La Sarkis — Restaurant in Centru Sector

Very nice looking establishment. Nice decor and very professional looking. We knew it would be pricey, and it was, but that was ok and expected.

The service was slow. Perhaps it is "Par for the Course" because during my visit to Chisinau we haven't seen much better. I was hoping such a high end establishment would put more focus on the customer experience. I was wrong.

I ordered a Cesar Salad which seems pretty standard. It was definitely not a Cesar Dressing, something else. It was pretty tasteless, had no cheese (which I would expect most of the time on a Cesar Salad). It was loaded full of croutons and chickpeas which I do not like, but I ate the entire salad.

Good thing I finished the Salad, because I ordered the Chicken Kidney Paste (translation poor). After 30 minutes they said they couldn't make it.. so then I ordered the grilled Lamb. After 1 hour, no exaggeration, they came back to tell me they were sorry, they couldn't cook that either. Apparently they tried 2 sets of Lamb meat, and messed them both up. They said they could try a 3rd, but it would take another hour to cook if they don't mess it up again.

My Aunt ordered a Chicken in tomato sauce, and it was 90% sauce, and very little chicken. She ate the few pieces of meat, and left the dish which still looked full because it was full of sauce. I felt a little silly sitting there without an entree while my Aunt at least had a plate in front of her.

This is no lie or exaggeration. We arrived at 19:00 and by 21:30 I have had 1 terrible Salad, and only 1 drink. We ordered drinks many times..

I never ate an entree. We did talk to the manager, and they did not charge us for dinner in the end. That was the best part of my evening... I got a free...

Nice “situational” place. Clearly, a place frequented by Moldova’s wealthy elite, but the service isn’t bad as others describe it. The service is fine (but it isn’t legendary either). The food is a bit hit and miss. The kofta was not nice at all, the meat had a very dull flavor and was almost sickly (it could have benefited from lemon or some other tart/acidic flavor to remove the overpowering one-note umami flavor). The rice pilaf with the kofta however was VERY good. I’d skip the kofta dish altogether and just get the Armenian Pilaf next time instead. The Pea Soup with Shrimp, was DELICIOUS! It needed a Tiny bit of salt and pepper (for my taste) but overall it was a delicate and gentle flavor which a light richness. Wonderful. We also very much enjoyed the Adjarian khachapuri, it is a freshly baked pastry bread with a melted dorblu cheese in the middle and a soft boiled egg yolk on top. The bread was clearly freshly made, and the dorblu cheese inside was decadent. Highly recommended as a heavy dish that offsets the lightness of the pea soups. The berry sorbet for dessert was... very different than typical sorbets. I am not sure, but I think it had a small touch of cream (as the flavor was a little softer compared to the usual tartness of sorbets.) but it was nice, it had an “icey” consistency, with heavy bits of pulverized berries, some of them were smooth and felt like bits of shaved chocolate (but it wasn’t chocolate). If this was done on purpose, then it is very clever craftsmanship, if it was on accident... I’d say put a brand stamp on it, and claim ownership of the recipe, because it is a unique, but tasty interpretation of sorbet. We liked it despite it not being EXACTLY what...

Do not go there if you don't like to feel cheated!!

80€ for a steak. 1602 lei. 94$. FOR A STEAK. In Chișinău, Moldova. 3 of us got dinner at La Sarkis on the 22/07/2021. Everything else was fine, but this really hurt.

4 times a monthly salary here for a normal steak. A scandal! Could even be called a scam? For sure completely improper.

For this price you get the best piece of beef in MORTON'S, one of the best steakhouse in the world in... Hong Kong, one of the most expensive city in the world. In downtown Paris, you would get the same piece, same quality for 40€. It wasn't kobe beef either. Called the cowboy steak, it was OK, nothing special.

Granted, next to the item on the menu you get the price per 100g. But this price (215 Lei) being the price of a full steak in other restaurants, you assume it's the price of the all cut. Then the waiter brings the cooked dish, not even mentioning its weight, which actually look like 400g with a big bone. So you get 300g of meat for 80€, a whopping 265€/kg!!! And they charge you for 600g. Which it wasn't.

It should also be noted that we paid 267 Lei for bread, 13€. on the menu it's 18 lei which seems normal. But this is for one piece of bread, and they bring you 6 pieces. INCREDIBLE.

We didn't take pictures unfortunately, because there was nothing to take picture about!

We think this is abusive and should be dealt with by the management of this place. Or maybe is it done on purpose to...