Restaurant Novak 1 — Restaurant in City of Belgrade

WHY I CHOSE THIS RESTAURANT FOR A BIRTHDAY LUNCH

The name Novak Djoković evokes excellence and discipline – qualities one naturally expects from a restaurant bearing it. Given his family’s longstanding presence in the hospitality business, I had long anticipated visiting what I assumed would be their flagship establishment.

ATMOSPHERE

Stepping in from the street, guests are greeted by a glass vitrine displaying part of Djoković’s dazzling collection of Grand Slam trophies. For tennis enthusiasts, it is a stirring sight. The gleam of the silverware alone raises expectations.

At the top of a short flight of stairs stands an over-life-sized terracotta statue of Djoković, a relic from a Shanghai ATP Finals event. Far too large for the narrow space, it dominates the entryway in a way that feels more awkward than inspiring. A very poor design decision bordering on kitsch.

The non-smoking dining room faces the rear of grey apartment blocks rising just metres away, blocking out nearly all daylight. The large windows only accentuate this bleak view. After an hour’s wait for food, the setting began to feel less like a restaurant and more like a prison yard. A few well-placed plants or curtains could easily have softened the atmosphere. By the end of lunch, I felt oddly dispirited.

SERVICE

When I asked about the soup of the day, the waiter assured me it was pumpkin potage. What arrived, however, was a different potage. Substituting one dish for another without consulting the guest, and dismissing it as “almost the same”, reveals a stunning lack of professionalism.

A word of advice to the owners (should they care): if a dish is unavailable, the waiter should return to the table, apologise, and offer an alternative. That is the bare minimum of professional courtesy a paying customer can expect.

I had been told the steaks were excellent, so that became our main order. Deep in conversation, I failed to notice that the waiter never asked how we wanted them cooked. They arrived medium-rare. This would have been acceptable, perhaps, had he thought to ask first.

We waited far too long for our meal, only for the steaks to reach the table already cooling. Why would a kitchen let a dish sit when it should be served immediately at its peak? This was annoyingly puzzling.

FOOD

The potage tasted fine. The steak did not. Served lukewarm, it was accompanied by a token drizzle of pepper sauce so meagre it vanished after two bites. The sauce itself was ordinary, leaving the meat dull and flavourless. It was, without exaggeration, the most insipid steak I have ever been served.

When I asked for a dessert recommendation, the waiter confidently urged me to try the Novak cake, the restaurant’s signature dessert. Hoping for redemption, I obliged. But the result was even more underwhelming than the meat: it was dried out, its flavour muted, its texture heavy, as if it had sat too long in the display fridge. When I finished the “Novak” cake, I realised I could not even recall its taste.

PRICE

Lunch for two, without alcohol, cost €100. To call that overpriced would be charitable. Trading shamelessly on the Djokovic name while offering mediocre food and careless service verges on absurd. It was, without doubt, my worst dining experience in Belgrade, a city otherwise brimming with superb restaurants. Even the humblest local grill serving ćevabčići or pljeskavica delivers infinitely greater satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Elite athletes like Novak Djoković attract world-class sponsors precisely because those brands want to associate with excellence. How he allows his own name to front a restaurant so at odds with his reputation for perfection is hard to understand. Surely he loves his family, but one might expect him to insist that any business bearing his name uphold the same standards that built his legacy.

RECOMMENDATION

To visitors tempted by the illustrious name of the tennis star: give this place a wide berth. Try any of the hundreds of other restaurants in Belgrade. You will undoubtedly...

We had reservation for 4 people, when we arrived no one was at the front desk, we where therefore a bit confused if anybody came to us, but after a short while we stepped in to what seemed the bar, where are waiter asked what we wanted.

We said that we had a reservation for 4, but he did not even ask for our names at said that we should wait, even though the place was almost empty. We where asked if we wanted to have something to drink, which we did and order and sat down.

Then another waiter (the 2nd) came at sat us at our table and asked what we wanted to drink, we said that we just ordered drinks, he was a bit confused and left.

Not short after there was a 3rd waiter, all a bit confusing with 3 waiters, 2 of them where so arrogant, they did not even look at you or had a little smile on their faces.

Then we noticed the tabels where dirty, and the plates was not washed, a bit sad! Then we got our menu, which was a menu printed on normal A4 from a printer held with a paper clip, so bad that a restaurant of this capacity didn't bother to make a more suitable menu presentation.

While we waited we noticed 2 empty shelves, where we assume the trophies had been, I mean why not remove them in the first place?! We asked the waiter where the trophies where, and where told that they are up in the private room, we all thought OK, a bit strange, and we where told that there where photos of the trophies, a bit of a joke, if we wanted to see the photos we could have seen them on the internet.

We got our food, after 1 hour of wait, 1 hour! The food was great, really good (except the old and hard bread), which sadly is the only thing good about this restaurant.

The whole restaurant was a smoking area, there where no non smoking area which is a big no go for us at least, we noticed the a bit odd and old decor with the white trim around the light where yellowed from the smoking.

And what is about the big ugly statue at the entrance? He looks fat from a medieval age, what about putting a real look a like statue of him, if that is what you like to.

It seems like no body cares here, except for the cooks, the waiters are arrogant and not very service minded.

Again the food was great, but you can get similar or better food elsewhere.

We would not come back here.

Update upon response from the restaurant on the 10th of October:

If costumer satisfaction is your top priority you should improve your overall experience, no guests likes to get served by a arrogant waiter (many agree with me on this if you read the reviews), waiting 1 our for the food and not many enjoys their food while someone smokes next to them.

The information regarding the statue here is fine, but that information should be where the statue is, many people I know and who has been there, all agree that the statue is weird/misplaced and just does not belong in a fancy restaurant.

Many people would probably like a real life statue of him, if you choose to put a statue in the restaurant, I know I would.

The restaurant does not reflect Novaks succes, If you take inspiration to Restaurante Roland Garros - Rafa Nadal Academy you will get far, because that is a restaurant that reflects him as a player, and I am sure that his Laury Dizengremel statue is not placed in his restaurant even though he may also be proud of it.

I sure hope his restaurant will reflect him in the future, as a huge fan of Novak I was really...

What a shame! In theory this place has everything it needs for a 5 star rating, however the attitude of the management and the behaviour and manners of the waiters is totally reprehensible! I was utterly blown away that the waiter had never heard of Glenfiddich Scotch in his life. The shocking thing about this statement is that it was on his menu, which leads me to believe that he doesn't know his menu at all. Although the job of a waiter is physically and mentally demanding, it does not challenge intelligence or memory (in most cases). I was also dismayed by the fact that bills cannot be split. The waiter explained that this is prohibited by law, which I personally find hard to believe, as the tax authorities often have better things to do than check whether every bill matches the bank slip. The real reason is surely that the management is reluctant to pay bank transaction fees, even though they could actually include them in their price calculation beforehand. In fact, this could be considered normal practice. However, the worst thing about this restaurant was the way in which the waiter was supposed to resolve the burgeoning conflict. He unfortunately did not manage to de-escalate the situation but instead continued to aggravate the situation by insulting the customers not just once but repeatedly in an indecent manner. Unfortunately, it was the job of the other guests to mediate the conflict! Extremely unprofessional and highly unfortunate! Other countries, other customs? Maybe so! But manners exist in all cultures, so therefore this should not be...