Warszawa Wschodnia — Restaurant in Warsaw

Warszawa Wschodnia, located twenty minutes from central Warsaw in a modern repurposed building called the Soho Factory, is the third restaurant of Mateusz Gessler. Mateusz is a member of the family of famous Warsaw restaurateurs - the son of Adam Gessler, and the famous Magda Gessler is his aunt.

The first thing to mention is that Warszawa Wschodnia used to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which was phenomenal. The opening hours are now fairly standard. We arrived at 10:00 PM on a Tuesday without a reservation and while the main dining room was fully booked, we were given two seats at the bar table surrounding the kitchen. Being able to watch the chefs hustle and while preparing the food adds to the relaxed yet sophisticated atmosphere.

The second mention is, of course, the food. The menu is a combination of Polish and French ingredients and flavours. Their own description of their cuisine is fairly accurate - "Meals served by us are a combination of traditional Polish dishes with a spice of nouvelle cuisine française as well as delightful French cuisine seasoned with Polish hospitality". The menu is comprised of meat, poultry and pork dishes as well as salads, herring and their staple dish steak tartare. The steak tartare did not disappoint. It was rich and well seasoned, although it could have done with a bit more egg. I decided to order the Tasting 125 Menu which comprised of six variety dishes, in smaller portions that normal, providing a lot of variety. My girlfriend chose the duck which was unfortunately too salty but the mushrooms and sauce were very tasty.

The total cost of the dinner including the Tasting 125 menu, four fresh grapefruit juices, two bottles of sparkling water, the duck main dish, including, all taxes was 253,00 PLN which works out to be USD $67 dollars. I would highly recommend Warszawa Wschodnia to anybody...

I’m frankly shocked by all the positive reviews. It is because of them that I made plans for dinner at Warszawa Wschodnia tonight (Thursday, June 26, 6:30 PM reservation under my name—note added as it is being questioned in a response if I published a note under the correct restaurant and I 100% did). Unfortunately it seems that Mr. Gessler and his staff have not watched his aunt’s tips on Kitchen Nightmares (Polish: Kuchenne rewolucje). She’d surely be horrified by what I experienced today and what ultimately made me leave and go to a place that never disappoints (Soul Kitchen, in case anybody wants to get a really fab dining experience in Warsaw). Let’s start with the table—we had a reservation and it was not set. We were seated at a table with a dirty table cloth and no setting. We were then provided with the menus (also dirty!) but no wine cards. We were already close to wanting to leave but decided to give the food a try. I mean—the reviews are good so we wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. We picked what we wanted. The waiter arrived only to ask us if anybody informed us about all the unavailable menu items. Yes—you guessed it, none of the meals we decided to stay for were available and we were told only after making our selections. Not sure if it’s true for everyone but when I go out to eat it is not just about the food. It is about the whole experience. I want to enjoy what I see, how the place makes me feel, the atmosphere, the ambiance… this place screamed RUN. And we did! Don’t be fooled by the Gessler name and head to where they offer you the full package. We’ve just had the best time at Soul Kitchen (as always!) and will never try or recommend this dining...

My expectations were really high when I came here, and in a nutshell the food didn't live up to the hype. So I'm only giving it 4 stars.

I made reservations for a Saturday evening at 19:30, and when I showed up they had a little trouble locating my reservation, but we were still seated. The ambiance was pleasant - they had someone playing piano in the corner, and later they had live jazz. The restaurant was about 80% full, so I'm wondering if I could have walked in without making a reservation.

The service was okay - it was terribly difficult to get the waiter's attention to get the check or to order more wine, but it was on-par with other restaurants I went to around Warsaw. So maybe that's normal for Poland?

I ordered the beef tartare as a starter, it was 40 pl and it was okay. Definitely not the best tartare I've had but it wasn't terrible. I had to add salt, and it was still fairly bland afterward. My friend ordered the grilled octopus to start, which was around 50pl I think, and it was really good! I wished I'd ordered that. I would not recommend the tartare.

For a main course, I ordered the chanterelle risotto, and again, it was pretty okay. I believe it was around 50pl. It wasn't the best risotto I've had but wasn't the worst. I had expected more flavor, and it was kind of bland. Plus the grains were a little chewy instead of melt-in-your-mouth. If you order the risotto, they bring it in a Staub iron serving dish and constantly keep refilling your dinner plate as you work your way down - kinda funny and definitely appreciated.

I had ordered a glass of white and then a glass of rose, and each was...