The Alchemist Grill & Cocktail — Restaurant in Warsaw

Fantastic place, fantastic food, fantastic service. 6 stars.

We've tested few steak houses in Warsaw and (almost) all were good, but Alchemist takes the crown. Right at the door you're welcomed by the amazing view on cured meats, and a few seconds after by even more amazing staff.

We weren't sure about the sizes of the steaks, so our waiter, Sasha (thanks!), brought a full set of meats for us to choose from. Like, 8 or so raw steaks (packaged nicely, for the purists). Even in the way pricier places staff is exceptionally bland and kinda lazy, compared to Alchemist. Eventually I picked something different than initially planned, thanks to Sasha's suggestions and my personal experience of not being able to eat half of the cow in one sitting, which I was able to compare by looking at said half beforehand.

Presentation is beautiful overall, but the steaks take the cake - the heavy basalt stone is perfect way to serve steaks, meat is cut nicely, and bonus points for a nice little apron you get so you don't have to worry about your white shirt (if you wear one) and focus on the pleasure of eating the perfect meat.

Drinks (both alcoholic and non-) are great, desserts were also very nice although it was hard for them to win with the main course. Unironically, I'll probably choose beef tartar for the dessert next time.

I was fully prepared to leave half of a paycheck after this glorious experience, but even the bill was a pleasant surprise, worth every penny.

We'll definitely be back and I'm happy to finally find "the" steak place I was...

This was such a shame, and such a disaster. I cannot believe that I keep falling for the trash that Poland keeps churning out while calling itself "fine dining".

The steaks are nothing special at all and when you are basically asking your customers to cook their own dinner (oh, how original and chic, a hot rock to burn myself and my steak on!) they need to be spectacular. To make matters worse, the "grilled" vegetables were basically raw with a couple of grill marks on them.

And whoever decided that a menu should have about 8pt text on a beige background in a dark room needs their head looking at!

All in all, this was nothing short of what is now the standard experience. A bunch of people pretending that everything is amazing as they pretend to be able to pay those sorts of prices without needing to take out credit, while the restaurant is entirely oblivious to any of the responsibilities that it SHOULD accept when deciding to open a venue of this kind.

Oh, and waiters that try to convince you that your starter and main courses should arrive at the same time because the kitchen is closing (at 8.30pm) should consider whether or not the kitchen has large windows that allow clients to see inside it as they can also see customers entering the restaurant a full hour later, being seated and served food from the kitchen that is "closed".

It...

I recently came here to celebrate my 18th birthday, but I left within 5 minutes. The main reason was the waiter with short black hair who "very politely" greeted us at the entrance... My boyfriend and I greeted him and went inside, but he called us back, bowing and sarcastically pointing to his uniform, making it clear that he expected us to acknowledge his presence. We had no idea what was going on, but then he asked if we had a reservation. Perhaps it was our mistake, but I don't think professional waiters behave in such a rude manner, especially when it’s completely unnecessary.

He led us to a table and immediately informed us that the kitchen closes at 9:30 p.m., even though it was only around 7 p.m., which felt like a clear hint that we weren't welcome. The atmosphere was so loud that I could barely hear what the waiter was saying. We got up and left immediately.

I had heard a lot about this place, but I didn't try anything because the service completely ruined my mood... Not the best birthday, as you can see :/ Unfortunately, I didn't even catch the waiter’s name, which makes me...