Question by drdave: What is the most authentic Russian dining/drinking experience in New York City?
Looking for a great restaurant and/or bar that has a very Russian feel.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Freud 22
go to the Russian Tea Room.
What do you think? Answer below!
Chanteuse_ar says
The others are night, if you want the closest to real Russian you need to go to Brighton Beach. If you find you can't get out of Manhattan (Brighton Beach is a bit of a haul), The Russian Samovar is the closest I've found in the city – I spent two weeks in Moscow and Siberia a few years ago and it was similar to many of the places I went while there.
I went on a random night after a show at Lincoln Center and there was a pianist and a violinist playing typical Russian music there, they have several homemade flavoured vodkas. I didn't eat while there, but I recognized most of the dishes that were coming out of the kitchen having had most of them in Russia and Brighton Beach.
Forget the Russian Tea Room. Although it's a lovely place and clearly has some genuine Russian influences, it hasn't been the same since the buy out, buy back and management changeover and is really geared more toward tourists and people who prefer the Manhattanized version of a Russian restaurant.
Bina says
i agree if you wanna get a reall russian feel go to brooklyn, brighton beach. and i sugest you to try "Glechik" it really good or "Slavyanskiy Bazar"
Nicholas M says
Russian Tea Room is not really authentic Russian Cuisine. It's good place to go but it's very upscale. If you want to try the real authentic Russian food then the closest you will get to is the Russian Semovar on 256 W 52nd St, New York, NY 10019
If you don't mind traveling to Brooklyn then you'll really get the real deal. There is a reason the Brighton Beach area called the Little Odessa because of the high ratio of the Russian and Ukrainian population. Some of the good places in that area will be the National, Rasputin, Winter Garden, Tatiana (on the boardwalk), Rossiya and Primorski. There are of course tons of other places but these are the top of the list.
Nazdrovya