Kavkaz Restaurant — Restaurant in Greene Township

A HIDDEN GEM. In the middle of nowhere along I-80, right across an abandoned-looking gas station, an equally abandoned-looking middle Eastern restaurant will bring you a delicious surprise, if you manage to get past the unassuming exterior. Looking for a place to eat that wasn't Subway, Wendy's, and MacDonald's, the son and I pulled into the smaller parking lot off to the West and almost left: the parking lot itself looked like it hadn't been used in years, the grass was unkept, and the entrance to the restaurant was stacked with unused furniture, seemingly closed forever.

Reluctant to return to I-80 for several hours of driving with the only prospects being bad fast food, I decided to give it another go and tried the other side's parking lot. A couple of big semi trucks were parked in there, but there were a few car spots right by the building. We took one, the only car.

We were greeted by a young, muscular man with a heavy accent. From watching people play Escape From Tarkov - the first-person shooter that keeps it real - I am quite sure the accent is of Russian origin, although when I asked the man later where the cuisine was from, he replied "International".

Service is self-serve style (that's what the little signs said): go to the counter and you'll find a menu, plates named in Russian (I think) and short, simple translations into English beneath, which to me weren't particularly explanatory, other than the general idea (lamb / beef / chicken kabob choices, soup, etc.) I asked the young, muscular man for some help, to which he replied with a long sentence from which I caught very little: apparently someone had ordered "cheesy bread" and they didn't come pick it up, so we could have that, and pick a meat kabob to go with, that would be good. Something like that. The son picked lamb kabobs.

The cheesy bread was hot and came in a pizza box, whole. I looked on the guy, and gestured the question: "Should we just tear it apart by hand and eat?" Guy said: "You can use fork and knife if you want. You want?" Yes, Igor, I want. He brought a couple of plates too from the silverware table: I guess we were supposed to get them ourselves after ordering at the counter.

The cheesy bread was like a thinner pizza crust, filled with some cheese inside, then some other type of cheese outside (top). It was good, albeit not crunchy (my preference). It was salty, and we got thirsty: let's look at the three beverage coolers, because apparently that's what you get there. Plenty of strange, never-seen choices or drinks, of which you can't quite understand the labels either. I chose the peach carbonated drink, non-alcoholic. It was great, flavorful, and refreshing.

The lamb kabobs came, and they were styled more like "pork chops". I was picturing something grilled on a stick, but they came on the bone (lamb chops, I guess). The meat was perfectly seasoned and cooked medium, and it was tender and juicy. There were four of them. There was a side of rice, and a marinara-like tomato dip thing.

In the end, Kavkaz was a pleasant surprise: other patrons arrived over the course of our meal, and all of them spoke in Russian to the owners. They say the best places are where the locals eat, so I think this place has got to be quite authentic. Prices were reasonable, albeit a little high for the "ambiance", but the food was honest and flavorful, and watching the Russians do their thing right by I-80 was, indeed, entertaining and interesting.

Give it a try if you're up for...

Ok, let me set the scene. It's Friday night, the boys and I are hungry. We go to one restaurant close to where we live, we get turned away because we didn't make a reservation. As a result, we decided to try out this place that is a further distance, but apparently has some pretty good reviews. It's name is Kavkaz. But the end is not all. You see, a mountain separated us from this place. And being the people we are, it was decided to take the gravel roads of Bald Eagle State Forest. Not the best idea, but a good one. So by the time we find a road that isn't impassable because of snow or fallen trees, were really hungry. Eventually, we reach Kavkaz. Half the doors are locked, the parking lot is dark, and most of the entrance sign is broken. Not exactly eye candy. We walk in feeling a bit estranged, we're the only ones there apart from two people straddling the bar. We find ourselves a table and are greeted with a quantity of worn and tattered menus not enough for all of us, so we share what we're given. Little did we know that those pages would provide us with a world of flavors and delights. As someone who was raised in a capitalist society, it was hard to imagine that there was such a thing as Soviet Cuisine. The Soviet people were depicted to me as having been starved their entire lives. But if what we were served was Soviet Cuisine, then I will gladly have more. Everything from the bread, meatballs, rice, mashed potatoes, shawarma, was delicious. The beef melted in our mouths as quickly as the mashed potatoes, fluffed to absolute perfection. Even the cucumbers were amazingly refreshing and tasty. For whatever reason, every dish tasted better than you originally knew it. Rice? Forget bland boring rice, this stuff was amazing. Mashed potatoes? This stuff isn't rehydrated powder, this is true chopped, boiled, and mashed tubers straight from the ground. Just about the best aspect of our night was a gentleman named Jack and the staff. Jack kept wandering over to our table and would effortlessly strike up a conversation with us. He provided us with vodka as smooth as a baby's bottom, jokes heartier than that of a lion, and a near endless supply of Armenian traditions. The staff that kept our table overflowing with food was new to english, but was making great headway with the language and always had a smile on her face. In the end, each of us consumed 1.5 entrees. Appetizers, drinks, and sides not included. For the experience of eating that much food so delicious that it makes my mouth start watering all over again by writing this, at the price we paid, worth every penny. By the end of the night, we couldn't care less that the bathroom didn't have soap, that the dining room was a little cold, and that it was a 20 minute drive from our dorms. Because we felt welcomed, and were not treated as if we were customers, but rather guests. For a place positioned in what many would say to be the middle of nowhere, across the street from a truckers Sunoco, and off interstate 80, this food was incredible. We can't possibly wait for when we will have the opportunity to visit this...

Oh, my goodness...If you want to try Caucasian cuisine- this is NOT the place to go...I am originally from Russia and I know what it tastes like...even being away from home I have been to lots of similar places here in US and they all were much better than this one. I was really debating at first before coming simply because of the reviews. Lots of folks spoke highly of this restaurant. But the ones that did not that’s the reviews I should have paid attention to more. So I assumed first that those were just fussy people...I gave it a try. Oh I wish I would have listen to the fussy ones...Out of everything we have eaten the best food was Greek salad. It was freshly chopped...However everything that was made out of dough was either extremely old or the cook simply doesn’t know how to make the dough correctly. We had samsa and Khachapury Adjarsky style..both of these were very hard and the egg on the Khatchapury was very low grade because it had plastic like texture...moving on to the main dish...normally places like this have outstanding Shish kebabs so I was hoping for that....How wrong I was...our lamb shish kebab was soooo rubbery that I all I could do was to cry about it. Not to mention that these guys didn’t even bother to make authentic sauces for these ...they only gave ketchup and sriracha ...For the ones who know this cuisine this would be an absolute absurd....First I wanted to say something...but then when I have read the bad reviews about this place I saw that some of the similar issues were brought up before and obviously besides a pretty response in the comments the management have not addressed them...So I did not want to even bother, plus our waitress was like one of the Soviet women that was trying to make it right for us and make it feel like at home, but due to either lack of real dining experience or simply knowledge about this business she could not succeed. We felt that she would take it personally instead of constructive criticism...I give one star simply to be a...