Ribs Restaurant "At Arsenal" — Restaurant in Lviv Urban Hromada

This is the first place to go when you get off the plane and the last place you go before you head to the airport. If you do not visit the Ribernya, you have not been to Lviv. It is busy almost every day from open to close, but it is worth the wait. To get a table you have to fight your way to the man in the front with the blackboard and put your name on the list (he is bald and grumpy, but ultimately very helpful). In the summer you have to choose inside or outside. Then, you just have to wait for your name to be called, but be careful, they may not understand foreign names or you may not understand the pronunciation. Stay vigilant to see when your name comes up. Then, when it does, you will be shown to your seat. Order 1.5 racks per person minimum and maybe some grilled vegetables. They have great beer so get some of that too. It will be noisy, crazy and you may be sat with strangers, but you will not regret going. Additionally do not expect to get silverware or even a plate. This is BBQ like medieval times so be prepared to eat with your hands! The ribs come with yellow and red sauce. The yellow is spicy mustard and the red is some sort of sweet BBQ. I like the spicy mustard, but really they are both great. There is a gift shop on the way out where you can buy awesome and corny gifts and you can buy the sauces as well. This place will create some of the best and most lasting memories that you have of Lviv, go hungry and...

Well well well. This is got to be my favourite restaurant in Lviv. The food is amazing and surprisingly cheap. For 400grams of grilled ribs ( on actual fire) it cost only 120uah.

That alone was enough to deserve a full mark and it was delicious. Perfectly juicy and not over or undercooked in anyway.

The presentation was quite fun. The waiter served the ribs and immediately hacked it to pieces in front of you.

I wouldn't suggest the grilled vegetables as it was rather small and expensive compared to the ribs. And there was really nothing all that special about it.

The live music consiting of a dolcimer and harmonica started at 7pm and they were quite amazing.

The restaurant itself is situated beneath an actual arsenal museum and it was really fitting to have a tavern style grill restaurant.

The entire theme was very well prepared and relaxing, and not pretentious.

The only down side, perhaps to its credit as well, was that there was quite a large crowd waiting for dinner. There were on average over 80 people waiting in line at any given moment although for us that meant only 30minutes of waiting. Which was totally worth it.

Despite such a large crowd waiting the sheer size of the restaurant meant the waiting wasn't actually very long. They also wouldn't hurry you even when you are done and it's really nice that you aren't pressured for dinner.

I highly suggest everyone passing through Lviv to visit...

Of course I had to visit this popular modern venue serving grilled ribs in the centre of beautiful Lviv.

The restaurant is placed in the basement of older historical building and has an opened terraced seating below the street level.

Even though it's a popular place, they have a lot of tables and staff, so you do not have to wait for a long time. The waiter performs a little show, waving around a large table serving paper cover and writing your order on it with a black marker.

Obviously, I went for their staple food - the grilled ribs with a huge 1L beer and yes, my expectations were quite high. You get it served on the chopping board, with small dip and paper towel roll for messy hands (which I always appreciate). The staff chops it in front of you.

However, even though the ribs were looking awesome, they are just very average. The grilled flavour is nice, but the meet is quite tough and sticks to the bone - probably, because it wasn't grilled long enough. There is no other side (bread?), so the portion is quite small. And it's quite expensive.

Although the ribs were a disappointment, the local Ukrainian couple passing around shouted "Try the fish" at me, so that may be their secret weapon. I would also give them some extra points for the decent beer, attentive and professional staff and quite cool water...