Dragoljub New Balkan Cuisine — Restaurant in City of Belgrade

I’m completely bewildered.

I really love the restaurant Iva and have always enjoyed visiting other projects of the New Balkan Cuisine group.

But my visit to their new restaurant, Dragoljub, on Svetogorska Street left me shocked. This review will be long.

We made a reservation in advance for 5 people. We were first put on a waiting list and later informed that they could accommodate us. We arrived on time, without any delay.

No one was expecting us. The table wasn’t ready. After 10 minutes of waiting, we were seated — but the table was set for 4, even though there were 5 of us. We informed the waiter, but he never brought an additional set of plates and cutlery. We had to take them ourselves from a nearby table.

By the time we sat down, all the other guests in the inner dining area had already left, and we were alone. The dirty 6-person table next to us wasn’t cleared for about 40 minutes.

The coat rack we used to hang our outerwear fell over on us, leaving all our clothes on the floor. The waiter told us to place our things on the seats, so we spent the entire evening surrounded by our jackets and coats.

We ordered water as soon as we arrived — it took 20 minutes to be brought to the table. When the waiter finally brought it, he started pouring for 5 people but ran out and only filled 4 glasses. He didn’t offer another bottle, just walked away.

Our order for food and wine was taken 30 minutes later.

While ordering, it turned out that half of the menu items were unavailable. The waiter hadn’t mentioned that earlier. Fine — we ordered what was available. 10 minutes later, the waiter returned to inform us that those dishes were also unavailable. We had to start choosing again.

The wine arrived after an 1 HOUR of waiting. For an entire hour, we sat there drinking only water. When the wine was finally brought, the glasses were dirty. It took another 15 minutes for them to be replaced. The waiter poured the wine once during the evening; after that, we had to serve ourselves from the bottle.

The food arrived after an 1,5 HOUR , and, unbelievably — every single dish was cold. All the plates were served without cutlery.

By the time our wine finally arrived, the dining room had filled up with other guests — and absolutely everyone was experiencing the same kind of service. People couldn’t place their food orders, and drinks were taking 30 minutes or more to arrive. The tables were placed very close together, and everyone kept exchanging glances in complete disbelief.

We left without finishing our food. When we spoke to the restaurant manager, we heard: “We just opened, sorry.” They gave us a 50% discount — instead of 14,000 dinars, we paid 7,000 (I’m attaching the receipt to this review). While we were talking to the manager, other guests left the restaurant without even ordering.

What can I say — the anticipation of a nice dinner at a new venue was completely ruined. We couldn’t enjoy a calm and pleasant evening with friends.

When we left, no one apologized. No one tried to handle the situation. The service was completely absent.

It’s a real pity that such a well-known brand treats its...

Positives first: starters of buckwheat rolls were delicious, beef carpaccio truly beautiful. The waitress was knowledgeable and pleasant, explaining every dish in detail and recommended a nice wine by a glass. Mains of oxtail was delicious, although changed without notification to a different oxtail meal with gnocchi (original order was apparently available but, for some reason different meal brought, with a comment that we could have it next time - waitress was charming, we didn’t mind). Veal ribs also were delicious, so was the lamb, despite being served barely lukewarm.

Negative: The waitress brought a ‘complimentary’ spread of smoked beetroot and bread, which later appeared on our bill. Perhaps we misunderstood but, in any case, we had not order it an yet paid for it.

Meal was substituted with another, despite the original order being available, it was simple enough to switch and we wouldn’t know any different and service would have been perfect.

Lamb, although tender and delicious, came out nearly cold - waitress took away to reheat and apologised politely. Still came barely warm.

The second glass of red wine arrived late, when we had finished the meal and it came chilled.

All in all, a delicious meal, friendly and knowledgeable waiting staff who speak excellent English, but to be a top restaurant, which Tisa can easily be, few minor thing could be improved for a truly enjoyable...

We've been already to Tisa, other project of New Balkan Cuisine team, and this was a stark disapointment compared to Tisa. There are two areas of the restaurant, bar and bistro. We went to bistro, so this refers only to that area, I can't coment on the bar area. When calling to make reservations, we were told that bistro is "an intimate atmosphere, smaller, more classical dining enviroment". When we came there, it turned out that this is some kind of imrpovised space, way to small and claustrophobic. Honestly, I don't know how they are not ashamed to offer tgis area as dinning area to anyone. Apart from that, food was good, even thou several things from the menu were not available. Also, as the night went on, it seemed that we were forgotten by the waitress, sitting alone in that closed, cramped gallery. In the end, we went downstairs to pay our bill, but we waited for 10 minutes till someone showed up. I was really thinking to leave without paying. Inany case, I wouldn't recomend this bistro area, and my disapointment was such that I don't think I'll try goingbackthere even to...