Szabad Bisztró — Restaurant in Budapest

We decided to go to Szabad Bisztro because of its exceptional reviews and also because we value ethically sourced plant based food. We also like to support businesses committed to building a sense of community and that are dog friendly.

However, right from the moment we entered the restaurant, we felt a certain level of hostility. The women managing the front of the house said they had no tables for us - full stop. The message was clearly that she did not want us dining in her restaurant. A young couple, who observed how we were being received, said they were leaving and we managed to set the four rickety mismatched chairs for ourselves at the bar.

We all appreciate how hard people work to serve us in restaurants and we are committed to treating them with respect. However, our server clearly did not like us. Despite being a few feet away from her sitting at the bar, she never inquired if we had what we needed, she never cleared our dirty dishes, she never offered us more drinks or any dessert. We felt as if we were being shunned.

On its website, the Szabad Bisztro describes the importance of building community. Unfortunately, we did not pass the test of who they wanted. Maybe it was because we were too old and grey. Perhaps it was because we were tourists from away. Maybe it was simply someone having a bad day who was somehow triggered by us. Regardless, there are thousands of other extremely hospitable cafes in Budapest more deserving of your business.

Besides, the food here is...

I really hate to rate fully Vegan places poorly, however, this place is really lacking when it comes to hygiene. The fact of the matter is this place is filthy. There are spiderwebs that are so thick with dust and dirt that they look like carpets hanging from the ceiling. The furniture is old and grimy and there is dog hair absolutely everywhere. I'm very worried to think about what the kitchen looks like.

The service is also pretty bad. People were friendly enough if a bit short, but at one point the server went out for a smoke break for 40 minutes and the entire restaurant was left unattended. we waited for him to come back and when he did he still didn't attend to us until I went up and spoke to him directly at the bar.

The food was fine, with the pasta being legitimately good and the vibe could be really nice but the place needs a thorough deep clean and the staff need to be friendly and more attentive...

Good food and music! We arrived around dinnertime on a Sunday and it was not busy at all. Just us, the bartender and cook. They were playing old school hip hop on the stereo, some of the best music I had heard yet in an establishment in Budapest. We ordered beer and tapas first and dinner later. All were prepared and served fairly quickly. It was simply delicious! After dinner we were wondering where all the dogs (that were talked about in reviews) were but a seemingly regular couple of customers arrived with their lethally cute dog and this added onto our already very satisfactory evening.

Definitely the chillest place we visited during our time in Budapest.

We had the dirty fries and Balkan burger and some of the local beers, drafted...