Dawne Smaki - Warszawa

We ran into this restaurant when walking along Nowy Swiat, looking for lunch. I consulted Yelp to find nearby restaurants serving Polish specialities and found this one just a block away. The welcoming was kind of jaded, but we were hungry and had patience with the zombie like service. All of us tried some of the different pierogi (dumplings) they offered: traditional with cabbage and mushrooms, russian style and spinach with cheese. They were all OK and my favorite were the spinach ones. To that we had beer and that was where things started to go wrong. If the food was traditionally Polish, so was the service, which could best be described as the one I remember from the worst restaurants during the communist time. This means a minimum of service from an uninterested person that take time. Really strange, as the waitress who served us was probably not even born at the time when that kind of service was kind of common in the eastern countries. One of my friends discovered the opened plastic cover of a toothpick in his beer, and we let the waitress know as soon as we managed to get her attention. Without a flinch, she mumbled something about crediting the beer and just left, taking his beer with her. When we saw her again, we were still a little uncertain about her first comment so we asked, with the intention of ordering a new beer for my friend but we never got that far. She just repeated that the beer would be credited and left before we had the chance to ask for another beer. As the food was OK, I hope the mishap with the beer and service was just a bad day for the wautress, but having talked to my non Polish guests about the Polish cuisine and hospitality, Dawne Smaki just left me with a feeling of embarrassment in front of them. There are too many good restaurants to go back.

Food was excellent, chicken soup, pork loin, cheese plate. Violinist playing while we ate made for a perfect night. Our waitress was very helpful with recommendations and made it easy on us as she was able to speak perfect English.

This is an exceptional restaurant. There is seating inside, on the sidewalk, or in the lovely garden in the rear. We ate in the garden. I ordered the beef tartar, which was the best that I have tasted. I followed this with the summer borscht. This was also delicious. The appearance of both of these dishes was artful.

This was my first restaurant in Warsaw (actually in Poland even). I will break my review into three parts. 1) Pierogies they were incredible (5/5). I chose the combo which was al 4 different types (2 each). The outside was thinner and lighter than anything I've had in the US. All fillings were terrific. 2) My main entree was the pork chop (more of a fried thin pork cutlet) was quite good. The cabbage was very good and also came with potatoes. The plate was also decorated very nicely (although the cook or waiter got some food on his fingers on my plate). I'd give this 4/5. 3) Service it was non existent. He took my order, brought no bread (he did to everyone else); although I didn't need to eat it anyway. Never came back until he cleared my plate. I found out that even when dining alone, tips are automatically added. Service I give a 2/5. Not rude, but no help whatsoever.

Nice an old fashioned. Food was very good, I had the beet root salad, wild boar and beza as desert. Service was initially a bit hesitant, but improved over time. Next day I was there for the lunch menue which was nice and inexpensive as well highly recommended and not a chain restaurant like many others.