The Borscht Bowl — Restaurant in Grand Forks

After going there for lunch it wasn't clear to us why this place is so highly rated. Borscht was decent - 7.5/10. Pirogies (or their russian equivalent) were bland - 2/10. It is very expensive. When I told my wife that our bill was $48 for lunch she made me show her the bill because she couldn't believe it was that much. She had a bowl of soup and a slice of bread, and I had the "special", which added on a couple of the russian pirogies to the soup and bread. The setup is a bit weird too. All the menu is on chalk boards near the entrance, but no one tells you that there are no paper menus at the tables and that you better decide what you want as you walk in the door. As we were leaving the server said that we were lucky, this was the last day that the "summer special" was available. Feeling hopeful that the "fall special" might be something better I asked what it was ...... and it is the same thing (bland pirogies and borscht) they just change...

My brother in law and I went there for lunch. One glass of water about 4 ice cubes only, the hamburger we had ordered was warmed up in a micro wave, my brother in law walked back to look into the kitchen area and found they don't fry the meat it's warmed up in the micro wave, lousy from the start. I've been there about 4 times and no we didn't care for it. I went back to see if the service and food could improve, No it didn't. Sorry but we didn't care for it. I wish they'd fix the food (like hamburger meat) on site and not heated up in a micro wave. It has a great potential but it fails in service and food flavor. SORRY. I wish I could say good things about the Borscht Bowl but so far we aren't able to find good to things to say about it. I know I'll try it again sometime later on in the Spring but for now we'll just have to wait and see if it'll...

I am rating the food based on two people with me. They got large portions. I got a salad. Very little dressing. Server was horrible. She kept walking away without excusing herself. Snapped at me when I asked if there was any borscht without the cream. I have a serious dairy allergy. I also make borscht and cream is added at the end. She plunked this huge delish looking salad in front of me with enough dressing on the side to cover two cucumber slices. After 4 bites, I felt I was eating grass. She never came near our table again except to drop off the bill. I left to go find a food venue that would get me a meal. My mother in law said the borscht was very good. My husband loved the meat perogi. They both hated the service. No water until the end. My mother in law never...