KANAPA restaurant — Restaurant in Kyiv

Overall disappointing after misinformation and terrible service upon payment

TL;DR: Food was nice, small portions which I thought a little overpriced; however, misinformation and terribly rude service at the end over payment is the primary reason for this 2 star rating.

We went to Kanapa with empty stomachs and high hopes, after seeing the 4.5+ star rating and the many positive reviews. We reserved a table after asking explicitly if they served soup within a bread bowl, a typical Eastern European dish, upon which the table waitress replied that they did. When we returned for our reservation we were shown to a nice table at the back of the restaurant with open windows and a nice breeze.

Disappointment #1: We got our first disappointment when we were told that they didn't serve soup in bread bowls, but in cabbage bowls instead. That was the reason (we really wanted soup in a bread bowl :-)) we reserved in the first place. Disappointment #2: After agreeing to take a soup in a cabbage bowl we were told cabbage was not in season, thus we couldn't have a cabbage bowl. What? Then they should better not have told us upfront they have bread bowls, or cabbage bowls whatsoever, if they couldn't serve either.

We eventually ordered dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes and shaved truffles and a bread basket for starters, chicken Kiev and the carp for mains. The dishes were nice, but less than what we had expected after having experienced large portion sizes in other Kievan restaurants. The chicken Kiev came with the bone and some mash potatoes. The carp came with some vegetables, although the fish was quite salty and I would have preferred to have less salt on dishes with me deciding the "level of saltiness" myself.

Disappointment #3: For dessert we chose the cheese pancakes with sour cream and berry sauce, and they regretfully didn't mention on the menu nor verbally that they included raisins (which I hate so I had to painfully peel out the raisins baked into the dough).

So in all, the food was nice but a little too salty, in my opinion small portions. But still, the sole reason we went to this place in particular was the promise of soup in bread bowl, which we were misinformed by the waitresses about and which we couldn't get.

Biggest Disappointment #4: However, the absolute biggest disappointment came at the end regarding payment. First, we were told that we couldn't pay with card because the terminal system was down. Couldn't they have told us upfront? So, we paid cash and waited for the waitress to come back with the change (we put in ~110% of the overall bill with big bills because we didn't have smaller denominations) so that we could decide how much tip we would leave. The waitress never came back to us, despite us waiting close to 10 minutes and not many people being there (the waitress literally stood at the bar in full view of us for several minutes). So we eventually went to her to ask for the change to decide ourselves how much tip we wanted to leave. She first said that it would be 20 UAH for cover charge, which I agreed upon. Then she changed her mind and wrote 10% on the bill and said that service charge was 10%. This 10% charge was nowhere written in the menu nor was it communicated to us at any point before this discussion. Also, I read that it was rather unusual to tip in the Ukraine, but you're welcome to tip 5-10% for good service and as a tourist. This I told her but she tried to vehemently deny it. I informed her that it was up to me to decide how much to tip them, if service was good. She finally went to get the full change, but I was so angry at the treatment that I proceeded to give little tip and this is why I'm giving this 2...

Kanapa happened to be the place with the best food and the worst service of our 5-day stay in Kyiv. Our waiter Mykyta, among others: a) forgot about wine ordered by one of us, and never remembered even after repetitively seeing that person having big lunch without a drink; b) brought cutlery after food (approx. 5 min delay). When he was reminded the first time, instead of saying that he is sorry for letting our food cool down - replied "I told you that I am bringing it"; c) confronted one of us directly by saying "you know, it is better not to help when you are not asked to do so?" when he obviously struggled with putting the plate on the table carefully. These happened just after he almost bumped on the forehead of one of us with that plate.

Being shocked by the service, we were discussing standing up and leaving multiple times. It is OK to do mistakes, everybody does, but being disrespectful and never apologizing is beyond any standards, especially for, supposedly, an upbeat restaurant.

My message to the management: you are wasting all the amazing job that your team does (concept, food, decoration, everything) by saving on the frontline workers (waiters). It is bizarre that it happened to be the most expensive (considerably more expensive) and the worst served dining of our trip.

Resume: truly authentic view at Ukrainian cuisine 5/5. Table-service was a shame 0/5. The price/value ratio can not be discussed because the value is volatile and would depend on who serves you on the day you come. I would not recommend risking your mood going there until you know that staff attitude...

We were shown to a table immediately because we had pre-booked days in advance for 6pm. The menu is online so we used our phones at the table. While we were selecting our meal we ordered drinks. Water and coffee arrived quickly, but I’d ordered fresh orange juice which didn’t arrive. We then ordered our food, I chose rabbit borscht. My partner chose vareniki.

The waiting time was good and when our food arrived I was hungry and looking forward to tasting it. However what I received was a bowl of slightly warm brown water. Half a quails egg, 2 tiny fragments of potato less then 2cm cubed and a huge amount of dill. It was almost cold and there was zero meat. Nothing. Just water and dill.

My partner ate less than half of her vareniki because it was dry, but she said it was very tasty. When we were finished the waitress returned and asked if we wanted desert. No thanks. But where is my orange juice? She said it was being prepared and then gave me the bill. Only then did I get my orange juice that I’d ordered when we’d arrived around 90 minutes before.

You know when you order drinks before a meal they are supposed to arrive BEFORE the meal and not after you pay the bill…

It was supposed to be a special day for us. My partner is Ukrainian. I’m English and speak Russian. Perhaps the waitress was offended when I spoke Russian to her, and maybe this is why I received warm water and not borscht. This was the reason we did not order desert and left quickly.

It completely ruined our special...