Chernivtsi Restaurants

We ate at Pyramid, across the street from the old "Tourist Hotel" near Maidan Shopping center. The 5 of us all had salads, entrees and sides. The food was tasty, 2 of us had fish, 1 sausage, 1 veal and 1 pork and everyone was satisfied with their meal. With beverages it was just under $15 a piece. The service was very helpful, but wouldn't come to table w/o you calling them over. But that seems typical here. In all a good meal, fair price but nothing special. The espesso I had was very good and only $1.

We ate at Mario near the theater about a block from the end of Kobalenski. It was quick, inexpensive and rather tasty. For lunch the 4 of us split a large pizza, we each had a small salad and beverages for just 7.50 dollars total. It must be a small chain as I saw another a few blocks from where our family lives on Nezalezhnosti. We plan on checking that one out too.

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On our last evening we visited the Restaurant Koleso (Old Wheel) for dinner. It is listed in most guidebooks and seems to be popular with tour groups.

The restaurant consists of several vaulted underground rooms which are furnished with wooden tables and seats.

The rooms are decorated with old carriage wheels and the waiters are dressed in traditional costumes.

The multilingual menu offers mainly Ukrainian and Hutsul national dishes. I opted for a lamb meat stew with vegetables (30 UAH), which came with a large portion of polenta. To drink I had a local Obolon beer (4 UAH).

The meal was generally okay, but nothing too exiting. Also the rooms were in my opinion not illuminated bright enough and the wooden banks and tables were a bit uncomfortable.

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Due to its history Chernivtsi used to have many coffeehouses, where people met to see and talk. Nowadays the recently opened Viennese Coffeehouse seems to be the only place which keeps this tradition alive.

As the coffeehouse was listed in my guidebook we were quite keen on checking it out. So one late morning we popped in for a piece of cake and a tea. The interior consists of two storeys which are nicely decorated with pictures from Austrian times.

The cakes are on display at a glass counter, but can also be chosen from the menu which is available in English. Apart from sweet delicacies they also offers hearty snacks. Prices are above average, but still reasonable for Western standards.

I opted for a gateau Napoleon (12 UAH) and a black tea (12 UAH). My choice was excellent and we really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place.

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As our hotel didn't offer breakfast, we always tried to have at least a warm snack around lunch time during our time in Chernivtsi. One day we chose Pizzeria Bar Karuso for our little lunch break.

It is a small bar with less than 10 tables, which seems to be frequented mainly by locals. The menu is available in English and offers several small dishes as well as pizzas.

I ordered Grandma's speciality (16 UAH) which were potato varenyky with mushrooms and chicken in a sour cream sauce. Varenyky are a Ukrainain local dish, which consists of filled dumplings.

The service was a bit slow, but the varenyky were very tasty and just the right meal at this time of the day.

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On our first evening in Chernivtsi we were quite hungry and for some reason we didn't really know where to go for dinner.

We finally found Restaurant Efes which looked quite decent to us, although the building was hidden behind scaffoldings.

Due to its name the restaurant is probably specialised in Turkish cuisine. The interior is kept simple and of plain decor.

The menu is available in English, which can be a huge advantage if you are not used to read cyrillic letters.

Surprisingly enough, the guests around us all spoke English and were either tourists or local students who were happy to get in contact with us. All in all the restaurant was well visited.

I opted for a chicken filled with vegetables (24,95 UAH) and rice as side dish (5 UAH). To drink I ordered a big Chernihivske Beer (5 UAH). The dish was yummy and we had a really good time in the restaurant as we got in contact with quite a few different people.

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Before they started redoing Kobalanskiya street, Videnska kavyarnya was one of the happening places in the city. With the streets being torn apart, most of the storesdown the street took a big hit and Videnska kavyarnya was no different. The times we were there it was always pretty slow and the staff was more than attentive. While they are a complete restaurant, the site is noted for their desserts. They have glass display counters that show the days selections of pastries. We normally just wander from counter to counter to find one that grabs our attention. The prices are high for the Ukraine, they are more in line with the prices you find in the USA. The biggest problem I had there was with the price for coffee. Paying $6 USA for a cup in America would be an offense, To pay that prince in the Ukraine made me feel taken advantage of. Go for the tea, it was much better priced.

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We were walking down Prospekt Komorova when I saw a sign exclaiming “American Hamburger”. I couldn’t resist that. I sent the wife to pick up what I hoped to be a lil bit of home. She came back with the nicely wrapped sandwich and handed it to me. First thing I noticed was an regulation size and looking bun. A REAL hamburger bun, so far so good. Looking inside, a white substance that looked like mayonnaise, some shredded green stuff.. lettuce? …. And a meat patty. There was also some shredded carrots in there but I figured that was just some weird Ukrainian thing. With hope in my heart I took my first bite. The taste buds quickly fed the information to the brain. Ok, it wasn’t mayo but some type of sour cream. The lettuce turned out to be shredded cabbage. And the meat wasn’t hamburger but some soft meat stuff. All in all not bad, but not a hamburger.