Mari Vanna

Interesting alternative to my typical food choices, but a welcome deviation. Would recommend fur coat halibut and stroganoff. Atmosphere was pleasant with good service.

Been three times now over two summers. The beef stroganoff is the best entrée, closely followed by the chicken kiev. The trout was so-​so, and huge for one person. The best dish on the whole menu is the dessert syrniki, which are cheese pancakes with slightly sour sweet cream and strawberries on top. I think of those often, and may even try to make them in the future.
The décor is great, the accordionist is fun, too. The TV is bizarre, but compliments the general atmosphere.
Taking a star off because, as everyone else has said, the service sucks and the food is overpriced. Just drop in for stroganoff and syrniki and take a handful of candy on the way out.
PS the black sea drink is too watery. Avoid.

Such a cute place, good service, and hearty food. Also, an amazing accordion player wandered around the restaurant. Just a great experience! Went on a whim for date night with my Honey and had a fantastic time. Drinks were pricey, but very good.

Very nice Eastern European restaurant. Staff is particularly nice and warming. Food is great. You get transported into the time and space as you enter in a lace outside Washington.

We dined here for a nice Saturday date, but the real showstopper for me was the flight of four house infused vodkas for $ 30. I shared them with my date. My two were the apples/​cinnamon and pumpkin. They are packed with delicious flavor. Seriously, the infused vodkas are amazing, do not skip them. They truly make this place unique and are worth the visit alone. Both I tried were good, but that apples/​cinnamon was my fave, beyond incredible, and super smooth for a vodka.
For food, we tried the pan seared salmon, chicken kiev, and the dumpling appetizer. The appetizer comes with four pieces, each with a different stuffing. Nice. Other notes:
+ Great old fashioned, old world décor, like entering the mansion of a tsarina circa 1920.
+ Surprisingly large inside, it looks so tiny from the street, but they are boasting three levels.
+ We were seated on a couch, with a table in front, a bit awkward but added to the homey vibe.
+ There was live accordion music wafting down from the third floor, and at one point he came down and danced around the dining area as he played. Awesome touch.
+ Packed on Saturday night, you will need a reservation. It’s a huge space, but they filled every seat.
The food is pretty good, but I think it is overpriced for the quality. There is a small bar and outside section if the drinks are all you need, and I think that is the real draw.

Oh man. My wife and I are so excited about this place. She is Russian and her friends recommended we try out Mari Vanna while visiting D.C. Every city we visit, we are hunting down Russian restaurants to try. Seek no further for D.C. The food was delicious and authentic. The ambiance and design made it feel as if we were at a traditional Russian home. The staff was true to the culture as well; customers and ladies dressed up, and the male servers are all wearing jeans and t-​shirts; legit.
That said, I must say that the PRICING IS HIGH and PORTIONS ARE SMALL. I gave 4 ‘s due to this, but the food was so tasty.
We will be back and wish we had come earlier in our visit.

Came in on a Sunday afternoon– note that they offer a $ 40 Bottomless brunch that features a buffet of delicious Russian foods.
When I went, they offered two soup options– borscht (of course) and broccoli cheddar soup. Make sure to grab some slices of bread from the big baskets next to the soup pots.
Selections included steamed fish with vegetables, delicious beef meatballs (tefteli– I strongly recommend these, they are juicy and flavorful… I ate 3 of these babies), meat dumplings, sauerkraut, blinis and more.
Service and décor were great as well– I felt like I was eating in some lovely Russian grandma’s tea room!

Overall a good experience. Some 5 star points (décor, atmosphere, and food) and some 2 or 3 star aspects (service, value): averaged them to a 4 star rating.
The food seemed very authentic and the décor made you feel like you are at home in a Russian Babooshka’s kitchen! Lots of attention to detail on everything. We loved the Vodka tasting too and the roaming accordion player was a nice touch! I love good Borscht and it can be hard to find an authentic recipe. They had Baltika 5 – 9 beers available, though the staff had a hard time describing which is which.
The service seems to leave something to be desired though. I am fine with a much slower pace then typical American restaurants, but they were slow to clear used dishes and glassware from the table to the point they were piling up, forgot to put in a wine order until we checked on it, and at times were hard to get a hold of. They were out of a few of our first choices too (and we weren’t there very late, maybe 8:30pm). Heard this is all typical here. Its a bit on the pricey side as well since its mostly a la carte. I’m okay with that, and D.C. is an expensive town, but you deserve a better wait staff at that price point.

Incredibly loud place. Not set up for a good dinner. The hostess was incredibly rude and didn’t want seat us at the table at first. When we finally got our table we asked for tea and desserts the server Lena acted like she doesn’t what is she even doing in that place. After 5 minutes wait the server came back and said we have to leave the table if we came for deserts only. Hostess offered to seat us at the table where other group of people were seated already. No effort to help at all. By the way, a man standing in the middle of the restaurant playing accordion is not nice.

Tovarish. Listen. If you speak one of the Slavic languages or just looking to drink vodka until all your troubles go away — this place is for you. The food is authentic and incredibly tasty (which is quite an achievement, as Russian cuisine rarely combines the two). The décor is exceptional and the service is flawless. You are sure to love this place as the vodka («Russian Standard» obviously) and scantily dressed women are plentiful.

Absolutely unique! One of the top most spectacular restaurants I have ever been to. The menu, the service, the deco, the music, everything in this place is perfect, magical, and it will definitely transport you to another world. I totally fell in-​love with this place from the moment I went in. A highlight of my trip to D.C.

I like Russian tucker! I like Russian drinks and I like Russian people as a general rule. So three out of three for Mari Vanna. I had to go to DC to visit the Oz Embassy and we decided that the very appealing exterior of Mari Vanna was definitely worthy of further investigation. It’s bigger than it looks and the variety of foods on offer was truly great. All selections we made were delicious.
We like to do the whole deal when we eat exotic, so we ordered a Russian soft-​drink-​soda-​ish thing which was, to be totally objective, bloody awful. Kvas is what it’s called and it wasn’t to our liking. But that’s a personal call and is no fault of the restaurant.
We are never quite so much concerned about price as we are about value for money and, while we loved almost everything about Mari Vanna, we thought the portions a little small and the prices a little high.
BUT…It’s a good spot. Quite authentic, and the wait staff were very good, efficient, friendly and attentive… and pretty, which is always a bonus. Go there!

From the second you see the exterior of Mari Vanna, you fall in love. Then you walk in, and you fall even deeper in love. This restaurant has incredibly cute décor, brick walls, little Russian trinkets, and while it is slightly dark, it is also fairly light. It would be a great place for a romantic evening with a significant other.
So when coming here, you have to expect to pay quite a bit for your meal. My bill at the end came out to just about $ 60, just for me – and I felt like I got some of the less expensive things on the menu.
I came here for a friend’s birthday dinner. We had a table on their second floor. It such a nice table — felt like a big dining room table in your grandma’s house. Had a nice home and family vibe to it. There was an old telephone, and other cute decorations. The head of the table had an extra large chair — it felt like the birthday boy was sitting on a throne!
The menu online does not have the vegetarian mark on it, but the menu you get in the restaurant has a symbol next to all the vegetarian items and another symbol for gluten free items — which I always appreciate, being the paranoid vegetarian that I am.
The menu itself is so cute. It’s essentially on this cute clipboard that has a spoon on it, and a series of well-​decorated papers under the clip. The drink menu was nicely placed on the table — it had really cool pictures inside. Felt like I was looking at an old photo album at my grandma’s house. The light fixtures had lace crochet draped over them, which also was a small detail I appreciated.
I got their Watermelon and Basil lemonade. It had fresh basil leaves and fresh pieces of watermelon in it. It was delicious. I was pretty thirsty when I got there, and made the mistake of finishing it pretty quickly — and I liked it so much, that I got another one (they were $ 8 each).
I also ordered the veggie couscous (a side item), and the cherry vareniki. I was debating between the potato vareniki but it sounded like it had too many mushrooms in it, so I went with the cherry. I was exceptionally pleased with the couscous, and the cherry vareniki was pretty good too. Maybe it’s just the way the dish was made, but I thought that the dish would have fresh cherries in it – but it seemed to be made out of maraschino cherries. While I don’t mind maraschino cherries, it just felt like a lot of them very quickly. If it was made with fresh cherries, it would have been more enjoyable for me to eat after just a few.
We got the chocolate cake for dessert. Wasn’t really a cake — more like 5 chocolate balls with an unexpected consistency. I think if the menu presented it as such, I wouldn’t have been as surprised. It wasn’t that they were bad or anything, just very different to me since I haven’t had something like that before.
Here are the few complaints I had:
(1) We asked the waiter for bread — had to ask him a number of times before he remembered to give it to us. Other than that he was very attentive and helpful though.
(2) The meals came out somewhat sporadically. For all the people that ordered at the same time — our meals came out close to 10 – 15 minutes apart. We waited for each other, and our dishes got cold.
(3) The bread tasted a bit stale, but was presented beautifully.
At the end, the waiter told us we could not split the check — but was super nice about us taking forever to figure out everyone’s total and giving him about 6 different cards. They also gave the bill in this little clutch purse with candies, which I thought was a very adorable touch. It was probably my favorite part of the meal.
I also liked how one of my friend’s got a Moscow Mule, and it came in this really cute Russian mug that said «Moscow Mule».
Anyway, I would probably come back. All the little details about the place impressed me, and I was a huge fan of the watermelon basil lemonade. It felt somewhat like I was eating at someone’s house in Russia. Was somewhat reminiscent of the bed and breakfast’s I stayed at in Europe. I would just come with the mentality that I would be spending more than I usually do on a meal, especially being that I don’t drink alcohol.

I’d give Mari Vanna 3.5 stars. Some things about it were really wonderful and entertaining, and other factors (like the steep prices, and the fact that they ran out of many dishes in the middle of a Saturday night) not so great, but overall it delivered a fun experience with very tasty food.
We came here with friends while visiting DC and got seated upstairs on the balcony, which had a great view to the hopping bar downstairs. The atmosphere of the restaurant was warm and lively, with an accordion player floating throughout the various rooms (there are multiple floors and you can hear the festive music even when the musician isn’t on your level). The walls were decorated with a mix of different vintage-​looking wallpapers, and the small lamps and doilies on the tables really did contribute to the feeling that you were in the home of someone’s grandmother (who happens to be an amazing cook). Some of the seating is comprised of cushy love seats, which is charming, but may not be to everyone’s taste — I have back problems, so I was really glad to see our table also had some normal wooden chairs.
Our group tried the smoked fish platter and some dumplings to start. We washed those down with shot glasses of cucumber and dill-​infused vodka, which was a great pairing. My favorite fish was the butter fish. I’m not even a huge smoked fish fan and thought it was absolutely wonderful — so delicate, with the right hint of smokiness. The fish was served with a couple of different kinds of bread, which were just okay. I would have appreciated some dark rye.
For my entrée, I really wanted Chicken Kiev but they were out of it (at like 7pm on a Saturday — odd!), so I ordered the stuffed cabbage. It was good and filling, but not a generous portion for how much it cost ($ 22) — just three little rolls. Had we not started with the appetizers, I think I may have left a little hungry. However, dessert was really outstanding. We ordered their famous layered honey cake, and it came dusted with a powdered sugar bee on top. It was so cute and the flavor was really unique. I’d never had Russian honey cake before, but I’d really recommend ordering it here, because it seems they do it right.
When the bill came, I was a bit shocked at how expensive everything was. For the experience and amount of food I’d had, I figured it would be about $ 30/​person before tip — but it was more like $ 50 which seemed a little outrageous. However, it really was a fun experience because of the unique atmosphere of the restaurant, which certainly doesn’t disappoint. It is a perfect place for a date because of all the fun things going on and people-​watching, and interesting, authentic food!

Delicious authentic Russian — east European food; khinkhali is one of the delicacies that is hard to find outside Tbilisi and they make it pretty good. If you never had a khachapouri before, you must try it as soon as possible. They offer a very good happy hour deal in weekdays, including some of the food items in the menu. The Olivier salad is one of my favourite items on their menu.

Party of 5 for lunch on a weekend. Reserving a table was easy on this Saturday, as there were scarcely a handful of other occupied tables.
Mari Vanna specializes in what I’d classify as Russian/​Eastern European home cooking, with a heavy focus on dumplings and starch/​meat pairings. The potato Varaniki are especially delicious but are a stretch to justify at $ 18 per order. The ‘borsch’ is also very good, but again, price per order is simply unreasonable.
My experiences with the waitstaff during my few visits can be summarized as surly but efficient. Final thought: Overpriced Eastern European peasant food that will likely leave you with too few reasons to desire a return visit.

I love this place for their eccentric but lovely interior! It’s so quaint and cozy and reminds you of the Russian grandparents you never had. There were antique furniture and mismatched china and silverware but all so dainty and in the sweetest way with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Me and my girlfriends came here for dinner and it was bustling for a Friday night. We were seated on the upper level near the back by the balcony and space was a little crap but we didn’t mind. I myself couldn’t drink at the time but my friends all loved the flavored vodka shots they had. I’ve tried some at Russia House before and enjoyed it!
+Blinis with Salmon Roe: This was one of my favorites for the night. We started off with this as an appetizer and they’re essentially Russian crepes and you just add some salmon roe and a dollop of sour cream. It’s almost like eating lox and cream cheese.
+Smoked Fish Plate and Meat Board: These were our next dishes. I honestly wasn’t too keen on them. The smoked fish plate was a little too fishy for my taste but it had a nice melt in your mouth texture. My only complaint is that these two dishes didn’t come with any sort of vehicle to eat the slices of fish or meats on such as bread or crackers so you’re kind of just eating it by itself.
+Half Roasted Duck: This was also another favorite. The duck was tender and juicy and served with a cranberry sauce. The warm apple and cabbage slaw side complimented it really well.
The food felt overpriced but the service was great. There was a man walking around the restaurant playing the accordion in the jolliest of ways that added to the experience. I don’t know how you can’t smile to that!

This place is giving Russia House a run for their money! We actually stopped in on New Years Eve prior to going to the place we had tickets for. What a cute little spot! They make a lot of their own vodkas in-​house, of particular mention is their black currant vodka and honey pepper vodka. We got a flight of 4 of their vodkas, and they also make their own specialty cocktails. Bartenders were cool and friendly and it seems they have a real following here. We came back late night after our party and hit up the 3^rd floor, where they had a hot DJ and happening dance floor. Cool new spot in Dupont!

We finally made it to Mari Vanna on a late Saturday afternoon. We each had a vodka cocktail and they were both tasty. I had the Grusha (pear) and my boyfriend had the Black Sea (black currant). The Grusha was preferred over the Black Sea, at least for us. At Mari Vanna, it’s all about the details. We ordered the potato and mushroom dumplings and the herring salad, which was beautifully presented! It was yummy and refreshing. The dumplings were good, not exploding with flavor, but good. For dessert, we orders the traditional honey layered cake. It was moist and delicious! The taste resembled that of a graham cracker so if you love graham crackers, you will love this cake!
Overall, the only negative thing I can say is that it was a tad bit pricier than we would have liked for the portion and type of foods we ordered. I understand that they provide a very unique experience so I think it’s worth trying at least once. If you are someone who appreciates an EXPERIENCE when you dine, then you must come here! Enjoy!

I visited Mari Vanna for a friend’s birthday dinner recently and really enjoyed it! I love Russian food, even though I rarely get the chance to eat it, and thought this restaurant is very quaint, homey, and lively. A part of me felt especially connected to it because I am part (albeit a small part) Russian by ancestry. I loved the live entertainment (the guy who played on his accordion every so often) and the singers /​dancers who sang happy birthday to my friend as she blew out the complimentary cake and candles they brought out for her. I was impressed that they accommodated our group of 15 very well. We split into two tables, but it still worked out well. Service was polite and attentive throughout. We all split a few bottles of wine and enjoyed the experience a lot.
For my entrée, I ordered the beef kotletki and LOVED it! The meat was excellent! It came with a buckwheat sort of side and cornichons. I loved the meat and cornichons and enjoyed the taste of the buckwheat, but I think I had some sort of allergic reaction to it and my throat closed up quite a bit later that evening (I was thankfully better the next morning).
Overall, lovely experience and very conveniently located in the Farragut neighborhood of DC. It’s within a 5-​minute walking distance to both the Farragut North metro station and the Farragut West metro station. Highly recommended if you love Russian food!