Red Tavern — Restaurant in San Francisco

We fell in love with Russian and Georgian cuisine during our visit to Russia last summer. Unfortunately these delicious cuisines are rather underrepresented in San Diego (though, we highly recommend Pomegranate Russian-Georgian restaurant on 2312 El Cajon Blvd !). Thus, we couldn’t miss an opportunity to explore Little Russia when we visited San Francisco for New Year 2020! We originally planned to go to Russian Renaissance Restaurant, but it did not work out. Our backup plan was Red Tavern, so we decided to land there. The service was good, nothing fancy but polite and friendly. We ordered Borscht and Golybci. Both dishes were pretty good, but Golybci were a bit hard to cut because they have a cabbage wrapping. Overall, we thought the price was a bit too high for the quality of the food — more like $$$ rather than $$. Another issue is that the menu is not too diverse. For example, it lacks a variety of great Russian soups — cold Borscht, Rassolnik, Ukha, Shchi etc. There was no Chicken Kiev or Makarony po-flotski. That was a bit disappointing, especially considering the price tag and the fact that there are surprisingly not that many Russian restaurants around.

We ordered a glass of Kindzmarauli — semi-sweet Georgian wine, which we tried in Russia to our greatest satisfaction. We heard there are many counterfeits, and hope that we did not fall into the trap in this place since we liked the wine. If you haven’t tried Kindzmarauli yet — give it a try even if you are not a big wine drinker. It has a mild taste and is good beginner wine. Georgian wine in general is greatly...

Update - 10 months later: They were closed an hour before their posted closing time (on both their door and online). They weren't even just closing up - all their lights were off. Drove all the way from the South Bay for nothing. Docking service and overall stars for this.

~

Very similar to Dumpling House (formerly Eurasia), though more expensive and smaller portions.

The beef stroganoff was interestingly presented topped with puff pastry and served alongside kasha. The presentation reminded me of how Hong Kong cafes like to put puff pastry on things. It was delicious but I kinda missed having noodles to soak up the sauce.

Varaniki were the best pierogi-like thing I've eaten in recent memory. The sour cream tasted homemade or at least very thick and strong.

The pelmeni were excellent. Tasted exactly like the pelmini or momo or buuz at Eurasia, though you can't go wrong getting it here if you don't want to cross a bridge or go all the way around the bay. I didn't get an overcooked or waterlogged serving of this like in that other review; mine were perfectly al dente and moist but not soggy.

I haven't encountered the rude or unfriendly service some others have mentioned. It's a bit slow, especially when it's busy, but hopefully that just means they're making your food fresh to order.

The decor and presentation are a little old-fashioned, if that matters to you. It feels like you're in some grandma's living room.

My main complaint isn't their fault. It's just very hard to find parking...

This is real Russian food, with great quality, large portions and low prices (still not what you'd get at an elite Russian cuisine restaurant in St.-Petersburg or Moscow, but still very good; it's way way above the only other Russian restaurant in the Bay Area (in Redwood). Go here if you want to know what Russian food is like, or if you are Russian and long for home :)

We learnt about this place when our friends brought us here, and now we're bringing our other friends (they love it) and will definitely be bringing our parents here when they visit. This place is always about half-full with Russian folks; both groups of just a few people and large groups clearly having a feast.

The waiter of course speaks Russian and is very polite and helpful.

The good dishes I remember are: bortschch - the portion size is enough for two; the beef tongue appetiser with horse radish (I love beef tongue, but seems like people just don't eat, cook or even sell it in the Bay Area!), pilaf (rice with spices and ground lamb), kvas (the famous Russian refreshing beverage - as if you made coca-cola from fermented bread).

The only thing I don't recommend is the lamb dumplings: their portion size is rather small and they somewhat lack flavor. Smelt fish is okay, but not as good as home-made I ate in Russia; maybe just a different...