Art-cafe MARI — Restaurant in Stepantsminda

Café Mari is, unfortunately, a place where friendliness seems to be entirely absent. If you don’t actively wave or call for attention, you can expect to be ignored. Even basic service, like bringing cutlery when it’s needed, is overlooked.

While the potatoes that came with both the chicken and pork dishes were very tasty, the meats themselves were disappointing—lacking both flavor and appeal.

On top of that, the atmosphere was made uncomfortable by the attitude of what appears to be the owner or perhaps the mother of the family running the place. When I asked for something, she looked at me with visible annoyance. I also witnessed her treating some Asian customers rudely, hurrying them to pay as if they were unwelcome.

In short, Café Mari’s food has a few bright spots, but the service and hospitality make it hard...

A great culinary surprise in the very north of Georgia. The place has a friendly atmosphere, the crew smiles a lot – that's really not common in Georgia. The owner himself comes out to the guests, talks to them, and takes care of their comfort. What about the food, of the many different khachapuri eaten in Georgia, their Adjarian one is definitely the best I tried during my entire vacation. In general, the dishes are very authentic, which in the case of some (e.g. chicken in milky garlic sauce) is both an advantage and a disadvantage - the lack of saltiness may surprise some foreigners. In other dishes, salt is replaced by a large amount of local herbs and spices, and then other, less healthy flavor enhancers are not needed. Absolutely...

The service was prompt and the food came quickly. We particularly liked the French fries, which were excellent although the ketchup was weird. My friend and I had lobio (Georgian bean stew) which was very bland and the most disappointing one we've eaten in Georgia so far. Another in our group had a beef stew, which he said tasted nice but the meat was chewy. My husband's fried chichen tasted OK but was dry. The eggplant rolls for appetizer were flavourful and tasty.

Our meal, which included 2 glasses of wine and 2 softdrinks plus bread came to 123 GEL. I didn't have the exact change so gave 130. There was a bit of drama about my not having the exact amount, which was uncalled for and not...