Spinoza Café & Restaurant — Restaurant in Budapest

Amazing Klezmer music, but the Friday Klezmer Menu needs work.

We came for the Klezmer music and reserved the music meal combo deal online. Everything went well enough at first. We enjoyed the of sweet sparkling wine before attending a great Klezmer music performance. Everything was off to a great start.

After the performance, we sat down to dinner. Following a wait we did not expect given that we had ordered in advance and found our table ready with drinks and settings ready for us as we exited the theatre, the hummus arrived dry enough to be discolored around the edges of the plate.

Once our first course was cleared, we waited for the mains for longer than makes sense given that the restaurant knows the performance duration and took the meal orders in advance. All the second courses for those that had purchased the meal/music combo arrived in the dining room together. The goose was decent, but the potatoes were very dry, clearly plated too far in advance of serving — a different presentation or preparation could avoid this. The vegetarian option had similar issues, again because parts had been plated in advance and allowed to dry out. We left significant portions of the food uneaten. No one asked why so much food had been left on the plates.

It should be noted that you can purchase tickets to the Klezmer performance without dining or drinking at the café or purchase them separately and order dinner á la carte. Both of these are recommended as food and service appeared to be better for those not on the Klezmer menu.

A quick summary of my star logic. I go to every restaurant with five stars they can win or lose graded on the following based on my experience and those in my party: food, drinks, service, atmosphere/ambiance, and specialness/uniqueness.

Spinoza Café is clearly a special place, which made our dining experience all the more disappointing and frustrating. After calming down and receiving thoughtful feedback from the restaurant, I have revised this review to three stars: Spinoza is special and has great ambiance (2 stars). The drinks, service, and food all aspire to something great (1 star for the potential of all three) but are misfiring as part of the Klezmer night (this is not the only review to point this out). Dried out dishes, regardless of the quality of ingredients, are not good to eat. While the timing must be a challenge with the concert and large number of dishes that must be served at one time, different preparations and presentations may help improve...

First thing I want to say is that our waiter was absolutely lovely. He was pretty much dealing with the whole of the mezzanine floor and, despite being rushed off his feet, was very friendly. There was live music which, whilst not to my personal taste, was being enjoyed by many diners and did lend a nice tone to the evening. Where we were really let down was the food. The hortobágyi was disappointing; the sauce was bland and there was cartilage in the pancake. The Hungarian cold platter was, to be fair, well enjoyed and very hearty. There was a good portion of goose liver pâté and while the goose crackling needed salt, it was very nice. The goose breast was, of the mains, the best but not outstanding. The breast was relatively small with a very large portion of letcho potatoes (which again were nice but not great). The cholent was edible but not great. It was warm but not hot and tasted more like mixed bean stew than cholent (I’m familiar with cholent having had it multiple times before and whilst it does have a fair amount beans/barley/chickpea I’ve never had one that tasted only of beans). There was little meat (two small pieces) and half an egg. It was edible, for sure, but very disappointing. The zucchini latkes were luke warm and frankly the most disappointing. They appeared to have been microwaved (hot in the outside, cold on the inside which made the parenyica quite firm). They weren’t crispy but mushy and a little rubbery. The rice had a crust on the outside which made me think it was left under a heat lamp for one time. The pickles were bordering on inedible (incredibly odd taste and smell - I love pickles but these tasted very unpleasant). I don’t know if maybe we had a bad night (it happens) or if there has been an issue with the kitchen. The staff were lovely and the restaurant itself has a nice charm to it. It’s just a pity the food...

Walked past last night, walked in tonight. What a great meal.

A rustic and fun place with a level of elegance but a relaxed feel the staff were attentive and welcoming, providing excellent service to us from start to finish.

The menu is a good blend of Hungarian, local vegetarian and meat meals as well as other selections suited to the area.

We ordered for starter the Humus, the Hortibagyi Husos Pancakes, the goose consume with meat ball and the creamy tomato soup.

Not an error at all and all great with seasoning excellent, flavourful and filling. The tomato soup wasn’t overly creamy and both of the kids enjoyed that immensely. The consume with goose ball was light yet flavourful, seasoned to perfection and a great way to start the meal.

For main we ordered the chicken paprikash, the goose breast, the roasted goose leg. In one word WOW. Amazing balances throughout the meals, my duck breast was amazing with the potato, peppers and onion complimenting the excellent level of preparation to the goose breast.

The paprikash was excellent, balanced well with the dumpling sides an excellent partnership in this meal.

The duck leg was roasted to perfection with the black sauerkraut and potato rosti side balancing this out perfectly.

I finished the night with the Flodni, a light but flavourful slice of cake, my first time to try this Naughty Plum Prince cake!

Overall the restaurant, staff, quality of food, pace of service and price were great and provided for a most enjoyable evening and meal.

Thank you to our server in the young woman that helped me with my Hungarian and I can’t for the life of me remember her name but excellent service none the less and a great way to end our stay here...