Shaban Grill House — Restaurant in Pristina

We had just arrived in Prishtina from the United States and were excited to finally sit down for a meal. It was freezing outside, the entire outdoor area was empty, and it was only us. We had our tiny Maltese dog — calm, silent, sitting on the ground and bothering no one.

What happened next was honestly shocking. Instead of a polite explanation or even basic hospitality, we were abruptly told “no pets” and pushed away from the table. No kindness, no alternative, no “would you like to order takeaway?”, nothing. Just a cold and dismissive “no pets” as if we weren’t welcome there at all.

In the US and in most countries around the world, small dogs are not only allowed outdoors — they are welcomed. Restaurants usually show empathy, especially when people have just arrived, when it’s cold, and when the dog is quiet. The lack of warmth, manners, and customer care here was unbelievable.

If this is the first impression visitors get when coming to Kosovo, it’s extremely disappointing. A simple touch of hospitality and respect could have completely changed the experience — but instead, we left feeling unwelcome and stunned by...

Didn’t really enjoy the food. I think this is the typical quality of fast food in the Balkans. Bread wasn’t great, burger meat tasted like a mix not just beef and like it was premade frozen patty. The kajmak seemed fresh and made fresh, but the worst kajmak I’ve had (though I’ve only had Kajmak in Serbia (the best), and Macedonia before this). The salad was ok, didn’t care for the corn. I added the kajmak onto the burger which made it a bit better. Overall I won’t return. If I spent €5 euro total it would be a better reflection of the taste but I think I paid closer to €12, which no way I’d pay that again for food that I partly finished just due to not having ate that day until 21:00 when I went there. Fasting all day for this was a let down. But, I’m sure plenty of people will find it fine, I’m picking when eating out as I make most my meals myself and don’t use seed oils to...

This place is hopping crazy busy at lunch time, which should tell you it knows what it's doing and is worth a visit. As a non-Albanian speaker and one who is not familiar with the local food, I appreciated the large signs showing pictures of the food choices. If you are an American be aware that one lunch there (especially the Combo plate) is more than enough to share by 2 people. No matter what lunch plate you order, they'll bring you a dinner-plate sized round loaf of bread - one for each person at the table. This bread is as fresh as can be and extremely yummy - you won't leave there hungry and you'll probably only pay 2-3 Euro for your lunch - amazingly cheap by American standards for that amount of food and the...