Borshtch n' Tears

as for me, being Russian i don't like this place at all and I will never come back. the whole atmosphere remainds me about cafe bistro that are located along roads on the way to the south of Russia or from Moscow to St. Petersburg. the whole place is very small with small tables and you have an impression that singers are sitting next to you at the same table. It can be just my opinion, but the food is overpriced and there are some additional charge in the bill for service (and it was a lot), the vodka is expensive and shashlik was very vey bad that my friend who is Russian gave it up because it was impossible to cut it and it tasted very strange. salad "seledka pod shuboi" was good, pelmeni were ok. what i like about the place is the language of menu, which is written with a good sence of humour. it made me laugh. I even take one menu with me, and I was very surprised home that on the back it was written "Stolen from borsch and tears". Overall, i think i will not take my foreign friends there.
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Tatiana
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Thursday, September 04, 2008

Not the same place as it's hay day of the 70's when it's chef was proabably the best it ever had.

The celeb chefs of today are not a patch on the chefs back then.........
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F. Turner
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Love this place. Have been there only three times, because i live outside London, but really enjoyed it! I live in Surrey , just wanted to ask if you are not planning to open another restaurant somewhere near me. Have many Russian friends and we would all come regularly. Music is great, food is like what i eat at home when i go there and everyone is very friendly. Thank you very much. Was trying to find your website, but couldn't, so i decided to write here. Spasibo bol'shoe.Liza
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Elizaveta Orlova
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 27, 2008

Had a great fun time here with nice good quality fairly priced simple food. Live music was fun. Recommend it .
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Hayya Genya - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, October 07, 2007

i was surprised to read such differing viewpoints on the same restaurant, so we had dinner there recently, to see what it was all about.. Yes - I suppose you can have fun without eating much. and cosuming large quantities of vodka - so if you can stand the 2 man band cranking out boring, yet deafening ballads, this place will work for you. If, however, you're looking for a tasty meal with efficient service, at a reasonable price - don't even think about it! How many places are charging £1.25 for bread and butter - {which they'll bring to you anyway}? They only had one waitress on duty - we're grateful she came to work - otherwise we'd still be waiting for "Grissle Strogonhoff". its a shame that someone has let this place go, and a disgrace for what they charge!
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, October 04, 2007

Used to come here in the sixties when I was a student in London.

Was amazed to see that it was still around.

Was even more amazed to try the great food, much better than it ever was back in my days.

The atmosphere was still the same as I seemed to remember, fun, buzzing. Girls having fun as beautiful as ever. Just unfortunately I'm now an old man, unable to compete with the youngsters coming around.

In a town full of so much bland corporate rubbish, here's to the one of a kind.

I toast to you guys, for keeping the spirit alive for so long.
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Josh
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Absolutely great.

Friendly staff, very good food and stunning atmosphere. Have been here on many occasions, both when busy and quiet, and the place just oozes a charm that can't be described.

Will repeat myself again.

Absolutely great.
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J. D. N. Apitke
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, September 01, 2007

Great. Lots of vodka 2 wash down the suprisingly good food & a raucous atmosphere as well. Recommend this place 2 all.
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John Goodge
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 13, 2007

Have been visiting to this restaurant occassionally since i arrived in the UK, as well as others ;-) This has always been the most festive of all the russian restaurants in London, with food that has been ok, but not up to the quality of most restaurants in London. The point of the place is to have fun.

However on my last visit i was absolutely AMAZED. On top of the usual fun live music and drinking fun, the food I ate was superb. Top quality, well presented. It was so good, i wasn't sure if i was in the right restaurant.

When we usually visit we just have a snack and get on with drinking, but being so impressed with the "snack", we continued to order more, and were impressed with most of it. Asking the friendly Georgian waiter, he told us there was a new chef and new menu on its way.

If the food that we tried was example of what is to come, they will be looking forward to a very regular customer from now. ME.
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Yulia Derevnaya
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I was actually looking for a web-site of this restaurant for a friend who is coming to London, and was really surprised by the last review. If you can't have fun in THIS restaurant, you must be SOOOO boring, because THIS IS THE place to have FUN.

I am Russian myself and I really enjoy it, my English and Italian friends do as well. It might not be a place you go for a 5 star meal, but you can have a very good food there. I had a chicken shashlik last week, and it was very good. My friend had a salmon, and it was amazing. Most of the salads and snacks are great too.

They have live music and dancing (sometimes, maybe only then we are there :)Not! )It is a fun place, with good food and great atmosphere.

Really wanted to write this, as some people just like to complain about things they don't understand (in this case -fun).

For people who can- enjoy! :)
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Ilya Danilov
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, April 13, 2007