Old Tower — Restaurant in Tverskoy District

Would really advise that people steer clear of this place. Went there for dinner last night and had to wait 60 minutes for our food to arrive at our table.

Mine was cold and both of our meals were served on cold plates so my friend’s didn’t stay hot for very long.

In addition, it was ludicrously expensive, 700 rubles for a bottle of mineral water for the table and 2,000 rubles for some lamb cutlets with some saturated, poorly cooked vegetables.

After being so ripped off, we asked for our bill and the waiter reminded us that tips were not included. We’d decided that they’d taken enough money from us and that the service and food in no way deserved a tip so left after paying to walk to the lift to leave the restaurant.

As we walked into the lift, the waiter came chasing after us and said that there were no tips included. We said that we knew this and he waved his arm through the air and instantly all the smiles and grace disappeared as he turned and walked away.

The whole place left a bad taste in our mouths. If you like cold, ludicrously-priced food that you have to wait a long time for and fancy audacious and incredulous confrontation for dessert, then it’s the...

The restaurant practices the common scam of adding service fee/tip to the bill. After leaving the money without the tip I went to the elevator and the waiter (a Georgian-looking middle-aged guy, not that it matters) actually ran after me and demanded the tip. The explanation he gave was simply "everyone in the city center is doing it". In fact I know not everyone is doing it, because I have been to other restaurants there.

Old Tower actually seats guests on the second floor, so that they usually have to wait for the elevator to go downstairs. Downstairs there is another person guarding the door. Now I assume they have created this setup on purpose to be able to catch people before they leave.

The "bear meat" I had was fine, but I don't know how bear tastes and it tasted like venison, so judging by their scammy behavior there is a chance they "just" served me venison.

AVOID this place and support honest restaurants...

After the meal, our group of 5 were convinced that the rating for this restaurant would have been alot higher if it's just based on food. We saw that alot of reviews were bad due to tipping incidents but we came here expecting to tip them 10% as long as their service was good, we we knew they rely quite alot on tips. To the food... EVERY single item we ordered were fantastic! The mushroom "dumplings", fried buns with fillings, the pork dish, the roast chicken, duck with cabbage stuffing and even their chicken soup with noodles is better than those we have tried. If u add on to the beauty of this restaurant in a traditional setting with attentive service, this will surely deserve a 10/10. Just be prepared and expect yourself to tip about 10% and u will have a great time! Good place for some nice instagram worthy photographs as well. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said:...