - ikea plates and glasses, old chairs and decorations out of 60s. The piroshki appetizer was tiny with only a very small amount of cabbage in it. There are so many excellent restaurants in San Carlos - this is a pass.

Spectacular! If I could have drank gallons of their borscht, I might have - the other items were terrific, too. The food was very homey but the surroundings were elegant, I even liked the little electronic bell on each table to call the waitress over. Overall, so well done :)

A friend chose this restaurant and I was not familiar with the cuisine so wasn't expecting much. But the food blew me away! Everything we ordered was piping hot and so delicious. Highlights were the Borsch, the fried Langman, vareniki, and all of the desserts. The ginger honey tea was so good too ! The staff were so sweet and I love to support a small business that obviously values its customers and their experience.

So very delicious! So glad we tried this place, now I want to eat here all the time. The Lagman with the broth is wonderful but the Fried Lagman is really really good. I can't decide which we love more. Then again, "Beef on Clay Pot" was just amazing, don't know how they did it, the flavor is perfection! The beef in all the dishes we tried was so tender and tasty. We loved the kind and helpful service. The atmosphere sort of made us feel like we were traveling and on an adventure to a place we've never been. You gotta try this restaurant, highly recommend!

We used the online checkin feature and was seated the moment we entered. They gave us well-designed menus which we enjoyed exploring for some time. There's a button on the table you press when your ready to order. We really enjoyed the food here! Okay, this is going to sound weird, but I'm going to rave about the vegetable side dishes we ordered: a carrot dish and a beet side dish. The carrots were grated with a custom, very course grater, long-ways to make long, thick carrot-noodles that were marinated in a flavorful dressing (maybe par-boiled first) to achieve a fantastic texture, flavor and appearance. Beets were similar but with additional ingredients like walnuts and something creamy. Both were really delicious to us. The Manti was a great dish, too. It was a cross between an Afghani mantu and a Chinese Xiao Long Bao (soup dumpling). Like a extra large dim sum dumpling filled with a ground pork meatball and broth. Yum! It came with a spicy tomato sauce on the side. We also enjoyed the rack of lamb (four delicious "meat popsicles" with perfectly cooked basmati rice). All the food we tried was amazing. And our server was really nice. It's a relatively small place with two rooms of indoor seating and a small outdoor seating area. I've never had Uzbek food before, but I love the natural fusion you find in Central Asia, in this case combined with its historic association with Russia prior to the dissolution of the soviet union. We love traveling the world virtually through authentic ethnic and regional cuisines, and this was a great experience.

As soon as one of my Yelp buddies posted a review for Nursel, I knew I had to visit the restaurant. So many of their dishes reminded me of the yummy Ukrainian cuisine my grandma used to make. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the food was on par with my memories as we drove up from the South Bay. We got there around 10:30 am on Sunday (the restaurant opens super early) and were the only patrons in there the whole time. Hopefully it picks up later. The place is very clean and cozy inside. We were immediately seated in a nook with their cool neaon sign. Sadly, after that, the service--at least from our waitress--went downhill. She took our initial order and after dropping one dish never retuned. The woman running the kitchen ended up delivering our food and we ended up walking up to the register to pay because we were tired of waiting. She was present, but was just focused on doing other things in the restaurant. She was nice, but the service was not great. Now to the food. Was it authentic? Sorta. But virtually every dish was lacking something. That's bad news to those seeking super authentic food. But to those who are new to this cuisine, it should be enjoyable. -Cheburek: when this is freshly deep-fried, it's phenomenal. Unfortunately ours was pre-cooked and heated up in the microwave (per waitress). So you were really missing out on the crunch. That said, it still tasted good. -Venegret: Very fresh, but way too many potatos and lacked any sort of seasoning. Once we added salt, pepper, and the vinegar it was better. -Plof: I really wanted to love this dish and the flavors were there, but it was too too overcooked. The lamb pieces were almost hard; not the tender cubes of one would've expected. I took it home and revived it with some stock. -Medovik: Wow, this is an absolute must. The cake was light and had that beautiful honey flavor that I was craving. Don't leave without trying it. Overall, I think we may have caught them on a bad day. I'll give them another shot, even if it's just to get some more of that yummy cake.

I ordered the plov and it was absolutely delicious, probably one of the best rice dishes I've ever had. I don't usually like meat that much, but the meat in this dish was soft and tender and the carrots were soft too. The rice itself was very flavorful. Service was great and the restaurant is nice and clean. I am still thinking about the plov days after ordering so I will definitely come back for it in the future.

Wanted to try something different and found this Russian/Kyrgyzstan place. I need to preface this by saying I have no idea what this cuisine should taste like. The noodles tasted good and the little add of dill was different in a good way. The beef was however a bit on the dry side 6.8/10. The soup was tasty with a slight sour note, but again the ground beef was dry 6.8/10. These giant dumplings were quite big and the meat inside was a bit tough (I'm seeing a pattern) 6/10. The Samsy is a fried pastry and it was flaky and tasty 7.5/10. The restaurant is clean with a hint of modern. The service was quick and helpful. Overall, for my personal taste preference I'd give this place a 6.8/10.

3.5/5 We came in on a weekend around lunchtime. It's a small, but nice space with outdoor seating. We were seated and given menus after a minute. There is a button on the table to ask the server to come to the table to place orders etc, but we experienced several long waiting periods throughout our time here. We ordered the ganfan and vereniki. Both were alright. If you can't eat red meat, the menu is a bit limited, but that's to be understood based off of regional cuisines/traditional dishes. Neither of us have eaten Central Asian foods, so I'm hesitant to label the dishes as flat since I don't have a baseline to compare to. However, our main issue was the service and prices. We waited close to 20 minutes to check out, and the prices felt very steep for the amount of and quality of food. Not sure if we'll be back, but glad we tried it.

It is very hard for me to write this review. There aren't any other Uzbek restaurants around and this one is the closest one to the South Bay, and I want to be successful, prosper and it definitely has a lot of potential. However, after our last visit and the considering the previous experience a few year years, that I decided to look over, I have to say that I'm becoming disappointed. We have been to Nursel three times. The first time, the food was good, but the service was very slow and with multiple mistakes. One of the people at our table, even never got his food at all. I looked over this, because it was a super busy, and there only were several servers, plus my friend ordered somewhat of a peculiar dish for a Central Asian restaurant. The second visit was pretty good in all aspects. However, this last visit was not so good. The restaurant was almost empty and had only 3 or 4 tables occupied. We ordered multiple dishes and some were good, but some were questionable. The manti for example were not juicy at all. I ordered lamb kebabs, which comes as several pieces on a single skewer. The meat was very well marinated and was very tasty, however it had a lot of chewy and inedible parts, to the point where I had to ask for a replacement. And that's where to get to even the worse part. The service. The waitress had lot of time on her hands. We saw her out chit-chatting and flirting with some military guys for like 10 minutes. However, when I was going to ask her about my kabob, while she was carrying some small dish to another table, she acknowledged me and left to carry the order to another table. I was waiting for her to finally come back to me to inquire about my problem, only to discover that she went back to the kitchen in a roundabout way, completely ignoring me. Luckily there was another person going around whom I had to ask about it. Then, the drinks we ordered never arrived. When we finally asked for them, we were told that waitress forgot they didn't have them. However, one of them was included in the presented bill. And finally to top off the complete experience, the cake that we took to go, was moldy inside. What a mess.

Central Extraction Self-described as "Central Asian cuisine," Nursel offers up what might be some of the least commonly found food types around. Featuring foods from "the Stans" (i.e., Eastern Europe) as well as some decidedly Chinese options. I have to admit I'm only mildly familiar with this cuisine, but the recent upswing in Uyghur (pronounced wee-goo'r) cuisine has definitely put me and rest of the world on notice that they make some seriously good eats in that neck of the woods. The Good: *Menu isn't huge by any means, but the options are vast, and we had a really hard time picking what to eat because everything looked so interesting and good. *All meats are Halal *Outdoor dining area, but I think you have to place a to-go order to eat there, as I don't believe they're serving outside. *Interior is really nice and homey *Street parking, as well as a shared private lot (entrance on E San Carlos Ave) *Yelp Waitlist™ and reservations *Table spicy vinegar was really tasty *Borscht was fantastic! Earthy, sweet, and slightly sour, this is comfort food at its finest. My only complaint was that there were only a few chunks of beef at the bottom, and I would've loved more as they were deliciously tender. *Housemade Compote berry drink was full of berry flavor, refreshing, and not too sweet. Highly recommend. *Pel'meni were also delicious, and it was interesting to see them in a soup. Almost reminded us of a Chinese Wonton Soup but with shit-tons of dumplings instead of the meager amount one normally finds. *Truth be told, we only came here for the Medovik (honey cake) as *somebody* has been obsessed with it for a few weeks now. And the best part is it didn't disappoint! The layers were gorgeous, and the cakey portuon reminded us of Graham crackers. You could also definitely taste the honey. The Meh: *No alcohol #KeepitHalal *Samsy's were just OK. You could tell they were pre-made and reheated by Chef Mic as their texture was not great and the flavors muted. I've had these before, and they're 100× better straight out of the oven when the layers are still nice and crispy. The Ugly: *Service was friendly, but it became kind of a joke trying to get the server's (owner?) attention when trying to order or ask for anything. I mean, I understand she was busy, but there were only a handful of occupied tables in the place, and she kept zipping past us without making eye contact. Pro Tip: order everything all at once to avoid this. TLDR: Delicious food that one probably won't find on every corner and make sure you get the cake!

Wwaawww. Thank you so much for this restaurant guys. It was incredibly delicious. Every food were out of my mouth recipe! BTW, interior is nomad Kyrgyz style! I like that stuff are multiple languages speakers, service top top! In short, if you are reading this review, so you must give a change for yourself to try this restaurant!

Amazing chicken kebab and Samsa! Definitely recommend this place. The ambience is also very peaceful

Was a nice place, a bit pricey but food was good. They had some good music playing in there.

There aren't many restaurants serving this type of cuisine in the area. I have little experience to compare it to, but I found the food to be delicious, hearty, and flavorful. The people were also very nice and it was a pleasant experience overall. Only a few parties on a Friday evening for dinner.