Salhino Restaurant — Restaurant in Berlin

Sorry, but never again! We were looking for a nice Georgian restaurant, and found this one, due to high recommendation rate. The experience wasn’t nice, here is why: We came at 16.30 and didn’t book the table, as we arrived, there was no guests, we were asked if the table was booked, after we said no, we got the worse table at the end of the restaurant near the toilet, where it’s not enough space to sit comfortably, because they keep baby chairs and other stuff. The restaurant was totally empty! We spent there 1 hour, and it was still empty as it was when we arrived! I mean, of course I would understand due to reservations it was no space, but there were plenty of tables without the reservation signs, and once more during our stay no people arrived! At restaurants they usually would tell you, I can give you this table till that time! The service was poor, it’s not our first experience with Georgian food. Usually Georgian restaurants are offering extraordinary service, because it’s in there culture. In this place everybody was so cold, not even mentioning, that stuff were talking in Russian with each other, and they knew we talk in Russian as well, but talked with us only in German. Well ok.

Food was okey. We came to eat Hinkali(dumplings), when we ordered, the girl said She doesn’t know if they have it, because yesterday they got a big order!! I said we came to this place specifically to eat this , and asked her to check! I mean cmon! It’s Saturday! They have to be prepared, since it’s one of most famous Georgian food! She came back and said that they have only one big portion. Okey we ordered it and dumplings were okey, with a real Georgian spices, but just okey. We also took hachapuri. That was again a disappointment, because charging 14€ for such a small bread with cheese and 1 egg is total failure.

Itself the atmosphere in restaurant is nothing special, it’s poorly decorated to be honest.

So just a conclusion...

My wife and I have given 4 stars for food, service and atmosphere. But we would have given 1 star for 'value', if such a heading existed. So we have given 2 stars overall. My wife and I had a fun evening at Salhino last night and the food and wine were good. But, since we were lured here by the unbelievably positive online reviews we felt, in the interests of balance, it was fair to warn others on a budget, of how expensive this place is. Our drinks alone came to 51 Euros for two people, and that was for one bottle of decent wine and two 70cl bottles of water. We were refused a jug of tap water. At 18 Euros, their mixed-starter of a few dips, with two small discs of aubergine, while tasty, was not very large and included no salad starters. For these you had to pay another 19 Euros. And, unlike other restaurants, their dips came with no bread-basket. If we had not bought their expensive cheesy flatbread, for another 17 Euros, I guess we would have needed to eat the dips with a spoon? We shared just one main course, the rack of lamb, for another 27 euros. For this price we hoped for something quite substantial, especially as no vegetables or sides were included, but we were served 4 modest lambchops arranged end to end on a skewer, which is not what is normally understood as a “rack” of lamb. Georgia is famed for its generous hospitality, so were just disappointed that this particular restaurant is so ungenerous and money-orientated in what they offer. Given that all we ordered was a couple of starters and one main (to share) with one modest bottle of wine (one of the cheapest), but no side dishes, no desserts & no coffee afterwards, at 113 Euros even before any service charge, we felt we had significantly overpaid, especially compared to other delicious meals we have had in fine restaurants all over in Berlin during this trip and our countless...

Tasty, but small portions and overpriced. I have visited this restaurant two times within a month and although the food was tasty both times, it was the only constantly positive thing about the visit. Service was generally good, but while the first time a person was very friendly and helpful, the second time the atmosphere was not very friendly, and the vibe was spread from several people. Food is really good, much better than in the most Georgian restaurants in Berlin I have visited. But portions of some dishes , especially relatively to prices, are disappointing. Here I specifically speak about khachapuri adjaruli - probably, the smallest I have ever seen in my life. Also portion of khinkali either could be bigger or the price smaller. The prices were a real shock - in the period of three weeks between our visits they have increased by 2€ for almost (if not all) dishes. And the waitress also argued with me that the prices already were like that. Prices before I found quite okay, quite similar to other Georgian restaurants, but this increase I don’t find understandable. In addition, both times some other customers were quite loud and made it uncomfortable to spend time in the restaurant. As we could understand, one of the group were constant visitors and had good relationships with the staff, that gives me more reasons to think about whether to come to this...