Taste of Europe

Great service, delicious food. The pierogies were delicious. We will definitely come back!

I have eaten here a few times now, I find the food great, nice selection and not the common steak eatery. I only wish they would put up a big sign out front… It seems such a hidden treasure to be hidden

Authentic Eastern European Fare, Super friendly family owned restaurant. If you’re unfamiliar with this type of cuisine this is the place to try it, they will give you recommendations. I prefer to sample different items versus ordering entrees, they will accommodate!

Came in for breakfast today. They offer free coffee with breakfast and lunch. I ordered the mushroom and cheese omelet. It came really fast and was so big it wouldn’t fit on the plate. Also included home fries that were crispy and seasoned to perfection. Edwin was polite and attentive. To my surprise Chef James came out and made sure all was well introducing himself. This made our experience that much better! Amazing place for breakfast. Coming back for dinner soon.

I have not one single complaint about Taste of Europe.
The service was friendly and the food was super hot and you could taste the homemade freshness!
I hope to return soon!

This place is a Binghamton gem! True Ukrainian food. The pierogi and halupki are fantastic, especially the mushroom gravy halupki. It’s very clean and nice. If you haven’t been there you need to get down there and try their authentic food.

Went for restaurant week. I had the fish. Friends tried the stuffed cabbage, pierogis, lentil soup, potato pancakes, borsht. It was all delicious! The portions are huge! The only disappointment was the cake. Perfect for when you need to get your fall/​winter calories on.

Enjoyed a delightful dinner at Taste of Europe a family operated restaurant in Binghamton NY. Food was plentiful and delicious. Try their pierogies and stuffed cabbage.

As someone born and raised in Russia, I was a bit disappointed by this place. I brought another Eastern European friend here and we both thought that it was good but nothing special. I liked the holupki and the blueberry pierogies, but the rest of the pierogies were so so. If it’s your first time having Ukrainian food, you will probably love them, but they don’t compare with what you will find in an East European household. I’m assuming most people in Bing weren’t raised in Russia, so the pierogies are worth a try. The dessert wasn’t so good, the cranberry cake didn’t have much of a cranberry taste, while the honey cake was just dry
Decent place, but could be better

I’m originally from New Jersey, but my wife is from Belarus. We tried the plov, cutlets (kotletu), the stuffed cabbage, and the zucchini and potato pancakes, along with cabbage salad, beet salad, and one other sauerkraut-​like salad. It was all divine… especially the stuffed cabbage. My wife confirmed the quality was up there with the ultra-​expensive Russian Samovar in Manhattan, for a fraction of the price. She certainly ate her share. We rarely go for dessert but the «princess cake» sounded so interesting. We were not disappointed. So many fun layers (a lot), with refreshingly tart cranberries on the side.
Did I mention the service was unbelievably good? The waitress was SO attentive. Our food came out fairly fast too.
The ambiance… inside… is nice, but outside, probably can use some work. According to Google Maps, it was formerly an Arby’s. It honestly still looks like it. Don’t judge the book by its cover. I’m happy to report I’ve found another gem in the area.

Very highly recommend Taste of Europe. The food was great, portions were very generous and the service was incredible. Also, the slice of chocolate cake that I had for dessert was amazing.

Everything was wonderful. Waitress was attentive and knowledgeable. Will definitely be back.

My extended family is from this part of the world and I really enjoyed the Taste of Europe. The soups alone are worth coming for — Borscht and a delicious cabbage/​sausage soup I had never had but loved. Their cabbage rolls and potato dishes are delicious, and I can’t wait to try the piroshki.
I don’t think the prices are high at all — evidently their prices were very low and have increased to what we consider normal and affordable.

My wife and I had a great lunch today at Taste of Europe. She got pierogies and borscht, and I had a dinner entrée of chicken schnitzel, chicken bullion soup (with ravioli in it) and mashed potatoes with brown gravy (which also had chicken chunks in it.) They served us some yummy, buttery garlic rolls to start the meal. Not only was it delicious, but I was so full that I brought food home. I have a hearty appetite, so this does not happen often!
On the day of our visit they were running a special deal — 30% off their normal menu prices. The manager told me that they are coming out with a new menu with lower prices. This is great, because the current normal menu prices were just high enough to keep us from coming regularly. This is not to say that the food is not worth what they are asking, its just that my wife and I dine out frequently, so we tend to favor places that have both good food and a lot of bang for our buck. Of course, if I had gotten a lunch entrée we would have spent a bit less. Seeing how much food they serve in their dinner entrees, I will definitely order from the lunch selections next lunch time I am there!
I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t been there yet. They are in the old Arby’s building on Court St (which has been fully remodeled inside.) This location is beautiful and much nicer than the small, cramped, musty smelling space they used to be in downtown.

Being Russian myself, and growing up with Ukrainian and Russian dishes my entire life, this place really hit home.
The food is very rich as are most Slovak dishes (it being cold and all haha). I’ve had the fish, chicken schnitzel, cabbage salad, tuscana zoopa, holopki, Kiev cake, and Margarita cake. All of it was like my grandma makes it.
This is definitely one of my family’s favorite places to go when they come to visit.

You’d never recognize the former Arby’s once you step inside.
Here’s my advice — order the European dishes. Expect that it may not match your expectation or prior experience elsewhere. For instance, Ukrainian Borscht is not the same borscht I grew up with, as we did not put pork in ours, yet the borscht here is delightful nonetheless. Just as there are many versions of Italian tomato sauce, the same goes for nearly every dish on the menu here, too.
While it seems as though some of the magic may have been lost in the move up Court St, it’s nice to have a place where you can order some ethnic comfort foods.
The menu has been expanded, perhaps a bit too much, as it now includes a variety of dishes, including Italian and American inspired entrees. When I visit a restaurant like this, I want an authentic experience, so I could do without the superfluous attempts to appeal to everyone.
I agree with another poster that a holupki/​pirogi combo dish would be a good sell. The delightful owners are delightful if you engage them in discussion and really do want you to enjoy yourself.

Well, I’d like to start off by saying that we eat out often enough that I simply do not have the time to write reviews of all the restaurants we frequent. Every once and a while, though, I feel compelled to speak up based on a particularly positive or negative experience. Tonight was one of those nights…
We had previously eaten at Taste of Europe two months ago when it reopened in its new location and were blown away. The wait staff was friendly, well-​informed, and attentive and the food was fresh, flavorful, and well-​prepared. A five-​out-​of-​five-​star experience for sure! This time, however, was a completely different story.
Let me begin with the server… While seemingly knowledgeable and able to give specific recommendations based on her personal choice and what is popular, this girl was extremely neglectful, specifically with regard to clearing dishes and refilling water glasses. While annoying, this didn’t hold a candle to her obvious complete lack of training concerning pacing. A dish we explicitly ordered as an appetizer (it’s listed as a side dish on the menu) was delivered with the meal instead of with the other appetizer and, even worse, she brought the check without asking if we were interested in dessert (we were).
I could have overlooked shoddy service if the food was worth it, but, unfortunately, this was not the case. Every dish that we had two months ago (with the exception of the zoopa toscana) wasn’t as good as it was before, especially the borsch, potato pancakes, and braised fish. I was especially looking forward to the tender beef in the borsch and, not only was the one piece in my portion not tender, I only received that one mouthful in the entire bowl. Both the potato pancakes and braised fish were excessively oily, but the kicker was that everything from the side of corn to the entrées was «garnished» with a healthy amount of dill. I hate dill; it makes me nauseous. Trust me, if I could like it I would, but I can’t. Both the menu and the server failed to mention this, so when my entrée appeared covered in the stuff, I had to send it back and wait 20 minutes for another serving. Oh, and everything was lukewarm at best. The desserts were nothing to speak of two months ago and this time was no different. All of the cakes are dry and tasteless. Definitely do not order dessert here.
Interestingly, the manager waited until after had paid to offer us a couple pieces of cake to take home as compensation. Like we wanted to choke down more of our least favorite part of the meal. If she was willing to go in that direction, she should have offered to provide the desserts we did order on the house. Very unsatisfying. Hence, my review. I hope for its sake, the restaurant is able to get a grip on consistency, but I know I won’t be back for a very long time.

i’ve been here twice now, once for restaurant week and then again recently for dinner. the first time i went was just after they reopened at their new location, which i think looks great inside, kinda bright and kinda cozy. some of the booths aren’t that great though, the one i got recently had a cut in the vinyl and it seemed like some of the stuffing was missing. the server i had was great though, he might have been one of the owners, i’m not sure but he was very friendly and gave good service. i tried a cherry russian soda and it was pretty good. for the 3 course restaurant week meal i went with the salad, perogies, and a slice of cake. i was expecting the salad to be a typical salad with lettuce and dressing but it seemed to be a sort of potato salad. they were cut up really small and mixed with a mayo dressing with peas and ham. i thought it was pretty decent, i just wish i knew what the name of it was! as for the perogies, they are on the small side and i didn’t think they had too much flavor. and finally the piece of cake i got was good but again they never told me what kind it was, making it difficult to order it again haha.
during restaurant week they didn’t have their normal dinner menu out yet, so i decided to try it and i was surprised at how pricey things were! they did have a dinner specials menu though that i ended up ordering from, you can can eat here affordably, but not if you want to sample things. a side of corn on the cob was $ 3 and a side of mashed potatoes was $ 6, and an extra $ 1.50 if you want to add gravy. there’s a lot of stuff on this menu i’ve never had before, or for that matter never even heard of, but it is some stuff i would like to try. i ended up getting the kotletu. it turned out to be a mix of chicken and pork that was breaded and fried. i opted for the side of potato wedges. the wedges were pretty decent, crispy on the outside but maybe a little dry on the insides, good flavor though. the kotletu was good, it had parmesean cheese on it along with garlic butter. it also came with a salad, this time it was the typical lettuce and veggies with an italian dressing. i wanted to try some of their cheese jello cake because i’ve never seen anything like that. i saw it on their facebook page but it turns out they didn’t have it that night. they only had 2 cakes there so i decided to pass this time. oh yeah, i tried the house made punch too. its a bit on the tart side, cranberry juice was definitely a part of it, i think there might have been some pear in there too. i definitely liked the russian soda i got the first time better. the service this time was decent but could have been a little better. the waitress was very nice but didn’t clear our empty salad plates before the main course came. she apologized for the wait on our food though which really wasn’t an issue for us. we were in and out of there in just over an hour.
if you’re looking for a quick and filling meal of perogies and/​or halupki, you’re probably better off checking out Czech Pleeze. if you want a bigger menu and to try something new at a nice sit down place, it’d be worth it to give these guys a shot. it’s on upper court street where arbys used to be, keep any eye out for the sign though, it’s a little hard to see. i’d give these guys a 3.5

I was here recently, and was a little disappointed. When you walk in, the lobby is lovely, with a fireplace and couches. Once I got to the dining room though, the booth was really uncomfortable –it probably would be better if there were 2 people on each side, but if you sit in the middle it stabs you in the ass, it felt pretty cheaply made.
Looking at the menu though, I got pretty hungry. I was hoping for some sort of sampler combo with pierogi and holupki, but no luck. If I had ordered those things separately, it would have been really expensive. I went with a dinner special of 8 pierogi, and a cup of soup for $ 12. It also came with garlic knots. The waitress was very nice and food came pretty quickly, The soup could have used a stronger stock, but it was decent. The pierogis were good, but on the small side — I got cabbage and potato, and they tasted best when you ate a bite of each at the same time.
Overall, I was just kind of bummed out on the prices. Almost $ 9 for a side of mashed potatoes and gravy? $ 8 for a slice of cake? I’d go again because they had some yummy sounding entrees I’d try, or I’d try lunch, but you can get better prices else where.

Our first time there. Inside is a pleasant décor. We ordered from the lunch menu. I had potato pancakes and soup and my husband had Holupki and soup, The 3 pancakes were paper thin and cooked more on one side than the other. My husband had two medium sized Holupki and soup. The Holupki had a sauce on them, we later learned was mushroom gravy. (I am allergic to Mushrooms.) The menu didn’t list Mushroom sauce as being on the meal.
Our waitress seemed to have disappeared. We waited for quite a while for our check and I finally went to the front counter to see if we would get our check.
Our check was over 18 dollars (not counting tip) and for the lunch we received, it seemed excessive.

The food is wonderful. If your in the mood to try something new. The entrees are served with soup and salad. Desserts are super.