Gostilna Grabar — Restaurant in Ptuj

We had a truly amazing Sunday lunch at Gostilna Grabar: the food and the hospitality were exceptional. I strongly recommend the restaurant even though our experience started off a little bit bumpy, but I admit that was only the result of our preconceptions and ignorance.

TAKEAWAYS: Be patient, slow down (also don’t arrive on the verge of starvation), this is family restaurant with only a few staff member. Enjoy the atmosphere, and remember quality food takes time. It's an advantage if you speak German/ Slovenian, or be persistent with your English or body language - it worth the effort.

MY STORY: We were passing by the town, spotted the restaurant on Google Maps and stopped to have a lunch. There was not much online information available in English (none on their website or on the Facebook page) so we just walked in the restaurant and since there was no one to seat us, we found a free table on the terrace and sat down. After a while the waitress noticed us, and signalled us to wait patiently with a nod. We arrived after a long drive from lake Bled and were pretty hungry so we started to get impatient after 15 minutes of waiting so we even started to talk about leaving just before the waitress arrived. She started to speak Slovenian, then tried German with little success, after some serious pantomime we understood that she doesn’t speak any English and also there is no English menu. At this point we almost left the restaurant to find some mediocre pizza place nearby. Thank God we didn’t, because the waitress (and I think she is also the chef and owner) ran to the kitchen to bring a friendly, English-speaking guy who explained us that this is a family restaurant and they don’t have any written menu. We should decide on the main ingredient (he gave us a couple of options) and they will prepare a tasting...

If you are ever anywhere near Ptuj, you might want to make a detour to visit Gostilna Grabar. The restaurant's rather simple though elegant outer appearance did not clue us in very much about the delicacies that came from the kitchen. This is some of the best food I have had in years: local ingredients, creative care in mixing them to perfection and presenting them with flare, and impeccable service. We were greeted with delicuous chef's welcome appetisers (duck patè, homemade salami, cottage cheese with herbs etc.), then we had a chicken soup and a creamy pea soup - worth ordering even just to see its presentation, but of course we also enjoyed the taste. For the main course we chose the T-bone for two (we were three) with sides of potatoes, vegetables and delicious cheese struklji. Apart from the fact that the portion was very abundant, everything was perfect. We also had a fantastic local sparkling wine with the appetisers and modra frankinja with our main course. We'll be back. Many times. And by the way, this is a dog-friendly restaurant. Our dogs were welcomed and offered water (not a given in...

Honestly one of the best restaurants I visited so far taken in account the overall experience. The food is absolutely excellent - we took the 5 dishes degustation menu. It’s not cheap but really worth the money. And if you want they also offer a Ptuj menu with easier food for only 25 euro pP. And 4 dishes menu and a la carte you can choose as well. The service was excellent as the food and the vine card - only slovene wines and mainly from the region - is ver well selected and even for me that I alread know a lot of wines from Steijerska - I found some really nice new surprises. The ambient inside is (table) very nice made - the room itself is not the real bang - but ok. Outside if the weather is fine you have a fabulous view on Ptuj castle - why I rate it overall 4 for the ambient. We will definitly come here more regulary because food and service especially you hardly...