Restauracja Vis A Vis Koziołków — Restaurant in Poznan

Just as I like it -- a diamond in the rough. My wife and I had just a single night in Poznan on our way to Munich. We did not expect much out of the city, nor did we need much, except for a good night's sleep. But, having found a restaurant with surprisingly high ratings in Google Maps, that also happened to be very close to our hotel, of course we couldn't resist the temptation.

It wasn't much to look at, nor did it stand out in any way among the dozen or so other restaurants and pubs at the Old Market Square. If anything, it seemed to be less busy than its neighbours.

The food spoke for itself, though.

My beef tartare was solid, if not outstanding. The meat was fairly good -- but I've had better elsewhere -- and the chef slightly overdid the seasonings and condiments, in my opinion, masking the beef's own taste. It was still better than four out of five restaurants manage to achieve.

But the main courses were nonpareil. My kotlet schabowy was just about the best schnitzel, or equivalent, that I've ever had. Tenderized to perfection, crisp and crunchy on the outside, yet juicy and flavourful on the inside. Baked potatoes were a perfect side for it, and so was sauerkraut, which was pretty good in itself, if not the best I've ever had, but also worked perfectly with the juicy cutlet.

Meanwhile, my wife was losing her over duck confit. Not only she claimed it was the best she ever had, she said it was "by far" the best. Having snatched a bite of garnish and sauce from her plate, I'm inclined to believe her.

In short, we expected nothing. We got one of the greatest meals in our life. Just a random stop on a road trip across Europe. Wow.

Special kudos go to our host, Philip, who took great care of us throughout the evening.

Expect to spend 80 to 120 PLN per person, depending on whether you go for starters and/or desserts, and what kind of drinks you decide to order. Service is blazingly fast, especially given the quality of food we're talking about here, and the servings are very generous. Expect a single main dish to top off your tank. You may have trouble walking after a starter plus...

An Unexpected Gem of Service. All Thanks to “Micheal”

We had a fantastic experience at this restaurant, and the credit goes almost entirely to our server: Micheal. Or as we came to know him, Micheal Jordan, Micheal Jackson, George Micheal, Micheal Schumacher, Micheal Phelps, and Micheal Bublé. Yes, one man, many names, and somehow, he lived up to them all.

Micheal was incredibly friendly, fast, and attentive. A rare find, especially here in Poland, where, in our experience, we’re often met with blank stares and long waits. But not this time. Micheal checked in on us multiple times throughout the meal to make sure everything was to our liking. Even more impressively, after his shift had officially ended, he took the time to come over, let us know he was done for the night, and informed us he’d passed the table on to a colleague.

Sadly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, we were promptly ignored from that moment on. That only made us appreciate Micheal’s service even more.

And just when we thought he was gone for the night, there he was again. Straightening the terrace furniture after hours like the legend he is, while still making time to joke with us about the local street performer. Who was also apparently named Micheal Jackson — or at least doing a very questionable impression of him.

Overall, our evening was made memorable not just by the food, which came out quickly and was delicious, but by the genuine warmth and energy Micheal brought to the experience. He singlehandedly lifted the entire evening far above the standard service level we’ve come to expect in Poland.

If you’re lucky enough to be served by Micheal, any of them, you’re in for a great night.

The five stars are solely for Micheal’s outstanding service, and not for the service that came after his...

We visited the restaurant yesterday. Our waitress was Julita and she was amazing. About the atmosphere, well as the construction are ongoing in that area the chairs and table were quite dusty, the waitress cleaned only the table but still a lot of dust remaining. Food: zurek amazing, but served with horrible cheap baguette. Schnitzel good, but the sour cabbage was way too sweet(waitress said that they are adding there honey, which is quite strange), Pyra with gzik delicious. Unfortunately, the famous rogal świętomarciński (23 PLN) was the worse. Dry, old, and not tasty at all. The yeast dough was wrongly prepared (that is why was so dry), not elastic and you can taste low quality of the products. Overall, food wise appetisers and mains are good (small cart = fresh), desserts - don’t waste your money on dry or old croissants. Service, absolutely fantastic, however, they still charged us for old croissant event if we returned that dessert to the kitchen (80% of it). Still good...