Ocean View Cafe — Restaurant in New York

We went to the Ocean View Café because they had good reviews online. Oh, don’t always rely on reviews. Ambience. I believe they are going for a nautical theme, with all the ships, etc. however, bright screens with food on the wall and Nicholas Cage photos on the walls are distracting. Add a tile floor, white walls and cheesy Russian music in the background, you be the judge. I take one star away for the ambience. Service. It was ok. All male servers dressed in white shirts looked quite cute, however, if you are not a Russian speaker, you might have some troubles communicating there as all servers are Russian speaking and some of them do not have English skills. Food. We ordered three items- Farmers Cheese Blintzes. It is basically a crepe, filled with sweet farmers cheese filling and served with jam and sour cream. It was divine! I ate and kept saying, it Is just the way my mom used to make them. They were soooo good. I would go back to the Ocean Side for Farmers Cheese Blintzes. They were on point! We also ordered meat vareniki, boiled. They were good. Did not love them and did not hate them. They were pretty good. We ate them because we were hungry. Last dish we ordered was lamb shish kebab. What a huge mistake! We were served what looked like lamb ribs, shanks on a bone. There was so much fat!!! Well, while I like to have a little bacon fat here and there, I am not a fan of devouring a huge piece of just pure lamb fat. It was disgusting. It was sooo bad. Potatoes that came with it were super greasy I could not eat them. It did not look like a lamb shish kebab, although we were convinced that this is exactly it- lamb shish kebab. It was just sooooo bad, soooooo bad!!! Normally I would never, ever go back to Ocean Side Café, however, I cannot forget the Farmers Cheese Blintzes. I would go back just for them. They were so delicious that for me it saved this whole establishment from just a pure bad review. My two stars goes for the amazing Farmers Cheese Blintzes! I take extra stars away for the horrific lamb shish...

What a treat. We went to Brighton Beach to go to Tatiana's but they had closed the kitchen just as we walked through the door so here we are, Tuesday night at 8:30 pm and we decided to find sheeting close by. Of course you have to be prepared to eat some very rich foods when you're in little Russia. We walked back to Brighton Beach Ave and made our way to BB 3rd Street and happened into Oceanview Cafe. This is not a fancy place but the food and the value in amazing. Located deep in the heart of Brooklyn's Russian community in Brighton beach, it's a simple place with food tasting home cooking and lots of Russian culture all around. We were going to Tatiana's but they closed early tonight so we drove down Brighton Beach avenue and happened into this little spot. The beef stroganoff was very yummy and not overly rich. It was the perfect warming meal for a cold winter night. It seems like every culture has a form of dumplings. These were filled with lamb meat which tasted delicious. Lamb is usually gamey but this wasn't at all. The only bummer is the whole equation was the French fries. I probably should have ordered the mash potatoes. They seemed to be the store brought frozen kind you get in any supermarket. Not very tasty. But on the whole this was a great experience and the price tag was VERY affordable. If you're in Brighton Beach, check out this little piece of...

as we browsed through the Russian restaurant options in Brighton Beach, we made our decision on this small restaurant on Brighton Beach Avenue. They didn't look flashy, and had no obnoxious "only for tourists" vibe (expensive bad food) to it. We didn't want to go to a tourists spot, but where actual locals (Russians, Ukrainians, etc.) would go and eat. This place looked just right.

The price might seem a bit high, if you don't know how much food you are getting. It was rather large portion on a large plate, you can see the size in the photo here. Pretty big, right? But it was so tasty that we finished the dish without effort. It also had pickled veggies as well, which was nice pallet cleanser.

I heard they serve really great desserts also, but we were very full after our meal. So, we decided to get coffee and tea without dessert. The cappuccino came in a nice glass mug and sugar stirring stick! The tea came in the traditional tea glass holders, which was amazing!!! I loved the traditional look, and it came with tea bag (I asked for Earl Grey), lemon slices, and preserves. Perfect way to end the meal.

Overall, we really enjoyed the experience. The waiters were very nice, didn't speak perfect English which added to our "Russian experience." They were super polite, and provided efficient, fast service. Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my blog,...