Sveta — Restaurant in New York

Not a great experience at all for me I was told that walk-ins are allowed, but clearly they were going to be booked up for hours. SO PLEASEEEEE MAKE RESERVATIONS I DO NOT RECOMMEND WALK INS ESPECIALLY DURING BRUNCH HOURS. But when I got there I spoke to I think the manager & he said don’t worry I’ll get you a table soon, then 40 minutes past & I’m like ok it’s all good we didn’t make reservations so can’t complain but then I asked a second time if he could give me a wait time so that I could see how long so me & my sister could decide if we want to wait cause if not we can go somewhere else & come back another time cause I really was excited about this place. So then I ask him the 3rd final time does he know how long now because brunch is about to end and that is what I came for so he tells me don’t worry I’ll extend brunch for you till 4:30 & that the wait is 5 min now . Now like im very polite & not entitled at all so I get that whoever has reservations must be seated First but What I don’t appreciate is being told 3 different times that we’ll be seated soon & that was never gonna be the case. We waited almost 2 hours in a corner near the bathroom cause the space is small, I would’ve appreciated If he had just said the wait is going to be such and such and if it was that long like a 2-3 hour wait then we would’ve left and came back another day with reservations or even if he said did you guys wanna wait at the bar however I’m not sure if the bar area was taken too. Anyhow after I left I checked the reservations and clearly they were going to be booked up all the way until a little after five so if that was the case cause I’m sure from their standpoint they could see all that so just be honest So people could decide what they want to do. Now I will say, based off of standing there for 2 hours, watching everything how it runs the workers and the manager hospitality was amazing, they were very hands on with the customers that were seated I absolutely loved how inviting they were & checked in on them a lot to make sure they were enjoying their experience. Also food looked so delicious & cocktails looked so creative wish I could’ve had it but who knows maybe another time with a better experience & the place was small but decorated...

Went to Sveta for my friend’s birthday (October Birthday) and wanted to try out their specialty holiday drinks. When we walked in it was obvious the wait staff was stressed about an event happening but we asked if we can sit at the bar and they responded with a table towards the corner of the restaurant.

Upon being seated we weren’t even greeted or offered much. Just a seat and we had to ask for menus. When receiving the menus we didn’t get a greeting or welcome.

Eventually the waiter appeared and we ordered our drinks asking to leave a menu as we decided how we wanted to proceed with our items. Unfortunately, a menu was not left with us and the waiter appeared to have an attitude.

At one point we were given water that we finished and was not offered a refill. We received our drinks of which looked fantastic, didn’t taste the price, and for some odd reason our flatware was taken away from us although we wanted to order food. I was able to procure a menu from the front staff and we tried several times to flag someone down to order some appetizers. When doing so a staff member came and removed some of our drink accessories from the table… and we didn’t even get a third of our way into the drinks!

My guess is someone else ordered and they ran out so they went to go collect from people around the restaurant … how weird! My partner was a little bummed that for the price we didn’t get any freebies and we didn’t get to keep looking at it for the remainder of our stay.

Eventually we are able to order an appetizer and the waiter seemed bothered that we even asked to order food. I wanted to leave from there but we wanted to give the benefit of the doubt.

Our bill came to something a little over $100 for 3 drinks and an appetizer. We didn’t feel the staff should have gotten a great tip due to their unwelcoming attitudes and lack of customer service but to our surprise it was built into the bill and we didn’t have the energy to even consider flagging someone down to debate it.

TLDR: Think again if you want a fine dining experience… unclean flatware, not so inviting waitstaff, and...

This place is so cute! I loved seeing the festive christmas lights and tree , it made this space look like a winter wonderland. Also being able to have a blanket , “ shuba” coat and ussr hat was a major plus, I felt like a true russian native. I was able to get a reservation very easily over the phone, but even just walkins were seated really fast. My boyfriend felt the heat was only working on my side by the window so he hopes they can add extra heaters in the future. Nonetheless, some vodka shots on the house warmed me up really quick! I love the pouches and drink menu, great slushie options with hennesy, drunken compote with vodka, and nice rose too. I think you get refill if you post the pouch drinks on Instagram but i havent redeemed it. The waiters are very nice and know the menu really well, they also helped us understand portion sizes which isnt listed for items like steak. I think this menu is well rounded with American options like burgers and various sliders to vegan options like cauliflower steak and some good ol’ pelmeni and borscht to olivier salad. Sveta nails it with getting all the russian staples onto here like stroganoff. The pelmeni was delicious, definitely hand made and fresh ( i recommend boiled so it stays warm). The avocado salad was also well done with nice balsamic dressing and homemade chips. The chicken kiev is AMAZING, perfect amount of butter and chicken was crispy and mashed potatoes were seasoned well. The skirt steak was 12 oz done medium just like I wanted and the quality of meat was great and they didnt skimp on the fries ( the ajika sauce was nice dip for steak). I was so full from these great dishes that i didnt get to try dessert but next time It would be a must because the presentation of all these dishes is fantastic. I loved meeting sveta she really cares about her customers and business. Only thing that holds me back from giving 5 stars is there was no mention of covid charges until we saw the bill so it caught...