Shije Fshati - Taste of the Village — Restaurant in Tirana Municipality

Food was good. I rate is 4 because portion was quite small. If I did not order additional salad, I would be still hungry after eating my portion of meatballs. Personally I prefer to pay a bit more but to make sure that portion is enough to make me full and happy. And I am not saying about meat but garnish (more fries or salad would be nice to have). Climate - nice but would be nicer with balkaneese music (there was kind of neutral music in the background). General rate I decrease to 3 because I am dissatisfied about how I was treated by stuff. When I entered with my fiance we observed that one part of room was very crowded and another more deserted (but not fully empty). It was my last night in Tirana and I wanted to spend nice and romantic evening with my fiance. I asked staff to sit in the less crowded part of room but I was informed it is not possible because all tables are booked, so we were seated at the table we did not liked. 5 minutes later two another, different couples came to restaurant. I heard as they spoke to waiter that they have no reservation and they were seated at the tables we wanted to sit. I do not understand why staff lied.

Answear to restaurant: I kindly recommend you a little humbleness. I believe google opinions should be taken as feedback to keep improving but I have feeling that you perceive it as attack and I find your reply as aggressive. But coming back to the point:

1. I did not have reservation in any restaurant I visited in Albania and only in your restaurant I was not allowed to sit at empty table I wanted. And your staff did not inform me about seating rule you describe. Instead they told me that all tables were reserved. It was lie.
2. I am sorry to say but this is not true that I am the first person complaining about size of portion. I see it mentioned several times when I review google opinion under your profile.
3. I wrote opinion next day after visit at restaurant. It is constructive opinion and I have no idea why you think I am driven by emotions. I think your reply is driven by them - what is visible on the capital letters you use.

So far I thought your restaurant was quite nice place with some corrections to be made. My rate was 3, not 1. But I am afraid that with such attitude you demonstrate I changed my mind. I am discouraged to revisit you or recommend to anyone. All is perfect until you hear any criticism. Please respect...

This restaurant is so honest and welcoming and highly recommend!

I had a meal here with two friends before leaving Tirana. We only ordered 2000 leks worth of food among the three of us, but I decided to order a 4500 leks Italian white wine for a goodbye toast.

Turns out the bottle was oxidized. We were not sure if they didn’t store properly or it is corked or whatever but we felt bad for asking for a new bottle since it is 4500 leks which is a huge amount in Tirana.

When we were paying, since we were the last ones and the owner was cleaning out and helped us with the bill. We just informed the owner that the bottle is oxidized just so he knows for the future intending to pay for the bottle. He insisted us that we don’t need to pay for the bottle if it is not good. He ensures that they properly store the wine and it is probably corked and he will go to the distributor.

We asked multiple times if he is sure since we really didn’t order that much food and wine is like 2-3 times of the cost of our food. He assured us that the guests’ and customers’ happiness to him is the most important and if we go next time, this type of thing happens again, we should inform the waiter immediately and get a new bottle.

The owner is such a honest man with supreme hospitality. Have to say I wasn’t super happy about the wine since it was not cheap and I really had high hope for the last toast. I just felt bad not paying.

But his generosity and professionalism really made the day for me and was the highlight of my trip. I am just so grateful for the great Albanian people here and for sure come back to...

We’ve been keen to try as much traditional Albanian food as possible on our visit (there is a surprising amount of Italian and Greek food here). Positive reviews led us here, but overall we were disappointed in the meal we ordered.

We ordered two appetizers: fried zucchini and fried cheese. The fries cheese was delicious, while the fried zucchini was limp and not particularly tasty.

We tried to order a Chef Salad but they didn’t have that so we settled for a Village Salad. We’ve eaten a lot of Greek Salad in Albania in our first month here, and this one was just OK. The vegetables were fresh and tasty, but there was no “pop” to the dressing, there was no feta cheese and the olives were mediocre.

We were excited for our main dish. We ordered Village Chicken, a traditional dish we’ve been very keen to try. Unfortunately what arrived at our table was over-cooked. All the white meat pieces were dry and tasteless (save for the spices on the skin). Even the dark meat pieces were quite dry and lacking flavour - and that’s hard to do!

The space is very nice, and our server was friendly, but on our visit the food quality was not what we’ve come to expect in Albania. We’ve had many meals for the 3,000L bill that were...