V Zátiší — Restaurant in Prague

(Last visited February 7, 2025) So earlier in the day I was just wandering around Prague and I saw this gorgeous blue Ferrari Roma. I went to check it out and saw it was parked outside of Kampa Park which looked like a gorgeous restaurant. However, there were no open reservations for the rest of the evening so I was banished away... after I made a reservation for the next day. Lol. So while hunting for dinner I opened the Michelin Guide app to see what else was around. I found (V Zátiši) veeeahhh-teeshi! So I rolled up Anthony Bordain style with no reservations and they seated me! Here's how it went.

Atmosphere/Appearance: Restaurant is super quiet. Whenever the waiter spoke to someone else the whole area could hear it, even though there’s chill music playing. I did love the intimate feel with the separate dining spaces and low lighting.

Service: Filip was awesome. He was super sweet, super courteous, made excellent recommendations and just made my experience that much better. He also said he started learning to speak English as he started working here! He was doing very well!

Food: So this place does offer a traditional a la carte menu, but I'm here for an EXPERIENCE! So they offer you 2, the Czech Tasting Menu which focuses on Czech foods! The other tasting menu is a more broad tasting menu that pulls motivation from all over the place. And because I'm in a country I've never been to before, I wanted to focus on the foods from here!

Czech Tasting Menu

Bread: Foccaia bread was phenomenal with the butter. It was like a vegetable butter of sorts. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I loved it.

Amuse Busch: Tasted like a super elevated tuna fish that I really enjoyed and was very well balanced. Salt was there. Flavors were there and good texture that you could spread on the bread.

1st Course: The potato cake thing was FANTASTIC. Tomato-y, cheesy, room temperate, complex, like is Campbell himself went to France and studied to make a sauce this amazing. (Tomato soup.)

2nd Course: Interesting to say the least. Three things that didn’t necessarily go together, but bridged by a remarkable sauce that worked well with each of them. The fish had an amazingly crisp skin. The carrot was cool. Lol. Dressed up with extra stuff for seemingly no reason in my opinion. The mash… was buttery, smooth, it was fine. The Al dente carrot/onion on top was fine.

3rd Course: Loved the duck being cooked different ways. The liver in the croquette was certainly livery… but maybe that’s what the chef wanted. The duck breast was SO GOOD. I loved the crisp skin on it.

4th Course: Wild boar was delicious! Sauce felt a little too sweet, but the dish as a whole was great.

5th Course: Dessert was good and executed well. If I could’ve gotten a little more sweetness out of it, I would’ve been just a bit happier. Actually, as I was eating it and was getting more of that plum jam, I got what I was looking for! Well done.

I feel like I understand what’s trying to be done here, but that someone is trying to hard to make things too complex. You feel me? Don't get me wrong, everything was freaking delicious, but not the tippy-top best...

Value: The tasting menu was 1,895 CZK which converts to $82.06. The wine pairing was an additional 1,095 CZK ($47.42). For a meal of THIS CALIBER... $130.00 is an INCREDIBLE DEAL and people should be FLOCKING here to experience this! Food this good AND WINE to go with it?! C'mon! This place should've been PACKED, but for my sake, I glad it wasn't on this Friday evening.

In conclusion, make your way here to check this place out if you're ever...

EDIT: The restaurant reached out so very graciously to fix many of these issues. They have stated they appreciate the constructive criticism, so I am updating my review from 2 stars to 4 stars, for the OUTSTANDING service provided :)

I was sorely under-impressed with this place. My wife and I booked this restaurant for an anniversary dinner and were very excited to try this Michelin star restaurant with glowing reviews. The atmosphere and service at this place are 10/10 - you will be treated very well. The food itself however is another story.

The amuse-bouche was an artichoke purée that was delightful. The bread however, was 3 pieces, 2 of which were end pieces and extremely hard and crusty. I went to Billa (a local supermarket) and purchased better sourdough rye bread for €1. Sad to admit this as bread is usually a wonderful part of your dining experience…. Was it a week old loaf? Or was the restaurant trying to save money by including end pieces? Either way it was confusing and thank goodness I have strong teeth!

We ordered 3 appetizers, the Tiger Prawns, the Goat cheese salad, and the stewed neck with dill sauce. These were okay but so underwhelming- the salad was very basic, you can find plenty similar salads in Prague for much cheaper. The neck was tough (as expected) but it took all my bodily strength to cut it into bite sized pieces. The tiger prawns were small pieces not full prawns, and served on a bed of avocado with pomelo. I truly wanted to like this but it wasn’t half as tasty as described in the menu.

The entrée was Duck and Croquette. And while the croquette was fantastic, the duck itself was very rare and apparently sous-vide at 45 degrees Celsius. It seemed like the duck was given a warm bath, but not cooked at all. I personally don’t mind a bit of pink or even some rare steaks, but this was absurdly raw - like it tasted as though the duck was still alive and I was chewing through bits of its flesh. My wife and I had to send it back because we were both in disbelief that such a nice piece of duck was so raw. Had it mentioned something in the menu that this was the method of preparation that would have been helpful. Or for example, have the staff ask what the cooking preference would be when placing the order, like the steak. For those reasons the duck was not great and sadly seemed to slightly upset my stomach.

Fortunately, we had a wonderful waiter who was understanding and offered us the pistachio crème brûlée, compliments of the house. This saved the dinner, but unfortunately I was still so uncomfortable from the duck that my wife had to enjoy it herself.

Overall, the service and the atmosphere here is outstanding! Very nice decor and a cozy environment. The staff is attentive and very welcoming. This is why the rating is 2 stars, as I feel like that is fair. Sadly, the food itself is what I was most looking forward to enjoying and I left there hungry, with an upset stomach, and feeling a bit puzzled about how the food didn’t live up...

This restaurant provides a fine dining experience in a sophisticated and elegant setting. The staff at V Zátiší are professional and attentive, making for a pleasant evening. However, I found that the food was slightly overpriced for the quality and portion size.

Visitors can expect a refined atmosphere with dim lighting, candles on the table, and white tablecloths. The service is attentive and polite, with servers providing detailed descriptions of the dishes. The food is well-presented and includes traditional Czech cuisine as well as international options.

One unique feature of V Zátiší is the extensive wine list with a wide variety of options from around the world. Additionally, the restaurant offers private dining rooms for special occasions or business meetings.

Unfortunately, I must deduct one star for the high prices of the dishes, which don't seem to match the quality and portion size. The desserts were also somewhat underwhelming.

To improve, the restaurant could offer more vegetarian and vegan options and add more creative dishes to the menu. The portion sizes could be increased to make the prices more reasonable.

I do appreciate the effort put into creating an elegant dining experience, and I would recommend V Zátiší to those who value ambiance and attentive service. However, due to the high prices, I would not recommend this restaurant for...