Polka Cafe

After reading a recent write up in a local newspaper and a couple of shining online reviews, we were excited about having dinner at the Polka Café (their sign actually reads «Polka Restaurant») to sample some authentic Polish fare.
First of all, Teddy, the owner does not speak English well and the waitress is Irish and speaks no Polish. After perusing the menu, we found that items represented on the restaurant’s website were not even listed. We were also informed that the usually-​available cabbage pierogi were not available that evening, much to the dismay of my niece who had had her heart set on having them.
Polka Café has a B.Y.O.B. policy so we had brought with us a few bottles of Polish beer (Zywiec). We were provided with less than pristine glasses and my niece and I chose to drink from our bottles. Too bad my sister didn’t notice the crud on the glasses before pouring and drinking; she hoped thereafter that the alcohol in the beer would kill any bacteria present. Teddy brought out some free appetizers for our table to share: a bowl of cabbage soup with a huge ladle and shallow plates to serve the soup on, not bowls or cups; several cucumber spears sprinkled with a liberal amount of pepper; and hard-​boiled egg halves topped with a horseradish cream. At one point I attempted to season one egg half and literally smothered it with pepper, noticing too late that our pepper shaker was actually a grated cheese server with large holes and was not a pepper shaker at all.
The Polka Café’s website is very misleading. Many of the dishes represented in the site’s photo gallery are totally fictitious (compare my photos to those on the site).
Our group is familiar with Polish food and know how it should be prepared. Mom is a second-​generation Polish American and I am well-​versed in Polish cooking, having, as a child, learned from my grandmother how to prepare favorite dishes. I am the cook in the family and still, on occasion, continue to prepare these traditional dishes. We really wanted to see how Polka Café’s food stacked up to the cooking we’re used to.
POTATO PANCAKES (PLACKI). While I can understand the gray color of the pancakes (due to the oxidation of the potatoes in the batter by letting it sit out too long in the mixing bowl before frying the pancakes. My grandmother also had this problem), these did not resemble the lovely golden brown ones depicted in the photographs on the café’s website. My dining companions thought they tasted fine, but I detected no seasoning or grated onion in the pancakes and thought they seemed to be re-​warmed, not freshly fried. A small amount of sour cream was dolloped unceremoniously on each platter, but more was furnished to us upon request.
GOLABKI (STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS). These were very disappointing. The rather bland filling consisted mostly of rice and almost nothing else — meat and seasonings were barely detectable. These rolls also did not live up to the promise of the café’s website photo of them as the filling was very crumbly, falling apart at the touch of a fork. My niece and I spooned some of the cabbage soup over them to give them more flavor. With the golabki, the waitress also brought a small plate with exactly four (4) tiny slices of what seemed to be rather old baguette bread. Mind you, no pats of butter to moisten them. I guess they were for sopping up the tomato sauce or what there was of it. We would have appreciated a few slices of seeded rye bread instead.
PIEROGI (STUFFED DUMPLINGS) — We thought we were to receive an order of assorted pierogi with various fillings (meat, cheese, and potato and cheese), a special platter offered up by the owner since the cabbage-​filled pierogi were not available that evening. What we got was all potato and cheese-​filled pierogi topped with a small amount of chopped onion sautéed in butter. While we all agreed that the dough of the pierogi was excellent, being very light and tender, we were disappointed in the heavy filling (I never fill my pierogi with potato or a potato and cheese combination — too much starch for us).

I love fantastic food. Even more, I love fantastic food in a wacked-​out atmosphere. Even more than that, I love fantastic food in a wacked-​out atmosphere served by someone who clearly genuinely cares about it.
Polka in Worcester is not crowded, and that’s a crime. The food here is absolutely amazing. I came in with a crowd of friends who love Polish food, and the owner/​chef/​server/​host waved us in to sit wherever we wished. We wanted to try all our favorite Polish dishes, like bigos, kielbasa, pierogies, and galumpkis. The owner indicated that, rather than worry about specific orders of a lot of things, he would serve dishes family style.
The bigos (a cabbage and kielbasa stew) came in a huge tureen. Then, to our surprise, he brought out platters of incredible potato pancakes (which we hadn’t ordered) indicating it was special for us. This was followed by the best grilled kielbasa I’ve ever had, with rolls, sauerkraut, grilled onions, mustard, and horseradish cream. Incredible.
The galumpkis with tomato sauce were quite good, and the pierogies were delicious. We walked out extremely full and without burning holes in our pockets. Prices were amazingly reasonable.
I can’t recommend this place enough. Give them business, because it must NEVER go away!