Magnateria — Restaurant in Krakow

Straight up scammers. We ordered 5 espresso martinis and the first scam comes when they ask what size you would like. There are two prices on the menu but they offer you 3 different sizes. We assumed, quite reasonably I think, that these 2 prices were the high and low and the extra size was in between the 2.

But no, we ordered medium and got charged the full 88 zlotti (over €20) for each drink!! I pay less than that in central London, it's was truly mind blowing.

Admittedly these cocktails were larger than you're average cocktail, so small clearly means normal size, but that in no way justified the insane price.

The service time and cocktails themselves were also absolutely awful. It took well over 20minutes to get our drinks. I know espresso martinis take longer, especially 5, but it was a completely empty restaurant, we were the only people there (now I see why) so I see no reason it would have taken this long.

When the cocktails finally arrived, they were warm, like genuinely warm. How can they take that long and not even get them cold. They also generally just tasted so boring, was basically just drinking luke warm coffee with loads of whole beans in them (I like a couple beans for decoration but this was a whole sprinkle). We asked for ice which they did provide and made them drinkable, but obviously watered then down even more than they already were.

Don't worry, there are more problems to come. When it came to paying the bill, we were offered a free shot if we left a review. We were happy to do this and went to leave a review and the lady serving us insisted that she wrote it for us. One by one we gave her our phones and she gave herself a glowing review, mentioning herself by name in all. This is just completely against the spirit of reviews and I don't blame the waitress as she it was clearly the policy as the free shots did then arrive. Don't worry, all reviews were deleted as soon as we left the restaurant.

Finally, we got the bill and my friend paid it without looking. And saw £100 come out of his bank account for the 5 drinks, looked at the reciept and had to tell us the bad news... But not only were the drinks outrageous prices, they put an automatic 15% tip on everything, for serving us 1 drinks each that already cost 4x as much as anywhere else. Everywhere else we had been in Krakow had been so upfront about the service, normally max 10%, and made it clear we can take it off (we never did). This was the only place we actually would have wanted to remove it and they just snuck it in without a mention.

I did take the receipt to the staff and try and fight it but they weren't having any of it, seemed entirely used to receiving complaints and had been briefed not to give an inch. We walked off in a very bad mood, the first time we had been let down by anything in Krakow.

We were nearing the end of our Krakow trip after having a flawless week and just wanted one final drink at the beautiful square before we went home. We knew the places on the square were a bit of a tourist trap but it was worth it for the atmosphere and we had had perfectly good experiences previously in the week. This place left us all genuinely angry. We had such high opinions of Krakow it is a truly beautiful city and it is such a shame that there are a few places like this that just let it down. I wouldn't be surprised if the live singer was just...

We popped into Magnateria twice on our recent Christmas visit to Krakow in December 2024.

The first time we stopped just for drinks sat outside in the 'conservatory' on the edge of the main square. The atmosphere was lovely, it really felt like Christmas, overlooking the square with the horse and carts regularly going past.

The conservatory was really well heated and the good thing, the glass panels were sealed at the bottom immediately adjoining the pavement so unlike some restaurants that we visited last, there were no cold drafts coming under the glass resulting in cold legs. Now I know that this sounds like a minor point, and yes it is, but it did make a surprising difference. There were plenty of blankets as well, so it was both cosy and really warm.

The service was good too, the staff on each occasion were very pleasant.

On the first occasion we drinks only but in the second we had a 'lite bite', the soup in bread and a carbonara, which my daughter didn't really enjoy, it was dry and quite flavour-less. The soup was ok, not outstanding and did fill a gap but again was lacking in flavour.

The location is great, you can't help feel Christmassy, sat watching the evening slowly pass by.

The drinks were good, the mulled wine was super tasty and very strong as well as being very warming. The beer, particularly the wheat beer, was very good.

So overall a great location with friendly staff but with food that was a little disappointing. Maybe it'll be better next time.

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SCAM!AWFUL DRINKS. Scroll past the forced 5* reviews. Dimi kept trying to get us in when we walked past. We finally agreed to one drink so he would leave us alone. We asked specifically for small cocktails. He showed us the large and said there is two sizes. Medium and large. Again we asked for the smallest. All marked as 49pln. After 45 mins our 6 drinks arrived. 4 of them were vile. It tasted awful. Worst drinks across Europe. Drain water would have been better. We asked for the bill and stopped wondering why they had to beg people inside this place. When the bill came, it was exactly double what it should have been. We questioned it. Our server, Dimi became hostile and said he would be fired if we complained. This went back and forth for 25 mins until eventually we were paid most of the scam amount back. The cheek of the hidden service charge was laughable. Other staff members had to assist us but no manager as we were told they were at home. We have been to Krakow 4 times and tried almost every restaurant/bar in the square and wonderful side streets and have never had this issue or had this disgraceful level of service. This place is an embarrassment to the square and would be better suited in Benidorm. Scroll past the fake 5* reviews and look at the real ones. This was not an isolated incident with us. A massive one to avoid if you like your taste buds (and...