Karczma Zapiecek — Restaurant in Zakopane

Recently did a 5 stop/4 country holiday for my 40th birthday. Eating here was the one sour note on my trip. Absolutely atrocious treatment from staff with a severe attitude problem. Arrived with my partner at a fairly busy time, there was one table free on the 2nd floor (the furthest walk for waiting staff). A waitress (she's featured in photos in other reviews) made eye contact and said "there's no tables free". My partner politely asked "shall we wait here or are you fully booked?", at this the waitress rolled her eyes and snapped "if you want to eat here" then stormed away. We had researched the place in advance and seen it recommended in a Poland guide book so we waited... and waited.... and waited some more... as customers paid and left and tables cleared and wait staff walked by.... I had to pinch myself to make sure I still existed. Finally some Polish natives joined the queue behind us and we were directed towards a table, along with two parties behind us to separate tables (one of these the original table that had been free the whole time). You'd think we'd have been served first as we had been in line first- but no such common sense or courtesy- our order was taken last and of course we were served last. The oddity didn't stop there. When I simply ordered some lamb dumplings- the waitress (a different one) went on some random unasked for monologue about not knowing how the kitchen prepares them- presumably making incorrect assumptions about me having some religious dietary needs- as a mixed race half-Indian. Trully odd. I also noticed we were the only table not provided complimentary bread. Very disappointing experience, and honestly it's still playing on my mind. I've done a lot of service jobs and waiting staff jobs in the past and I know it's a tough job- but there was no excuse for any of this, it was all kinds of messed up. Food was good but who cares? Go somewhere with reasonable standards of customer service and respect- everywhere else we went to in Zakopane was...

I was there last month in May 2022 with some of my friends for a bachelorette party. A friend of mine had been there before and spoke highly of the place so we decided to go there for lunch. We went, sat and wanted to combine two tables as we were at the very end of the row of benches. Before even managing to sit down, the waitress there came and berated us for trying to join benches to be closer as a group - understandable, so we sat at two different tables. The problem, however, is that this waitress was just awful all around. Constantly rolling her eyes, speaking down to us and all around condescending. At some point we asked why she was being so rude to us given that we were cordial with her, and she responded that she did nothing wrong but that it was our faults for "starting it". To be honest, whether or not the food was good, I couldn't tell because now I just had a bad taste in my mouth after the encounter with the waitress. All we cared about was paying and leaving beyond that point because we were there to celebrate a positive moment in our friend's life but being in the restaurant put a damper on the mood. After this treatment, to be honest, I wouldn't want to go there again or recommend it to anyone. Shame that it turned out that way as we were really looking forward...

Nice place but very rude waitress. I went there with my partner and we had an almost identical situation to the one described by another reviewer (see below, Chris)

On arrival we were told they were full but there was clearly a table that was free upstairs but we thought perhaps it was reserved. We asked if we should wait or come back later (to the same waitress as in Chris' photo) and she replied "If you want to eat here yes". For the next 20mins she proceeded to serve all tables to the sides, and in front of us. As we were standing by the front door and other tables became free upstairs another waitress escorted us together with 2 other groups/tables that were waiting behind us.

The service was just as bad (got our order in and served last) and at one point the waitress started mumbling something about a lamb dish and whether it was halal - seemingly making the incorrect assumption that my partner had religious dietary needs (he's mixed race half-Indian).

A real shame as the food was good (including the vegetarian options) and the atmosphere was otherwise nice with quality music but we could not enjoy it really so I would avoid and recommend you go somewhere else.

Even more of a shame as it was our first trip to Poland and it coloured our...