Veselka - East Village

This Ukrainian restaurant had a lot of press so we thought it would be a nice place to stop for brunch. The word Ukraine comes from a Slavic term for 'borderland,' which partnered well in my head since I was on the fence when determining whether or not I liked this place very much. Maybe I was expecting more since it seemed so well publicized.

Fondly remembering some dining experiences I had in Europe I went for the nostalgic smoked salmon on bagel--which might have been a bad idea, because, well, the East Village is not in Europe or the Ukraine for that matter. So while I imagined my smoked salmon to be light and drizzled with a yogurt cheese of some sort it was a bit disappointed to taste a salmon a bit more "fishy" than I like it and a simple stub of Philadelphia cream cheese next to it. It wasn't bad by all means, but the potato salad it came with was. At one point I actually think I may have bit into a grain of sand in my potato salad. Um, yeah, the pickle was great. And the thimble of cole slaw tasted more like tartar sauce to be honest.

The waiter was a great guy, very sociable, but more than likely a pretense which I can't blame servers for putting on when their income depends on their attitude--at one point while we were trying to get the check we saw him walk out of the restaurant for a smoke break or something. One of my friends coffee had a unopened packet of sugar stewing in it when he got it, which they replaced easily enough.

The main idea here is that the entire experience was mediocre. Nothing particularly interesting or delicious and decent waitstaff certainly does not make up for that. Prices weren't very good either as they were on the higher end.

Now,I'm not a narrow-minded guy so don' take this as a bashing--perhaps it was just one bad experience--the moons and planets were not aligned in my favor for this brunch. It happens. So maybe you should take a trip down to Veselka and let me know how it goes. Luckily the group of people I was with had a sense of humor and we weren't taken too far aback by the whole ordeal.

$11 for the smoked salmon bagel and $2 for a bottled tea. Our total for 4 people came to around $60 without tip.

"Ukraine's glory has not yet perished, nor her freedom"

144 Second Ave, At 9th St, The East Village & Noho, 212-228-9682