Karakter — Restaurant in Krakow

We went to Karakter with another couple on a Saturday, with prior reservations.

Problems started immediately with poor menu selection. I am allergic to milk, but there’s always something I can find, and if not, the Chef is always willing to modify some dish to make it work. There was literally nothing on the menu that didn’t contain some milk, and the Chef was unwilling to make even the slightest modifications to the dish to accommodate. For a restaurant which aims at the upscale market, such rigidity makes it look like McDonalds where all meals are scripted and probably pre-prepared at a factory.

We finally ordered something, with me missing out on 2/3 of the meal. We also ordered a bottle of wine. The little side dish I ordered came first, as if the waiter did not realize that it’s meant to last the entire evening. The appetizers for the other guests also arrived. Then it took about an hour for the main dish.

The wine came after the main dish, with dessert (bottle of house wine, terrible). The dessert came, and half way through the dessert we were told that we need to pack it up because other people are waiting for the table. We told the waiter that he just brought the wine, but that didn’t matter. While we wanted to chat over dessert and the - still full - bottle of wine, he hovered over us to get us out.

All in all, this was my worst experience ever in Krakow. Perhaps I was unlucky, but, being an engineer, I believe in statistics, and this restaurant failed on multiple accounts, which makes it a failure generally rather than occasionally.

At this restaurant, the customer is made to feel like they are not wanted there: “we are so good that it is your privilege to be here, even if we treat you poorly” … and all of this at a substantially higher price than most great restaurants in Kraków.

I would strongly not recommend this restaurant. They may have been great in the past, but those days...

I looked this up on google and the place looked nice according to it’s photo and the menu. However it was a disappointing experience. To begin with the place was hot. Really warm, I think the AC was off or set very low. The menu was not what was advertised on the website and the portion sizes were small (ish). My main concern was the attitude of the staff. We were shown to a table and left there before a while; eventually having to make eye contact, in order to be served. I tried my cocktail, just a sip, and it was super super strong. When I tried to explain, the blonde gentlemen was very abrupt and told me that cocktails are strong and I should study the ingredients before hand. I asked if I could change it and in a condescending tone he replied “read before you buy”. He went to explain to his colleagues in polish by turning around and making it obvious that I was complaining about my cocktail . The 2nd person then told me the same. A third blonde lady came over and explained everything so differently and offered to change it to a beer. ( her explanation was spot on ). Eventually the server put the food down and there was no please or thank you. My friend tried to say thank you but she waltzed away. I could see the blonde gentlemen still looking at me and making comments to his colleague. The whole experience was such a let down. Over priced for meal sizes. Staff really need to show they enjoy their job and realise that returning a cocktail is worth than losing 3 customers who will never go again.

Ps I would have even payed for the cocktail even tho I would never have drank it. But the attitude...

We tried to make an online reservation a few days in advance, but at first, the system didn’t accept a Turkish phone number. We decided not to think negatively. For three days, our reservation remained in a “pending” status. When we went to ask about it, they told us there had been an error. However, when we arrived, there were no available tables. They said we could wait at the bar until a table became free. We decided to wait, but since no tables opened up and it was still early in the day, we opted to eat our burgers at the bar.

Even though some tables were free later on, the menu didn’t seem to offer many options. Meanwhile, the table next to us was vacated, but we weren’t seated there—probably because it was reserved. We didn’t mind. Since it was still early, we ordered homemade lemonade as a drink, but it turned out to be nothing more than mint and lemon floating in ice water—completely bland and tasteless.

Then our burgers arrived. The fries were frozen. The burger patty wasn’t bad, nor was the bun. But they had stuffed it with whatever they could find: pickles, tomatoes, red cabbage, roasted red peppers, and red onions. It was more like a hamburger salad. At the very least, the onions could have been caramelized. I had imagined eating a more refined burger at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Don’t underestimate burgers—burgers are serious business (see:...