Crama Sibiul Vechi — Restaurant in Sibiu

I was here 8 months ago, driven by the high rating it has on Google. I was looking forward to the traditional food everybody praised, after 2 years of living abroad, but I was left disappointed... I hope they are better now.

I ordered Polenta with Milk, Beans soup with smoked meat, and Plum dumplings.

Let's take them one by one: (but first I have to specify that I waited A LONG TIME for the food) Polenta with Milk, my favourite quick meal, perfect for when you have leftover polenta. In my 25 years of living in Romania, I have never heard about hot milk with hot polenta. At least one of them was always cold, in order to avoid the mess that I had here, where they mix and create something of the consistency of porridge. Was strange... Never thought I will leave such a dish unfinished.

Beans soup with smoked meat: Tasted good, but the lack of meat was disappointing. I consider Romania the land of smoked meat, and to be served only 3 small pieces of meat, is extremely cheap.

Plum dumplings: they were okay, but they offer you way too little jam, for the amount of fried dough. It becomes unsavoury quickly.

About the place: It is located in the basement, and because of this, some might feel a bit claustrophobic. The entrance is very sketchy, almost horror like. At first I was worried to come in, but once in, the place looks nice. Unfortunately, because it is in the basement, there is no mobile phone signal, so be ready for a couple of hours without your phone (some might like it).

About the personnel, my biggest issue with the place: When I visited it, there were two waitresses, a young person, probably in his twenties, and an older person, probably late thirties. The young person was the one who welcomed me, and he was wonderful. Respectuos and well behaved. Unfortunately, after he seated me, the other person continued the service. This one was very rude, and extremely annoying. The table in front of me was occupied by two foreigners, who made the mistake to come to this restaurant. The way he talked with me and them was rude, no bit of respect. He was answering our questions like that was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. From time to time, he tried to joke with them... God, those jokes were bad. Some of them were in English, some in Romania (even though they didn't understand the language), overall, none of them made any sense. The discomfort of the two was so visible, and I was feeling embarrassed for their experience in my country. When the waitress wasn't making that couple uncomfortable with his jokes, he was with a group at the big table, discussing and joking. Even then, he continued to decrease my, and the couple's, level of comfort. He was very noisy. My headphones couldn't cover him talking there, and the couple had no chance of holding a conversation.

Overall, a very bad experience. Prices are high, the portion sizes are cheap and the service is quite bad. I am giving 2 stars, instead of one, because of how nice the young waitress was, and because the bean soup was tasty, even without the...

This is one of my favorite places in Sibiu but unfortunately the staff is too rude. After 3 years of being away, I came back eager for the food and when I went there it was full. I should mention from the start that I was there with my 2 kids and my husband. Right from the moment I went in, the waiter was very impolite and told me on a very rude tone and a very bad attitude that I should just leave because there is a long wait of 30 min. The next day I came back, it was again full but this time a couple left right when we arrived so a table of 4 was available. There was a group of 7 people ahead of us who wouldn’t have fit at that table and were actually waiting on another bigger table. My husband went to talk with the waiter about the table and the waiter mentioned about the group in front… after we told them they were waiting for the bigger table to clear and they wouldn’t fit the 4 seat table, the waiter (who was different than the one from the previous day) cut us out again with the same comment (and same bad attitude) that the wait is “very long” 30 -45 min and that we should just leave. I have been at plenty of restaurants and waited over an hour to be seated (even with 2 kids), but I was never treated this way. I can understand and tolerate if you explain the situation nicely… In US is actually very normal to wait for a table but they just let you know the waiting time and you decide if you want to stay… here you were told to leave and felt unwelcome and uncomfortable right from the beginning and didn’t really have the option to stay. Very disappointed, I do think that the owners should be aware of such behavior. The food is usually very good so I really wouldn’t mind the wait but I do mind the rudeness.

Update: they also do not take phone ...

Decided to visit this restaurant after hearing great things about it from some locals in the area. Craving traditional Romanian food, my partner and I were looking forward to this place for dinner. Little did we know that it would be two hours of wasted time for us. First issue was that for a place with no available seating and a queue outside of waiting customers, you'd think there would've been more people to help. But on a saturday afternoon, there were only two servers servicing 12 - 14 tables seating 2 - 4 people each. Second issue was that once a table was cleared it still took 15 - 20 minutes for those same servers to clean them and set them up for the next batch of customers. Third was the terrible attitude of the servers. Granted, it was a packed restaurant with frustrated customers and only two servers servicing them all. But instead of trying to even explain the situation, they only took very harsh attitudes towards the customers from seating, to taking orders, to providing the food. Even when you asked for recommendations, the servers only responded with, "everything is good. Choose something." Not helpful advice at all. Fourth issue is the food itself. Given the higher end price, you'd think you'd get slightly larger portions or at least amazing tasting food. Instead the portions were quite small for the price and the taste nothing earth shattering. It was good, just not great. With this in mind, even with craving traditional Romanian food, I'd have to recommend that you only choose this place if there are NO others restaurants available in the area to eat at and it isn't a busy weekend. Very disappointed, especially after hearing such great reviews...