Hospoda Bohemian Beer Hall

I love this place. Totally out of the ordinary for the UES– it would seem more at home in the east village with the German (or I guess Czech) beer hall picnic table seating. Very much comfort food-​oriented.
The mashed potatoes have a little pool of butter at the top, schnitzel is simple and delicious, and sausages are all good. Interesting imported beer selection, okay wines. They also have a few salads and things but I’ve never bothered.
Service is mostly Eastern European so I think some reviewers might mistake a cultural thing for them being cold. They are very nice, just not overly in your face. Definitely check it out– a great place to change things up in the neighborhood.

What do I like about this place: EVERYTHING !!!

Alright, my mother and I have been known to take risks while dining and the Hospoda Bohemian Beer Hall was one of them. We arrived at the restaurant around 8:40. grabbed some seats near the window, and glanced at the menu. We decided to share a merguezi sausage, a tomato salad, and a house salad. To be honest, the tomato and house salad were the same thing. Do not order both, stick with one. The sausage was drenched with mustard and gherkins. Other than that, the food came out quickly and tasted good but not great.
Overall this place is a beer hall, not the type of place I would eat a complete meal.

My husband & I came here around 6 pm tonight. Nobody directed us where to go, so he asks the bartender & he says we can sit anywhere. Great. We sit down & after waiting for 15 – 20 mins didn’t get any service. We were never acknowledged when we walked in nor when we sat down. I can’t comment on the food because we left after being ignored. I’m sure this place has a lot of good points when the service is up to par, but I hate when you walk into a restaurant and you have no idea where to go. There should be someone to tell you or a sign. I also hate community seating which is what this place had. Anyway, on a better night, I’m sure it would’ve been fine but the experience tonight was severely lacking.

Long story short, horrible service and food, will not come back for sure.

This place was a great discovery, the menu is very simple, service is friendly, nice atmosphere, nice deco, and the food was great! We had the pickled camembert, the lamb sausage and the veal schnitzel, nice portions and it was a very good overall experience!

Zero stars.
They have DESTROYED this place. The picnic tables with umbrellas over them are ridiculous. The food is sausage with sausage and more sausage plus, sausage on the side. MORONIC.
I am so disappointed. So much potential and they cannot find the right formula for this place to succeed. What a shame.

So happy to find out that this place is reopened! The Czech red wine, Moravian Cabernet is so different than regular Cabernet, it’s smooth and light, not dry at all. LOVE it! The pumpkin beer is also a must try.
The internal decoration changed a lot. All the tables and benches are community-​like. But their signature black wall with patterns is still here– which is one of the best things here besides beers and wine.

Reopened … And amazing!!!
We had a frankfurter dog and a side of red cabbage — both incredible! I wasn’t super hungry but would have gotten the Duck leg Confit special which looked incredible.
The place is clean, and hip looking. The ambiance is very crisp and stylish. It’s set up like an indoor beer garden with picnic tables and therefore it would be great with groups.
Great Czech beers and I had a pumpkin ale seasonal special. :)

Hospoda is a truly wonderful restaurant. I’ve been here several times and each time I always leave extremely satisfied. It boggles my mind that it’s not more popular. The food is absolutely fantastic, the service is great, and for the quality of food the pricing is fairly reasonable.
I had the «poached egg and lobster» and the «carrots» for dinner. They were both fantastic. My husband ordered the cod which was delicious and perfectly cooked. The menu is creative and tasty. I would also recommend not skipping out on dessert. We tried the «Spring: rhubarb, white asparagus, and strawberry» which was white asparagus sorbet, rhubarb, dehydrated coconut chips and a strawberry consommé, and the «winter»: chocolate sorbet, gingerbread, and deyhdrated gluhwein chips. They were both delicious and I find myself craving both desserts again today.
The menu has changed since it first opened. It seems to be completely New American now instead of having Czech/​Slovak dishes and it looks like they don’t offer lunch anymore. This is a little sad since I thought their interpretation of traditional Czech dishes was amazing and their lunch menu was really delicious and affordable. Nevertheless, the food is consistently great and I will continue to go back.

I am sorry if I have to disagree with all the raving 5 star reviews here.
Pros: nice atmosphere, very good service, stylish interiors, beautifully presented dishes.
Cons: expensive (appetizers in $ 20s, main dishes $ 30+), the beef tenderloins tasted more like carrots than beef. It had carrot juice, carrot paste, actual cocked carrots with a small price of meat. The tiny piece of trout was kind of «simple». We had to ask for salt.
I don’t believe we will be coming back, unless specifically invited.

I’m not sure I’d be all that interested in a full dinner here, but the czech pilsner 4 ways concept is interesting and the beers were all highly enjoyable. I like that they take their craft seriously from the knowledgable service, to the glassware, to the type of pour. You can have a pint anywhere, and for many people that’s good enough, but this kind of thing with the 4 «pulls» of the draught takes it to another level of enjoyment for me.
Also nice is it is VERY clean inside this restaurant, so much so that it is noticeable. They opened 3 years ago, but the place feels like it opened yesterday in terms of cleanliness. For the food, I only had the liverwurst plate appetizer to go with the beers. but it was awesome! The toast and pickles it is served with are perfect, and the liverwurst itself has a perfect creamy mild taste, not livery or gamey. Even if liverwurst sounds off-​putting or uncomfortable, I promise pretty much anyone would enjoy this delicious taste, especially with the beers.
Only one thing I don’t appreciate though is being offered more bread and then being charged $ 1.00 for a single slice of toast. Is it standard to immediately offer me something extra when my dish is served and then charge me for it? I don’t like that kind of shit.

The hidden gem /​Sleeper of the upper east side. A dynamic, fresh, thoughtful, and creative menu accompanied by thoughtful booze pairings, an intimate space, and spot-​on service. The waitstaff here are incredible– you can really tell that they really love and believe in the restaurant– it’s as if they are joining you on a culinary ride.
I almost didn’t want to write this review so that I could keep my revelation of the restaurant to myself, but it’s well deserved. Good on you, Hospoda. I’ll be seeing you soon.

Hospoda: the review I don’t want to write but can’t keep to myself: have you ever been to a restaurant where you considered asking to take the bread and butter home, but then decided that was too ghetto to ask because it is a super chic place? And yet, you struggled for at least 10 minutes on the question, because, hey, Czechs were immigrants and might have been thrifty, despite the surrounding glamour and glass floor into the wine and beer cave? That is Hospoda.
(By the way, UES types: the butter is dairy free, olive oil-​whipped cocoa butter with Himalayan black salt, and the bread is rye. You’re welcome, and I hope you go and experience this dilemma.)
You don’t expect this nondescript block to have a culinary experience anywhere near that on offer at Hospoda. Where else in the far east 70s are you treated to complimentary beer foam and beet gazpacho before the meal? To eat an egg poached in coffee beurre monte with lobster and passion fruit? To quaff delicious, adventurous beers and wines picked to complement the experimental cuisine?
This a’in’t Bareburger, folks. This is a true 5-​star dining experience without being stuffy, that retains an ethnic feel. (Kohlrabi pickled in chardonnay vinegar blew my mind!) You may drop a pretty penny, potentially more on drink than food, as is my fashion, but if you enjoy something different and delicious, and totally not WASPy or pretentious, Hospoda is for you: gorgeous setting, incredibly attentive service, significantly unique food, creative alcoholic range, and still the feeling that it’s a neighborhood place… It can be expensive, but I have not regretted a penny on the pleasure received. It’s hard to economize when everything is so good.
Hospoda, you had me at the 4-​finger foam. Glad I stayed for everything.

The place is quite amazing; modern décor, attentive service and Michelin quality menu. we tried price-​fix menu with stone crab and trout and it was quite an experience.
The also have beer flights where they pour same beer different ways and it adds crispness or sweetness to taste (who would know ;) will definitely be back again

Came here for lunch during RW.
The décor is something to experience. You are challenged by your fear of heights when walking over see-​through glass to the beer cellar below. The walls tell a story… Perhaps how earth was created by the beer Big Bang theory?
The food came out timely. The bread for the table came with this cool butter with 2 – 3 different salts. I think it was cocoa butter too? We couldn’t catch what the runner said nor when he explained it to the table next to us. But it was good… We asked for more!
Our appetizers and entrees had great presentation and were full of flavor. Unique in the plating but the flavors came together. We got the egg and pork belly apps and the veal loin as our entrees.
What stole the show was the banana curry dessert. Was surprised there wasn’t a choice on the menu but it made sense once we got it. The dessert comes in a beer mug and even if you are not a fan of bananas like myself, you will be savoring every drop. This dessert made me feel like a kid indulging in eating raw cake batter. The beer added the zing of what tartar powder put in cake batter adds and the sweetness factor and crunch were on point. Such a great way to end a delicious meal!
This place is definitely worth a try!

Went here for dinner during restaurant week. The restaurant is gorgeous, with modern furniture everywhere. The restaurant even makes their own soda!
I found the restaurant week items a bit lacking. Mostly it might be because the portion sizes were incredibly small for me that I ended up after dinner, still hungry for food.
When my fluke carpaccio came, I was a bit shocked to see how little the appetizer was. The appetizer was around 6 slices of raw fluke on a bed of thousand island dressing. I didn’t like this dish because I am usually used to my carpaccio being drench in a soy sauce-​like concoction. This dish felt more like a plate of sashimi rather than fluke carpaccio.
I had the veal loin, medium rare. However, when it came, I found it lacking a bit in flavor. There was nothing!
The restaurant week menu only had one dessert option. I thought it was pretty interesting. The dessert came in a beer cup and contained a scoop of banana sorbet topped off with beer foam. It also tasted like they put graham crackers in the dessert cup. But I liked the dessert. Very creative and individual.
The sodas are pretty good. I really liked the raspberry soda. It was delicious! I hated the hops lemonade soda. Tasted more like no-​sugar beer.
The waiter was very nice and attentive.

Hospoda is a nice Czech restaurant located right next door to the Czech consulate on the UES. It provides a great ambiance for a date or a casual meal. The staff are extremely friendly and when solicited, they’re the type of waitstaff that will give you their honest personal opinions.
There’s obviously the Czech beer that people come here for. The same pilsner poured four different ways will give you four different tastes and luckily there’s a tasting menu you can order that’ll provide you all four.
The dishes here are delicious and well prepared and plated perfectly. All those fancy pictures you see of the food it’s not just staged photography, it comes out that way.
The pricing can be arguably a bit on the pricey side, but when you factor in the service, environment and food it ends up pretty decent.

In the many years I’ve been experiencing Restaurant Week (even outside of NYC), this might very well be my favorite experience yet.
When this magical time hits NYC twice a year, it’s always nice to branch out and see what lies outside of the usual culinary periphery. Sure I could hit Ken & Cook or other participating spot within walking distance of my apartment… or I could venture into the Upper East Side and try something that might never have crossed my radar. Insert Hospoda.
If you were blindfolded and dropped inside this chic Central European bistro without knowledge of where you were, you’d swear you were in SoHo, East Village, or LES. It’s hard to believe something like this exists in UES. Guess you can’t judge every neighborhood by its cover, eh?
Winter food is the name of the game: hearty meals, generous portions, and a stick-​to-​your-​bones comfort that can only come from a place that yields very, very cold winter months in the homeland. Similar to Austrian/​German fare, spaetzle, schnitzel, and root vegetables dominate the palate, and their beer flights are really something to marvel. What’s fascinating is that they only serve Pilsner Urquell on the beer side of things, but in four different fashions that give the flavor profile four distinctly different tastes. Straight from the postcard they gave us at the end of or meal:
+ Crème Urquell (Hladinka)
The classic way of draughting CZech pilsner with a thick, creamy head and full, balanced flavor. Sort of what you’d expect when drinking this varietal in a European pub.
+ Slice (Synt)
Drawn from the tap with a substantial four-​finger foam to impart a refined bitterness and velvety mouth-​feel. Similar to the above pour, but with a Barry Bonds like head on top (large).
+ Sweet (Mliko)
A rich and original all-​foam specialty designed to impart the beer with a hint of satisfying sweetness. They encourage you go pound this beer (about 12 ounces, mind you) as fast as possible, as the flavor lies in the almost all head draught. It goes against conventional wisdom (at least in the United States), but it’s fantastic.
+ Neat (Cochtan)
Rarely seen in the Czech Republic, this headless beauty offers razor sharp bitterness that cuts straight through the heaviest meals. Basically, it’s how every American would drink a Pilsner Urquell… but it’s not the way a single person in their country would enjoy it.
The flight of four mugs will get you absolutely wasted, guaranteed. It’s not your typical tasting where you have four different four ounce sips. These are full beers that are intended to be drank very, very quickly. I guess it’s how they do in the Prague.
If the food and beer options weren’t amazing in-​and-​of themselves, the service was superb. Friendly and engaging faces, extremely informative, and the types of people you’d want to be your friends. Though I live a full 85+ blocks away, there’s no way I can deprive myself of a return trip (or several) in the future.

Fantastic, TRENDY UES (I know, right?) Eastern European (Czech) place. I discovered Hospoda by way of restaurant week. probably one of the better experiences RW has produced for me in a long time. My bf and I chose to come here to celebrate our 3 year anni. $ 38 for RW menu per person
Décor: trendy!!! Seriously, you’d think you’d be in Tribecca– it has that feel. Long communal tables… ice cool wall deco. a case floor to see deep down to the beer cave (yes they make all the Pilsner on tap on the premises), a glass bar… this place is cool. Dining room isn’t too spacious and two seaters are all lined against the wall, a bit cramped. But whatevs. You go downstairs to the bathrooms and see a big open kitchen with the mad rush of waiters… narrowly dodging people as they race up and down the stairs.
Service: Not fine dining, but informative, polite, and attentive. Also timely– food, check, waters, etc– all on time so check!
Food & Drink: AMAZING. There was a snafu with my menu, so it’s funny that I didn’t even get to see their regular dinner menu. I honestly feel as though the key items were highlighted in the RW menu– it was all comfort food items from the region. The rest of the menu just seemed New American with some key ingredients. They also give everyone a taste (a big taste) of the «sweet» pilsner which is mostly foam. my liking! Since I’m not a big beer drinker, I honestly didn’t need to order more but if you did, the mugs come in two sizes: regular or large. My bf ordered the neat (which I think is supposed to be the densest– no foam) Pilsner. I do like Pilsner– and their is good (pretty standard) but I myself prefer the dark, cherry-​esuqe beers of the region.
We had a amuse bouche of salty cucumber to cleanse our palettes and a rye bread basket with a sour cream that I’m fairly confident was spiked with horseradish. Healthy. Interesting. Not the tastiest (they don’t bake their own bread).
I ordered the:
— butternut squash soup with homemade rye croutons– great texture to the croutons, and surprisingly, the soup wasn’t overly sweet like some butternuts out there, and the portion was huge! Crème fraîche was a refreshing topper.
–chicken schnitzel. Yummm. Absolute heaven. I didn’t think such an item could be so. gourmet, but it was. Makes the truck Schnitzel and Things so overrated. The chicken was pounded so nicely, and so. JUICY given the fact that it was breaded and fried. The breading was flavorful as well, and the fried capers made the dish awesome! Needless to say, I just loved the mashed potatoes. but it’s hard to mess that up.
Bf ordered the:
–salad that came with fresh frisee and delish ricotta! (hard to mess up ricotta. it was super creamy)
–pan seared cod with barley and roasted (well this is an overstatement. charred) carrots (the gourmet kind with the stem on top). which we both loved. It was very creamy. He wasn’t a fan of the sauce accompanying the cod though– it was a bit sweet. Maybe parsnippy too?
The RW menu featured the same desert, which was our least favorite. Poached pear with maker’s mark sauce. and caramel, and an empty-​airy tasting pastry puff on the side with some kind of cream. It’s not that I don’t like poached pear. it’s like that this one was a bit small and tough. it wasn’t buttery soft and easy to eat. I liked the Maker’s taste though. it was definitely present.
All in all, a great experience. I would return for some good beer (and they had other good alky from the region– like cold, delicious riesling), and some stand out Eastern European food. Bringing it back to the nabe!