Soul Kitchen — Restaurant in Warsaw

I have to say that the food was very, very good and the dessert exceptional. We started with the steak tartar and tuna crudo, where the tartar was probably the best I have ever had. This was followed by the softest, most flavorful beef cheek dish and a delicate, well prepared grilled octopus. What really shined though was the dessert - the waiter suggested the wild strawberry ice cream and the cheesecake. The ice cream was a simple fresh cream flavor, not too sweet and absolutely perfect for showcasing the most flavorful, sweet wild strawberries imaginable. The fruit was perfectly ripe, there was a good amount of it in the dish and it elevated the ice cream to another level. Yes, it was a perfectly simple dish, and I applaud the chef for resisting the desire to try and improve it, as it was superb the way it was served. The cheesecake was light and fluffy and satisfying, both dishes provided a wonderful finish to an already exceptional experience. So, why the three star rating you may ask? The food and the service was marred by a simple fact that the establishment had only one unisex toilet stall. While waiting in a long lineup to use the the bathroom I counted in excess of 60 seats at the tables in both rooms inside and on the patio outside the restaurant + a few bar stools facing the bar. This being a Friday night, the restaurant was fully occupied and the one toilet stall worked overtime with an ever present lineup of patrons spilling into the dining room, doing the pee jig while loudly commenting on the situation. I had the misfortune of having to go twice and by the second go, the stall had serious cleanliness issues, which is not at all surprising, given that there was no down time for the staff to attend to it. Given how great the food was, one should definitely visit this establishment, but I would suggest avoiding popular hours or opt for take out rather than a...

I visited the restaurant with my family for the wedding anniversary of my in-laws. The place is very cosy and has a nice atmosphere (live music, candles and fresh flowers definitely help). The menu is quite versatile, so we had no issue with finding the right dish for everyone, especially that a very interesting seasonal menu (with chanterelles and truffles) was also available. First we received a free starter (bread with nigella seeds and some olive oil). We ordered dumplings with duck, cranberry and sour cream as an appetizer, they were great. The soups (traditional polish sour rye soup with porcini mushrooms and broth with pelmeni dumplings) were also very good. For the main course we had risotto with chanterelles and truffles (very tasty), chicken with chanterelles and saffron milk cap mushrooms, wiener schnitzel and slow cooked ribs. Some of the dishes were served by the cook straight from the pot and the waiter was slicing the fresh truffles onto our plates, which was a nice touch. Each main course comes with some side dish (for example jacket potatoes with the chicken, mashed potatoes and cucumber salad with the schnitzel). We expected the portions to be small, but at the end of the meal we were so full that there was no room for dessert! As for the drinks, you can order some freshly pressed juices or lemonades with intriguing flavours (such as passion fruit + vanilla). You can also try out some wines that match your meal (if you're not sure which one to choose, you can ask the waiter for recommendations). There's a 10% tip included in the bill if you are a group...

Overall it’s a good restaurant. But since the restaurant is really trying to be „fancy“ and a bit more on the „fine dining“ side, there are a couple of things that could be improved.

As a main dish I had the chicken with mushrooms. My friend had the Ravioli with pumpkin and goat cheese.

The portion of the ravioli was way too small. 3 Ravioli for ≈8€? Come on. That’s an Appetizer, not a vegetarian main dish. The Choice of the dishes was really questionable. Chicken Breast with Mushrooms shouldn’t be served in a bowl but on a plate. I need to use a knife and a fork, not a spoon. The salad wasn’t washed properly. We could feel the sand on our teeth. The sauce of the chicken was missing something. (More) Pepper would be a good addition. It was a bit on the boring side of things. One dimensional. The „cheesecake“ (Sernik) was a bit dry in my opinion.

It’s worth a visit, but there is definitely room for improvement. I would actually give 3,5/5 rating, but that’s not possible. So I’ll give 4, because the service was really good.

EDIT: I made the 4/5 rating a 3/5 rating after I had a couple of days to think about my visit at Soul Kitchen. I did this because I remembered now that our waiter forgot one of our orders for drinks completely. It’s still a 3,5/5 actually. But now I...