Café Glechik

Seems to have closed down? It wasn’t there when I went. Sadly. It was good when I went there in the past.

Ordered some food from here the other day and was pleasantly surprised. The chicken was succulent and delicious. I think it was cooked on a skewer and it came out very juicy.
I had this tomato relish stuff on some bread which could be best described as a ukranian bruchetta which was fresh and well made.
Overall, it was a good experience and would definitely recommend if you want to try those eastern european flavors.

Have gone twice on Saturday afternoons in the last six months and each time an old lady sitting in the dark has told me that they are closed. They should at least update there information so people stop trying. Their website said they were open.

Friend and I wanted to explore Sheepshead Bay. We found the place in Unilocal and met there. It was a bit intimidating from the outside as it appeared quite empty and small. However, when we walked it, it was actually quite a large space with interesting wall decorations. The menu is extensive and we were newbies so asked the waitress for recommendations. We ended up ordering the knarcho soup, lamb pelmeni, and mushroom varineki. We were going to order more, but the waitress told us that was plenty of food. She was so right! I’m glad she was honest because we would’ve had way too much food. The soup was delicious. Obviously homemade and on the stove for hours. He varineki were covered in onions and a bit heavy, but amazing with the vinegar and yogurt. The pelmeni was so cute and flavorful. It was a bit of a trek from Astoria, but well worth it. I probably would not order both dumplings if just for two though as we were stuffed!

Horrible service, i made a delivery order at 12PM and received the order at 2.30PM. They kept telling me the food will be delivered in 10 minutes for 1.30 hours. Original the order was supposed to be delivered in 1 hour. The food came cold. The driver stated that they forgot to give him the delivery package so he had to go back.

This place can be a little intimidating for those who don’t speak the language. The menu in the window is in russian but inside they have it in english. The pelmini (meat) and varenki (cheese or veg) dumplings are abundant and cheap so don’t go crazy or you’ll be carrying a lot home on the train. Don’t be afraid to order by sight from the surrounding tables. I think it’s byob but I’m not positive. I always hit this spot up for lunch after a morning at Brighton Beach.

I am so sad! This was one of my favorite places in Brighton beach. The shav was wonderful, the dumplings juicy, light and perfect. The short ribs… the Ukrainian sausage…
What happened? Ie been 2 times in the last year and both times the older lady sat in the dark and told us they are closed. Vacation maybe? Either way I guess I’m saying goodbye to my shav.

Came here on the basis of Unilocal reviews. I came into an empty restaurant at 7:30, read a menu and looked around at the woman doing the books in a back table, and she left. Place didn’t smell so great. I waited ½ hour – unbelievable; they were right in the back. Left, relieved I didn’t eat there.

Excellent Russian and Ukrainian food. Big selection of food. Home kitchen. Great place for a Sunday family dinner or even a holiday celebration. Come alone or with a group.

We had a variable feast. Nothing revolutionary here, straightforward small town Ukrainian food. Duck was good, fish done well. My favourite was the fried potatoes and mushrooms. You won’t see innovative new concepts here but you will leave full and maybe drunk.

Visiting Brighton Beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon, trying to avoid the restaurants on the boardWalk, and looking for a quick lunch, we ate at Café Glechik. We had a wonderful waiter, obviously Russian, with a good commend of English, who explained the food to us. We started with the Veal Pelmeni topped with fried onions, delicious, a copious portion, an eggplant salad also delicious. My husband had the tongue, only 4 slices! He said it was good. I loved the Russian beer; huge bottle for $ 5.00. Service seems to be included on the bill (10%) the kid was so nice and attentive we gave him an extra $ 5.00. I would go back and try more stuff.

Perhaps I was here on an «off» day, but this was my experience:
I walk through the door with my mom and my boyfriend, carefully avoiding hitting the small children unattended near the door. We sit down at a table and are brought menus. The waiter comes over to take our order.
Both me and my mom were told that our orders weren’t available that day and we would have to get something else. The second thing my mom chose (I don’t remember what it was but she picked these right off of their menu) was also unavailable. Why even HAVE a menu?
I got a cappuccino, and the waiter asks if I’d like it now. Like, as an appetizer? I said no, later with the food please. The food comes, passable quality, but the coffee never does. At this point I’m hungry and annoyed so I just forget the whole thing and eat my kebab.
We ask for the check, and are told NOW that this place is cash only. Luckily, my mom had cash. This all would have been a 3-​star experience if not for the following:
After we’d already paid the check with no cappuccino on it, the waiter decides now’s a great time to make one. He goes and starts making it, I tell him no, I don’t want it anymore it’s too late. He and the manager both argue with me about what «later» meant and seemed annoyed that I’d want my drink with my food. I felt like I was being ganged up on by the staff!
I’m sure the dumplings are great and all, but they can just as easily be ordered at any other Brighton restaurant without these problems.

Summertime always makes me want to head to southern Brooklyn and enjoy the campy Coney Island sights, and also some tasty Ukrainian food. This is a fairly reliable pick if you’re in the market for some dumplings — pelmeni and vareniki are both served in abundant quantities here. So delicious with sour cream, and accompanied by frizzled onions and cabbage. Their borscht is okay, and I’ve tried a bunch of their salads which have been pretty good. Bread is nice, and you can wash it down ironically with some kvass.
I would classify this more as Ukrainian comfort food rather than fine dining, but it will totally satisfy a craving. This is hearty fare, and you will inevitably find yourself nodding off to sleep on the very long train ride home.

Avoid at all costs!!!
Terrible food that’s pretty expensive for the quality you get. Service is rude and indifferent.
This place to be pretty good a few years back and would get packed constantly. Now it’s a lonely and sad establishment with angry Soviet waitresses and overworked Mexicans slaving away in the kitchen.
Our vareniky had bones in the meat filling, the filling in our pelmeni reminded me of cardboard.
This place went downhill so fast… Do yourself a favor and go to Taras Bulba in the city for authentic Ukrainian food and a service with a smile!

the dumplings are GREAT here (although they are frozen as I observed them coming out of the freezer next to the can register while I was waiting to pay my bill). they are plentiful — about 25 per order — and are boiled and served with crispy fried onions. i always opt for the potato and this time got the potato and the mushroom and onion which were mushroom stuffed and topped with mushrooms and friend onions.
i also love, love, love the Ukrainian Borscht. It’s full of flavor with a tasty broth, dill and just enough shredded vegetables (beets, carrots, potato).
finally — another standout order for me is the stuffed cabbage. clearly it cooks for a while as the meat inside is tender and loaded with garlic and spices. they are small, which is why they are listed under the appetizer section. you get 3 which is good as a side dish or as the advertised starter.
as mentioned by other Unilocalers — you’re not going here for quality service. the waitress is annoyed or bored, so temper your expectations accordingly and just enjoy the food being prepared by a Russian woman in her kitchen.

I’ve been bringing groups here for several years now, and love showing it off to new people. Sometimes it throws them off for a moment seeing me show up with 8 or 20 people but they somehow manage to find a place for us in this very intimate café.
The food is authentic and delicious at very reasonable prices. Favorites: Pelmeni Moscow is a wonderful comfort food mix of meat dumplings, eggs, and cheese served bubbling hot in a casserole dish. The Vareniki with Sour Cherries is decadent either as a meal or a dessert. The Green Borsch with rice and eggs is a flavor explosion, warming and satisfying with a delightful brightness from the fresh dill. The Borsch Ukranian is also delicious.
Be sure to get a glass (or better yet, a pitcher) of Compote, which is like the best fruit punch you’ll ever have.

Nice food. Decoration of the place is very old with a music that sounds pretty old too.
Overall great experience

Nice place, the food is excellent
Be there before 9:30pm
because they close the kitchen at 9:40
But they open all day

I honestly thought this place was disgusting. I had pelmeni here last july and they tasted frozen — aka: bought at a baza and boiled, and additionally not high quality because I got sick after. The boyfriend also ate here and also got sick from the food.
Highly unrecommended.

Years later, still quality. Glechik is a good starting point for initiations of non-​Russkies into the starchy, creamy, artery-​clogging world of Eastern Block peasant food. I was disappointed that rain washed out the crowd, which took away from the hurried, noisy atmosphere, but it was still a nice time.
Service was brisk and typically impatient, though courteous. The eggplant caviar was amazing as expected and the dumplings were really solid. Were I more hungry, I would have knocked out all the potato/​mushroom vareniki as well as the siberian meat dumplings. The mushroom julienne, one of my favorte dishes in the world (but one way too rich for frequent consumption) was also very good. The BYOB is great and encouraged.
Entertainment was provided in the form of a sketchy, disoriented, likely drunk middle-​aged Russian man who stumbled in and waved at me until he had my attention. He demanded in Russian that I step outside to help him. «I realize you’re with a lady friend, but I need help!» This sounded serious! When I declined but inquired what sort of help he needed, he said he was looking for the train (which incidentally runs right over Glechik, with the nearest entrance around the corner). Smelling something fishy, I forwarded his request to the staff, who ushered him outside for a prolonged and mysterious discussion.
Oh, Brighton!

Came here explicitly to have Pelmeni. My fiancée is Russian and makes me this siberian treat occasionally and I wanted to know what they were like in restaurants. I already tried the Emerald in Queens, which had very delicious Pelmeni, but everyone on Unilocal and Anthony Bourdain was a big fan of this place, so I had to check it out.
While I am mindful that this is a very russian restaurant, and that they probably don’t have to speak english very often, the sheer volume of reviews on this place from Unilocal made me assume that they were used to non-​russians being on their turf. Well, it sure didn’t feel that way to me. My server couldn’t have cared less about anything I needed, I had to do that awkward ‘stand in the middle of the restaurant because there is no one who feels like seating you’ thing.
Later, I saw another customer get some kind of toasted bread thing, and was told that I couldn’t order that. After which my somewhat disappointing pelmeni arrived, with me not in a great mood because I had to get my server to hook me up with sour cream, and then I had to try and get him again to get vinegar, two things that are usually included with Pelmeni. The whole process took about 10 minutes because he was too busy spacing out and refusing to look at my half of the restaurant (impressive since he was up against a wall).
The veal only Pelmeni weren’t very flavorful, but the siberian (mixed meat) pelmeni were. However, between how far away this place is probably from where you are, and the shitty service attitude, I wouldn’t bother. As I mentioned, so far my favorite pelmeni are at Emerald in Queens. I’m still looking though.

Never had Ukrainian food before, but damn this was good! I felt like I was eating a homemade dinner at a close friend’s house. Here’s what we got:
Compote — delicious delicious. I love getting to the bottom of the pitcher and pouring a cup thats full of fruit. One note: we saw a slice of apple STILL WITH THE STICKER ON THE SKIN! Oh well. we still drank the whole pitcher =).
Beef stroganoff — amazing sauce. Delicious beef. Perfect with mashed potatoes.
Glechik stew — wowww so good. The meat was soooooooo tender it like fell apart when you stuck your fork in it. The dumplings were good, fried to a good consistency. Not sure about the potato filling. a little plain. But the stew had such a great flavor too. We ate every last bit of the sauces in both these dishes with the bread.
Cherry dumpling — my friend went out on a limb and ordered the cherry filling. It was good. but a little too much. Cherry filling, cherry sauce… in a dumpling skin where I’d be used to a salty pork filling. One or two and we were done.
So glad we randomly biked by this place! Last time my friend came she had to track it down and ask several people, she’d only heard of it but didnt know the name or location of the restaurant. Definitely worth the long hike, and is a hidden gem. Also love that it’s out of the way, not touristy and crowded like a lot of other restaurants along the boardwalk. Had a nice quiet dinner on a Saturday night, really casual and genuine vibe here.

A friend of mine came into town for a Saturday night party, which meant we had the whole day on Saturday to do as we pleased.
Since he was my guest, and I his host, I offered him the chance to choose our cuisine for lunch.
Ukranian, he answered.
It’s not that I have anything against Ukranian, it’s mostly that I don’t know anything about it. Aside from the occasional trip to Veselka, I’ve never had anything closely resembling food of that genre, so when I did a search I found Café Gleschik, way out in Brighton Beach, as our best choice. Brighton Beach? Yeesh … that’s a long way to go for lunch.
Turns out it was worth it. I’ve often talked about going to a restaurant in Chinatown where none of the menu was in English and just pointing at things — and while this wasn’t exactly the same thing, a lot of food was stuff I’d never heard of before and didn’t really know what to expect when we got it.
Highlights included the Pelmini Moscow (the same dumpling type food you’d get by ordering straight pelmini covered in cheese and baked on a sizzling platter), the ‘Borsch’ Ukranian (served hot and with a definite spicy kick) and Vareniki with mushrooms and onions. In addition, it’s worth ordering the Pork with spicy mustard sauce for the sauce alone — absolutely delicious.
I even tried the boiled eggs with mayo as an appetizer and though it wasn’t my taste, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The Kompot, a red wine and fresh fruit (and sugar) that I didn’t really like, but my tablemates did.
The service was good, if a little slow, and the language barrier proved slightly difficult, but no more than I run into at my favorite taqueria.
All in all, a really good meal and a good reason to head out to Coney Island other than a Cyclones game.