Belvárosi Lugas Restaurant — Restaurant in Budapest

I rarely dine in a group with more than 4, but this weekend eight of us descended on this restaurant. We made a late booking but it wasn’t too busy, Saturday around 8pm. We sat outside and there were blankets for those who had spent all day out in the hot sun (and therefore dressed more lightly). We had a warm reception, service with a smile, unfussy and attentive. Exactly how I like it.

Although this restaurant’s setting on large main road is not exactly bucolic, nevertheless expect a beautiful view across the road of St Stephen’s Basilica.

Food was excellent for the price, sous vide duck was cooked just as I like it, moist and red inside. I chose for it to come with grilled vegetables, basic but seasoned and cooked well.

The menu is split into seasonal, antipasti, starters, mains, fish, and puds. The range of dishes is good, translations good, and the prices excellent. It’s pitched for people like me: needn’t be fine dining but I love the flavours of the food to work well, and I was very impressed with presentation.

Usually I wouldn’t choose a restaurant like this because I prefer to spend a bit more money on something more special, but I needed to find a restaurant to suit others’ budgets without making myself depressed with some cheap rubbish, and this was it.

Wines were silly cheap, here in the UK we are used to wine menus at restaurants starting around £20 for the cheapest, well it was under EUR 20 for the most expensive. Again, not fine wines but extremely good for the price. They had one Furmint on the menu, and some half decent looking other Hungarian wines.

All in, the reason I’m giving this five stars is because, although it’s not five star dining, the restaurant does what it aims to do exceptionally well: good homely food with a very good...

Subject: Extremely Disappointing Experience at Belvárosi Lugas Restaurant

I recently had a highly disappointing experience at Belvárosi Lugas Restaurant, and I feel compelled to share my encounter with the hope that management takes appropriate action.

Upon arriving late and requesting a table, we were met with a disapproving attitude from two waitresses, one with black hair and the other with blonde hair. The level of racism and rudeness displayed by these individuals was shocking and completely unacceptable.

To make matters worse, we chose to share one plate between a couple. From that moment onward, the waitresses treated us with disrespect and refused to bring extra forks for our shared dish. We found this behavior unbelievable and initially thought it might be a joke. Unfortunately, the situation only worsened.

When we asked for a glass because my friend needed it for MEDICATION, the waitress with black hair brought a glass of beer instead. Despite our attempts to explain the misunderstanding, she became angry and uncooperative. Our simple request for a glass without beer was met with a blunt "NO." ( a guess because she had her own bottle of water ) .

What's even more disheartening is the apparent bias in their treatment of customers. It felt like they cared only about costumers willing to spend money , but I think anyone is free to eat and order whatever they want. The overall experience left a bitter taste, and I strongly advise against visiting Belvárosi Lugas...

I am really surprised about the positive reviews, as my experience was completely different. Shared with my partner the chicken soup with noodles, the goulash soup, the deer stew, the chicken paprikash, the walnut crepes and the sponge cake and a couple of wine glasses. The flavour and smell were off for some of the dishes. The chicken soup had an awful taste and especially smell and I could not eat more than a couple of spoons and the goulash soup was overly salted and very oily. The stew and the paprikash were ok-ish, but had an obvious cheap taste, although the paprikash was the most decent of them all. The crepes were bitter because of the walnut and the sponge cake was topped with some cream and a basic chocolate sauce, nothing special here. For the price, it definitely was not worth it. Now to the worst part, the atmosphere and the service. There were three waiters, one man and two women and they were really loud, cracking jokes between themselves, laughing and shouting. All over, being way too obnoxious considering this was a restaurant and they were at work. The man who served was nice though and polite while taking the order and bringing the food. The music was loud, the waiter was singing out loud at times and combined with the fact that the place was crowded and small, it was an overwhelming and...