SIERRA Coffee Manas Ave — Restaurant in Bishkek City

My girlfriend and I went here for lunch and were pleasantly surprised by the quality and standard of this restaurant / cafe! The menus are in English, some of the staff speaks English as well and there’s lots of vegetarian, and even some vegan options.

I ordered a spring salad, and asked for ‘no cheese’ but still got some white cheese on top. So if you are lactose intolerant or prefer not to eat any animal products, try to find a member of staff with sufficient English to understand you. Unfortunately I did bite on a little piece of plastic in my salad (photo) and although it’s difficult to go about this sort of issue, I think they should pay a bit more attention during the preparation.

The carrot cake was put in a lot of plastic, and after requesting for it to be on a plate, the plastic was thrown away. PLEASE pay attention to plastic waste, and I recommend for the staff to reduce it significantly, seeing that Kyrgyzstan doesn’t have any recycling facilities.

Otherwise, delicious carrot cake and espresso (so far the best (and most expensive) espresso I’ve had in Kyrgyzstan, plus a good wifi connection and corner with couches for a comfy work atmosphere. Also, the bike racks outside to lock your bicycle seem safe, and it’s a very thoughtful addition to the cafe.

Highly recommended...

I ordered a dumpling dish at Sierra Café that was clearly marked with the vegetarian symbol. To be safe, in addition to verbally ordering, I pointed directly at the dish on the menu and confirmed with the waiter that it was vegetarian. He told me it contained milk, which I said was fine, but I emphasized “no meat.” He agreed.

When the food arrived, however, it was the very first dumpling dish on the menu, a meat-filled option I had not pointed to or named. Unfortunately, I was eating too quickly and swallowed one dumpling before I realized it was meat. As someone who hasn’t eaten meat in a very long time, I felt sick right away and had to forcefully vomit it out, which left me unwell for half the day.

When I raised this, the waiter became defensive and insisted he thought I had ordered the meat dish, even though I had clearly pointed to the vegetarian symbol and confirmed no meat multiple times. His apology felt more like a “sorry, but…” than real accountability.

To be fair, when we were paying up he was friendly and I could sense he was trying to smooth things over. But for vegetarians or anyone with dietary restrictions, this kind of mistake is a real breach of trust that had physical and emotional consequences for me. I don't know how much more careful I can be...

Very disappointing. I enjoyed the Sierra Coffee in Karakol, so thought I would visit this one in Bishkek too. The veggie burger I was given was completely uncooked and stone cold inside. Once I managed to get someone's attention to complain about this (eventually having to leave my things at an outside table while I sought someone out inside), they took the plate away to replace it. What was returned to me was the same burger that I had already bitten into, now microwaved, both the burger and the bun mush and falling apart. The fries on the plate had, by this point, gone cold. Very poor service standards - the least you could have done was replace the burger that you had messed up in the first place, rectified the mistake and done it properly. I feel annoyed to have to pay for inferior quality food and the insulting way in which it was dealt with. This is not a cheap place, and a 15% service charge is automatically added. I would therefore expect good food and service. Neither...