Balkan Treat Box — Restaurant in Webster Groves

Been really wanting to try this place out but haven't gotten the chance to do so until my most recent visit to St. Louis this last weekend. Overall, it was a fun experience and great fun to try a cuisine new to me.

When we drove up around noon on Saturday, we found a line out the door. Somewhat discouraged, I thought I'd have to pick somewhere else, but my fam agreed we could order online and wait the 40 minutes they said it would take. So we did! The online ordering was easy, though they do add a service charge so it winds up being a bit more expensive. It's fairly pricy for lunch - a shade over $40 for two entrees and dessert, no drinks and the entree sides are just small cups of cabbage salad. We figured it was worth it for a treat.

Since we had a party to go to at 5, we opted to split the cevapi, a chicken pide, and sutlija for dessert. Our order was ready at the promised time, and we picked it up from a table pressed to the side of the restaurant's facade.

We carried our food to a picnic table and quickly found that there was no silverware or napkins in the bag. We managed to eat all our food except the sutlija without cutlery, though a fork and knife would've been nice to better split the pide up. We noticed on our walk back to the car that they had a small crate with disposable cutlery - it's a shame we missed it earlier. We grabbed some to spoon up the sutlija on the ride home though, so at least that didn't get hot.

The weak link was the cevapi, though fiancé enjoyed it. It's beef sausages in somun, which to me is reminiscent of slightly fluffier pita. The sausages were salty and tender. It was supposed to come with kajmak (a creamy dairy substance), but we really didn't notice any, which left it pretty much just sausage and onion. That's probably the traditional way, but it was very heavy and salty.

The chicken pide was quite good. Pide was described to me by the internet as a "Turkish pizza" which felt pretty apt. I could've gone for a liiiiittle more cheese, but the kajmak was super light and slightly sour, the ajvar added a needed veggie flavor profile, and the chicken was flavorful and not over cooked or over salted. The bread was chewy and slightly fluffy at the thicker parts. I really enjoyed it and I'm so glad I got to try it!

Lastly, the sutlija was a pleasant dessert. Beautifully played with pistachio and rose petal. A little soupier / more watery than other rice puddings I've had, but the rose petals added a really nice floral element. Really good!

For me, this was a fun introduction to Balkan cuisine. Thanks for the great...

“Food will be out on the tables at time on receipt” haha yeah right. 30+ minute wait after time on receipt, fellas. One customer at a time....do not recommend unless you want to wait outside hoping you are the one order they have brought out. EDIT: I remember this day as it was a rainy day, and it was my first time ordering food from Balkan. This was my first experience at this establishment. I’m not a food critic, or even a critic at all, but I made the decision to leave this review over two years ago because I was ignorant to the fact that the take-out service I was using from Balkan was new and reshaped to conform to a dynamic situation like a pandemic, which has been devastating to dine-in restaurants. Over two years later, and the male owner recognizes me by my face and name, and it’s probably because I hurt him and his family with my words. I was just at Food Truck Friday on June 24th, and the male owner pointed at me after ordering and said “Matthew, right?” as if he already knew what the name was going to be for the order, and he was spot on. I had one unpleasant experience doing a take-out order over two years ago, but the food is incredible. It’s probably the best tasting food in all of St. Louis. I have ordered from Balkan several times since that first review, and I even had the burger they made at Rockwell, which was also one of the best burgers I have had. I had a rough experience at first, but it’s very clear the Balkan Treat Box is passionate about their food and service and that I made a mistake letting my frustration get the better of me and leaving a bad review. The food is wonderful. I am sorry for not realizing this sooner. I have fixed my 1 star to forever be 5 stars. And better yet, I will always let my family and friends know how good...

UPDATE: By the length of the line I see I was not alone in missing Balkan Treat Box this week!

My previous note said how awesome the staff is to update Google so I knew not to drive over. They also share a lot on social media about stuff like that, limited time specials, etc.

So glad they reopened so I could get my doner and sopresa salad. Since I decided to get to go last minute, I just got out of line and went to the to go area to wait. As always the staff were lovely -- they all seem to genuinely like working here EVERYTIME I AM IN! That vibe is amazing. They offered me a glass of water, it's the little things!

And oh my goodness the food is fantastic! So fresh. The favors so good. Try all the things.

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Everything about Balkan Treat Box is top notch! Seriously, have been untold times and always leave full and smiling.

Well except today. Today was a lesson in not waiting so long between visits! I was on my way there when I thought twice about traffic & put it in Google maps, it said temporarily closed. I knew something was up and looked at the socials…. Air conditioning went out.

They did everything they could to let customers know about the change in schedules as they always do! This is opposite experience from a friend at a chain recently — they didn’t mention the outage on arrival and only after the friend complained did they say the AC was out. Crazy in these temps to put employees & customers through that.

Love supporting small businesses that are so good at updates. Thanks for saving me the in person heartbreak and I will be there once the AC is back, the only dilemma,...