Grand Cafe Dr. Jhivago — Restaurant in Tverskoy District

Booked 1 day in advance, got a table for 7pm, 2hr booking. No issue. This place was referred to me from a friend who had only wonderfull things to say. My experience not so wonderful, food AMAZING, wine... a debacle but still good and decor was very lovely and fresh. Service, well... this is where this place went from 5 stars to 1 star but thought I would be nice and go 2. I appreciate not a lot of people can speak English or understand English in Russia. I was warned before coming to Russia that people can be abrupt. So I came here expecting the worst. I have to say the Russian people have been nothing but lovely, and whether they can speak Russian or not, they try their hardest to help you. I will definitely be back to Russia. But not to Dr Zhivago. Staff at the front desk didn’t seem to know what was going on, and instead of saying excuse me used “huh?”, our waitress’ service was mostly mediocre, with a couple of lovely moments. Service was very slow, a lot of the wines (cheaper wines we were wanting) were no longer available and came with confusion and a disagreement, wait time on food was good, reasonable. But the wait time to pay the check, or even have someone crack a smile was long. I am sure the staff are under a lot of pressure from management and the load of customers who visit but general curtesy and politeness is not difficult to muster up no matter what language you speak. The bloke in the cloakroom gave myself and my husband the best service we had all evening. Go for the 5 Star food, but don’t count on the service being 5 star. I would say go up the road a bit and get a meal just as hearty with great service for 20% of the cost of the bill...

Starting off with the group of ladies who were on the reception, they were so impolite and rude as they were laughing at us when we asked them if the could speak English and about our reservation. “They were laughing in a loud voice”.

We were seated after that, and the worst experience starts then. The waitress who served us was ARROGANT , RUDE, and I believe she didn’t want to serve us. I won’t mention her name to respect her privacy although I could if I wanted. Although we were so respectful when we asked for whatever we wanted. She literally ignored us when we were calling her. She was also serving another table who were (not tourist) and her smile didn’t part her face!

The breakfast meals were the worst ever, but I won’t consider that because everyone has a different taste. She brought a meal that we didn’t order , and when we wanted to explain that’s it’s not what we have ordered, her tone changed and she said that she understands that it’s wrong and she will get the right meal.

After all that, we decided to leave and not wait for our other meals. We asked for the receipt and her facial expression changed and she went mad. The waitress was literally RUDE.

We are familiar with good service and restaurants so we are not in need to go to any other place that doesn’t respect us when we do respect the other party.

We visit the restaurant by our choice and we attend respectfully and we PAY for our meals not the waitress nor the manager nor the chef pays for our meals, so we expect the bear minimum of respect.

‎جماعة لحد يسير المطعم لان خدمتهم زفتة و رافعين خشومهم على ولا شي

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Dr. Jhivago and Cafe Pushkin are two of the must-try, high-end restaurants in Moscow serving Russian cuisine.

Dr. Jhivago has different menus for breakfast/lunch and dinner and is open 24/7. I have visited for both breakfast and dinner. The breakfast menu is extensive and features a number of good egg dishes (omelettes, fried eggs), pastries, bread, sausages, salad etc. The dinner menu has some typical Russian options such as Borscht and dumplings, lots of dill and sour cream, but also good steak, potatoes and seafood. I found all the food to be really tasty, fresh and well cooked. The broiled steak was tender inside and crispy outside. Dumplings were fresh and flavorful. The breakfast was very good as well, and came with good strong coffee.

The interior of this restaurant is beautiful and stylish and it gets packed, especially during lunch and dinner. The location is excellent in central Moscow and making a reservation is highly recommended. The waitresses speak English, so this restaurant is easily accessible to foreign tourists. The waitresses were attentive and friendly for the most part. The only negative is that the ladies at the entrance taking reservations and assigning tables were unfriendly and displayed an attitude. Other than that, my impression was completely positive.

I highly recommend visiting this restaurant to anyone visiting Moscow, interested in trying good...